"Under The Gun" takes a look at one player from each team who will bear all the pressure for the upcoming '08 season.On July 24th of last year, Padres starter Chris Young was 9-3 with a 1.82 ERA. That was also the day that Young left his start against Colorado after two innings and subsequently went on the DL with a strained oblique. Since then, Young went 0-5 with a 5.96 ERA. Hitters only hit .208 against him in that time, but the big number is 33 walks in those ten starts after 39 walks in the previous 20.
Since that day, the Padres lost three full games in the standings to the division champion Diamondbacks, and five and a half games to the Colorado Rockies. Granted, the Rockies went on an unbelievable run just to get to that one game playoff with San Diego. But if Chris Young wins one game down the stretch, then Rocktober doesn't exist. And that's not to blame Chris Young for the Padres not making the playoffs. It's only meant to illustrate that if the Padres are going to make a run at the playoffs against Colorado, Arizona, and Los Angeles, they're going to need Chris Young to be the Chris Young from his first 20 starts in '07, and not the last ten. A healthy Young combined with a typical Jake Peavy year gives the Padres a 1-2 punch as good as anybody in the division, and that includes Brandon Webb and Dan Haren.
