first pitch: 7:05 p.m., PT
television: Channel 4
matchup: Tim Stauffer (1-1, 4.01 ERA) vs Glendon Rusch (4-1, 2.35 ERA)
previews: ESPN | CBS | Padres.com
The Padres couldn’t quite mount another late-inning comeback Wednesday night, as Geoff Blum‘s bid for a walk-off grand slam fell just shy. Still, there’s something to be said for the fact that this team never thinks it’s out of a game. They battle, and win or lose, that’s a good thing to see.
Tonight the Friars kick off a four-game series against the resurgent Cubs. Stauffer makes his fifth big-league start, while Chicago sends out a guy I thought the Pads might make a play for this winter. Rusch instead returned to the Cubs and is having a terrific year.
AB BA OBP SLG
Rusch vs current Padres 133 .211 .279 .338
Stauffer has never faced any of the current Brewers (duh). Unexpectedly, the guys doing the damage for the Pads are Brian Giles (.250/.325/.500 in 36 AB) and, in a much smaller sample, Ryan Klesko (.571/.700/.571 in 7 AB). Ramon Hernandez has a homer in four at-bats. Geoff Blum (.136/.136/.136 in 22 AB) has struggled against Rusch but there aren’t a lot of options on the infield right now, so he’ll probably get the start.
We’ve talked about Stauffer’s lefty/righty splits (.286/.400/.524 vs LHB; .235/.286/.353 vs RHB), and the gap does appear to be narrowing. Thanks to Jonathan of the excellent PDX Beavers, we now can look at his splits at Portland over the past couple years:
vs LHB vs RHB
AB H HR BB SO BA AB/HR AB H HR BB SO BA AB/HR
2004 174 48 11 14 48 .276 15.8 144 35 4 12 18 .243 36.0
2005 84 20 1 4 17 .238 84.0 59 14 0 4 14 .237 inf
tot. 258 68 12 18 65 .264 21.5 203 49 4 16 32 .241 50.8
Small differences in batting average, but much more susceptible to the home run (at least in 2004; not so much this year). I guess this falls into the “still bears watching” department.
On an unrelated note, maybe those of us who are going to the Baseball Prospectus Pizza Feed on June 24 want to think about getting together ahead of time? I don’t have any specific ideas, it’s just a thought right now. I’m open to suggestions, etc.
Geoff,
I’m sure Jon and I would be up for getting together before the event. I assume we’ll all be sitting together at the game. It could be like a Padres Blog Army convention!
Dex, that would be sweet! I look forward to finally meeting you guys.
Padres Blog Army. I’m likin’ it.
Not to scoff at our own budding gamethread community, but there were NINE-HUNDRED-AND-NINE comments at Batgirl yesterday.
Hers may be the best-written, most humorous blog on the web, but DAMN, it’s still a Twins blog!!!
And Geoff, you know Ducksnorts is a HUGE part of my existence, but there’s only one Batgirl, y’know?
Go Padres!!!
Giles has the night off. I hope that’s all it is.
Bochy is an idiot. The Miguel Ojeda experiment finally bit him in the ass. Glad that he put a catcher in the outfield rather than an outfielder like Nady. This has to stop. If you want Ojeda to play, let him catch and give Ramon a night off. I can’t wait until he has Reyes playing 2nd to give DJ a night off.
Good job, Boch. Right-hander on the mound, tough and HUGE rightfield, and he chooses today to put Ojeda out there. And… Ojeda immediately gives up a leadoff double to the pitcher on a ball Giles DEFINITELY would have caught and Nady LIKELY would have caught. So dumb. Ojeda is blameless. Bochy on the other hand…
Can someone explain to me why the Ojeda play was ruled a double? It was a routine play. A similar easy play in the infield that’s botched as badly as that one is an error. That one should have been too. No forgiveness because a guy is playing out of position. San Diego should have been out of the inning with no runs against.
Dogs down 1-0 after 3 …
Pitching stats after 3 full …
Pitches-strikes – G Rusch 38-27; T Stauffer 65-37.
Ground balls-fly balls – G Rusch 3-3; T Stauffer 1-7.
Batters faced – G Rusch 10; T Stauffer 14.
After top of 4th …
Pitches-strikes – G Rusch 38-27; T Stauffer 73-43.
Ground balls-fly balls – G Rusch 3-3; T Stauffer 3-8.
Batters faced – G Rusch 10; T Stauffer 17.
Farm Report … courtesy of today’s BA Daily Dish …
After injuring his knee while celebrating a game-winning grand slam last season, Tagg Bozied is back and is mashing. After hitting .333 in 12 games at Double-A Mobile, the Padres first baseman is continuing to hit in Triple-A Portland. Bozied went 3-for-5 with a homer and a double last night and is back on track to the majors. He just needs to tone down the celebrations.
Yeah, plus Hernandez could use a day about once every two weeks playing catcher. And that’s all Ojeda should do, except pinch-hitting when Sweeney and Nady are already used.
Brew Crew add on 2 more … now up 3-0 on Dogs … in bottom of 4th …
Can someone describe the Burnitz double the drove in the Cubs runs?
Yahoo’s recap lists it this way …
- J. Burnitz doubled to deep left center, G. Rusch and D. Lee scored
… which is inconsistent with previous comments. Just checking …
Hey guys, just got home from work. Anybody know what the deal is with Ojeda in RF over both Giles *and* Nady? Is someone hurt?
Also, baseballdirect.com reports it as “Burnitz doubled to center”?