In-Game Discussion: Padres vs Cubs (2 Jun 2005)
Thu, Jun 2, 2005
by Geoff Young
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.
Picking up where last year's version left off, the Ducksnorts 2008 Baseball Annual provides in-depth analysis of and commentary on the San Diego Padres. Get your copy today.
June 2, 2005 at 4:31 pm
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!
June 2, 2005 at 6:28 pm
Dex, that would be sweet! I look forward to finally meeting you guys.
Padres Blog Army. I’m likin’ it.
June 2, 2005 at 7:28 pm
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!!!
June 2, 2005 at 7:36 pm
Giles has the night off. I hope that’s all it is.
June 2, 2005 at 7:51 pm
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.
June 2, 2005 at 7:56 pm
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…
June 2, 2005 at 7:56 pm
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.
June 2, 2005 at 7:59 pm
Dogs down 1-0 after 3 …
June 2, 2005 at 8:00 pm
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.
June 2, 2005 at 8:03 pm
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.
June 2, 2005 at 8:14 pm
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.
June 2, 2005 at 8:14 pm
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.
June 2, 2005 at 8:16 pm
Brew Crew add on 2 more … now up 3-0 on Dogs … in bottom of 4th …
June 2, 2005 at 8:18 pm
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 …
June 2, 2005 at 8:19 pm
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?
June 2, 2005 at 8:19 pm
Also, baseballdirect.com reports it as “Burnitz doubled to center”?
June 2, 2005 at 8:20 pm
Thru top of 5th …
Pitches-strikes - G Rusch 57-39; T Stauffer 80-48.
Ground balls-fly balls - G Rusch 3-5; T Stauffer 6-8.
Batters faced - G Rusch 15; T Stauffer 20.
Might consider PH for Stauffer this inning? Na, I suppose not …
June 2, 2005 at 8:22 pm
Farm Report: I can’t remember if I posted this last night … from yesterday’s BA Daily Dish …
With a double and a homer last night, Padres outfielder Ben Johnson now has five homers in his last ten games and eight on the season. Johnson hit seven of the eight in May and is now hitting .266/.354/.459 at Triple-A Portland.
June 2, 2005 at 8:23 pm
Farm Report: Portland is BOMB’ing Salt Lake tonight … 14-9 thru 7 … HR’s by JJ, Barfield, Hyzdu, AND TAGG! http://www.minorleaguebaseball.....a_slcaaa_1
June 2, 2005 at 8:25 pm
Thru 5 full …
Pitches-strikes - G Rusch 68-47; T Stauffer 80-48.
Ground balls-fly balls - G Rusch 3-7; T Stauffer 6-8.
Batters faced - G Rusch 18; T Stauffer 20.
June 2, 2005 at 8:25 pm
Lance, thanks for the reminder about Batgirl. I’ve just added her to my blogroll on the right.
June 2, 2005 at 8:33 pm
Need Seanez to limit the damage to one run.
June 2, 2005 at 8:36 pm
Don’t you hate it when you don’t PH … and then the pitcher doesn’t get any more outs … it’s lose/lose
June 2, 2005 at 8:40 pm
Walking the pitcher to load the bases for the top of the order doesn’t seem like a good idea.
June 2, 2005 at 8:41 pm
I think Rusch looks kinda like Geoff
June 2, 2005 at 8:42 pm
Anyone in San Diego know whether Nady is hurt? That is the only reason I can accept for why he didn’t start tonight. I am just too baffled by Ojeda’s start in RF to care much about this game right now. RF is more difficult in Petco than LF, yet Bochy seems to think it is alright to throw Ojeda out there without much thought but won’t consider Nady at third. I know it is only two games, but these last two have been pretty bad so far.
June 2, 2005 at 8:47 pm
Blum with seven straight multi-hit games. Wow.
June 2, 2005 at 8:48 pm
LOL, Eric; I’ll have to check with the wife on that one.
Bruce, I don’t know what’s going on with Ojeda in RF; I keep waiting for an explanation but I haven’t heard anything yet.
June 2, 2005 at 8:51 pm
Wow, we are just really getting shut down by journeyman lefties on consecutive days. Rusch is making us look silly tonight.
June 2, 2005 at 8:56 pm
Geoff, the only other thing I can think of is that Nady has got that flu that has been bothering Peavy.
But then again it is probable that Bochy simply has very little faith in Nady. To me, Ojeda is benefitting from Bochy’s favorite proclivity: he remembers the one or two positive contributions a player has made, usually in key situations, and throws him a bone in the form of increased playing time that is not deserved.
We are not losing the game because of these moves, but it makes it all the harder to come back from 4-0 deficits.
June 2, 2005 at 8:57 pm
Both journeyman lefties are hot right now: Davis came in riding a 17-inning scoreless streak, and Rusch had allowed 2 runs in 15 innings in his last two starts.
June 2, 2005 at 8:59 pm
Both are also coming off real good 2004 seasons:
Davis: 207.1 IP, 3.39 ERA
Rusch: 129.2 IP, 3.47 ERA
June 2, 2005 at 9:01 pm
I recognize the fact that they are pitching well, and the Padres have a history of making lefties like Davis and Rusch look like Cy Young, but we were swinging the bats pretty well and now they look like they are back in Petco circa 2004 season.
I am just blowing off steam, so I am not at my most objective at the moment.
June 2, 2005 at 9:10 pm
I hear ya, Bruce. It is frustrating.
Hey Eric, here you go…
Rusch:
http://www.wgnradio.com/sports.....h1CC05.jpg
me:
http://www.chinwaggers.com/gfx/geoff16.jpg
June 2, 2005 at 9:13 pm
Gee, what a great time to bring in Nady. He can really make a difference now.
June 2, 2005 at 9:16 pm
This is painful. Anyone seen any good movies lately?
June 2, 2005 at 9:16 pm
hm…I guess I don’t know your face well enough. I was mostly going by the photo at the about page at the old Ducksnorts site: http://www.ducksnorts.com/about/index.html
June 2, 2005 at 9:31 pm
And of course, it’s always fun to see all the Cubs fans at the park. How annoying.
June 2, 2005 at 9:33 pm
Analysis of that game? Two words: It stunk.
Goodnight, y’all.
June 3, 2005 at 1:30 pm
Yes, last night’s game sucked. What made it even worse was that I took my buddy with me who is a Cubs fan. So he gets to sit there and gloat about the Pads measly 4 hits and all I can do is sit there on my hands and listen to the retards around me yelling, “Let’s go Cubbies, let’s go.” Our seats were in RF about 15 seats in from the foul pole, so I could see Ojeda’s misplay first hand. Horrible…..the first thing any ballplayer learns is that you go to the fence first and then you come back to the ball. My other frustration….why have the Padres hitters suddenly forgotten the Dave Magadan principle of hitting? Take some pitches, work deep in the count, and make the pitcher work. Too many times have I been yelling about not swinging at the first pitch over the last few games….C’mon guys, be patient!
June 3, 2005 at 2:03 pm
Uh, Jamie… I’m pretty sure that’s NOT the first thing a ballplayer learns.
Nice rant, though.