The Padres beat the Giants Sunday, 9-6, to take the final home series before the All-Star break. A few observations from the game…
Second Inning
First pitch Khalil Greene sees from Jason Schmidt is a filthy slider. Greene takes a horrible hack, and I figure he’ll see a steady diet of breaking balls all day. Instead, he gets mostly fastballs (including one that ends up in left-center for an RBI triple to start the Padres scoring) and finishes with two hits and four ribbies. I don’t know what Schmidt and company were thinking, but I thank them for it.
Runners at the corners, one out. Game is tied 1-1. Miguel Ojeda is on first, Tim Stauffer at the plate. The count is 0-1 to Stauffer. The Padres try a hit and run. Stauffer swings and misses, Ojeda is out at second by a mile. Stauffer ends up striking out, with Dave Roberts left on deck. Roberts, it should be noted, is hitting .394/.477/.636 with RISP this year. The Padres are putting on a clinic on how not to score runs against a really good pitcher.
Incidentally, you can add this to my growing list of things I don’t ever want to see again:
- Brian Giles trying to steal third with a lefty at the plate.
- Dennys Reyes working the ninth inning in a tie game.
- Sean Burroughs trying to lay down a sacrifice bunt.
- Hit and run play with runners on the corners, less than two out, a slow runner at first, and a pitcher at bat.
Third Inning
The Padres get to Schmidt, scoring five runs. Key plays:
- Giants right fielder Todd Linden gets a horrendous jump on a fly ball off the bat of Roberts, recovers, but then has the ball clank off his glove.
- Giles comes back from down 0-2 to dump a single into center, scoring Damian Jackson from second. Ryan Klesko, who was on first, beats the throw to third. Giles reads the play perfectly and takes second without a throw.
- Two-run single to left off the bat of Greene. Another fastball.
Fifth Inning
Early exit for Schmidt. Former Padre Brett Tomko replaces him to start the frame. His fastball is running 95-97 mph according to the scoreboard. When did he start throwing that hard? Mark Sweeney, getting the nod at first base, slices a triple past Moises Alou in left. The highlight is his head-first dive into third. Sweeney is to sliding head first what Akinori Otsuka is to swinging a baseball bat. (I am informed in the In-Game Discussion comments that several Padres sported a bandage on their chins in honor of Sweeney’s effort.)
Greene drives Sweeney home with a fly ball to medium right. Another fastball. Linden puts himself in poor position to make a throw after the catch and can’t nail Sweeney at the plate.
Sixth Inning
Stauffer breezes through the sixth, or should have breezed through the sixth. Two easy outs to start the inning, followed by a grounder to first that Sweeney kicks. The Giants take advantage. Rudy Seanez eventually comes in and stops the bleeding, but the gap has been narrowed. Game is now 7-5.
Bottom half, Sweeney is due up against southpaw Jason Christiansen. Now would be a good time for Xavier Nady. Have him hit and then stay in the game to play first base. Nady, despite his inexperience at the big-league level, is the Padres’ best defensive first baseman. Sweeney strikes out on three pitches. Still, the Padres do score an insurance run.
Seventh Inning
Nady enters the games as a LIDR for Klesko in left field. Good thing he didn’t get an at-bat against the southpaw in the previous inning. The wave erupts. News flash: the wave sucks. Alou can’t touch Seanez’ slider, one down. Durham drops a single in front of Giles in right to pull the Giants back to within two. Linden can’t touch Seanez’ slider either, inning over.
We’ve seen 14 runs through 7 innings. Petco plays totally differently during the day than at night. Anyone know where to find those splits?
Eighth Inning
Scott Linebrink makes quick work of the visitors. Pinch-hitter Deivi Cruz pops weakly to short on the first pitch to end the inning. Man, I miss him.
Nady finally comes to the plate in the bottom of the eighth. Strikes out on three pitches with runners at first and second. He looks a little overanxious up there. I can’t imagine why.
Ninth Inning
Trevor Hoffman comes in to seal the deal. The place totally rocks when he enters the game. It’s our house. There are plenty of Giants fans at the game, as usual, but they have been very quiet all day. Now there are only bells. Hoffman starts off with six straight fastballs, then mixes in the other stuff. He strikes out Omar Vizquel to lead off the inning. Three pitches. The bat never leaves Vizquel’s shoulder. J.T. Snow lines softly to Giles for the second out. Then Alou comes up and chases a low changeup to end the game. The sellout crowd erupts.
Everyone goes home happy. Except for the Giants fans, who remain silent. But their day will come. And when it does, we can only hope they are playing the Dodgers or Diamondbacks. 
Nice summary. Bochy continues to frustrate me with sticking with certain players despite horrid splits. Sweeney: great platoon 1B. Note “platoon”. He does not hit LHP. Not his fault, it is his skill set. But, having a good game, Bochy presumably feels he’s hot or deserves to try against LHP with sadly predictable results.
Then there was Klesko. He is 1 for 17 against Christianson (spelling is wrong). Bochy sends him up, he K’s, then Bochy replaces him with Nady.
I know we don’t have a deep bench of RH batters, but then Roberts is hitting, anemically, against LHP as well. Any of those 3 you should have put Nady or Johnson in there (not Johnson for Sweeney, but you get the idea).
Apparently Bochy yearns for a very stable set of “everyday” players. You run them out, use your bench to rest players and for pinch hitting. He seems incapable of accepting that he has a good team, but with flaws that can be exploited by opposing teams, unless he counters. But he seems to hate doing so. He seems OK with letting a solid veteran go into a situation where he is almost certainly going to fail then try to substitute a different player for a better match up. Simply, he is not doing is job that well if he continues to be emotionally reluctant to do so.
And despite the touching humanity in it, please do not ever feel any remorse for a Giants fan. Remember how for a stretch prior to the 2004 season the Giants had a 42-15 stretch against the Pads? Well, I went to good number of the games hosted in SF and I did not remember too much sympathy sent my way as the Pads got rolled. I recall some pretty hostile, often inebriated interactions. Not every time, but enough for me to feel no mercy for the team or their fans.
The last few times people have gently tolerated by allegiance, and I appreciate that. But I still have a Pavlovian sense of dread when I go to SBC park. It is still stuns me when beat them there.
And do I have remind people of Jeff Brantley breaking Santiago’s arm back in the late 80s, an event that coincided with the Pads dropping their next 17 of 21 or something like that and blowing out there season? And Brantley was often dismissive about his responsibility in sending a player to the DL.
Thanks for the recap, I hope it becomes a regular feature.
That hit and run had to be a missed sign by Ojeda, right? If you were to ask me what the worst possible combination for a hit and run I would have to say catcher on first and pitcher at bat.
You can add to your list a strike ‘em out throw ‘em out double play to end the inning. That has to be the worst play in baseball, hit and run with one out and two strikes on the hitter.
And I’d be fine with not seeing Burroughs hit at all, except maybe with a man on third and no outs. And I was one of the optimists at the beginning of the year who thought this would be his big leap forward.
“And despite the touching humanity in it, please do not ever feel any remorse for a Giants fan.”
Don’t worry, Jay, I don’t. Not in the slightest.
Anthony: You and I both expected big things of Burroughs. I still think he’ll put it together at some point, but when and where are anyone’s guess.
THE TIME HAS COME! no longer should Nady be used sparodically according to the managers whims. He should be in the STARTING lineup, EVERYDAY!!
If a different person has to sit every day in order to accomplish this, then so be it..
Hank your last sentance is my position. I would use Nady 4 out of 5 games as a super sub. Play him not only in center but also at first third and as a corner outfielder.