Woodmonster
Tue, Apr 26, 2005
by Geoff Young
Woody Williams pitched another gem last night in San Francisco. That’s two real good games in a row from Williams, for those scoring at home. For those who didn’t see the game, know that he pitched even better than his line. Several hits were of the bloop variety, and his defense didn’t do him any favors: Phil Nevin failed to cover the bag on what should have been a 3-6-3 double play to end the first; then in the fifth, a trio of Padres converged on a ball that nobody wanted to catch. With any help, Woody doesn’t give up more than one run.
Speaking of Williams, check out how his early numbers compare with those of David Wells:
IP H/9 HR/9 BB/9 SO/9 ERA
Williams 29.2 10.92 1.21 3.03 6.67 4.85
Wells 29.1 11.05 1.23 0.92 6.14 4.91
Kinda weird, huh?
Other Observations
- Geoff Blum has got to be the surprise of the early season. He’s hitting well and playing a passable shortstop in Khalil Greene’s absence. History says it won’t last, but what a bonus to get this kind of production out of a backup infielder.
- Nevin hit a couple pitches on the screws last night. In addition to his RBI double in the first, he hammered one to deep right center that Moises Alou caught to end the sixth.
- A win’s a win, but the game should not have been that close. Padres left 7 runners in scoring position; they very easily could have scored 8-10 runs last night.
- Is there some kind of report going around on Sean Burroughs? First Noah Lowry hit him in the knee, then Tyler Walker threw one under his feet; I still don’t know how Burroughs avoided that one. In Walker’s defense, he had no clue out there last night. Four walks and two wild pitches in an inning and two-thirds? Shades of Allan Simpson.
- Scott Linebrink, not Akinori Otsuka, worked the eighth. Too early to read anything into this, but it was interesting.
- Trevor Hoffman was vintage last night. He made guys look absolutely ridiculous. There’s no way he’s “lost it” as some have suggested. Rich at San Diego Spotlight has a real good take on the sequence Hoffy worked to J.T. Snow for the final out of the contest.
- Dex may be onto something here: the Pads are now 8-3 on Monday through Thursday, 1-8 on Friday through Sunday.
From the Papers
- Padres snap streak behind Williams (Padres.com)
- Padres continue to have Giants’ number (U-T)
From Giants Bloggers
- Argh! My ears! (Orange and Black Baseball)
- Giants replay (Only Baseball Matters)
Two teams go at it again tonight: Adam Eaton vs Jason Schmidt. I’ll post the In-Game Discussion this evening.
Picking up where last year's version left off, the Ducksnorts 2008 Baseball Annual provides in-depth analysis of and commentary on the San Diego Padres. Get your copy today.
April 26, 2005 at 9:25 am
Re: Nevin failing to cover
Replays showed that Blum couldn’t get a handle on the ball, which is why he double-clutched the throw. I’m not sure if Nevin also failed to get back to the bag in time, but it wouldn’t have gotten to him anyway because of Blum’s bobble.
April 26, 2005 at 10:00 am
Geoff,
Here is what I read into Linebrink working the 8th last night.
2004 - Otsuka Splits by days rest
Rest (as reliever)ERA G AVG
0 days rest 3.06 19 .232
1 day rest 1.74 19 .208
2 days rest 1.16 21 .190
3-5 days rest 0.63 13 .111
2004 - Linebrink by days rest
Rest (as reliever)ERA W L AVG
0 days rest 3.07 0 1 .229
1 day rest 1.82 2 0 .202
2 days rest 2.05 3 1 .231
3-5 days rest 1.69 2 1 .145
Both had numbers that were significantly better with a day of rest. Linebrink was rested and Aki wasn’t. Also, last year Aki made the most appearances he ever has as a professional and the most innings since 1997 in Japan when he threw 82.2. Boch knows he needs to watch Aki’s workload for Aki to be most effective.
April 26, 2005 at 10:40 am
Ed - THANKS for those stats!
Question: how does the concept of “needs some work” fit into this?
In other words, it never seems right to me when announcers say that a relief pitcher is being used because he hasn’t been used in X number of days and “needs some work” …
April 26, 2005 at 10:57 am
Eric, I’d need to watch that play again. It looked to me - live and on the replay - like Blum was double clutching because he had nobody to throw the ball to. Whatever the case, the defense let Woody down on that one.
Ed, good point about Aki/Linebrink. Thanks for passing those stats along.
April 26, 2005 at 11:33 am
“Speaking of Williams, check out how his early numbers compare with those of David Wells:
IP H/9 HR/9 BB/9 SO/9 ERA
Williams 29.2 10.92 1.21 3.03 6.67 4.85
Wells 29.1 11.05 1.23 0.92 6.14 4.91
Kinda weird, huh?”
That is absolutely eerie! That extra 4 or 5 mil they paid Wells is really paying off in the BBs/9 though…;)
April 26, 2005 at 12:10 pm
LynchMob-
I wish I had an answer for that. When closers come in to get work is when they seem to be at their worst and if a guy comes in to get work it seems like he is needed the next day so I have no idea what to tell you really. Good to see Hoffy strike out the side last night wasn’t it? People overreacted to opening day in Coors and he’s been real good since.
For tonight, hey Nevin, mix in a multi hit game! His only multi hit game was opening day!
April 26, 2005 at 1:40 pm
One note for the Wells vs. Williams. I read a piece saying that left-hand pitchers in Boston have historically been destroyed. The short leftfield kills them, so the ballpark effects here (no adjustments to offer) may be a major factor.
April 26, 2005 at 4:13 pm
The first Padres’ prospect to make BA’s Hot Sheet is … Fabian Jimenez, lhp, Padres (Low Class A Fort Wayne) … http://www.baseballamerica.com.....mp;cid=584 … 0.56 ERA in 16 IP … but only 8 Ks vs 8 BBs … eh.
I’ll repeat a note about Corey Smith … from a recent BA Daily Dish …
Could this be a sign of things to come for Padres third baseman Corey Smith? Or just another hot start followed by his long history of inconsistency? Smith, a first-round pick of the Indians in 2001 out of Piscataway (N.J.) High, always seems to get out of the gate strong, but then flounders with prolonged droughts at the plate with errors mounting as the offense struggles through June and July. Traded for Padres’ first rounder in 2001, Jake Gautreau, Smith is hitting .324/.377/.507 with two homers and six RBIs in 71 at-bats overall. He’s committed four errors in 17 games.
April 26, 2005 at 4:20 pm
Bad news already in from Portland … Brad Baker gave up 4 runs in bottom of 9th in 12-9 loss to SLC … http://www.minorleaguebaseball.....a_slcaaa_1
KRob with SBs #7 & #8
Barfield with HR #3 …
Jon Knott goes 0-for-4 … now down to .185 … ouch … done? ’spose so … OK, I’ll not bury him yet … he’s a big boy!
April 26, 2005 at 5:04 pm
Wells to DL, out 4-6 weeks:
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/.....9705204233
Thanks, LynchMob, for the minor-league report. At least Barfield hit a homer.