Padres Take Two Out of Three from Dodgers

by Geoff Young on Apr 07, 2003

Monday, April 7, 2003

Okay, this just rocks:

What a cool gig that would be. Anyway, here’s a real quick look at the games over the weekend.

Game 5

San Diego 4, Los Angeles 2 (ESPN)

  • Clay Condrey’s line looked better than he did. With his stuff, he has to have pinpoint control. Otherwise things could get ugly.
  • Xavier Nady hit a laser shot to left to lead off the sixth. Haven’t seen a ball leave the yard that fast since Eric Davis in his prime.
  • More very good work from the bullpen, including Brandon Villafuerte’s first save of the season.
  • Condrey got his first big-league hit and scored the Pads’ first run. Unfortunately, he suffered a hip flexor/groin strain in the process.

More coverage:

Game 6

San Diego 3, Los Angeles 0 (ESPN)

I was in Elsinore Saturday night and didn’t catch any of the Padre game, so I’ll leave this to others. Gotta like six walks in six games from Ramon Vazquez, though. And how about a save from Old Man River?

Game 7

Well, it wasn’t a sweep but it was a heckuva series against the Dodgers. I was at the Sunday game, so I’ll give a little commentary on this one.

Los Angeles 4, San Diego 3 (ESPN)

The Good

  • Three singles and a walk from Xavier Nady. All of the hits were grounders through the infield. The one to lead off the second was my favorite; it was a solid shot to past second base on an 0-2 count.
  • Adam Eaton. Very efficient (97 pitches, 64 strikes over 7 innings). Except for the second inning, when he threw 27 pitches and allowed three runs, he worked ahead in the count most of the game. I’m not sure he’s all the way back yet; he’s still having trouble putting guys away. But he looked good yesterday. And, man, can he play some defense.
  • Mike Matthews. How did he end up on the waiver wire? This guy has a live arm and throws strikes.
  • Lou Merloni. He hustles, he plays defense. Everybody screams "Lou" whenever he does anything. Gotta love him.

The Bad

  • Rondell White is seriously pressing. The Padres had a chance to break the game open in the seventh. White came up with the bases loaded and one out against Paul Shuey. Struck out on a 2-2 slider that bounced. Couldn’t Bubba Trammell have done that?
  • Ryan Klesko isn’t right. His walk in the seventh after White’s strikeout ensured that the Padres scored a run, but otherwise he had trouble making solid contact. It’s got to be frustrating for him right now.

The Ugly

  • More wasted opportunities. Can’t leave 12 men on base. Bases loaded with one out and the 3-4-5 hitters due has to net more than one run.

All in all, a good series. Now here’s hoping for some payback in San Francisco.

Tonight: Oliver Perez vs Jason Schmidt at PacBell. Game time, 7 PM. Television: Channel 4.

Minor Leagues

Made it to my first Storm game Saturday night, against the High Desert Mavericks. Their one big name is Brad Nelson, rated by BA as the Brewers’ top prospect, which is kind of like being the hottest chick in the trailer park.

At any rate, it was cold at the Diamond, at least by my thin-blooded SoCal standards. Japanese left-hander Nobuaki Yoshida, who had trouble putting the ball past Midwest League hitters last year, got the start for the Storm and it wasn’t pretty.

But before we go any further, check out this line score and see if you notice anything odd:

       R  H  E
Mavs   7  7  2
Storm  4  2  2

Not really? Okay, here’s a hint: This is what it looked like when High Desert came to bat in the second inning. What’s really amazing is that the game ended up going 11 innings, with a total of 18 runs being scored. Yep, 11 runs in the first, 7 in the final 10. Very strange game.

A few observations:

  • Nelson looks legit. I heard a couple scouts question his ability to pull the ball, but it’s tough to argue with four hits and a walk in six trips to the plate.
  • Freddy Guzman is still unbelievably fast. I don’t know that he’ll ever amount to much, but it is a genuine pleasure to watch him go from first to third.
  • Jackpot, the giant rabbit mascot who comes out from behind the right field fence and dances when the Storm score a run, was MIA.
  • Josh Barfield doesn’t impress me with the glove at all. He committed two costly errors, appeared to get bad breaks on the ball, and on more than one occasion double clutched on routine throws to first. He did an okay job turning the double play. It’s only one game, but he didn’t look real comfortable out there.
  • Joseph Hastings can put a charge into the ball. He’s not on any prospect lists because of his age and his, um, limited defensive utility. But the dude can hit. He knocked a bomb to dead center and got under another one that was hit every bit as hard.
  • Yoshida didn’t have much. Of the 19 batters he faced, 10 reached base. He uncorked a wild pitch and balked in a run. Everything that could’ve gone wrong for him pretty much did.
  • Teddy, the black pot-belly pig who brings out new baseballs to the plate umpire between innings, apparently has been replaced by Casper, a pink pot-belly pig. Casper showed enthusiasm, but sometimes appeared confused and on at least one occasion relieved himself on the field. He’s new; give him time.
  • Southpaw Geoffrey Jones, despite the big strikeout numbers at Ft. Wayne last season, is a junkballer. He comes low three-quarters with a mid-80s fastball and a breaking pitch that he uses to backdoor right-handed hitters.
  • Mike Wodnicki, acquired in the Brett Tomko deal, is being used out of the bullpen. He worked two perfect innings. Someone mentioned that he’s inconsistent with his arm slot. I wouldn’t have noticed that on my own, but once it was pointed out to me, it was pretty obvious that sometimes he comes three-quarters and sometimes straight over the top.
  • Jon Benick ended the game with a two-out, two-strike, two-run homer to right-center. Benick is not a prospect, but he can hit a little.

This Storm team is not as loaded with prospects as the 2001 and 2002 versions were, but there are some guys to watch. And the Diamond is such a great place to spend an evening. I highly recommend it to anyone within 90 minutes of the park.

In other minor-league news:

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