So the Padres won last night despite the fact that starter Carlton Loewer retired just three batters. Charles Nagy did a yeoman’s job in long relief, holding the Brewers at bay while Ramon Vazquez, Brian Buchanan, and the rest of the Friars scrapped their way back into the game.

Gary Bennett finished things off in the bottom of the ninth with a two-run bomb, an inning after Rondell White was robbed by Geoff Jenkins of what would have been a three-run blast. Still not sure I’d have had Xavier Nady bunting with a 2-0 count to get to Bennett in the ninth, but good outcomes have a way of obliterating questionable decision-making.

After Nagy’s five innings of one-hit ball (using only 62 pitches), is it time to move Randy Keisler out of the rotation or even back to Portland? Nagy doesn’t have much left in the tank, but it’s no longer about wins and losses; it’s about saving the bullpen and the young starters. Let Nagy soak up some innings. He faced 16 batters Wednesday night. Allowed a single and a walk; recorded 10 groundball outs and 3 punchouts. The Pads could use some of that.

. . .

First one is from David Lizerbram, who writes:

Dig your blog, read it as often as you write it. Go Padres, etc. As I now live far, far away in Los Angeles, I rarely get to watch the games, so I appreciate you giving us the real deal.

I also love Tom Waits. A small correction regarding your lyric transcriptions: I believe it’s “Peacoat,” not “P-Coat.” It’s the type of coat sailors wear; if you saw it you’d know what I was talking about.

Although, for all I know, P-Coat may be an acceptable alternate spelling. If so, please disregard this correction.

Having been reared by English teachers, and having spent much of my professional life editing the words of others, I’m a sucker for this kind of thing. I looked up "peacoat" at m-w.com; they call what David describes a "pea jacket."

Apparently the "pea" is derived from the Dutch pij–a kind of cloth. Bartleby.com corroborates this theory, so even if it’s not true, it’s at least defensible.

And speaking of defensible, I actually lifted the original lyric directly from officialtomwaits.com. I also did a little searching and found instances of "P-coat" in use: see, e.g., Wool P-Coat Jacket (this also has a nice picture of said coat).

So it would appear that "P-Coat" is an alternate spelling that is in use. Whether it is acceptable or not is a matter of taste, I suppose, but if it’s good enough for Tom Waits, it’s good enough for me.

David also asks:

With our outfield situation as it is, do you think it might be time to pick up a free agent? I know there’s a guy playing for the Newark Bears who you might have heard of. Could he play center? Is this a totally off-the-wall suggestion? Even if so, what do we have to lose?

I don’t think a free agent will do much for the club one way or another. Truth be told, I think the time to pick up a free agent was this winter, when a guy like Orlando Palmeiro was available. But he would’ve just taken valuable playing time away from Shane Victorino, and we can’t have that.

I wouldn’t mind seeing Rickey Henderson back in San Diego. It doesn’t seem like a real good fit for either side, but he sure is fun to watch. Could he play center? If Jesse Orosco can notch saves, then I’ll say Rickey can play center. Heck, he’s still a better option than Buchanan out there.

Interesting idea. I don’t see it happening, but I like the way you’re thinking.

Next up, a note from Anthony Trifiletti:

I’ve heard some talk of Oliver Perez possibly being converted to closer somewhere down the road. I suppose that’s one way to keep him from throwing 140 pitches in 4 innings. What do you think? I’d rather give him plenty of time to learn how to throw strikes, even if it takes him two or three more years in the minors.

Why haven’t they fired Bochy? I don’t think a change is going to make a huge difference but someone needs to light a fire under these guys. I really like Bochy but maybe he’s more suited to a veteran team that already knows how to win. And while they’re at it maybe they should look at getting a new medical staff, they’ve been decimated by injuries the last two seasons.

Regarding Perez, anything is possible. I think his getting work in out from under the San Diego microscope will do him a lot of good. I think the fact that Darren Balsley is now the pitching coach for the big club is a good sign for Perez and all the young arms. I suppose Perez could be looked at as a closer if he can’t gain more consistency as a starter. But I’m with you; give him a chance to prove that he doesn’t belong in a rotation before switching him to the bullpen.

As for Bochy, this is something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately. I like what he did for the Padres in 1996 and 1998. His style of sitting back and letting guys go about their business works really well with a veteran club, where players expect their manager to respect them. But with kids who need more guidance, I’m not sure Bochy is the best man for the job. With the exception of Xavier Nady, whom he is handling pretty well, Bochy seems to have trouble figuring out what to do with young, inexperienced players.

This, of course, can be a problem when you have a team full of young, inexperienced players.

As I mentioned yesterday, Bochy is pretty tight with owner John Moores, who on more than one occasion has said that his manager isn’t going anywhere. It’s unfortunate for Bochy and the Padres. The losses and the inconsistent effort are taking their toll on Bochy, no doubt. And I don’t know that the kids are developing as well as they could be under a manager more accustomed to working with youngsters.

Give Bochy a mid-market team with a bunch of vets, and he’ll thrive. The Astros, for whom he once played, immediately spring to mind as a great fit for him (not that they’re necessarily in the market, but we’re just hypothesizing here). But Moores loves Bochy. The players appear to like him. Nobody is in a hurry to make a move, so we can only hope that Bochy, like Captain Picard, learns to deal better with kids.

Speaking of Star Trek, this is more than a little scary.

And speaking of nothing in particular, here are a few sites that are showing up in my referrer logs. Check these out when you have a moment:

• etaoinshrdlu Writer Rolin Moe’s fascinating blog. I’m on his reading list along with Wil Wheaton and William Gibson. Not that I deserve to be among such company, but there I am.
• No Pepper Braves blog. Brad talks about his team winning games; I find it hard to relate.
• Universal Baseball Blog Ben Jacobs talks about all kinds of baseball-related topics. Nice to see someone who grew up watching A-Rod, Nomar, and Jeter examine Barry Larkin’s career and reach the conclusion those of us who watched him in his prime already knew: he’s a Hall of Famer.
• Jake’s Radio ‘Blog He’s Jake, he has a blog.

Finally, I leave you with this vamp on Abbott and Costello’s famous routine. Enjoy…

Ducksnorts, Ducksnorts;
Is it a duck?
Is it a snort?
Is it a Dutch spectator sport?

Sorry, been recording stuff the past few days. Got to thinking we might need a theme song here at Ducksnorts.

Or not.

. . .

So, the Pads were swept by the Brewers. Shut out by Wayne Franklin. Yes, I’d say we’ve hit a new low.

Here are my new goals for 2003:

1. Fewer than 100 losses.
2. Continued improvement from Sean Burroughs, Xavier Nady, and Ramon Vazquez.
3. Lower pitch counts from Jake Peavy.
4. A healthy Brian Lawrence, Adam Eaton, and bullpen.
5. A decent prospect in exchange for Rondell White and his large contract.

I guess a sixth goal would be umpires who know the difference between balls and strikes, but that may be too much to ask. Yeah, I’m still pretty steamed about that pitch to Vazquez Monday night that was called a strike to end the game. Not that it means much in a season like this, in terms of getting the victory. But it’s disheartening to see your guys battle back, only to have the game taken away from them on a call like that.

Oh well, let’s get to the mail.

Our first letter comes from Gabe F., who raises an excellent question:

I am trying to calculate the percentage of visiting (road) teams that win the 1st game of a series. I wanted to find out this % for all the MLB teams. I am looking to go back as far as 1990.

Thanks for your time, and I like the young arms on the SD staff.

Gabe, thanks for writing. I’m going to ‘fess up right away and say that I don’t know the answer to this one. Off the top of my head, I’d think a good place to look for this sort of thing would be Retrosheet but I honestly don’t know. Before you get discouraged, Gabe, here’s where the power of the people comes into play.

If there is anyone out there reading this who knows where Gabe might find the information he seeks, please drop me a line and let me know. Gabe said some real flattering stuff in the part of his message that I didn’t publish (I blush easily), so the least we can do is lend a hand, right? Besides, now that he’s planted this question in my head, I’m curious to know the answer myself!

Next up, we hear from Anthony Trifiletti:

I just found your site via a link at baseballprimer.com, glad to see a Padres site that offers some intelligent commentary. I’m originally from New Hampshire, now living in San Diego so I have dual loyalties to the Sox and the Padres. It seems like folks out here aren’t as passionate about baseball but maybe having a lousy team for several years in a row will do that. Hopefully all the young guys will continue to develop and we’ll have a decent team in the new park.

First off, Anthony, thanks for stopping by and dropping us a line. Second, I have several theories about the relative lack of passion among fans in this part of the world. In no particular order:

• Folks on the West Coast have the reputation of being more laid-back than their brethren back East.
• There are a lot of other entertainment options available, and if some stupid sports team isn’t doing well, to heck with ‘em, let’s go hiking/sailing/surfing/whatever instead.
• Stadium snafu.
• Clay Condrey, Keith Lockhart, Shane Victorino.
• Baseball is boring.

Anyway, I’m pretty excited about the way Burroughs and Nady are hitting the ball right now. And Peavy threw only 89 pitches yesterday, so there’s hope.

Finally, the much-respected and well-traveled Anonymous chimes in with a question about Ollie Perez:

Can you give me an update on Oliver Perez? I haven’t heard much about his pitching in Triple-A. When do you realistically think he’s going to make it back up and when he does, do you think he can put up anything like the numbers we saw last year? If you don’t think he can make it back this year, when do you realistically think (if he stays healthy) he’ll start capitalizing on his immense talent?

Thanks for any info you can provide.

P.S. What kind of year do you expect Mark Kotsay and Xavier Nady to ultimately put in the books?

Perez is pitching well at Portland. This is a good sign, because after the immediate success he enjoyed last year, it would have been easy for him to sulk. In three starts so far, Perez has a 2.08 ERA, with 8 walks and 14 strikeouts over 17 1/3 innings. And according to Jonathan over at PDX Beavers, he looked pretty good in his debut.

For all the optimism that three minor-league starts may afford, it’s premature to get overly excited. There is still much work to be done. Perez needs to establish and maintain a consistent delivery, and he needs to have the confidence and ability to throw more than just his fastball for strikes. He needs to learn how to pitch.

My personal opinion is that the promotion of Darren Balsley to the big-league pitching coach position bodes well for the young lefty. Balsley is the guy who first got good results out of Perez at Elsinore. That said, I’d want Perez to get at least 10-12 starts at Portland before even thinking about bringing him back to San Diego. This isn’t some minor tweaking here. This is a kid making the transformation from thrower to pitcher.

I wouldn’t expect a lot out of Perez this year. I do think he’ll be a part of the 2004 Padres, although some have speculated that it may be as a part of the bullpen. Again, that’s just speculation at this point. Personally, I don’t know. I think the important thing for him right now is to get in some good work away from the spotlight. I remain guardedly optimistic about Perez for the long haul. The talent is there; now he needs to learn how to use it.

As for Kotsay, here’s my take. He’s hurting. I’m not a doctor, nor do I play one on television, but back/neck problems are not to be taken lightly. I have a feeling he’s going to struggle a bit this year. It’s a shame, too, because coming into the season, he looked real good and appeared poised to take the next step. I suspect Kotsay’s numbers will be down a little from 2002 when all is said and done, and we’ll have to wait another year for his breakout season. It should mean more then anyway.

With regard to Nady, I’m already pleasantly surprised by what he’s done. I knew, based on what I’d seen of him at Elsinore, that he would hit. I thought there would be more of an adjustment period, and I didn’t expect him to be this good on defense. The two most encouraging things about Nady’s offense are (a) he’s drawing walks at a decent rate–not like he did in the Cal League, but better than in the PCL–and (b) he’s responded well to the league’s first adjustment to him. He’ll face more slumps this year, but the fact that he was able to come out of the first one so quickly is encouraging. I expected Nady to scuffle more in the first half and then come on strong after the All-Star break. I still think he’s going to have a good second half. He’ll finish up in the .270-.285 range, with 20-25 homers. And he’s only scratching the surface.

Thanks, all, for the letters; keep ‘em coming. And be sure to let me know if you know where to find the answer to Gabe’s question. Otherwise I’ll have to bust out more of the Ducksnorts theme song on you, and I’m sure nobody wants that.

I’m out of here for now. Meantime, why not check out the transcript (and audio) of Abbott and Costello’s Who’s on First? (thanks to my buddy Tom for finding this one).

Enjoy!