That double, in the bottom of the 3rd inning, set the plate for Jorge Cantu and he came through with a single on a line drive to center fielder Matt Kemp driving Orlando home and making the score 1-1 and putting the Padres back in the game.
At the time I tweeted a congrats to Orlando via my Twitter account and when I checked it before I went to bed I saw that he wrote back.
Orlando wrote, " thx lil buddy and hopefully many more 2 come! A hit is a hit- I'll take 200 hits a year just like dat lol"You know what Padres fans?
I really believe that this man could do that, don't you?
We just saw one of the biggest disgraces to the game of baseball Manny Ramirez"retire" because he allegedly tested dirty in Spring training- again (see this well said blog post by Bob Scanlan saying good riddance to Manny) and last night I saw, via the tweet, a real humble and classy man in the form of Orlando Hudson.
It is not many Major League baseball players that would take time to tweet back a fan and that speaks volumes about this man.
Not only is he an asset to the team (he and Bartlett make the best pair at 2nd and short I have seen in a long time) and a man of passion both for the game and for the charity that he holds dear, he is also a decent human being. By the way you can visit Orlando's website, here, to learn more about The C.A.T.C.H Foundation...I charity I plan to become acquainted with because my extended family was affected by it as well.
This was evidenced in another tweet he sent to another Twitter user that simply said "I am blessed and it's my duty to bless others.".
So you can have your drugged up, power hitting Manny Ramirez, those that are still in his fan base. I will take great human beings like Orlando Hudson on my team.
Yesterday his hit seemed to motivate the rest of the line-up...I firmly believe that it was the staring point for a lot of explosive offense yesterday.
That hit by Orlando Hudson seemed to have sparked the fire back into the other players offensively yesterday afternoon at Petco.After the game was tied in the bottom of the third the passion and the determination of this relatively new Padres team came back to life. The same sort of team spirit and drive to win that we saw at the start of the season in St. Louis.
In the bottom of the 4th Ryan Ludwick, who has been in a very frustrating slump, was first to bat.
After getting a called strike on a sinker ball thrown by Dodgers pitcher John Ely he slammed an 0-1 count changeup into the second deck of the left field pavilion making the score 2-1 Padres!
In the bottom of the 6th inning both Jorge Cantu and Brad Hawpe were struck out.
It looked like the momentum from Orlando Hudson's "wake up the team" double from the 3rd inning was wearing off.
But then Ryan Ludwick was at the plate and had one of the best at bats I have watched a Padres player have this season.
Nine pitches were thrown by Ely until he finally walked Ludwick and gave the Padres the go ahead run on base.
Nick Hundley then came to the plate and with two outs and Ludwick on 1st base slammed the first pitch he saw ( a four-seam fastball) 403 feet into the Padres bullpen to make the score 4-1 Padres.The momentum hadn't died after all.
The Dodgers got another run in the top of the 7th because of an error by our pitcher Aaron Harang...who btw is now 2-0 with a great start this season!
James Loney reached on a fielder's choice, fielded by pitcher Aaron Harang and pesky Matt Kemp scored to make it a 4-2 Padres game.
That would be all the runs for the Dodgers yesterday.
In the bottom of the the 7th the guy who I think, despite opposing opinions should be our lead off man, Cameron Maybin was brought into the game and stepped to the plate. Dodgers relief pitcher Jansen threw two cutters resulting in a 1-1 count.
The next pitch was also a cutter but this time Cameron Maybin got a hold of it and slammed it nearly in the same spot Hundley hit his homer earlier!
With one swing Cameron Maybin made it a 5-2 game...another insurance run for the Padres.
In the bottom of the 8th inning there was more passionate team play to come.
Nick Hundley drew a walk and then Chase Headley came to the plate and sacrificed Nick over to second. Our new Gonzales- Alberto, who was hit-less the whole game, came through with a well hit single, on a soft fly ball, to right fielder Andre Ethier and Nick Hundley scored..sealing the deal and pretty much the game by making it 6-2 Padres.
Lance Cormie, now the Dodgers pitcher in relief, threw a wild pitch advancing Alberto Gonzales to second and then the little guy that could- Cameron Maybin did it again.He slammed a 3-2 cutter into a long triple- sending Gonzales to home plate and making it 7-2 Padres...which was the final score yesterday.
In yesterday's post I talked about how not having an every day stable line-up may affects teams in my opinion and I still stand by it. I understand that Buddy Black is testing out players early in the year but I do believe it has an affect.
But other little things affect a team as well. And some for the positive.
Orlando Hudson's big double...which he humbly just said was a "hit"... may just have been the thing that brought the Padres out of their offensive coma and gave us a big win yesterday.
It goes to show that the little things do count- whether it is just getting "a hit" that is a double, being patient at the plate and drawing a walk or a little extra hustle on the base pads makes a world of difference and it did yesterday.
Hopefully the regained momentum and drive to win and prove the naysayers wrong will stay with the team tonight as we take on the surprisingly good Cincinnati Reds at 7:05pm PT!
PLAY BALL!
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