IGD: Padres vs Rockies (8 Sep 2005)
Thu, Sep 8, 2005
by Geoff Young
first pitch: 7:05 p.m., PT
television: Channel 4
matchup: Brian Lawrence (7-14, 4.83 ERA) vs Sunny Kim (4-2, 4.50 ERA)
Random Thoughts
- Nice outing from Adam Eaton Wednesday night. He’s not quite back where he was before the injury, but he’s getting closer all the time. Padres seriously need him to step up down the stretch.
- How huge was Akinori Otsuka’s strikeout of Todd Helton to end the eighth? Aki fell behind Helton 3-0, and we assumed he was being pitched around. But Aki battled back to full count and got Helton swinging on a fastball. I think Aki and Ramon Hernandez were the only two people in the park expecting anything other than a slider.
- Ben Johnson now has 10 big-league hits; 9 are for extra bases.
- Did you ever expect Jeff Kent and Armando Benitez to be two of our biggest heroes at this point in the season?
- Remember the fuss over Brian Giles‘ home/road splits earlier in the year? For the season, there’s a nearly 200 point difference in OPS, but check out the numbers since June 1:
Brian Giles Home/Road Splits from June 1 to September 7, 2005 AB BA OBP SLG ISO XB/H AB/HR Home 156 .314 .409 .506 .192 .327 26.0 Road 130 .308 .445 .446 .138 .350 130.0 And compare those with his numbers before June 1:
Brian Giles Home/Road Splits from April 1 to May 31, 2005 AB BA OBP SLG ISO XB/H AB/HR Home 76 .197 .347 .303 .105 .400 inf Road 107 .355 .466 .682 .327 .526 15.3 Sort of skews the overall results:
Brian Giles Home/Road Splits from April 1 to September 7, 2005 AB BA OBP SLG ISO XB/H AB/HR Home 232 .276 .388 .440 .164 .344 38.7 Road 237 .329 .455 .553 .224 .436 29.6 Points? Two of ‘em: 1) pay attention to sample size; 2) maybe Giles has a better idea of how to hit at Petco than some folks give him credit for (after all, he did have a slightly higher OPS at home in 2004 than on the road).
That’s all I’ve got. Let’s finish the series with a win and head to LA with a little momentum. Go Pads!
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September 8, 2005 at 6:56 am
Good stuff on Giles.
X post facto: Nady has walked 4 times the last four games in which he had a plate appearance. This looks to be the first time in his career he has done that. Even better, he only struck out twice in those games. Go Giles, Jr.!
September 8, 2005 at 11:09 am
Thanks to dprat for this posting yesterday of info from BP’s Will Carrol re: Peavy …
“‘I don’t want to alarm anybody,’ Jake Peavy said, promptly alarming everybody. Peavy has been on anti-inflammatories for the past couple weeks, trying to overcome some swelling and stiffness in his pitching shoulder. While Peavy is on pace to come close to his peak innings, he’s been much more efficient this year, perhaps in response to his own frailty. With the Padres ahead in the NL West, the plan is to get Peavy a couple extra days’ rest or even have him skip some starts. They’ll have to hold serve to have this happen. A Pads team without its ace would be…well, it would be worse than it is now, playoffs or not.”
… I’m *ALARMED* … this is NOT GOOD … it sure seems like it’s gonna be important for the Padres to win the NL West with as few IP’s from Peavy as possible … because once the playoffs start, we’ll need MAX IP’s from Peavy!
What I mean by “MAX IP’s” is that I think we’ll need him to make 7 starts (2 in NLDS, 2 in NLCS, 3 in WS) and go on 3 days rest 5 times and only once get 4 days rest. It was more of a load than Kevin Brown could handle … remember that?
Ah, we’ll be seeing Bochy/Towers make some classic trade-off decisions … how much rest to give Peavy vs how much risk to take on that the Padres won’t win the NL West! We need W’s from Eaton and gang … what’s latest on Pedro Astascio? Clearly we can use all the help (IPs) we can get! Perhaps get Oxspring a start? Did Stuaffer get called back up?
September 8, 2005 at 11:16 am
I don’t know how well this will display, but here’s a cut/paste of the standings from Yahoo (http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/standings) …
West W L Pct GB Home Road East Cent West Streak L10
San Diego 69 69 .500 — 38-32 31-37 14-13 20-21 28-24 Won 1 6-4
San Francisco 63 75 .457 6.0 30-37 33-38 9-18 19-18 29-27 Lost 2 7-3
LA Dodgers 63 76 .453 6.5 34-34 29-42 13-18 17-18 28-27 Won 2 5-5
Arizona 63 77 .450 7.0 29-40 34-37 11-21 16-19 28-27 Won 2 5-5
Colorado 56 82 .406 13.0 36-35 20-47 11-13 15-28 24-32 Lost 1 6-4
… what jumped out at me is the the NL West is 8 games over .500 for the “Last 10 games”!!! Luckily it has distribued well for the Padres … they have 2 of those (being 6-4 over last 10 games) … Rox have 2 of those (no threat there) … and the Giants got the other 4, which was perfect because it only enabled them to leapfrog the Dogs and Dbacks … sweet.
September 8, 2005 at 6:46 pm
Fick at 1B, batting #3; Johnson in LF, batting #6. Nady and Klesko on the bench.
September 8, 2005 at 6:50 pm
Astacio expected back in the rotation for Giants series:
http://www.signonsandiego.com/.....notes.html
No word on Stauffer. Oxspring and Hensley are the most likely candidates to replace Peavy if needed:
http://www.nctimes.com/article.....9_7_05.txt
September 8, 2005 at 7:22 pm
TV guys say Peavy won’t start Saturday. Padres haven’t yet named a replacement.
September 8, 2005 at 7:35 pm
Is anyone else watching us string together some hits to jump out to the early lead?
September 8, 2005 at 7:36 pm
Quick 2-0 lead.
Keep it going…
September 8, 2005 at 7:37 pm
No, Geoff, I’m still at the office (15 hours and counting…), with only the radio broadcast.
September 8, 2005 at 7:38 pm
Can the WINNING MACHINE come through???
September 8, 2005 at 7:39 pm
No.
September 8, 2005 at 7:47 pm
Hey Lance, whassup. The ball that DR hit is a double that scores two with anybody else (except Burroughs) batting.
Cubs up 3-1 over SF in the second.
September 8, 2005 at 7:55 pm
I hate Todd Helton.
September 8, 2005 at 8:00 pm
Hey guys, is it just me or does the blogging community hit a bit of the “dog days” in late August/early Sept. too? It seems like the whole scene was slow this time last year too…
September 8, 2005 at 8:02 pm
Hey, Rich. No, it’s not just you. I thought being in the race this late might change things, but another factor could be folks going back to school (or sending their kids back to school). It really is a long season when you think about it.
September 8, 2005 at 8:05 pm
I think the whole record vs. first place thing is messing with people a little…we start talking about magic numbers soon…that might raise some interest…
September 8, 2005 at 8:09 pm
Randy Winn just fouled off 5 straight pitches in SF…not a bad AB regardless of how it ends…(he doubled)
September 8, 2005 at 8:19 pm
No bearing on anything, just something that was on my mind today. Nevin vs Nady at (roughly) the same points in their career. Nevin on the left, Nady on the right:
Age: 27 - 26
AB: 751 - 744
H: 172 - 197
2B: 33 - 36
3B: 3 - 3
HR: 27 - 25
BB: 68 - 51
SO: 212 - 148
BA: .229 - .265
OBP: .301 - .322
SLG: .389 - .422
Nevin: http://tinyurl.com/dgrfv
Nady: http://tinyurl.com/76uvs
September 8, 2005 at 8:24 pm
the thing I like the most about that is the reduced strikeouts…
now we have to get get this lead back.
September 8, 2005 at 8:24 pm
I wonder if Lawrence would be more effective if he just threw a 4-seamer every once and a while. right now he’s basically a 2-pitch pitcher, and both pitches are close in velocity.
September 8, 2005 at 8:26 pm
something to think about, but B-Law is not the problem here… 6 innings, 74 pitches, 2 runs…
September 8, 2005 at 8:27 pm
Good point, Eric.
I actually think he’d be more effective if he had the arm of, say… A MAJOR LEAGUE PITCHER!!!
I can’t stand it anymore, and he’s one of our three best starters. I need a beer. Or ten.
September 8, 2005 at 8:29 pm
Right, Rich. The problem is that our team doesn’t particularly excel in any phase of the game. Mediocre across the board, they are.
But I’ll still take my chances in the playoffs, with no apologies.
September 8, 2005 at 8:36 pm
B-Law is throwing the same game basically that Eaton threw last night, which is a real good sign at this point in the season.
September 8, 2005 at 8:40 pm
Exactly…7 innings and still only 2 runs…that is called pitching “well enough to win”. I mean, he lost a 1-0 game at Coors this year! B-Law has been much better than his W-L record…
September 8, 2005 at 8:41 pm
the Gigantes are threatening…men at the corners, one out in the fifth
September 8, 2005 at 8:47 pm
think Ramon heard Miguel Olivo’s footsteps?
September 8, 2005 at 8:51 pm
if Loretta, Hernandez, Greene, and Klesko could just hit like they did last year, we’d be in good shape for the playoffs. And a random “sterling” performance from one of the 3-6 starters would help.
September 8, 2005 at 9:05 pm
Giants-Cubs tied going into the seventh at 3 apiece
September 8, 2005 at 9:35 pm
We’re gonna burn some bullpen … 2-2 after 9 full …
September 8, 2005 at 9:37 pm
Getting Sullivan here will be huge … leave Helton on deck …
September 8, 2005 at 9:40 pm
Rich - whassup with Friberg? Tell him to get his bloggin’ butt in gear!
September 8, 2005 at 9:41 pm
Now let’s get Linebrink a W!
September 8, 2005 at 9:46 pm
Woo-hoo, Fick! Can you feel it yet? A little bit?
September 8, 2005 at 9:50 pm
We win!!!We win!!!We win!!!We win!!!We win!!!We win!!!We win!!!We win!!!We win!!!We win!!!We win!!!We win!!!We win!!! …and the magic number shrinks a bit more.
Howard, only Geoff seems to have kept up the blogging. Actually, the fellas at Gaslamp Ball are hanging in pretty good, too.
The New Orleans situation has been sapping my time, money, and resources. My wife and I got married there, and spend a couple months a year there. So the helping of friends has precluded blog-posting.
Don’t know what Richard’s excuse is, but I’m working up toward a series of posts, which of course, nobody will read.
In the meantime, I shall revel in this win. G’nite, guys…
September 8, 2005 at 9:53 pm
well, my excuses would mostly circle around audit time at the bank plus two kids and the start of school…but I have posted the last two days…and I think tonight deserves at least a blurt…Cubs are leading 5-3 in the ninth…
September 8, 2005 at 9:53 pm
Padres Fick the Rox
Sweet bottom of 10th …
- M. Olivo walked
- W. Williams hit for S. Linebrink
- W. Williams sacrificed to catcher, M. Olivo to second
- M. Loretta grounded out to third
- R. Fick singled to deep right, M. Olivo scored
September 8, 2005 at 9:57 pm
Watching the Cubs - Giants. Cubbies up 5-3 with one out in the bottom of the 9th. “Let’s go, Dempster.” C’mon, who’s with me here!
September 8, 2005 at 9:59 pm
What a play by Neifi Perez to end the game!
September 8, 2005 at 10:04 pm
Giants lose … 5-3 to Cubs … I’ll take a bit of credit for that one … my fantasy/roto picks have struggled all season … so I just picked up Lowry … figured if I could put a jinx on him, then the Giants chances would be return to the toilet where they belong!
Plus D-backs lose … a good day for the Padres!
What’s our magic number? We knocked 2 off it today!
September 8, 2005 at 10:07 pm
Say g’night, Geoff!
September 8, 2005 at 10:59 pm
Magic number is 17. G’night, Geoff!