Stauffer Wins Debut
Thu, May 12, 2005
by Geoff Young
So Tim Stauffer won his big-league debut Wednesday at Cincinnati. Congratulations! The win also marked manager Bruce Bochy’s 800th as a Padre. Congrats to Bochy as well. And while we’re at it, congratulations to the entire team on a 5-2 road trip. I’m sure it makes coming home that much sweeter.
Stauffer’s line: 6 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 3 BB, 5 SO, 108 pitches. Not bad, right? It’s even better when you consider how his debut started: HBP, HR, BB, 2B, HBP. Yep, two runs in and bases loaded with nobody out in the first. But you know what? That was the end of the scoring. Nice.
Also nice is seeing the top two guys in the lineup reach base 10 times in a game. How did the Pads manage to score only seven runs with that kind of production from Dave Roberts and Mark Loretta? Ah, yes: they left 15 runners on base. Don’t get me wrong, a win’s a win, but let’s start cashing in on opportunities.
In other news, Ryan Klesko has matched last year’s home run total:
AB BA OBP SLG HR ISO XB/H HR/AB
2004 402 .291 .399 .448 9 .157 .368 44.7
2005 116 .259 .363 .552 9 .293 .533 12.9
Healthy? Yeah, I think maybe so.
More Stauffer
Here’s a little of what some other folks are saying. You might also check out the comments to Wednesday’s In-Game Discussion.
- Mr. Towers, can Timmy stay for a while? (San Diego Spotlight). Peter takes a look at Tim Stauffer’s big-league debut. I think it’s safe to say a lot of us share Peter’s excitement.
- Stauffer wins first for Padres (Padres.com). Quoth the pitcher: “After I got out of the first, I started to feel a little bit more relaxed… It’s nice to show people what I can do.”
- Tim terrific (Saratogian). The baseball team at Stauffer’s high school watched the game via Internet, projected onto a “big screen.”
- Shaky start, but fantastic finish for Padres hurler (Albany Times-Union). Stauffer’s father attended the game wearing “a Padres Hawaiian print shirt and khaki shorts.” How can you not like that? Also, this tidbit: “Jim O’Leary, a teammate at Richmond, missed the final exam in an economics class he’s taking at Malloy College in Long Island to be here. He won’t be allowed to make the test up, either.”
- Hometown fans root for Stauffer (Saratogian). More local reaction. I don’t know about you, but I never get tired of these stories.
- Stauffer shows moxie, gets win in debut (NC Times). Bochy praises the rookie for his composure.
- Curse of Ismael ends (U-T). Let’s not tell anyone that Stauffer was taking #1 starter Woody Williams‘ spot in the rotation and that Darrell May is the guy who replaced Tim Redding in the #5 spot, m’kay? If they want to declare the “curse” ended, that’s just fine by me.
Off day today, then three against the Fish starting Friday and three against the Bravos starting Monday.
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May 12, 2005 at 7:54 am
re: “I don’t know about you, but I never get tired of these stories.” … me neither, Geoff! Keep ‘em coming!
May 12, 2005 at 8:27 pm
An eye-popping line for Jared Wells for Lake Elsinore tonight … http://www.minorleaguebaseball.....x_hdmafx_1 …
6 IP, 7 H, 3 ER, 0 BB, 11 Ks
… he got the W, now at 3-2 with 5.30 ERA … Storm wins the game 9-4 … Kottaras goes 3-for-5 w/ a RBI, now hitting .330.
May 13, 2005 at 11:48 am
I get the feeling you mean AB/HR, not HR/AB. Hitting 44.7 Home Runs each time you come up to bat would be a rather impressive feat,t hough.
May 13, 2005 at 12:12 pm
You are correct, sir. And yes, that would be a rather impressive feat.
May 13, 2005 at 11:42 pm
Yes Geoff, I’m quite excited about Stauffer. I hear a lot of guys calling him a 3-4 starter and I’m not sure I’d go as far as calling him 2 (or a 1) but I do think he’s a solid 2.5 (if we can so-claim). Seriously though here’s the top 4 in the rotation next year:
Peavy
Eaton
B-Law
Stauffer
I’d put Stauffer ahead of B-Law in terms of talent, but it is a good idea to let the young guy go against a lessor pitcher.
Thanks for the link!
May 14, 2005 at 11:52 am
Peter: You and I see Stauffer about the same way. I’m thinking his upside is a better Lawrence.
May 14, 2005 at 2:33 pm
…or maybe a B-Law with better velocity…