Every fifth day, the San Diego Padres are one of baseball’s best teams. Jake Peavy takes the mound and stops the jokes.
He is an ace, the sun in his club’s universe. He gives the Padres credibility, a puncher’s chance of passing Go and advancing in the playoffs.
San Diego vs. St. Louis, the probable first-round matchup, in general terms sounds like a mismatch. Narrow it down to Peavy against Chris Carpenter, and the possibilities seem intriguing, drawing fans for reason other than morbid fascination.
On Wednesday night, Peavy muzzled the Rockies in a 5-2 victory before a paid crowd of 18,437, though only about 10,000 bothered to show up at windy Coors Field.
Showing no ill effects from a sore shoulder that required additional rest, Peavy surrendered just two runs in 72/3 innings, picking up his 13th win.
Peavy has anchored the Padres’ rotation, and remains their only known quantity given Adam Eaton’s inconsistency.
Peavy’s excellence came at the expense of Rockies pitcher Mike Esposito. With family in the ballpark and butterflies in his stomach, Esposito made his big- league debut. Peavy has spent the season in Triple-A, ironing out two areas: the ability to throw inside and to develop a more effective changeup.
Esposito delivered a respectable performance, tagged for three runs in five innings. The Rockies lost their 89th game when they could not capitalize on a wobbly ninth inning by Padres closer Trevor Hoffman, who posted his 40th save.
