first pitch: 7:05 p.m., PT
television: Channel 4
matchup: Woody Williams (5-5, 4.10 ERA) vs Brandon Webb (8-6, 3.57 ERA)
I may or may not have a chance to update this before first pitch, so I’m posting it a little early. Anagrams for tonight’s starting pitchers: Wild Loomis Yaw vs Bad Ben Brown.
Stupid? Could be. Worse than Thursday night’s game? Probably not…
I was disgusted by last nights game. PAdre fans are in a delimma. Maybe the snake pitcher was masterful. Happens sometimes, you get shutdown. But was Padre fans, we know it could be another game where we swing at the first pitch, can’t bunt, can’t hit in the clutch, makes errors and otherwise look like a triple A ballclub instead of leaders of the doormats baseball, the NL West. Therefore, before we panick, lets take this as a series that we should win 3-1.
Of course, if you can’t hit the little white ball, you are not going to win anything.
Wierd team, wierd team.
Interesting look at _Moneyball_ and the new _Scout’s Honor_ book over at THT:
http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/baseballs-hegelian-dialectic/
Geoff-
This question is intended to be taken at its most literal, not as an accusation of inactivity nor as sarcasm: What has Sandy Alderson been doing during his first four months with the Padres? Honestly, has anyone reported on it? Is he working strictly with the big league team? Scouting staff? Minor league organization? Latin American player development? What’s on his mind?
Oh, and speaking of X (the band), I’m going to the Knitters (with Dave Alvin) show here next Tuesday.
Geoff … THANKS for the THT link … ah, Moneyball Wars – The Scouts Strikes Back
I particularly like this excerpt from George Will’s review of Alan Schwarz’s book (The Numbers Game) for the New York Times …
“Someday baseball statistics may be so sophisticated that they will be what James Joyce said his work was, something we should devote our lives to mastering. But if human beings have, as Schwarz believes, a ”compulsion to count, to quantify the world around them,” then they are hard-wired to be baseball fans.
If so, that fact lifts a load of guilt off this Puritan nation’s shoulders. All those hours — years, actually — we have spent watching games when we should have been reading ”Finnegans Wake”? Not our fault. Nature has made us do it. Which means that baseball is, as we chauvinists of the sport have long suspected, not merely the national pastime but the species’ pastime. So there. ”
… so there!!!
I prefer “So Wow, I’m a dilly”
You’ll dig the Knitters, Brian. As a huge X and Blasters fan, I never miss them in town. I’ve been fortunate enough to do some drinking with Dave Alvin, as we share a common friend in original Beat Farmer Buddy Blue. Good guy, great writer and musician.
For those not tuned in to the Sox-Yanks game, it’s Sox 4-0 in bottom of second. Tim Redding has just been relieved after facing 11 batters, 41 pitches, 4 hits (2 2B) and 4 BB.
After 2 walks and a single to start the second, the Yanks yank Redding to bring in…. wait…. that’s right, Darrell May.
5-0 now; they’re scoring faster than I can type.
Make that 8-0… Nixon inside-the-park homer.
Meanwhile, Quantrill:
7.2 IP, 7 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 6 K
And we saved $!
Yeah, yeah, small sample size… still… Congrats again, KT.
when is Nady gonna get a chance to start? Never I guess. last 30 days he has a .833ops with 6hrs(leads padres) in only 60 ab’s.
If they cant find a spot for him with 5 players on/off the d/l they dont want to find a spot for him. This is gross mis management.
Is there any truth to the rumor that Nady has bonuses attached to playing time? and that Bochy has instructions to make sure he doesnt reach those bonuses?
It has to be something, because if its a straight baseball decision, its a no brainer, even for Bochy.
On Nady and playing time: http://sdpf.blogspot.com/2005/07/memo-to-bochy-start-xavier-nady.html
Klesko simply being Klesko!
Sweeney got greedy, thrown out at third.
Is this thing on? You out there, Richard?
sweeney got STUPID again on the basepaths.(baseball axiom: never make the first or last out at 3b)
Thank goodness that Klesko bailed out Giles who failed to get a ground ball to anyone besides the 3b. roberts would have scored, which he did when Ryno came through.
Hey folks, just got in. That deal for Quantrill is looking great right now.
Brian: Alderson is in the TV booth right now…
So I guess we can forgive Sweeney after that shot.
Homers are known to cure all ills.
lol
Craig Counsell gets my vote for most annoying at-bats. I can’t stand watching this guy.
It hit the freakin’ bag. that cannot be a foul ball!
On replay, it didn’t hit the bag, but Cintron clearly gloved it in fair territory.
I thought that ball was probably foul at the end, but I’ll take it.
Maybe you’re right, Geoff, it was pretty close.
What do you guys think about the bunt there?
DJ gets it done. First-pitch hacking, slaps one into the 5.5 hole. Nice job.
By Roberts? I’m okay with it, because he’s a good bunter and he can run. Even if he’s just going for the sacrifice, it puts pressure on the defense. I rarely have a problem with Roberts laying down a bunt.
Just to follow up, Alderson didn’t have a lot to say on the telecast. He was mainly hanging out, shooting the breeze with the guys.
Dammit, Ramon. Gotta hang onto that ball and make the freakin’ tag. Linebrink in the sixth? Oh, my.
Yeah, I thought Ramon just have made that play.
Uh-oh
Glaus hits a pinch-homer to tie the game. Missed plays by Burroughs and Ramon have killed us this inning. Sometimes it’s very hard to pull for these guys.
Palmeiro got his 3,000th hit. He is the fourth player with 3,000 hits and 500 homers.
Raffy got the hit, eh? Congrats to him.
Heckuva bunt by Ramon right there. Let’s get those runs back now.
The others are Aaron, Mays and Murray. I guess Palmeiro would be closer to Murray than the other two.
Damn. Burroughs finally pulls a ball hard and Green makes a nice diving catch.
Nice comeback by the Padres here, four in this inning.
God bless the Diamondbacks bullpen. We got all five of those runs back.
WELCOME BACK offense
Quantrill is trying hard to make me eat my words. I thought Tracy hit that one out.
OT: Wow, the A’s are doing it again … both tonight (beating Texas 7-1) and for the season (massive number of wins in 2nd half of season)! Let’s Go A’s!
Yeah, Zito took a no-hitter into the 8th before losing it.
Bill Murray is at the game, automatically making it a great game.
From The AP tonight: RHP Adam Eaton, on the DL since June 16 with a strained right middle finger, said his goal is to be back by Aug. 1, although he cautioned: “I don’t think that’s a date that’s written in stone.” Eaton played catch on Friday and is scheduled to throw bullpen sessions on Saturday and Tuesday, a simulated game next Friday and a rehab start on July 26, most likely for Class-A Lake Elsinore. … 2B Mark Loretta reported to Triple-A Portland on Friday for a rehab assignment and is due to be activated from the DL on Tuesday in New York.
our bully isnt exactly giving me that warm fuzzy feeling right now.
dbacks are hitting the ball hard..
Hey, Geoff, do you know the Padres record in 1-run games?
The Arizona announcer keeps saying this is Astacio’s Padres debut. Of course, it is not.
Hoffman’s in.
Pads are 18-10 in one-run games:
http://tinyurl.com/9face
He walks Cruz. bases loaded. tying run at the plate.