first pitch: 7:05 p.m., PT
television: Channel 4SD
matchup: Brandon Webb (2-0, 2.51 ERA) vs Chan Ho Park (1-0, 4.86 ERA)
previews: Padres.com | SI.com
Snakes in town for three. This Arizona club is an interesting mix of old (Tony Clark, Luis Gonzalez, Shawn Green, Orlando Hernandez, Terry Mullholland (!)) and young (Conor Jackson, Chad Tracy, Brandon Webb), with some questionable pitching behind their ace. Remind you of any teams we know?
The scary thing about the Diamondbacks is that, beyond the solid foundation of Jackson, Tracy, and Webb, they’ve got some sick talent on the farm — guys like Stephen Drew and Carlos Quentin who will be ready to contribute soon, as well as Justin Upton, who might be the best all-around baseball talent not currently playing in the big leagues. If they ever get some arms, the Snakes could be serious trouble.
For now, they are — like every other team in the NL West — a club with flaws that can be exploited. Webb gets the start tonight, which will be tough to overcome. His groundball-to-flyball ratio just keeps improving; after a ridiculous 4.34 last year, he’s at 4.62 through four starts so far in 2006, to bring his career ratio to 3.82. (For comparison, Kevin Brown’s best single season ratio was 3.64 in 1997, and his career mark was 2.62.)
On offense, Gonzalez and Tracy are swinging the bat well, as are Craig Counsell and Jeff DaVanon. Fortunately, Chan Ho Park has done a good job of neutralizing Counsell and DaVanon over the years. Gonzalez, not surprisingly, is a different story, having hit Park to the tune of .333/.429/.595 in 42 career at-bats.
I’ll be watching a few things tonight. The first is Park: can he build on last week’s strong start at Coors Field and establish himself as a solid presence in the Padres rotation? The second and third are Tracy and Adrian Gonzalez. A couple weeks ago we looked at some possible comps for Gonzalez based on MLEs, and one of the top names that came up was Tracy (incidentally, Green was another). I’m interested to watch them both side by side to see whether their approaches are as similar as their statistical records.
I will be at the ballpark again tonight, so you’re on your own. Be good, and go Padres!
Mike Cameron records his first Padre hit.
Sick sinker by Park to Easley, and at 92 on the SD 4 gun.
yea Pat, Park fooled Easley on 2-0 with it. and then forced him to ground out.. he’s pitching well so far.
Go Cammy!
Double and a steal of 3B, then scores on the SF!!! Speed kills, Baby!
First CS of the year… Roberts was out by about a half a foot. they got the tag down.. but I guess you can’t have them all.
- the speed has been a great aspect of the new Padre offense so far.. and I like Barfield at #2 and Cameron could be okay at #5
* Cameron at 6 rather.
Also
I like the message Geoff.
“Sorry, you can only post a new comment once every 15 seconds. Slow down cowboy.”
Turning hat inside out.
Backwards too.
Damn, first time that hasn’t worked.
That I recall.
Just got back from the game with the family. Had a nice time except one thing…we can hit! Took a bunch of pictures, will try to get them up on the blog tomorrow (shameless plug).
2 things,
Padres, don’t wait til the nice to mount a rally.
Cameron was the only guy who did anything.
Petco is the new Candlestick.