A record 25 votes were cast in the Week 14 Throwdown Thursday competition, with the majority of the voters (67 percent) selecting Logan Forsythe over Chris Denorfia  as the Week 14 Throwdown Thursday champion.

Forsythe, a Padres infielder, won his first Throwdown Thursday crown by having a nine-game hitting streak that included a .500 average (7 hits) with one home run and three RBI in the past week. He also had a .714 slugging percentage.

Forsythe’s moment of glory will come to an end next week, as he is not a participant in the Week 15 Throwdown Thursday challenge.

This week’s Throwdown Thursday competition pits a dominant Padre pitcher bidding for his third Throwdown Thursday award, against a young guy making a case for Rookie of The Year: Clayton Richard vs. Yonder Alonso.

Clayton Richard pitches into the 8th inning against the Astros Jake Roth-US PRESSWIRE

Clayton Richard – Richard gave up four earned runs in his outing last week against the Houston Astros, but don’t let those earned runs fool you. Richard was on his game. The National League leader in innings pitched (135.1) came up just shy in his bid for his first complete game of the season, tossing 8 1/3 while giving up nine hits (two were home runs) and walking none. Richard was dominant because he was able to pound the the strike zone with quality pitches and with movement on his fastball. The lefty controlled the pace of the game as he tossed less than 10 pitches in three innings. Offensively, Richard helped his own cause by adding a RBI double that came just a few feet short of a home run. Richard is the first Padres pitcher to earn seven wins this year.

Yonder Alonso bats during 4th inning against Reds at PETCO Park.Jake Roth-US PRESSWIRE.

Yonder Alonso – Alonso’s bat is starting to come around again. In the past week, Alonso is batting .368 with a home run, seven RBI, seven hits and an OPS of 1.139. In a game against the Astros, Alonso was able to collect his seventh multi-hit game of the season, and racked up six RBI’s in a two-game span. The slow running first baseman even added a stolen base.  But his bat wasn’t the only thing that landed Alonso on the Throwdown Thursday ballot, his defense was solid too. He backed up Clayton Richard’s 8 1/3 outing by laying himself out and getting dirty with some great diving stops.

Now Padres fans, vote in our poll for the Padres performer of the week.  Is it Richard or Alonso?

In this column, I will analyze that player’s statistics against the Friars and try to offer some insight on how not to let that player beat our beloved team. 

The Padres are on a roll.  Not only did the Padres manage to knock the Los Angeles Dodgers out of first place in the National League West in their most recent series, but they are also 6-4 in their last 10 games.

Now, the Padres will look to continue their winning ways as they take on the inferior Houston Astros in a four game series at PetcoPark.

With the trade of Carlos Lee to the Miami Marlins it was hard to come up with a Padre Killer for the baby Astros.

Chris Snyder comes through with an RBI single in the first inning against the Cardinals Brett Davis-US PRESSWIRE

Although Astros catcher Chris Snyder doesn’t posses Padre Killer type numbers, he has played against the Padres more than any other Astros player. His familiarity against the Padres makes him a Padre Killer.

Since he doesn’t have the numbers to kill the Padres, I’d go ahead and challenge him. Make Snyder hit the Padres’ best pitch. I would imagine if he did hit it, it wouldn’t go far. Now, I hope Snyder doesn’t read these comments and gets mad because we don’t need him to start hitting the ball.

Statistics Courtesy of: Baseball Reference

Gary A. Vasquez-US PRESSWIRE

According to Dan Szymborski of ESPN, as covered in an article by Christina Kahrl, the Padres are among nine teams with at least a 10% chance of losing 100 games.  This is interesting based on the teams included.  Each team has a case as to why they shouldn’t be on this list, but to the casual observer and computer models, their offseason moves do not amount to enough to remove them from the list.

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