Florida @ San Diego preview
Petco Park
Last Meeting ( Jun 27, 2010 ) San Diego 4, Florida 2
At this time last season, the San Diego Padres were toiling near the bottom of the NL West and thinking about having a fire sale that included some of the team’s biggest stars.
The most frequently mentioned name was that of slugging first baseman Adrian Gonzalez, who most figured the Padres would be better dealing for something of value to kick start the rebuilding process.
They decided to hold off on a trade and, well, what a difference a year makes.
The Padres (60-40) are currently the class of the West, holding a 3.5-game lead as they head into a three-game set with the Florida Marlins that gets underway on Friday.
As Saturday’s trade deadline inches closer, not only are the Padres not sellers, they’ve turned into buyers. On Thursday, San Diego acquired veteran shortstop Miguel Tejada from Baltimore.
Tejada, who is expected to take over the starting position, hasn’t played in the postseason in seven seasons, but has a chance to get back in 2010.
San Diego just took two of three from the Los Angeles Dodgers, using a game-winning single in the ninth by Oscar Salazar for a 3-2 win in Thursday’s rubber match.
Florida (51-51) enters the showdown on a mini roll, having won nine of the past 13. It hasn’t done much, however, to move the Marlins up the standings as they are 7.5 games out of first in the East.
Chris Volstad (4-8, 4.76 ERA) will take the ball to open the series and Florida will hope for a repeat performance of Anibal Sanchez’s gem a day prior when he allowed just one hit in a shutout effort against San Francisco.
Volstad has turned in solid efforts of late, yet has just one win over his last 12 starts. His last time out against the Padres on June 25, the right-hander took the loss after giving up three runs in six frames.
He’ll be opposed by Padres starter Wade LeBlanc (5-8, 3.35 ERA), who has also been the victim of some bad luck and owns just a win over his seven prior appearances. The lefty is making his second career start against Florida after he took a no-decision against them previously.
LeBlanc will try and navigate his way around rookie outfielder Mike Stanton, who had two RBI doubles in Thursday’s win and owns five hits over his last four games.
San Diego has been getting it done despite an underwhelming offense. The Padres rank near the bottom of the majors in average (.252), homers (79) and RBIs (413).