La Jolla Stories

Seems everybody’s got one. Here are a couple more that came in over the weekend:

I was at Whole Foods, and a lady accidentally bumped a guy with her cart. She said “Oh, I’m sorry.”

He gave her a nasty look and said, “You just hit me with your cart.”

“I know, I said I’m sorry.”

Oh, if that were me, I’m afraid that guy would have gotten clobbered with the cart, to show him what an intentional hit is rather than an accident.

  –Jeff

I appreciate the sentiment, but it lacks finesse. Call over the store manager, explain that you bumped into this guy and that you think he might be hurt. Be animated, act genuinely concerned for his well-being, and insist that the store get him the medical attention he needs. Then walk away and let the idiot try to work his way out of it. Humiliation is much worse than physical pain for someone like that.

And from another Jeff, over at Syntax of Things:

In La Jolla, the panhandlers don’t accept coins. I suspect some will be more than willing to swipe your credit card.

Nail on the head. A relative of mine once was visiting from out of state and made the mistake of giving a panhandler a handful of change on his way out of the Vons on Girard. Guy gave him a look of contempt and threw the money all over the parking lot.

Personally, I’ve never been approached by a La Jolla panhandler, though I’ve been tempted to ask if I could have some of their money.

Xavier Nady

It’s early yet, but have you noticed Nady’s walk rate so far this year?

Lvl  AB BB BB/PA
A+  693 90 .115
AAA 315 20 .060
NL  138 12 .080

Not as good as he showed in A-ball, which isn’t surprising. Better than he showed in the PCL, which also isn’t surprising if you’d seen him play before this year. He’s learning, making the adjustments. And doing it more quickly than I’d expected. Hard not to be pleased with Nady’s progress thus far. I still expect him to tail off a bit in the middle months, then finish strong.

Mark Phillips

For those interested, Baseball America originally had him reporting Double-A after spending time in extended spring training, but in fact he’s pitching in the FSL. Here’s how he’s done through May 11:

  IP  H ER HR BB SO  ERA
23.0 20 11  0 15 14 4.30

It’s 23 innings, so who knows. I sure hope Rondell White fetches a decent prospect or two.

Pitch Counts

I don’t like to harp on pitch counts, but Bruce Bochy’s handling of the young arms lately has got me a little concerned.

          >91 91-100 101-110 111-120 121+   Avg
Bynum            1                         93.0
Condrey     3    2                    1    92.3
Deago                   1                 106.0
Eaton            3      2       2         102.0
Lawrence    3    2      2       1          96.5
Peavy       1    1      4       1     1   105.0
Perez       3    2      1                  94.7
Tankersley  1                              33.0
Total      11   10     10       4     2    96.1

Maybe it’s just because he’s run guys out there for 121+ pitches each of the past two games, and maybe it’s because Peavy is so young and so good, but I sure wish Bochy would be a little more careful with these guys. There’s no reason to be riding, in particular, Peavy and Eaton this hard.

The Marlins

One run against the Fish? Shut down by Tom Phelps, Alan Levrault, Blaine Neal, Tim Spooneybarger, and Armando Almanza? It was uglier than it sounds, and it sounds ugly. I watched parts of the game from several different vantage points, but it was the same garbage every time.

All you need to know about this game:

• Despite $5 admission, $1 parking, and $1 hot dogs, the attendance was only 15,869.
• Members of REO Speedwagon were there.

That’s it. Nady hit the ball on the screws to deep center field with two on to end the first. Sean Burroughs hammered a ball to deep left in the sixth to score the Pads’ only run. Lou Merloni played well, spelling Ramon Vazquez at shortstop. Merloni continues to impress the heck out of me; he probably could start at third base for a few teams.

That’s enough for now. Keep on burnin’…