Place this one up there with the optimistic quotes of all time.
"I like our team," Padres manager Bud Black said Thursday night. "I like the way we pitch and how we're going to hit." Black was speaking just after the Padres dropped a 1-0 decision to San Francisco. The loss was the Padres' fourth straight to the Giants and placed them below the Giants in sole position of last in the National League West for the first time since May 22, 2006.
Like his team?
No one else does in San Diego right now.
The Padres were shut out for the third time this season -- two of those decisions being 1-0 losses to the Giants. They have scored only five runs over the last 53 innings at Petco Park, where they are hitting a collective .230 and averaging 2.38 runs per nine innings.
And the team has not hit a homer over 78 innings at home.
GIANTS 1, PADRES 0: All it took was one swing of the bat to beat the Padres and starting pitcher Chris Young on Thursday night. The swing belonged to Rich Aurilia, who homered in the top of the seventh. The homer was one of two hits off Young, who struck out 10 for the first time this season. He pitched seven innings. Twice the Padres loaded the bases with one out in the game. Needless to say, they scored on neither occasion. It was the Padres' eighth loss in nine games.
