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Padres-Angels Preview

Jun 13, 2009 - 6:59 AM By MATT BECKER STATS Senior Writer

San Diego (28-32) at Los Angeles (30-29), 9:05 p.m. EDT

The San Diego Padres had originally scheduled Jake Peavy to take the mound in the second game of an interleague series against the Los Angeles Angels. Instead, he likely won't make another start until after the All-Star break.

After learning their ace will likely be out for a month, the Padres try to regroup when they continue a three-game set against the Angels on Saturday night.

San Diego (28-32) will officially place Peavy on the 15-day disabled list Saturday after an MRI showed a tear in the tibialis tendon behind his right ankle. The 2007 NL Cy Young Award winner will remain in a walking boot for approximately four weeks but will be re-evaluated in two weeks before it can be determined how much time he will eventually miss.

"I was getting treatment and we were getting by," said Peavy, who had the ankle heavily taped for his previous two starts and did limited work between outings. "Up until (Thursday), I thought it was manageable. It could have gotten ugly if we didn't take the action that we did."

The injury occurred while he ran the bases against the Chicago Cubs on May 22 in his first start after voiding a proposed trade to the White Sox. The right-hander was 3-1 with a 4.43 ERA in four starts since enforcing his no-trade clause.

Instead of facing Peavy, the Angels will look at rookie Josh Geer (1-1, 5.60 ERA).

In Sunday's 9-6, 18-inning loss to Arizona, Greer allowed four runs and five hits in five innings. The right-hander has yielded at least four runs in four of his last five starts.

This will be his first career start against the Angels (30-29), who won 11-6 Friday to hand San Diego its ninth loss in 13 games.

Torii Hunter and Kendry Morales homered, Chone Figgins had three hits and Bobby Abreu drove in three runs for the Angels, who improved to 3-1 in interleague games. Hunter is 6 for 16 (.375) with two home runs and eight RBIs versus the NL in 2009, while Figgins is 9 for 18 with three doubles and five runs in interleague games.

The Padres also dropped their ninth straight interleague game and are just 3-16 versus the AL since the start of last season.

Los Angeles, meanwhile, finished with season highs in runs and hits (18) after managing only four singles in Thursday's 11-1 loss at Tampa Bay.

"We weren't happy about some of the things we saw in the last couple of games in Tampa, and they were addressed by a lot of guys," manager Mike Scioscia said. "There's some real leadership in this room, and these guys sensed it. They talked some things out and played a great ballgame.

"We did a lot of great things on that field and we didn't let up. We need to get back into that grind mode."

While the offense broke out of its funk, the Angels optioned struggling second baseman Howie Kendrick to Triple-A Salt Lake primarily because of his .231 batting average.

"We feel it's time for Howie to go down and just take a little pressure off of him, let him exhale a little bit, get some at-bats and find his swing," Scioscia said.

The Angels' Joe Saunders (6-4, 3.94) went 3-1 with a 2.03 ERA in four starts against the NL in 2008 and is set to make his first career start against San Diego.

After throwing seven shutout innings in a win at Seattle on May 21, Saunders is 0-2 with a 6.50 ERA in his last three starts. The left-hander gave up four runs, seven hits and a season-high five walks in six innings of a 9-6 loss to Detroit on Sunday, but didn't factor in the decision.