Friar Watch

Chris Young: Young looked great in the early going. He was working very quickly and was obviously in a groove; he looked like he had the stuff to take another no hit bid into the late innings. Unfortunately a high fastball got away from him and hit Derek Lee, igniting an brawl that led to Lee and Young both getting ejected. Despite the comments made by Peavy and Wells I don’t think Young intended to hit Lee. If he’s going after a guy I think he’s going to bury one in the ribs, not the face. And he’s certainly not going to do it in a scoreless pitcher’s duel.

I’m not impressed with the Cubs at all. Classless fans, a hothead manager, Soriano is a punk, Barret is fighting with Zabrano. I’m sure Cub fans would say it’s all great, it shows passion, blah blah blah. How about just play the game? I never liked Piniella’s act, the childish temper tantrums when he argues with umpires. Congratulations Cubbies, you can look forward to many more years of infantile antics and 4th place finishes.

Justin Hampson: Fantastic job by Hampson to take up right where CY left off. A lot of us were critical of Pepe Negro for not pinch hitting for Hampson when he grounded into a double play but Hampson’s 3.1 innings of scoreless ball turned out to be more important than that at bat. Hampson’s effectiveness allowed the Padres to use a very reasonable 4 pitchers even though they lost the starter after 3 innings.

Heath Bell: I love this guy. If (God forbid) Trevor went down, I’d be very comfortable with Bell as the closer or in Linebrink’s 8th inning role. 3 K’s in 1.2 IP. It was good to see Bell get over to cover first when Adrian made a terrific play to his right, Bell didn’t do that in a game last week.

Trevor Hoffman: The great thing about Trevor is is repertoire is perfectly suited for use against an amped up team in a close game. The more eager the hitter the more effective the change up is.