first pitch: 7:10 p.m., PT
television: Channel 4
matchup: Tim Stauffer (1-3, 4.44 ERA) vs D.J. Houlton (3-1, 5.72 ERA)
previews: ESPN | CBS | Padres.com
The much anticipated Stauffer/Houlton rematch takes place tonight in the hills of Los Angeles. Thanks to a lack of timely hitting and a surprisingly poor performance by the bullpen, the Padres dropped round one of what is bound to become one of the great pitching matchups of our time. Or not.
These two pitchers haven’t even worked a total of 100 combined big-league innings, so individual matchups are pretty pointless. Let’s see; what else can we talk about. How about the Pads’ late-inning dominance: is it still there?
Here’s where we were through May 15:
G R R/G BA OBP SLG
Pads 38 80 2.1 .281 .379 .437
Opp 38 37 1.0 .198 .278 .310
And now, through June 26:
G R R/G BA OBP SLG
Pads 76 134 1.8 .270 .361 .415
Opp 76 92 1.2 .241 .303 .373
Yeah, you couldn’t really expect to mantain that. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted.
Other Stuff
- Top 5 Pet Peeves About Sports Today (featuring, among others, Channel 4 broadcaster Matt Vasgersian; thanks to Eric Mirlis for the heads-up)
- Stats vs. Scouts: Do We Need to Choose Just One? (Baseball Digest Daily). This one spawned an interesting discussion at BTF. And even the U-T has an article on the need to balance the objective and the subjective. Synergy. It’s not just a word I don’t really understand.
- Padres play it safe, place Nevin on the disabled list (NC Times). Quoth Ben Johnson: “It took me a long time to get here, but I’m not surprised by that. I really didn’t know the game, and I wasn’t very good or consistent. I had to mature and trust my ability.” Also, Eric Young has started a rehab assignment at Portland.
- Nady views himself as everyday ballplayer (U-T). We’re with you on that one, X. Quoth Robert Fick, no slouch himself: “There are not many players in the major leagues whose position is first base/third base/center field and not be out of position in any of the three.”
- Reese having one heck of a weekend (MLB.com). Yankees have recalled USD alum Kevin Reese. He started in left field Sunday night against the Mets and went 0-for-1 with a walk. Reese joins Milwaukee’s Brady Clark as the only current big leaguers from USD. We’re mostly about the Padres around here, but gotta give some love to the alma mater. Toreros represent!
- Boone or Moyer could be Padre-bound (U.S.S. Mariner). It’s that time of year: we’ve got rumors. Make of them what you will.
- M’s blog Lookout Landing’s take on the finale between the bitter I-5 rivals. I can so get behind Jeff’s sentiments on Lee Ann Rimes. Or that other guy, Lee Greenwood. Really old patriotic songs aren’t subject to interpretation, dig? While I’m at it, I don’t ever need to hear another R&B version of “The Star Spangled Banner.” I’ll be honest: from a purely musical standpoint, our national anthem ain’t that great; but let’s not make it worse, m’kay? Just deliver the song and get on with life. Anyway, Jeff also likes Damian Jackson.
And there you have it. Go Pads!
Crap. Giles coulda made a mess of this.
I’ll take 4-0, though…
Lance is the master of hyperbole
he cannot be stopped.
Did Scully call him “Hee-Chop” on purpose?
Nicely done, Eric. Were you a ballplayer, you would be THE GREATEST HITTER WHO EVER LIVED.
Does Klesko have a range?
Klesko gets quickly to where the ball isn’t. How’s that for “range?”
Something called Hee-Sop Choi has scored. That cannot be good.
… back off. I know who Choi is.
Eric, I am such a master of hyperbole, some might call me hyperbolic.
Greene has “range,” apparently.
4-1.
Ooh, Khalil’s range looked just fine on that play.
Perfect discrption Lance. Only thing better is that look Ryno always has on his face after he goofs up.
He does get rid of the ball very quickly
Klesko does alright out there. I gotta like him, as we’re frequent dinner partners. That is, he’s regularly seated near my wife and I at Fleming’s after home games.
They’ve changed DJ’s second hit to E5. On the replay it looks like that’s the right call. DJ hit the ball hard but it was right at Perez. Should’ve been caught.
Burroughs with a mammoth blow!!!
I was thinking, the Yankee’s need a center fielder.
Do you think we could ship them Roberts for something of signifigance? I know the cupboard is a little bare.
DJ (THE GREATEST HITTER WHO EVER LIVED) was robbed, of course…
in Korean, the pronunciation is more like “hee sup cheh.” The english transliteration screws up the vowels. Just FYI.
YES!! Trade Roberts!! Yes!Yes!Yes!Yes!Yes!Yes!Yes!Yes!Yes!Yes!
Eric, I’ll remember that next time I’m in Korea.
haha
Goddamned English transliteration!
Damn, I love baseball. LOVE it.
I’m just sayin’.
Jeff Kent is a porn-star mustache-wearing piece of ass-phleghm.
I’m just sayin’.
Robert Fick: Best defensive catcher ever?
Easily. He makes Bench, Boone, Pudge, and Sundberg look like poo.
For those of you NOT in the know, it would appear that our boy Eric is in a DEATH METAL BAND!!! Go ahead, click on his name. Rawk on Eric!!!
whoa! truth comes out! *blush*
Undoubtedly.
Eric, isn’t baseball a bit wholesome for you???
Hey, congrats on signing to a label.
Wholesome? I play drums for church too.
Be careful, labels can be evil. Or would the evil be a good thing for a death-metal band?
The church of Satan!?!?
dja guys see Bochy throw up the metal horns for me?
hahaha…here it comes
I KNEW it!! Bochy’s alligned with the Devil!!!
Double play thwarts the forces of darkness!!!
I’m just a cultural anomaly. I work M-F in a cubicle with a bunch of old white folks, play gigs on Saturdays in front of a bunch of hispanic teenagers, and then go to church on Sundays with a bunch of korean-american yuppies. So now you know me.
And then chat about Padres in the evenings with a bunch of…screen names
That’s me… a screen name.
really, so am I.
Don’t pigeon-hole me. Wait, that doesnt sound right.
Sounded perfect to me.
You all talk baseball, and have fun. I’m leaving the office.
Catch you guys next time. Go Padres!!!
friggin’ Drew…
Spotted a four run lead going into the bottom of the second, Stauffer can’t hold on to it.
Frustrating game. That AJ dude got it going; getting all his pitches over for strikes after the first couple of innings. I think Fick was calling too many fastballs when the Dodgers were pounding them. Need to mix it up.
OK, what about the 8th? Get Klesko on, a freakish leftie. Why bat Fick? Put Miggie in there and at least force a change or get a better match up. If they send in a rightie, then you have Burroughs. If he gets on, then you have Nady, who actually has better numbers against RHP. But, no. May not have influenced the outcome, but why hit Fick? He almost dropped in a nice double, but it was not the match up you needed.
And, as much as I love Nady, what is he doing swinging at that crap on a 3-1 pitch when you are leading off the 9th down by 1?
Aargh. I fear this team may be missing a great opportunity to put away the Blue.
And I cannot stand Jeff Kent at all. Hated him in SF, abided him Houston, but hate him again in LA.
And the ump was pissing me off. He could not decide if the left side just off the plate was a strike. It seemed if you were Stauffer it was not, but if you were a Dodger, it was. And then he let walks go to Drew and Werth on 3-2 counts(neither scored) that were more strikes than many of the pitches he gave the Blue. Acutally, Drew’s 3-2 pitch was a ball, but the 2-2 pitch was almost right down the middle.
I hope this game doesn’t mirror the season…build a moderate lead early, snooze the rest of the way and lose in the end. There’ve been a couple games like this lately.
Hullo, Geoff? Hey, there’s a game tonight (Tuesday)! Well, I don’t be on-line … I’m goin’ to see Ricky (Henderson) and Scotty (Goodman) … ie. the Surf Dawgs!
BP’s STAT OF THE DAY: Top 5 NL Team Defenses, by Defensive Efficiency
Team, DEF_EFF
Milwaukee Brewers, .711
Pittsburgh Pirates, .708
Washington Nationals, .704
Chicago Cubs, .702
Philadelphia Phillies, .701
… hmmm, that’d be a good list to be on … DJ ROCKS!
And has anyone else noticed that X has HR’d in every game since I arrived in SD? Go X!!!