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The
San Diego Padres
' latest slide has knocked them out of first place in the National League West.
The Padres look to avoid losing their fourth straight game when they open a three-game series against the
Houston Astros
at Minute Maid Park on Friday.
San Diego (58-56) got swept by the NL East-leading
New York Mets
in its last series, capped by a 7-3 loss on Thursday.
The Padres have lost nine of their last 13 games, and have scored a total of just 13 runs in their last eight losses. They
managed only eight runs in the New York series while batting just .172 as a team.
''It's going to come down to getting some guys hot with the bat,'' San Diego manager
Bruce Bochy
said. ''We're going to need to start getting big hits throughout the order. We're living on the edge now.''
The Padres, who are one-half game behind the
Los Angeles Dodgers
in the NL West, have not lost four straight games since July 19-22.
First baseman
Adrian Gonzalez
hit his 20th homer of the season on Thursday, and is batting .340 (17-for-50) with seven doubles and six RBIs in his last
12 road games.
Meanwhile, the Astros (56-58), who took two of three games at San Diego Aug. 1-3, are coming off a three-game home sweep of
Pittsburgh.
Morgan Ensberg
hit a three-run homer for the Astros in their 5-2 win on Thursday, and is batting .303 (20-for-66) with nine doubles and 10
RBIs in 20 career games against the Padres.
Andy Pettitte
(10-12, 4.96 ERA) looks for his second win over San Diego within two weeks when he takes the mound in the series opener. Pettitte
had one of his best games of the season against the Padres on Aug. 1, allowing five hits and striking out eight in six innings
of a 1-0 win.
The left-hander is 2-1 with a 2.81 ERA in three career starts against San Diego.
Pettitte has alternated wins and losses in his last six appearances, though, and he gave up four runs and eight hits in 7
1-3 innings of a 4-3 loss to Arizona on Sunday.
''I felt good, but obviously not good enough,'' said Pettitte, who set a personal single-season high with his 12th loss.
San Diego counters with
Chan Ho Park
(7-6, 4.63), who will be activated to make his first start in more than two weeks. Park was placed on the 15-day DL with abdominal
pain, missing his last two starts with intestinal bleeding that required a blood transfusion.
''I don't know how many innings I'll go - I'll go as long as I can and as hard as I can,'' Park said. ''Just competing is
all I can do, all I can control.''
The right-hander hasn't pitched since July 25, when he allowed three runs and a season-high 10 hits in six innings of a 7-3
win over the
Los Angeles Dodgers
.
Park is 6-3 with a 3.43 ERA in 17 career games against the Astros. He allowed two runs in seven innings but did not record
a decision in his only career game at Minute Maid Park, a 3-2, 10-inning loss on June 26, 2005, as a member of the
Texas Rangers
.
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