IGD: Padres @ Braves (19 Aug 2005)
Fri, Aug 19, 2005
by Geoff Young
first pitch: 4:35 p.m., PT
television: Channel 4
matchup: Chan Ho Park (9-6, 5.89 ERA) vs Mike Hampton (5-2, 2.73 ERA)
preview: Padres.com
So.
How do we fix this?
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August 19, 2005 at 6:06 am
I didn’t see Mike Hampton going in a waiver deal as of yesterday. So I THINK you might mean Padres vs. Atlanta.
August 19, 2005 at 7:13 am
See? I couldn’t even get that right. One of those weeks…
August 19, 2005 at 8:23 am
Spent the day at the happiest place on earth yesterday and didn’t even think of the Padres once, although I had on my Padre visor.
So here is some good news:
1. Space Mountain is still fun and Fast Pass make the line go fast.
2. Fantasima+50th Annaversary fireworks=great entertainment.
3. Not too crowded.
4. Kids/family imploded about 11. The birthday girl cried all the way to the car, then promplty went to sleep.
So I was spared that humilating loss. 2-games below and 3 games up. Truely pitiful.
August 19, 2005 at 8:33 am
Today’s Padre ineptness stats, courtesy of my Padre spreadsheet:
Games scoring 1 run or less: 27 (22.5%)
Games scoring 2 runs or less: 46 (38.3%)
Games scoring 3 runs or less: 62 (51.7%!)
August 19, 2005 at 8:44 am
How do we fix this?
Well, we start by not filling out a lineup card filled largely with replacement-level players.
If you look at the Padres lineup, it’s surprising they’re playing anywhere near .500.
August 19, 2005 at 10:27 am
Thanks for the breakdown, Brian. Good stuff as always. I’d be curious to see how those numbers stack up against other teams around the league.
Lance: That is a good place to start. Having a healthy Ramon and Khalil would help a lot. So would a return to form by Loretta. And more PT for Nady (duh). And Randa becoming an improvement over Burroughs. Hmmm…
August 19, 2005 at 11:07 am
-Otherwise, you need to show that Bochy was lying about X’s performance in ST and pregame, that in fact X wasn’t having difficulty making throws to first, and that X wasn’t displaying poor footwork and limited range.-
Just following up on yesterday’s discussions. Hard to say from the outside what Bochy’s thinking is and how he evaluates, which I think is partly your point. However, I can say I saw Nady taking balls at 3B shortly before Burroughs was sent down. Again, we’re talking small sample size, and it was not game situation but BP/pre-game practice, but he did not have a single miscue on fielding the balls, nor did he make a single bad throw. In fact, every throw but one was right on the money, meaning center of the body of the 1B and between chest and knee high. The only one which wasn’t was only slightly off line and did not require the 1B to come off the bag. Additionally, one of the throws which was right on was on a grounder which had to be charged and thrown across the body on the run.
Of course, all of this is pointless talk for as long as Bochy has an extra backup catcher on his roster, Nady will sit; for as long as Bochy has multiple utility players who can play both IF and OF, Nady will sit; for as long as Bochy has a veteran pinch hitter who can hit RH pitching, Nady will sit.
August 19, 2005 at 11:31 am
Thanks for the links to Hank’s Rants … now if we can just get Hank to Rant some (in addition to his GREAT recap of the Padres’ farm games)
August 19, 2005 at 12:26 pm
I don’t have the rest of the league but I do have information for the Padres’ pitchers, who are 14th (i.e. almost the median) in MLB as a proxy.
Games scoring 1 run or less: 18 (15.0%)
Games scoring 2 runs or less: 33 (27.5%)
Games scoring 3 runs or less: 50 (41.7%)
Padres hitters are fairly significantly worse than their opponents in all categories. Admittedly, this isn’t a totally fair comparison but…
August 19, 2005 at 12:31 pm
We have to make some changes NOW!
We are the worst offense in the National League and we are still carrying twelve pitchers and 3 players that couldn’t hit their hat size.
somebody mentioned that I hadn’t posted a rant in a while, I guess thats true, but I put one up today on this particular subject.
August 19, 2005 at 4:43 pm
Earlier this week one of the 1090 guys asked Bochy why Nady doesn’t play more and he basically said you can’t project what Nady has done to a full season because part of the reason he’s been so successful is that Bochy was picking his spots, playing the matchups and putting him in there against guys he thinks Nady can hit. This struck me as a bunch of BS but the more I think about it the more I wonder if he was right. Nady seems to have trouble with guys who live on the outside corner so maybe Bochy sits him against those guys. Of course that means sitting him against most of the pitchers in the league.
Given Nady’s good start and then his big slump last year perhaps Bochy feels that Nady has a weakness that is easily exploitable by certain pitchers? I do believe that Bochy believes that what he is doing is a benefit to Nady and the team as a whole. He always talks about “giving the guys a chance to succeed” by getting the right matchup. The only problem is his idea of a good matchup for Nady is the bench and the only thing he’s succeeded at is depriving the team of a rare source of power.
August 19, 2005 at 4:43 pm
Hampton has struck out the first two batters tonight. DJ is leading off, looked pretty lost in his first at-bat.
August 19, 2005 at 4:48 pm
Here we go again, odds dropped to 5/6 in favor of a 3rd consecutive shutout.
August 19, 2005 at 4:49 pm
Park should give up about a run an inning..
but he has potential, ask bochy..
August 19, 2005 at 4:50 pm
Whoa…..dp? there might be hope..
August 19, 2005 at 4:52 pm
wtg, walk chipper to get to andruw??
he only has 39 hrs
August 19, 2005 at 4:55 pm
Anthony: Bochy has a pronounced tendency over the years to give less experienced players much less “free reign” than guys who’ve been around a little. I’m not sure whether it’s lack of confidence in younger players, a sense that he needs to protect them, loyalty to his veterans, or some combination of these and other factors, but there’s a pattern. I’m still hashing out the details, but I think when viewed in a larger context, what Khalil Greene was able to accomplish last year is amazing.
August 19, 2005 at 4:56 pm
Hank: Chipper is the one guy that hits Park (.280/.438/.480 in 25 AB).
August 19, 2005 at 4:58 pm
“Free reign”? Um, I meant “free rein.” Although I suppose he isn’t annointing anyone king either.
August 19, 2005 at 4:59 pm
Holy smokes, Francouer has a great arm. He almost nailed Nady at third on a play that shouldn’t have been close.
August 19, 2005 at 4:59 pm
Okay, I’m pretty happy with who’s playing today. But, please, the one guy starting who’s definitely had a problem with Hampton (Randa with a 571 OPS against him) is batting 5th, so Nady, who has never failed to hit Hampton (3-3 with a double, ooops, as I write this make that 4-4) is batting 7th??? WTF??? Gee, ya’ think it would have been good to have Nady bat in the 1st with 2 runners on instead of Randa?
August 19, 2005 at 5:01 pm
now thats the way to get some runs, drive them in yourself..
Guess Chan Ho was worried.. ha ha
I dont blame him
August 19, 2005 at 5:08 pm
Cool article in today’s U-T about Alderson and the Padres talking to former season-ticket holders about how they can improve the Petco Park experience:
http://www.signonsandiego.com/.....adres.html
August 19, 2005 at 5:13 pm
Huge strikeout for Park. Fell behind 3-0 to Kelly Johnson with runners at first and second, no out. Came back to get him swinging.
August 19, 2005 at 5:16 pm
Padres broadcasters on TV are talking about the Braves young kids in their lineup. Well-deserved accolades to the scouting and development folks for finding and molding these kids. Very little mention of Cox’s willingness to throw them out there in the middle of a pennant run. Cox doesn’t always get the credit he deserves for that.
August 19, 2005 at 5:19 pm
They just flashed a graphic showing that Mike Hampton has more career homers in fewer at-bats than Sean Burroughs, among others.
August 19, 2005 at 5:20 pm
John Schurholz is the most underrated executive in the game.
August 19, 2005 at 5:24 pm
Agreed. What Schuerholz, Cox, and Mazzone are able to do year after year is just amazing.
August 19, 2005 at 5:25 pm
nobody underates Schurholtz..at least nobody that knows baseball.
August 19, 2005 at 5:38 pm
Wife and I are off to dinner. Enjoy the game!
August 19, 2005 at 6:00 pm
hey Geoff, look at this offense…
what have they done with my Padres? Who are these guys?
August 19, 2005 at 6:11 pm
Ahhhh…runs.
August 19, 2005 at 6:34 pm
Remember back in May/June how we were debating whether Dave Roberts should be in the lineup because the Padres were ten games over .500 (at that time) when he was in the lineup? Does anyone have the Padres win-loss record when Nady starts?
August 19, 2005 at 8:23 pm
I seem to recall that we were kidding when talking about DR being a “winning machine.”
August 20, 2005 at 6:38 am
I guess the real lesson here is that my wife and I need to go out to dinner more often. Wow.