first pitch: 6:40 7:10 p.m., PT
television: Channel 4
matchup: Darrell May (0-0, 4.24 ERA) vs Brad Halsey (3-2, 3.54 ERA)
The Friars beat Arizona in Tuesday night’s opener at the BOB. The final score was 9-5, but it shouldn’t have been that close. The Snakes’ starter, Russ Ortiz, worked behind in the count all night and was bailed out several times by inexplicably overanxious Padres hitters. (To give one example: In the third inning alone, Ortiz threw 15 balls and 4 strikes, but didn’t surrender a single run; he walked the bases loaded with two outs and then induced Khalil Greene to hit a weak foul popup to Troy Glaus on a 1-0 pitch to end the inning. Before the popup, 13 of Ortiz’ previous 14 pitches had missed the mark; why is Greene hacking?)
The good news is, the Padres got some timely hitting from Phil Nevin, Dave Roberts, and Robert Fick, and hung on to get Adam Eaton his sixth straight victory. Trevor Hoffman capped an “interesting” ninth inning by retiring Craig Counsell on a deep fly ball to right for a one-pitch save. With the win, the Friars move back into first place in the NL West, a half game ahead of Arizona.
Wednesday night features two left-handers.
AB BA OBP SLG
May vs current Diamondbacks 68 .309 .364 .485
Glaus (.545/.583/.727 in 11 AB) is the only batter who has double-digit at-bats against May. Tony Clark and Quinton McCracken have the homers. For whatever reason, the spot in the lineup giving May the most trouble so far this year is the #8 hole (.538/.571/.923 in 13 AB). That’s a real small sample, though, so it could be a fluke. Again, with limited data points, May has been very tough with RISP (.200/.250/.267 in 30 AB); those numbers are pretty far out of line with what he’s done over the past several years, so it’s probably a fluke. It’s also helps explain the respectable ERA despite weak supporting numbers. Eventually those guys May puts on base are going to start scoring. Every time he gets the start, you just hope he can keep it close until the bullpen arrives. It has the potential to be ugly sometimes, but how is that any worse than what the Pads had at #5 for much of 2004?
For the Snakes, Halsey makes his 16th big league start and second against San Diego. His first game against the Pads last month was pretty darned good, although Nevin and Ramon Hernandez did take him deep.
X Factor
Xavier Nady did not play in Tuesday night’s contest and remains well rested. He has sat out 4 games in a row, and 8 of the last 11.
G AB BA OBP SLG
thru Apr 13 8 34 .412 .459 .824
since Apr 13 24 52 .154 .279 .250
(Thanks to David Pinto’s Day by Day Database for those numbers.)
I’m beginning to think the bench may not be the best place for Nady. I wonder if anyone else could use his services.
Pizza Feed
In the comments to yesterday’s In-Game Discussion LynchMob alerted us to the Baseball Prospectus Pizza Feed that is happening at Petco Friday, June 24. Padres GM Kevin Towers will be speaking. More info is available over at Prospectus. Maybe we can get a bunch of Ducksnorters out there.
Much less I don’t know how you put in Reyes after his last two outings into such a high leverage situation. If your best relief pitcher can only pitch three outs, are these three outs no more important than those in the ninth? Of course they aren’t, but that is what happens when most managers manage their bullpen by rote.
Pathetic. Out ‘pen has really let us down this series. I thought for sure that with a lead of 6-3 and then 9-8 that we were going to win with the way they have pitched.
What does a manager do? Fills out the lineup, makes pinch-hitting/running decisions, makes pitching changes. Am I missing anything? Bochy is terrible at #’s 1 & 3.
I agree, Richard. Assuming Hammond was available, he probably was the better option. Aki isn’t right.
It was the right decision. You don’t make decisions based on what happened last night. Aki is our setup guy. He just didn’t do the job.
That’s just stupid. Aki couldn’t find the plate. It wasn’t that he was making good pitches and they were getting hits. He had nothing and couldn’t locate at all. You just don’t throw him out there because it’s “his inning.”
Did Faulk just hit 95?
exactly. Gotta blame Aki, not Bochy.
Hammond must be unable to pitch on consecutive days at the moment. At least that is why I hope Reyes was brought in before him. I would have rather have seen Falkenborg pitch to Clayton than Reyes.
Do you suppose Bochy has gotten so used to losing over the years that he lacks the capacity to manage for the win every night?
Hammond does have a tender hamstring lately.
No, Eric. You do have to blame Bochy. He watched Aki pitch last night. He should know better.
Don’t tell me you would have brought in Falkenborg if you were Bochy.
Aki just hasn’t really had it much at all this year. He looked good there for a while, but generally has not been sharp with his command all year imo. I really wouldn’t be opposed to trading him in the right deal on general return on your investment terms. I also reserve the right to not bring him back next year if it costs too much. And I really really like the guy.
Hammond only threw ten pitches yesterday.
Why is Ramon hacking 1-0 at that pitch?
Geez, he should be on first by now. He does understand that a homer doesn’t tie it?
I’m all FOR flexibility with reliever’s roles, depending on their performance, but not to the extreme of shifting every day, based on what they did yesterday.
“Rich Campbell at the plate…”
I saw that…
Hammond has a nagging injury suffered the same day Chipper Jones went down in batting practice…don’t remember what muscle it was…hammy maybe?
Players win games, managers lose them.
Managers have to put the players in positions to win the games… I love Aki, but he seems to have Hung One Kim’s propensity for losing self-confidence. The BOB is Coors-Lite, so losing confidense here doesn’t take a huge stretch of imagination.
Bochy shouldn’t have had him in there…
“Hammond does have a tender hamstring lately.”
oops, sorry Eric…right, that is where I was going…
How about based on what they’ve done all year long, Eric? Aki has not had good stuff. Also, when a guy is as erratic as Aki was in his last appearance, you just can’t throw him back out there in the 8th with a one-run lead. Again, Bochy just doesn’t manage as though he intends to win.
I just think it is a shame that we didn’t use out best guy out of the pen. With no one out and the bases full, what makes things easiest to get out of the situation, the strikeout. We all know that Hoffy can get those.
Guys, in case you haven’t met Rich, he’s about 5″ shorter and red-(as opposed to brown)-bearded; but spot-on for Chad Tracy.
Bochy is more worried about getting all of his guys playing time and not upsetting guys than he is about winning.
That is Bochy’s problem, he like so many other managers runs the pen by rote, he has his 7th inning guy, his 8th inning guy and so on. He seldom seems to adjust those roles on performance.
I think that if Burroughs rolls over on one to ground into a DP here, I might just put my fist through my monitor.
Way to go Sean! Take one for the team. Hope he’s okay…
Alright Sean, way to take one for the team! Bring on Bob Fick for the magic three run homer!
Let’s go, Bob!
I agree with Bruce…after Aki struggled, I’d have brought in Hoffy to clean up the mess. But we all know why that’s not happening, whether we agree with it or not.
Where did that hit Burroughs? Geez, that was scary. Fick batting for Jackson. Man, am I glad Nady isn’t in the lineup.
In Bochy’s defense, psychologically it’s easier if you can be prepared. Having defined roles makes things easier on the bullpen members. A lot of us stat-heads forget that we are dealing with humans here w/ human emotions, concerns, frailities, etc. Ankiel still has all the pitching ability in the world, his mind just won’t let him perform.
I like Arizona’s closer. Can’t find the plate.
If Ramon had gone up there with a plan to lead off the inning we’d have bases juiced no out.
Sean got hit in the right hand I think.
All of a sudden this umps giving the kid the calls. Please.
I agree wholeheartedly Peter, but we can always hope for a better future. Supposedly.
Khalil Greene hit that ball a ton.
I thought Khalil hit that out.
Now, it falls to Blummer.
Dammit, Ramon. If he’s on base, it’s a tie game.
Here comes the man of the hour, Blum, with the opportunity to tie the game. BIG hit from Khalil. 12-11. This game is wild.
How’s this for irony?
If Blum makes an out, it hurts our 1-run record…
Thanks to Greene’s heroics
C’mon Blummer. Get Klesko up there.
if I’m a Zonie I want no part of Ryno here…
They must want a piece of Ryno. I say bring it on.
Nasty pitch 3-1.
argh!
Damn. I almost thought they would tie it.