first pitch: 12:35 p.m., PT
television: none
matchup: Adam Eaton (8-1, 3.48 ERA) vs Jake Westbrook (2-8, 5.30 ERA)
previews: ESPN | CBS | SI | Padres.com
The Padres, who are now 1-6 in May June, try to avoid being swept by the Indians this afternoon. It’s hardly panic time, but with the Dodgers surging, the Friars need to get back to their winning ways. Jake Peavy turned in his second straight subpar performance Wednesday night, serving up three homers in a game for the first time since August 14, 2003, at Atlanta. Peavy has allowed three homers or more in just 5 of his 88 big league starts, and he’s generally come back very strong the following game (courtesy David Pinto’s Day By Day Database):
IP H R ER HR BB SO
23 Aug 2002 v Fla 7.0 7 2 2 0 0 8
27 May 2003 v Mil 8.1 5 2 2 0 2 5
21 Jul 2003 v StL 6.1 5 4 3 0 6 3
20 Aug 2003 v NYN 7.0 6 0 0 0 1 7
We can only hope that trend continues with his next start. Meantime, this afternoon’s contest sees two first-round picks from the 1996 draft square off against each other. Eaton was taken 11th overall by the Phillies, out of Snohomish HS in Washington; Westbrook was nabbed with the 21st pick by Colorado, out of Madison County HS in Georgia.
Shortstop Matt Halloran was the Padres first pick (#15 overall) in 1996. Another Padre, Brian Falkenborg, was the Orioles first pick (second round, #51 overall). Like Eaton, he hailed from the state of Washington. I wonder if those two ever faced each other in high school? Geez, what a horrible draft for the Padres that year. I believe Jason Middlebrook (ninth round) is the only guy who ever sniffed the big leagues.
How did we get on this tangent anyway? Let’s move on to the head-to-heads:
AB BA OBP SLG
Eaton vs current Indians 80 .225 .311 .388
Westbrook vs current Padres 27 .185 .207 .259
Jose Hernandez (.385/.429/.846 in 13 AB) has handled Eaton well over the years. Alex Cora (.194/.310/.278 in 36 AB) not so much, though no doubt he’s fouled off a ton of pitches. On the other side, Robert Fick (.333/.364/.444 in 9 AB) is the only Padre who’s seen Westbrook much.
Friars need some good Eaton today. With the best team in baseball on its way into town, now would be a good time to start winning.
87 Comments
We got pitching, jeebus. Its the htting that sucks. Cold as ice, can’t string to hits together, can’t get a break, hitting slump. These guys get paid to hit and they are not hitting. Ton on weak ground balls last night, really frustrating. That guy hadn’t won a road game in thirteen tries. Streaky hitting is our problem, not pitching.
So true, Mike. So true. When B-Law goes eight scoreless and can’t get the W, that’s not good.
On another note:
Matt Bush has made the MWL All-Star team as a reserve. It’s an interesting choice given that Bush is hitting .242/.282/.304.
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=citadel-2_385563_315&prov=citadel&type=story
And a little something on draftees Cesar Ramos and Neil Jamison from their college pitching coach, Troy Buckley:
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=citadel-2_386038_315&prov=citadel&type=story
Good stuff as usual from Scout.com.
Games are hard for me to stay up and watch, now that they’re losing. On the bright side, I’ve been feeling much more rested and refreshed at work in the mornings!
Actually, Geoff, the Padres are 1-6 in June, not May. Honest mistake though.
See, I just couldn’t get that great May off my mind! (The month, not the pitcher.)
My goodness Eaton better bring his sinker today, our defensive outfield has NO range!
This is our Luzinski outfield.
You guys may know this, but I didn’t know all the specific players who were sick. This is from CBS SportsLine:
By week’s end, Peavy, Ryan Klesko and Geoff Blum had been forced to miss games while Brian Giles made two starts in right despite a three-digit temperature. Key reserves Aki Otsuka, Damian Jackson and Robert Fick also were ailing.
Yeah it was quite an infirmary there over the weekend, and of course Nevin missed last night’s game with a 24 hour flu. He’s back in there today.
Giles was a serious gamer.
Yeah and we still have people complaining (not here) about Giles’ home stats. I don’t know about you, but I doubt I could do much of anything with a 3 figure temp.
Eaton is throwing a lot of pitches btw.
Sounded like Ramon took a foul tip.
Giles is so good. He can drawn walks in a coma, I think. He’s on pace for 124.
Khalil gets his first hit of the series, an RBI single. (I’m so stoned.)
Apparently the secret to offensive success for the Padres is Adam Eaton.
RBI base hit by Eaton. 2-0, Padres. This guy comes through with the bat quite a bit.
Eaton is batting .258 now. Eight hits on the year, two RBIs.
Burroughs: nice stop and throw from his knees, Caminiti-style.
Runs. What a concept.
51 pitches by Eaton.
What’s with the Apple guy?
I know Burroughs has brought nothing with the bat this season and taken some deserved heat for it. But according to win shares through June 3, he is tied with Mora and Blalock as the best fielding third baseman in the majors. Not bad.
I don’t know what’s up with that guy. We could organize an email jihad if we want to.
Ah ha…Bochy needs to run more pitchers out there. Its obvious, they are the real RBI men on this team. I wonder if Eaton gets a little swagger returning to the dugout.
“Gees guys, do I have to do everything round here…”
Heh.
This is our first lead in a week.
Klesko almost had himself a home run.
I think Flan’s bad luck.
why do u guys think Eaton found his rythm this year..i mean hes been good..but not this good
Speaking of Flan, he’s come a long, long way in his ability to call a game.
Eaton was solid in ‘03. He got hurt. In ‘04 it didn’t seem like he had gotten back to full strength. This year he’s putting it together. Sound right?
Does it matter that a guy checked his swing if it was a strike anyway? I didn’t think so…
I heard he’s gotton mentally tougher which comes with experience. Eaton and joey Hamilton seem alike in many way except that Hamilton didn’t learn to be tough. Eaton doesn’t fall apart in the fifth after walking a couple of guys. That is the diff to me.
Big time strikeout for Adam. Hopefully he can get out of this unscathed.
He hasn’t been throwing hitters’ pitches in pitchers’ counts.
Leadoff double does not come around to score.
Yeah, Eaton didn’t outright stink before. And he’s not dominant now. And his 8-1 record is better than his 3.48 ERA. But you guys are probably right: It’s a lot of the little things. He’s putting himself in a position to succeed and is mature. Getting out of that jam was a good example.
4.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K for Eaton so far. He’s thrown 74 pitches (46 strikes). I’d like to see us get two more innings out of him, but he needs to be more efficient if he’s going to make it through six.
While he’s still prone to the mistake pitch (who isn’t?) Eaton does seem to be mentally tougher this year. I think the off season mechanical adjustments have given him a new sense of confidence.
Love it when the player proves your off-the-top of-the-head-in-the-middle-of-work explanation. Heh.
Now, lets get some runs and support the guy.
When is Eaton up next?
Yeah, Mike, that inning worked out well for the explanations.
The Padres only have two hits (both singles) to Cleveland’s five (two doubles) and yet we lead 2-0. That’s just great…
Hazarding a guess here — I thinking the apple guy (who, presumably, hails from Washington state) was inspired by his homie Adam Eaton’s 8-1 start and new-found dominance.
But I could be wrong.
That’s Fick’s third putout of the game.
Crap, got a long meeting to go to. See you guys latter.
Go Padres!
Interesting theory, Brian.
Nine pitch inning. How’s that for more efficient?
Fick comes in batting .389/.450/.778. Maybe he is trying to add a Gold Glove to his MVP season.
I’m glad they’re getting Fick more AB’s. If nothing else, it lowers his ridiculous rate stats.
Imagine his venom if we’d been playing Florida, home of many an orange grove…
The mind reels.
Are you saying Fick is not Derrek Lee?
Ouch Richard!
“I’m glad they’re getting Fick more AB’s. If nothing else, it lowers his ridiculous rate stats.”
Are you rooting for our guys to do poorly?
On ESPN.com, the second story under headlines is “Eaton looks for win No. 9 vs. Indians LIVE!” Maybe Eaton has really made it.
I suppose it would look that way.
Since Peavy is often compard to Maddux, I think Eaton is pitching like Glavine today. Nothing spectacular, but you better get to him early, before he gets in a rhythm.
Through six innings, Adam has thrown 98 pitches, allowed six hits, one walk and no runs. He’s also struck out six. It’s nice to see him put up numbers that look like they should result in scoreless innings.
No earned runs in this game. And I don’t think there were any in the Greene error game. Just shows you how the little things matter in this park.
Home run, Brian Giles. Over the 396 sign. Where’s Lance?
Giles: breathing-room homer.
Westbrook thinks he’s a goalie or something.
The old 1-5-3 play for one out. That’s good stuff.
A thought: I’m fairly certain that Giles has better stats relative to NL Outfielders than does Hernandez relative to NL Catchers.
Interesting call sending Adam back out having already thrown 98 pitches (103 already).
3-0 count? Comes back to strike him out. Believe it.
Giles is the more valuable player. But the catching ranks are kind of thin, I think.
I’ll have to look at the stats later tonight, but I think Giles may be in the top 3 and I’m fairly certain Ramon is no longer the top catcher statistically speaking.
Hernandez is third in wins shares, but just a hair behind Estrada and Matheny.
Strikes out the side to finish the seventh. I believe we earlier discussed how he hasn’t been dominant. Well, he was today. 7 IP, 9 K, 1 BB, 6 H, 0 HR, 0 R. (117 pitches, though)
Giles is No. 2 among outfielders (in the NL) behind Abreu. So you’re right.
I was actually thinking in terms of VORPr (which fails to capture defense).
I’m not saying this game is over. But I need to go to the gym. Richard, take care of Hoffman for me.
What’s the site that tracks win shares?
http://www.hardballtimes.com/winshares/index.php
I’ll be gone, too.
Richard, who are your three NL All Star OF’ers?
I had Abreu, Giles and to be honest I can’t remember my third.
Eaton looked great today. Best game of the year for him.
It was Miguel Cabrera based on VORPr.
3-1, Padres. This Crisp guy is good.
I previously had Cabrera/A. Jones/Dunn – Now I’d have throw Abreu & Giles into the mix. I try not to decide on 1/2 seasons since players are forever referred to as “All Star [position name]” and I don’t want guys with hot starts to be All Stars… But none of those guys are solely fast start guys…
To my mind, Abreu and Giles are both deserving future hall of famers (assuming they maintain reasonable production a few more years).
Well, I need to get out of here. I need to be in Alpine by 3 o’clock.
Somebody handle Kevin’s Hoffman call.
Giles got kind of a late start to his career, but his rate-stats merrit consideration… But the same (Future HOF) could be said of A. Jones. And Dunn is a prolific HR hitter…
got nervous for a sec. there…
YADR … yet another draft recap … http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=citadel-2_385691_315&prov=citadel&type=story
The Seattle Mariners traded shortstop Wilson Valdez to the San Diego Padres on Thursday for two minor league pitchers.
Seattle will receive right-handers Mike Bumstead and R.D. Spiehs. Both were pitching for Triple-A Portland.
Just back from the game. Sat about halfway down the visitors’ dugout, second row. Terrific seats for a terrific game.
I had to “watch” it via MLB Gameday, but glad to see us pull this one out. I tallied the total bases (TB + BB) and I think Cleveland out “based” us 17 to 9 or something. Sometimes you get lucky. I hope this cold spell is due to the illnesses. Go Pads.