One of the things I did up in Ashland was visit some cool bookstores. At one of the stores I picked up a couple of books: The B.B. King Companion by Richard Kostelanetz, and Made in America by Bill Bryson. I bought the former because I’m a blues fan and because I once ran a piece by Kostelanetz in a tiny literary magazine I published some years ago. The latter caught my eye thanks to an old college roommate of mine with whom I recently began corresponding after losing track of him for the better part of a decade.

I haven’t started in on the B.B. King book yet, but I’m about halfway through Bryson’s work. If you have any interest in the English language (and you should; you’re soaking in it) and/or the American (as in USA) culture, give this book a read. It’s well researched, eloquent, and humorous.

Rush

Saw ‘em last night. I’ve been going to their shows since the late ’80s, and they’re still the best rock band I’ve ever seen live. I could go on for hours about this, so I’ll drop it now. Just thought you should know. Oh, and Alex Lifeson is an absolute god.

General Apology

Sorry for all the non-baseball stuff lately. The thing is, my team, the Padres, have been out of contention since about 1999 or so. It’s like when the game is 14-0 in the fourth inning, and the announcers start talking about what they ate for breakfast or whatever. That’s kind of where I’m at right now.

Keep Feeling Fascination

Bruce Bochy is talking about moving Mark Kotsay to right field next season to accommodate — wait for it — Eugene Kingsale. You knew that was coming, right? In other news, the producers of Malcolm in the Middle are discussing moving Malcolm out of the middle to make room for the long-anticipated return of Vanilla Ice. Now do you understand why I spend so much time talking about non-baseball stuff? It’s to preserve what little sanity I have left.

On the bright side, it looks like the Pads may have found a couple diamonds-in-the-proverbial-rough in right-handers Clay Condrey and Brandon Villafuerte.

As the Glove Turns

In more possible position changes, Phil Nevin has volunteered to play left field next season. I like this move, if for no other reason than it buys time for Xavier Nady (well, and it keeps Burroughs at third, where he belongs). Then, once Kingsale proves he’s not an everyday player, Kotsay can move back to center, and either Nevin or Nady can move to right. The only downside is, that’s a pretty statuesque (not in a good way) outfield there. Keep those grounders coming, boys…

Minor-League Honors

Justin Germano earned honors as top pitcher, while Jon Knott and Josh Barfield shared Player of the Year honors. Let’s take a closer look at Germano’s season. Stats below are unofficial and include the Cal League playoffs.

       IP   H  R ER HR BB  SO  ERA BB/9 SO/9 BB/SO HR/9
Apr  36.1  36 14 11  2  5  28 2.72 1.24 6.94  5.60 0.50
May  31.1  31 12 12  2  4  22 3.45 1.15 6.32  5.50 0.57
Jun  35.2  38 16 15  6  5  31 3.79 1.26 7.82  6.20 1.51
Jul  41.2  44 13 11  2  5  31 2.38 1.08 6.70  6.20 0.43
Aug  29.2  29 11  9  2  5  25 2.73 1.52 7.58  5.00 0.61
Sep  16.0  22 10 10  0  3  15 5.63 1.69 8.44  5.00 0.00

Tot 190.2 200 76 68 14 27 152 3.21 1.27 7.17  5.63 0.66

There are a few things that stand out here. First, Germano’s numbers are ridiculously consistent across the board. The only numbers that really jump out as not belonging are his June home run rate and his September ERA. The former is skewed thanks to one start in which he surrendered four taters. The latter is hurt by his final start of the season, when he likely was running on fumes.

This brings me to point number two, which I’ve mentioned in the past. I worry about the innings total. Germano pitched most of the season as a 19-year-old. I haven’t seen him personally, so I don’t know anything about his mechanics. I do worry about the innings, but the one potential saving grace is the fact that he doesn’t issue many walks. I’m hoping that this efficiency kept his pitch counts down during the season. But the innings are a concern. Of the young Padre arms, he and Oliver Perez are the ones I’m not sure are being handled as well as they could be.

Gotta run for now. We’ll continue with Germano tomorrow…