Peavy blames himself for loss

By: JOHN MAFFEI Staff Writer | Friday, August 12, 2005 11:12 PM PDT ∞

SAN DIEGO ---- Jake Peavy's pitch reached home plate at 96 mph.

Pat Burrell swung hard and sent it sizzling into the left-field seats at perhaps twice that speed.

The Padres spent the rest of the night battling back from Burrell's three-run, first-inning shot. But they never recovered and dropped a 3-2 decision to the Phillies on Friday night before 41,153 at Petco Park.

Peavy (10-5) entered the contest with a three-game winning streak and had a 1.50 ERA over his last 24 innings.

But he ran into trouble immediately on Friday.

With one out in the first inning, Kenny Lofton singled to center. Bobby Abreu worked a two-out walk before Burrell ran the count full.

Peavy then appeared to try and sneak a fastball past Burrell on the inside part of the plate. But the pitch caught too much of the plate and the Phillies slugger ripped a laser shot into the seats, his 23rd homer of the season. He now has 83 RBIs ---- 25 more than Padres leader Brian Giles.

"It was a bad pitch, one of those things," Peavy said. "I was trying to go down and away, but overthrew it. I did the same thing earlier in the season to (Arizona's) Troy Glaus.

"I just didn't do what we needed, and it cost us the game."

Despite a five-hit, nine-strikeout effort, Peavy said he felt he didn't have his best stuff. And it wasn't a result of the finger he bruised in Pittsburgh.

"I just didn't rebound well from my last start," said Peavy, who will have five days rest now before starting Thursday in Florida. "Some days your arm feels like you're 12 years old.

"That wasn't the case tonight."

The loss drops the Padres back to one game over .500 at 58-57 and cuts their lead over the Arizona Diamondbacks in the NL West to three games after the Diamondbacks beat Atlanta.

The Phillies picked up a game on the Braves and now trail Atlanta by five games in the NL East. The Phillies are also locked in a tight wild-card race with the Astros, Marlins and Nationals.

Peavy finished the night with nine strikeouts, giving him 174 on the season ---- a career high and a total that puts him 10th on the team's all-time single-season strikeout list. Just ahead are Clay Kirby (175) Bruce Hurst and Andy Benes (179), Joey Hamilton (184), Pat Dobson (185), Benes (189), Sterling Hitchcock (194) and Kirby (231). The club record is 257 by Kevin Brown in 1998.

The Padres got one run back in the bottom of the first against Jon Lieber (11-10).

After Dave Roberts was robbed of a hit on a diving stop by second baseman Chase Utley, Eric Young singled. He moved to second on a Ryan Klesko groundout and scored on a Giles single to right.

Giles opened the fourth with a single and scored on Mark Sweeney's long double to right-center field. But the Padres could get no more as Joe Randa flied to left, Khalil Green grounded out and Peavy struck out after Miguel Olivo was walked intentionally.

The Padres got a pair of singles in the seventh off reliever Ryan Madson ---- one-out shots by pinch-hitter Robert Fick and Roberts. But pinch-runner Damian Jackson was thrown out at second when he charged hard around the bag on a hit-and-run play and center fielder Lofton threw behind him, trapping Jackson off the bag.

Replays showed second baseman Utley missed the tag, but second umpire Jim Wolf called Jackson out for running out of the baseline. Padres manager Bruce Bochy was ejected for arguing the call.

Roberts then stole second, but was left stranded when Young struck out.

"Obviously, I didn't agree," Bochy said. "How can he be out of the baseline if he can reach the bag?

"The timing of the call was horrible. Jackson juked Utley. That was a huge call.

"When you make the turn around second, you create a new baseline."

Asked it Jackson would have been better served trying to out run a Lofton throw to third, Bochy said, "It's his read there.

"Roberts smoked the ball right at Lofton. Jackson felt his best chance was to get back to second. He made a great move to avoid the tag."

After that, Ugueth Urbina set the Padres down in order in the eighth and hard-throwing left-hander Billy Wagner retired Randa, Greene and Olivo in the ninth for his 26th save of the season.

"Peavy threw well, gave us a great effort," Bochy said. "He settled down and held 'em, but we fell short offensively.

"We just couldn't get him any runs.

"The offense is sputtering a little again. They shut us down, but we've got to find a way to score more than two."

Contact staff writer John Maffei at (760) 740-3547 or jmaffei@nctimes.com.