first pitch: 4:05 p.m., PT
television: Channel 4
matchup: Jake Peavy (5-1, 2.67 ERA) vs Jason Johnson (4-5, 3.33 ERA)
previews: ESPN | Padres.com | CBS
In a rematch of the 1984 World Series, the Padres head to the Motor City for three games with Los Tigres. Current Friars skipper Bruce Bochy (.228/.250/.435) was the backup catcher on the ’84 Pads, while Detroit manager Alan Trammell (.314/.382/.468) started at shortstop for the eventual champions.
Turning to tonight’s matchup, Johnson has been very tough against right-handed hitters this year (.216/.252/.284), but lefties have done pretty well against him (.301/.357/.481). I don’t know if he’s added a new pitch or what, but last season there was virtually no lefty/righty split for Johnson. The guess here is that either Mark Sweeney or Robert Fick will DH in this one for the Pads.
Also, Johnson gets tougher as the game goes on:
#Pit AB BA OBP SLG 1-15 40 .375 .432 .550 16-30 53 .340 .333 .660 31-45 47 .191 .255 .319 46-60 45 .178 .224 .267 61-75 48 .188 .204 .271 76-90 41 .220 .250 .220 91-105 26 .385 .485 .385
After the 30th pitch of a game, batters are hitting just .218 against Johnson over 211 at-bats, with a whopping seven extra-base hits. Padres need to get to him early.
On the other side, when lefties hit Peavy, they continue to hit him hard. The batting average (.226) is fine, but the XBH% (.600) and ISO (.226) not so much. Peavy has had two subpar starts in a row, which is very unusual for him; the Padres need him to get back on track now and for a long time to come.
Folks, you are my eyes and ears for this one. Any coverage I’m likely to get out here will come from people with very little, if any, interest in the Padres. I’m counting on you to tell it like it is in the comments.
Assume you have internet connection, Duck. Catch the game on Gameday via the Padres website. Its what all of corportate office workers rely on during day games, for instance this Thursday. I open Gameday during a regular game because it has a lot of stats, i.e. pitch count, balls and strike, etc.
Toronto is a fun, clean city. Even the panhandlers are polite.
Don’t care about hockey, but I really enjoyed the hall. Very interactive.
I USED to care about hockey and visited the old Hall (it moved in the early 90s). The old sweaters were great and the ancient goalie equipment was frighteningly inadequate. I still get goose bumps hearing Foster Hewitt say “Henderson scores for Canada!” at the ’72 Summit Series exhibit. It was Hewitt, by the way, who coined the “He shoots, he scores!” phrase that you heard Bob Miller use countless times against the Kings in many a broadcast.
Regrettably, the Leafs had been bounced from the playoffs so I didn’t get to attend a game in Maple Leaf Gardens. I did see an A’s-Jays game and Jose Canseco hit a ball into the restaurant in DEEP center field. Geoff, when you’re in Skydome, you won’t believe how gigantic a shot that was. Steroid-aided, of course, but still titanic.
Bochy continues to mystify: why is Fick not in the lineup at DH? Sweeney has had big hits for the team, especially early on, but Fick I am sure would love to get a crack at his former team. Was he a late scratch or something?
Are you asking if Fick was a “late scratch or something”? Or Bochy?
Fick of course, but then again Bochy could still be scratching his head trying to come up with the best matchups.
Speaking of matchups, we really have no business losing this game assuming Peavy is his normal self.
Dave Roberts is back … but no runs in top of 1st …
- D. Roberts grounded bunt out to pitcher
- G. Blum fouled out to first
- R. Klesko walked
- B. Giles flied out to left
- End of Inning (0 Runs, 0 Hits, 0 Errors)
Can’t help but say that I wanted Polanco in a Padres uniform to spell Loretta while he was out, and then to take Burroughs’ job.
After 1st inning …
Pitches-strikes – J Peavy 12-8; J Johnson 16-9.
Ground balls-fly balls – J Peavy 1-0; J Johnson 1-2.
Batters faced – J Peavy 3; J Johnson 4.
Fick should definitely be in there for Sweeney.
Polanco woulda been a good idea … but once the Phil’s signed him, his cost (in $) seemed too high.
BP’s STAT OF THE DAY
Top 5 NL Relievers, by Expected Wins Added over Replacement Level (WXRL)
Player, Team, ARP, WXRL
Chad Cordero, WAS, 10.7, 2.736
Lance Cormier, ARI, 11.8, 2.199
Jason Isringhausen, SLN, 7.9, 2.031
Julian Tavarez, SLN, 6.7, 1.893
Luis Ayala, WAS, 7.8, 1.604
… earlier in the season, lists like this had a Padre or 2 in them …
Top of 2nd …
- P. Nevin flied out to center
- R. Hernandez singled to left
- M. Sweeney struck out swinging
- S. Burroughs lined out to shortstop
- End of Inning (0 Runs, 1 Hit, 0 Errors)
… Burroughs trying to “single to left” … can’t even do that very often
Looks like it will be a short rain delay (hopefully, don’t want to lose Peavy’s start). Oh well. Off to dinner. Be back later, hopefully with the Padres leading.
speaking of Bush..Matt Bush seems to be in a semi hot streak. yesterday he had 3 hits and today he has singled and scored in his only ab..
there is hope for him yet.
Are we in a delay right now?
yea..
We’re back.
very good fundamental baseball, get em on(khalil) get em over(roberts,blum) get em in(klesko error)
works for me..
1-0 Padres …
- K. Greene singled to left
- D. Roberts sacrificed to first, K. Greene to second
- G. Blum grounded out to first, K. Greene to third
- R. Klesko safe at first on first baseman D. Young’s fielding error, K. Greene scored
Peavy came back after an hour delay. That’s rare these days.
Burroughs looks like he’s swinging for the fences now, no? Anyone see that NC times article about Burroughs trying to drive the ball more?
well there u go, jake is throwing up gopher balls. actually, he doesnt seem to have good command and when he throws it in there, its meat..
nevin led off with a single and died there..no move em over, or chance to get em in..
fly out, strike out, fly out..shit
well he looked dominant there, maybe he is ok..i sure hope so..
come on dang it…roberts didnt move greene up with that dang fly out
I’m surprised Peavy came back out after the delay. A hour and 40 minutes is nothing to sneeze at. He looked good for the first couple batters, but then he lost his command.
Yeah, I didn’t realize it was that long. That’s really rare then.
I guess Bochy decided that it would have been too predictable to have Roberts bunt a third time, even though it was the right thing to do.
With Peavy spotting the Tigers this lead, we really need to tee off on the Tigers’ ‘pen, otherwise this game is a lost opportunity.
Thank goodness the Tigers can’t play defense otherwise we would be getting shut out.
Nice piece of hitting by Nevin to pull the Padres within one, but come on Nevin, did you have to dig yourself a hole by swinging at every pitch that he threw?
Another nice piece of hitting by Sweeney after looking foolish on the first two offerings. Tie game.
thats more like it.. good fundamentals and add a couple of timely hits..works for me..
If Klesko can misplay a fly ball that bad, then Xavier Nady deserves another shot at third.
Peavy deserves better than that, and how does the guy score all the way from first on that? He was running of course, but the ball didn’t land that far away from Klesko.
nice play Nevin..we cant give up too much more
not to make excuses for Klesko, but it could have been that he took his eyes off the ball, just for a sec, to see where greene was and then couldnt pick it up quick enough to make the catch afterwards..
It could be a lot of things, but it sure did hurt.
I am sure it was something like that Hank, but if Klesko is calling for it, as he appeared to be doing so, it is Greene’s responsibility to stay clear. Klesko HAS to catch that ball, Greene was no where near him by that point. It was a pop-up straight out of the movie Major League.
Klesko, Giles and Nevin go down meekly..its tough to come back now with sweeney, burroughs and greene.. dang
This team is starting to make the same mental errors that plagued them in April.
Well this game is over as Reyes has blown it. Reyes’ time on this club is coming to an end.
This is embarassing.
How many times are these guys going to keep swinging for the fences. Every at bat they swing for the fences and every at bat they fly out or hit a little dribbler. We need Tony Gwynn as a hitting coach.
They need to catch the ball. Their offense should be fine, but if they keep giving the other team free runs we are not going to win many games.
Tell the padres front office we don’t want a competitive team we want a world champ for a change. If he doesn’t spend his money we the fans don’t. We work just as hard for our money. We don’t want to see this crap!
I’m so glad that Reyes was able to keep us in the game.
Yeah he always does a great job! He should be pitching and working out rather than working on his table muscles.
Well the only positive I can think of is that Trammel had to use his entire bullpen in this game. Unfortunately, we have just dropped a game that we win on paper, had as good a chance to win as any other, but lose. Games like this will hurt come August.
Bruce, I’m pretty sure that on paper the Tigers scored eight runs, and the Padres scored but four.
Coincidentally, that was the final score. F**ck!!!