Ducksnorts

Triple-A — Portland 7, Las Vegas 6

Craig Stansberry (SS): 2-for-4, BB
Chase Headley: 2-for-5, 2B, HR
Brian Myrow: 4-for-4, 2 2B, BB
Chip Ambres: 2-for-4, HR, BB
Will Venable: 2-for-5, 2B, HR
Nick Hundley: 0-for-4, PB
Matt Antonelli: 1-for-3, 2B, BB
Cesar Ramos: 5.2 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 1 HR, 2 BB, 4 SO (10 GO)
Adam Bass: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 HR, 0 BB, 1 SO
Jared Wells: 1 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 1 HR, 0 BB, 1 SO

Myrow continues to hit everything thrown his way… Wells gets credited with a save for his performance.

Double-A — Corpus Christi 13, San Antonio 10

Chad Huffman: 2-for-5, HR, BB
Kyle Blanks: 1-for-4, BB, SF
Colt Morton: 2-for-5, BB
Seth Johnston (3B): 3-for-6, HR, 2 E
Craig Cooper (CF): 1-for-5
Drew Macias (PH): 0-for-1
Mike Ekstrom: 1.1 IP, 7 H, 9 R, 2 HR, 2 BB, 2 SO
Manny Ayala: 1 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 HR, 1 BB, 1 SO
Neil Jamison: 2 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 0 HR, 1 BB, 1 SO

Fugly outing for Ekstrom… Ayala made his 2008 debut.

High-A — Stockton 2, Lake Elsinore 0

Cedric Hunter: 1-for-4
Eric Sogard (DH): 0-for-4
Kellen Kulbacki: 1-for-3
Rayner Contreras: 0-for-2, BB
Ernesto Frieri: 5 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 0 HR, 2 BB, 2 SO, WP

Reader Didi and I trekked up to The Diamond for Thursday afternoon’s game. The Storm managed two hits all day, so there isn’t much in the way of highlights.

Kulbacki looked real good at the plate and, surprisingly, in the field. He flied out to center in the second, struck out looking in the fifth, and laced a single over the shortstop’s head in the seventh. The fifth-inning strikeout came after he crushed a ball down the right-field line that had home-run distance but hooked just foul, perhaps partly aided by a 15-mph wind blowing from left to right. Kulbacki also made a fantastic catch in the seventh on a fly ball tailing away from him in right field. He got a good jump on the ball, tracked it well, and laid out to make the grab. It was a pretty athletic play.

On the mound, Frieri spun five shutout innings before tiring. The scoreboard had his fastball at 91-93 mph, and guys generally weren’t getting good swings on it. Frieri gave up a walk, ground ball single, and double to start the sixth, though, and was lifted. This was Frieri’s second start of the year after 15 straight relief appearances, so the fact that he tired shouldn’t be surprising.

Also, the salmon teriyaki at Kokoro was excellent.

Low-A — Fort Wayne 7, West Michigan 5

Luis Durango (DH): 1-for-3, BB
Felix Carrasco (DH): 1-for-1
Justin Baum: 2-for-5
Shane Buschini: 0-for-5
Yefri Carvajal: 1-for-3, BB
Bradley Chalk: 1-for-2, 2 BB
Jeremy Hefner: 5 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 0 HR, 0 BB, 4 SO

The Wizards trailed, 5-0, headed to the bottom of the fifth inning but kept clawing their way back into this one. They eventually scored three in the eighth to take a 7-5 lead they would not relinquish. Kinda surprising for a team that hasn’t hit all year.

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Tags: brian myrow, chase headley, chip ambres, craig cooper, craig stansberry, eric sogard, fastball, kellen kulbacki, lake elsinore, manny ayala, matt antonelli, mike ekstrom, nick hundley, strikeout, will venable

Padres (15-26) @ Cubs (24-16)
Greg Maddux vs Ryan Dempster
11:20 a.m. PT
no television
AM 1090, FM 105.7, XM 183
MLB, B-R

The Padres showed some good fight at the end of Wednesday evening’s game. Unfortunately they spent much of the early part digging themselves into a deep, dark hole. Still, I liked the matchup of Brian Giles against Kerry Wood with the bases juiced in the ninth. Too bad it didn’t work out for us this time. Oh well, we turn the page…

* * *
The Cubs have signed Jim Edmonds and he will be in uniform for Thursday’s game. He looks as done as anyone this side of David Wells, but maybe it was just a matter of coming back from injury too soon. With the Padres’ luck, Edmonds will return to 2004 form and cause us all to second guess our second guessing…

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Tags: cubs, greg maddux, jim edmonds, mlb, ryan dempster

Triple-A

No games scheduled in the Pacific Coast League.

After a slow start, Chase Headley has picked things up a bit. He hit .242/.317/.396 in April, but is at .358/.424/.528 so far in May. The Padres’ other top prospect at Portland, Matt Antonelli, is headed in the opposite direction. He’s batting .146/.294/.220 this month…

Starting pitching has been awful: Wade LeBlanc (8.35 ERA, 6.96 K/9, .333 BAA), Cesar Ramos (7.36 ERA, 8.59 K/9, .316 BAA), and Josh Geer (5.09 ERA, 5.28 K/9, .283 BAA) have combined to allow 19 home runs in just 107 2/3 innings. Ramos’ strikeout rate is nice (and way above his career average), but he still can’t get hitters out on a consistent basis…

That the Beavers are 17-18 despite a team 6.05 ERA speaks to the quality of hitting at Portland. Brian Myrow (.325/.450/.542) is crushing the ball, as was Jody Gerut (.308/.382/.570) before he was recalled. Chip Ambres (.276/.375/.500) is playing well…

Of course, Ambres is the youngest of the lot at age 28. Still, Gerut is showing that he’s got some life left, and regular readers know I’m a pretty big Myrow fan.

Double-A — San Antonio 4, Corpus Christi 1

Drew Macias: 0-for-4
Chad Huffman: 1-for-4
Kyle Blanks: 1-for-4
Colt Morton: 0-for-4
Craig Cooper: 1-for-1, HR, 2 BB
Seth Johnston: 1-for-3, HR
Steve Garrison: 7 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 HR, 0 BB, 4 SO (82 pitches, 61 strikes)
Jonathan Ellis: 1 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 HR, 1 BB, 0 SO

I had a request to get Johnston in these reports, so there he is. Don’t get too excited — he’s 25 years old… The Missions came within an inning of recording their fourth consecutive shutout.

High-A — Lake Elsinore 3, Stockton 2

Javis Diaz: 0-for-5
Cedric Hunter: 1-for-4, BB
Eric Sogard: 2-for-4
Mitch Canham: 0-for-2, 2 BB
Kellen Kulbacki: 0-for-3, BB
Rayner Contreras: 0-for-4
Nathan Culp: 7 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 0 HR, 0 BB, 2 SO

Nice comeback win for the Storm at home. Down 2-0 headed to the bottom of the eighth, they scored twice in that inning and once more in the ninth to improve their record to 19-21 on the young season (good enough for first place in the Cal League’s Southern Division)… Kulbacki is scuffling…

Low-A — Fort Wayne 7, West Michigan 5

Bradley Chalk: 0-for-3, 2 BB, SB
Andrew Cumberland (SS): 0-for-4, BB
Justin Baum: 0-for-1, 2 BB, HBP
Shane Buschini: 1-for-4, 2B
Yefri Carvajal: 1-for-4
Felix Carrasco: 1-for-2, HR, 2 BB
Robert Woodard: 3.2 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 1 HR, 2 BB, 3 SO, WP
Wynn Pelzer: 3 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 HR, 1 BB, 4 SO

LaMond Pope of the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette reports that the Wizards will abandon the “piggyback style” rotation they employed during the season’s first month in favor of a more traditional five-man rotation.

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Tags: brian myrow, chase headley, chip ambres, craig cooper, eric sogard, javis diaz, jody gerut, jonathan ellis, josh geer, kellen kulbacki, lake elsinore, matt antonelli, mitch canham, pacific coast league, steve garrison, strikeout rate

Padres (15-25) @ Cubs (23-16)
Jake Peavy vs Ted Lilly
5:05 p.m. PT
Channel 4SD
AM 1090, FM 105.7, XM 183
MLB, B-R

I never noticed how severe Peavy’s lefty-righty splits are:
 

For his career, Peavy turns righties into Juan Castro; lefties hit him more like Graig Nettles or Ruppert Jones. Guess that’s probably why he’s been working on the change-up…

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Tags: cubs, jake peavy, mlb, ted lilly

I’m kinda winging it today. We’ll see what happens…

This has been floating around for a few days now, but Paul DePodesta has a blog. I’ve added it to the ol’ blogroll as well as to PadreBlogs.com. One of DePo’s first posts concerns the effects of Petco Park. The entire post is well worth reading, but here’s one passage that stands out to me:

In each of the past 4+ seasons, the Padres have had a higher OPS than our opponents while playing in Petco. The total line since the opening: .246/.321/.379 for the Padres and .243/.303/.376 for the opposition. Over 342 games, that’s a significant spread. So big deal - Petco suppresses run scoring, and we all already knew that. What is interesting to me is the relative aspect of this puzzle. Scoring runs in an absolute world isn’t as important as in the relative world in which we compete - you win by scoring more runs than your opponent, not by scoring a certain number of runs.

Given the difference in batting lines between the Padres and their opponents, one would expect the Padres to have had a winning record at home, which has been the case. The Padres worst home record in Petco came in the inaugural season when the 2004 team posted a 42-39 record at home (interestingly, that team had the best home batting stats of any Padres team in Petco). The total record at Petco for the Padres, including this season, is 186-156, which pro-rates to an annual record of 44-37 at home. Does anyone happen to know what the average record at home has been for all Major League teams since the beginning of 2004? Drum roll….

44 and 37.

I looked at the question in a different way on pp. 33-36 of the Ducksnorts 2008 Baseball Annual, but arrived at pretty much the same conclusion: Regardless of anyone’s conceptions, the Padres have played well at Petco Park since moving there. Or as DePodesta puts it:

In the meantime, fans of the Padres should remember that the only four year run of consecutive winning seasons in franchise history has coincided with our four years with Petco as our home.

Snap.

* * *
I’ve been dogging Shawn Estes for his “Diez Anos de Ineptitud,” but he pitched a nice game Wednesday evening. After a rough start, he held his ground and kept the Padres within striking distance until Khalil Greene and Jody Gerut did their thing. Two more starts like that and maybe the Pads can flip Estes to the Yankees for Brett Jodie and Darren Blakely.

* * *
Eric Seidman at Statistically Speaking takes a good, hard look at Greg Maddux’s pitching strategy. Eric has broken down several confrontations between Maddux and Bengie Molina (they’ve faced each other a lot over the past couple years, so there’s more data to work with here) pitch by pitch, and the results are intriguing, as is this general line of inquiry. Among other things, Eric finds the following:

Given that Molina is very selective with pitches outside of the zone it made sense for Maddux to utilize his strike zone accuracy as much as possible. Since he is against throwing 0-2 waste pitches it becomes very likely that the pitches far out of the strike zone were mistakes rather than the results of strategic planning. Molina seemed genuinely fooled when Maddux’s changeup movement matched that of his two-seamer.

You need to read the entire article to get the context, but the fact that folks are even thinking about analyzing stuff in this manner excites me beyond words. Eric also will be following up in the coming days with examinations of Maddux’s approach on 0-2 counts and his matchups against Dave Roberts (to see if patterns differ with a lefty at the plate). I look forward to reading those as well.

* * *
I’ve been running a semi-regular feature over at Baseball Digest Daily called “Random Tuesday”; basically I hit the “random” button over at Baseball-Reference and then write about whatever page I land on. Well, yesterday I ended up at the page of Dick Selma, who, as many of you know, started the very first game in Padres history. If you’d like to learn more about Selma’s career, go for it. Incidentally, for the history buffs out there, I will be including a chapter on the ‘69 Padres in the 2009 Annual. It’s going to be fun.

* * *
That’s all I’ve got for now. Next time I’ll try to have a plan, instead of just meandering all over the place. Sometimes, though, it’s good to go for a walk…

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Tags: Baseball, franchise history, inaugural season, major league, opponents, ops, padres, paul depodesta, petco park, winning seasons

Triple-A — Iowa 5, Portland 2

Craig Stansberry (SS): 1-for-4
Chase Headley: 1-for-4, HR
Will Venable (CF): 0-for-3, HBP
Chip Ambres (RF): 1-for-4, 2B
Brian Myrow (PH): 0-for-1
Josh Banks: 6 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 1 HR, 1 BB, 3 SO
Dirk Hayhurst: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 HR, 0 BB, 2 SO
Jared Wells: 1 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 0 HR, 1 BB, 2 SO

Hayhurst continues to get people out. He’d better stop it, or he’ll find himself in San Diego before long. That 11 K/9 and 6.6 K/BB will eventually get someone’s attention.

Double-A — San Antonio 5, Corpus Christi 0

Drew Macias: 2-for-5
Chad Huffman: 2-for-4
Kyle Blanks: 1-for-4, HR
Jose Lobaton: 1-for-4
Craig Cooper: 2-for-2, 2B (didn’t start)
Matt Buschmann: 5 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 HR, 1 BB, 8 SO
Neil Jamison: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 HR, 1 BB, 1 SO

Third straight shutout for the Missions… I listened to a good chunk of this game on radio. Apparently right-hander Manny Ayala has rejoined the club after missing time due to an undisclosed injury… The announcers also were raving about Macias’ defense in center field.

More coverage at the San Antonio Express-News.

High-A — Lake Elsinore 5, Stockton 3

Cedric Hunter: 3-for-5, 2B
Eric Sogard: 0-for-3, BB
Mitch Canham: 2-for-4
Kellen Kulbacki: 1-for-3, BB
Javis Diaz: 1-for-3, BB
Drew Miller: 6 IP, 10 H, 3 R, 2 HR, 0 BB, 2 SO

Low-A — West Michigan 11, Fort Wayne 3

Luis Durango (CF): 0-for-4, E
Andrew Cumberland (DH): 0-for-4
Justin Baum: 1-for-3, HBP, E
Felix Carrasco: 0-for-3, BB
Yefri Carvajal: 0-for-4
Mat Latos: 4 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 0 HR, 1 BB, 3 SO (6 GO)
Geoff Vandel: 2.1 IP, 6 H, 6 R, 1 HR, 0 BB, 0 SO

Cumberland at DH? Um, okay…

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Tags: brian myrow, chase headley, craig cooper, craig stansberry, drew macias, eric sogard, jose lobaton, kellen kulbacki, lake elsinore, mat latos, mitch canham, san antonio express news, will venable, yefri carvajal

Padres (14-25) @ Cubs (23-15)
Shawn Estes vs Jon Lieber
5:05 p.m. PT
Channel 4SD
AM 1090, FM 105.7, XM 183
MLB, B-R

Sorry I couldn’t find a more recent photo of Estes…

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Tags: cubs, jon lieber, mlb, shawn estes