first pitch: 4:10 p.m., PT
television: Channel 4
matchup: Jake Peavy (2-0, 2.32 ERA) vs Aaron Harang (1-2, 3.96 ERA)
game preview: CBS
The bad news is, the Padres are coming off a 15-5 shellacking at the hands of the Cardinals. The good news is, the Friars still managed to take three of four in St. Louis, where they hadn’t won any games prior to this week since 2001. Even in the loss, it was basically an 11-run first that did them in. One bad inning in four games against what had been the best team in the NL to that point? I’ll take it.
Up next, the Cincinnati Reds, who are currently 11-19, 8 games behind the aforementioned Cardinals in the NL Central. The first game features Padres ace Peavy against San Diego product Harang. It also marks the return of Khalil Greene, who has been out with a broken finger since April 16.
AB BA OBP SLG
Peavy vs current Reds 49 .224 .309 .306
Harang vs current Padres 40 .300 .364 .375
Not much to go on here for either pitcher. Joe Randa has the lone homer against Peavy. As for Harang, historically he has been easier to hit as the game goes on. Three-year splits by inning (courtesy ESPN):
Inn AB BA OBP SLG AB/HR ISO 1-3 659 .266 .324 .403 36.6 .137 4-6 507 .304 .361 .546 19.5 .242
And by number of pitches (courtesy ESPN):
#Pit AB BA OBP SLG AB/HR ISO 1-15 150 .260 .343 .420 30.0 .160 16-30 190 .274 .333 .405 38.0 .131 31-45 220 .256 .297 .379 55.0 .123 46-60 203 .271 .320 .438 25.4 .167 61-75 191 .288 .350 .476 38.2 .188 76-90 163 .350 .406 .632 14.8 .282 91-105 92 .261 .324 .543 15.3 .282
The strategy would seem to be make him throw a lot of pitches early, then jump on him when he starts leaving them up in the zone the second and third times through the lineup. That’s actually not a bad approach against most pitchers. We’ll see how well the Padres can execute.
And then swings at ball 4.
Nevin swung at a bad pitch there (according to GameDay).
Giles is 2-3, 2 BB. Not a bad game at all.
Mercker seems to be struggling with control. They need to make him work for outs.
Giles is clearly swinging the bat better.
Great, DJ popped out…
Yeah, Nevin reached away and low to put his bat on that one.
Nevin has hardly walked at all this year. It’s beginning to bug me.
A rookie and May don’t pitch the next two. It’s Lawrence and May.
Stauffer is slated to start tomorrow’s game. Although there is some question of who will pitch on Wednesday. Lawrence has not had good starts at the Great American if I recall.
Nady, Burroughs & Ojeda up next inning if Linebrink holds the Reds scoreless here.
Apparently Stauffer will start Wednesday according to the Pads’ website.
ESPN.com and the Reds announces both say Lawrence, but maybe we should go with the Pads site for now.
And Jessie Garcia was outrighted and Randy Williams was DFA’ed as someone said earlier.
Speaking of the Reds’ annoucers, they earlier said that Peavy had been pitching with a “stiff” shoulder the past few outings and that there was some concern with it. I have not seen any news of this in the media. Anyone else hear anything about this?
Good work by Linebrink.
I heard it. They could be right, but they said a lot of stuff tonight, much of which didn’t make sense.
Alright, good start with Nady, let’s see if Burroughs can bunt again.
Nady’s on. All of the position players have played.
Nope. He just can’t get it out far enough.
I see what you said now, Bruce. I guess it’s Lawrence, then Stauffer.
That’s what I am thinking. If they do that, I don’t think they will need a 5th starter (i.e May) for a while. Which is a plus.
The ump has lost the strikezone again.
I think that is as well as Linebrink has pitched all season.
Nevin up now: six walks on the year.
Eaton pinch-hitting.
Klesko ran through the stop sign. Not a smooth move.
Klesko just ran through a stop sign. Not even close. Stupid!
Klesko single-handedly blew that inning. *SIGH* Let’s see if the bullpen can hold the line some more.
Now, I’m guessing we score on that Jackson ground out, if Klesko doesn’t run through the sign and there are is only one out.
We beat Griffey with wiffle ball.
Nice outing from Linebrink, as you said. His ERA went from 4.05 to 3.52.
Yeah it didn’t look like they would have been able to go home on that groundout.
I’m fascinated by Hammond. He wins with interstate-legal pitches. I wouldn’t mind seeing him start, if May keeps stinking out loud.
I love that Hammond ephus pitch.
Nice job X! Let’s try this bunting thing again with Burroughs. Or at least hit it to the right side.
Burroughs is really struggling at the plate during this road trip.
Good job Roberts. Let’s put this one to bed with Trevor.
What’s our record in 1-run games?
espn.com says 8-3. All three of our wins against the Rocks last week were by one run.
that called third strike on Ryno was BS btw. I was afraid that he might get tossed and we would have had to put a pitcher out in left!
Trevor Hoffman, with his 89 percent save percentage is in.
Caught him looking. One out. (Death)
Two outs. (Taxes)
Hoffman with the assist. Three outs. (Hoffman)
Of course my Real player decided to start stuttering when THoff came in. For some reason I have not had smooth video for his last three apprearances. Great comeback. They stole a game that they on paper had no business losing.
Yeah, it wasn’t pretty, especially Giles in the field, but the Padres made it a long game, and the bullpen carried us. 9-3 in one-run games now.
That was a most unexpected and satisfying win. I did not think there would be anything left to watch by the time I got home.
I’m a late entry to this discussion, but that was one hell of a win. The Pads are rolling, and I expect that to continue.
Why do you expect it to continue, Lance? Just the “law that things in motion will stay in motion”?
Lawrence vs Claussen … sure, I can see that match up giving us the edge … but that’s not because of BLaw’s 5.19 ERA … http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/players/6700 … it’s because Claussen’s @ 5.60!!!
It is nice to have our starting 8 on the field … and bench players Nady, Sweeney, Fick and DJ are all playing well … and I’m a BIG fan of DEPTH … an undervalued component of winning teams … and these guys, and our bullpen, make us DEEP …
And then Stauffer vs Paul Wilson … well, Wilson’s ERA is 7.25 … edge to Staffer? That’s a bit hard to imagine, but 7.25 is 7.25 … yikes!
OK, my expectations are that we win the next 2