Monday, April 28, 2003

Game 23: 4/25/03

San Diego 7, Cincinnati 3 (ESPN)

Game 24: 4/26/03

Cincinnati 7, San Diego 6 (ESPN)

Game 25: 4/27/03

Cincinnati 7, San Diego 5 (ESPN)

Quick look at the series against the Reds. I won’t comment on each of the games, but rather will give general impressions of what I saw.

• The pitching staff simply has to stop walking so many guys. Issuing 24 free passes in three games is not acceptable. The Padres as a team are now averaging 4.89 walks per 9 innings. Even Brian Lawrence, who normally has impeccable control, is walking 3.62 per 9 innings. Bizzarely, he’s also nailed five batters over his past two starts.
• Ramon Vazquez continues his solid approach at the plate. He now has 21 walks in 24 games and a .418 OBP. It’s a tiny sample, but he also appears to be making strides against southpaws (.269/.387/.346 in 26 at-bats, with 5 walks against 3 strikeouts). He even knocked his first homer on Sunday.
• Ryan Klesko looks like he’s fully healthy. He’s reached base in 20 consecutive games, and he’s now hitting .277/.365/.530 for the season.
• Rondell White is an incredibly streaky hitter.
• The Pads need Mark Kotsay to get healthy. Shane Victorino is a fine defensive outfielder, but he’s overmatched at the plate, especially from the left side. He appears to have some knowledge of the strike zone, but that swing gets a bit long for someone who should just be trying to put the ball in play.
• Sean Burroughs is scuffling. It’s easy to panic, but patience is warranted with this one. He’s young and learning. The more reps he gets at this level, the better off he and the Padres will be in the long run.
• Michael Rivera came from Detroit with the reputation of a good-hit, no-field catcher. Thus far, he’s been pretty much the opposite. Rivera has looked pretty comfortable behind the dish and drawn praise for his work with the pitching staff. At the plate he’s hacking at everything and not driving the ball. Good to see Bruce Bochy giving him a shot. Maybe over time, he’ll hit more.
• Jake Peavy and Adam Eaton are looking awfully good. Peavy struck out 8 of the first 10 batters he faced on Friday. He’s giving up a few more homers than you’d like to see, but at times, his stuff is just overpowering. It was good to see Bochy pull him after just 82 pitches against the Reds. The flip side of that is that even after that outing, he’s averaging 101.8 pitches per start. Here’s hoping that Bochy will continue to be more prudent with his young pitchers and that they will help him by being more efficient.
• Clay Condrey is a great story, but it might be time to try someone else in that fifth spot. Carlton Loewer is off to a great start at Portland and could get the call sooner rather than later.
• The bullpen is running on fumes. This is one bad thing about having so many young kids in the rotation. The Padres need more innings out of their starters, but they also need to be careful with them. When the youngsters aren’t being efficient, the bullpen has to work that much harder. Nobody’s fault, really; just the nature of the beast. An argument in favor of guys like Kevin Jarvis, Francisco Cordova, and Charles Nagy.

From the Mailbag

Occassionally I receive letters from y’all, and I do appreciate it when that happens. Sometimes I get something that I think would interest other readers, and when I do, I like to share it with everyone. So with that in mind, let’s get to the mail.

Today’s message comes from M.:

Hey, I thought it was really cool that you had a site with so many interesting points of view on every sport but mainly baseball. I just don’t get where you think that you can put down people that are already in the pros (High A). Obviously the D-Backs saw something they liked with Joandry Berroa ([now known as] Danny Richar) he is having a great season hopefully youll get to see him play this year. The fact that he is only 19 is all the better by the time he gets to the big leagues he wil blow people away.

First off, thanks for the message! For the benefit of everyone, M. is referring to something I wrote back on July 28 of last year:

The two other intriguing players are shortstop Joandry Berroa and center fielder Dwight Edge. I’m not sure why Berroa is playing in the Cal League. He’s listed as being 17 years old and he’s hitting just .222/.271/.262. Looks completely overmatched at the plate. The reason I call him intriguing is not so much for anything he’s done but because he raises the question of what are the Diamondbacks thinking in putting this kid in High-A ball? He has no business being there.

I don’t want to dwell too much on words written nine months ago, but I’d like to explain the thought process behind my comments. My intent was to criticize the Diamondbacks for sticking a very raw 17-year-old in the California League. Richar may be quite talented, but he looked way over his head when I saw him. Again, that’s not a knock on the guy. Most 17-year-olds would be way over their head in that league. I just don’t see why the Diamondbacks wouldn’t let him develop at a more reasonable pace.

For the record, Richar is currently hitting .313/.333/.438 at Lancaster, in his second trip through the Cal League. He didn’t make Baseball America‘s Top 30 prospects for Arizona this year, but he’s young and as I stated last July, because of his youth he is intriguing. But in the words of Asia, only time will tell.

Housekeeping

I added a bunch of new links over there on the right. You know about The Cub Reporter, Eddie Kranepool Society, and Syntax of Things. I’ve also added Elephants in Oakland and View from the 700 Level, which cover the A’s and Phillies, respectively. Be sure to check ‘em out when you have a moment.