Better, but Still Room for Improvement

by Geoff Young on May 13, 2004

A win is a win is a win. And Wednesday night’s performance was better than Tuesday’s sluggish effort, which was too reminiscent of the 2003 squad for comfort. But some concerns linger.

  • Brian Lawrence had his second straight strong outing, but his final line looks better than he did. Although he issued just one walk, Lawrence didn’t work ahead in the count as much as a guy with his stuff should. He did go six innings, but it took 103 pitches. I know, it’s hard to argue with results, but last night’s performance didn’t do as much to alleviate my concerns as I’d hoped it would. I’d sure like to see him be a little more aggressive out there. I hope if he watches video of this game, he pays close attention to his counterpart, Cory Lidle. The Reds’ starter needed only 85 pitches over eight innings. All but 18 of his offerings were strikes.
  • The good news is, the Pads left only three runners on base last night. The bad news is, one of those was Jay Payton, whose leadoff triple in the second was followed by three very shallow fly balls. That is unacceptable.
  • What was up with the baserunning in the seventh? Phil Nevin leads off with a double to left and is promptly thrown out at third on a fairly routine grounder to short. Kerry Robinson doesn’t run on that ball; what the heck is Nevin thinking? No problem, Ryan Klesko is on first with one out. Payton battles to draw a walk. Two on for Ramon Hernandez. On an 0-1 pitch, the runners break. Hernandez watches strike two, Klesko is easily nailed at third. Hernandez proceeds to strike out, inning over. Again, none of this stuff came back to haunt the Pads last night, but they can’t afford to be giving away so many outs.
  • Lest we be entirely negative, I should point out that this bullpen (with the notable exception of Eddie "Free Pass" Oropesa) has been awesome. With the Padres nursing a one-run lead heading into the seventh, once Scott Linebrink came in, the game was over. Check out Linebrink’s numbers as a Padre: 
     G   IP  H ER HR BB  K  ERA  H/9 BB/9  K/9
60 80.0 69 22  5 24 66 2.48 7.76 2.70 7.43

    That’ll work. Linebrink, Aki Otsuka, and Trevor Hoffman have been dominant at the end of games. Even when he’s ready, Rod Beck is going to have a hard time getting into games at this point. A good problem to have.

Roster Moves

  • Jeff Cirillo comes off the DL, Jason Szuminski is returned to the Cubs. Rocket Man made history by becoming the first MIT grad in the big leagues. He was a great story, but he was not ready for a role that made his presence on the Padres necessary. Sorry to see him go. Glad the Pads cut their losses on their latest Rule V guy sooner rather than later. As with all the other Rule V’ers Kevin Towers has snatched up over the years, I hope Szuminski will be able to make up for lost time and eventually work his way back up to the Show.
  • Antonio Osuna strains his right groin, heads to DL. Right-hander Brandon Puffer is recalled from Portland. Puffer’s 2004 line: 
      IP  H HR BB  K  ERA
23.0 22  0  4 15 1.57

    He has big-league experience, so that’s a plus.

Other Stuff

We try not to stray too far from the topic at hand, but sometimes it happens. And when it does, aren’t you the lucky one?

Books

  • Bill Bryson, A Walk in the Woods
  • Eric Nisenson, Open Sky: Sonny Rollins and His World of Improvisation

Tunes

  • Grant Green, Green Street
  • Incubus, A Crow Left of the Murder
  • Loretta Lynn, Van Lear Rose
  • Sonny Rollins, Saxophone Colossus

Whatever

As soon as I figure out my own list, it’ll make it’s way here. Meantime, Jake Peavy and Jose Acevedo hook up tonight at the Animal House (yes, I’ve given in and started calling it that). Same time, same channel. A series win would be most welcome. Go get ‘em, boys…

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