Great win Sunday afternoon against the Mets. I especially liked the way the Padres held off a mid-game charge and finished strong. The momentum started to shift in the sixth, but the home team didn’t let it go down the way I feared it might.
Anyway, a few random observations from the game:
- Youth continues to be served. Josh Barfield launched his first Petco Park homer, a blast to left in the first inning. Barfield finished the day with three knocks, giving him four three-hit games in the last six days.
- Brian Giles’ grand slam in the fourth delivered a much-needed clutch hit. Giles knocked a full-count offering from Victor Zambrano 328 feet into the right field porch. Like Julio Franco’s homer Thursday night, Giles’ shot doesn’t go out anywhere else. The Padres need to do a better job of using their home field advantage (even after Sunday’s contest, the Pads have been outscored, 56-31, and outhomered, 15-7, at Petco Park).
- The other great thing about Giles’ slam is that the entire rally started with two outs and the pitcher at bat. Zambrano had retired the first two batters on a total of three pitches. Then Clay Hensley stepped to the plate and rapped a single to keep the inning alive.
- Speaking of Hensley, he looked better than the final line would indicate. He sailed through the first five innings and could’ve escaped the sixth with minimal damage had Scott Cassidy been able to do anything in relief of him. I like Hensley in the rotation and think he could be another Brian Lawrence type for the Pads.
- Thank goodness for Alan Embree and Scott Linebrink.
- Maybe the Padres need to call more hit-and-run plays with Khalil Greene at the plate. In the seventh, with Vinny Castilla running from first, Greene did a real nice job of staying back on a Chad Bradford 3-2 offering and served it into right field for a single. That’s not necessarily the approach you want to see Greene take all the time, but making a conscious effort to hit the ball the other way every now and then could help him keep his stroke reasonably short.
- Speaking of Bradford, he made Doug Mirabelli look ridiculous in the following at-bat. I know it’s early, and I’m trying to withhold judgment, but Mirabelli isn’t impressing me at all either at or behind the plate. Barfield’s emergence is making the loss of Mark Loretta palatable, but it still would’ve been nice to get something better than an old backup catcher for him.
- Can you believe Mark Bellhorn made contact when he needed to and hit a grounder to second in the seventh to bring home the Pads’ final run? Even after that at-bat, he still has fanned in more than half of his plate appearances so far this season.
- Giles swiped second base in the eighth while Adrian Gonzalez was striking out on a 3-2 pitch. The Padres are now 16-for-16 in stolen bases this year.
- Trevor Hoffman notched his first save at Petco Park in 2006. I know his on-field numbers alone don’t justify the contract, and I know other closers have their entrance music, but you just can’t top Hoffman trotting in from the bullpen to AC/DC’s “Hells Bells.” Many years, it’s been about the only reason to go to the ballpark.
- I can’t tell you how glad I am that the Padres don’t have to face the Mets again until August. That is one tough lineup. Those guys are a Scott Kazmir for Victor Zambrano trade away from being the dominant force in the National League for the next few years.
Great win. Now bring on the Diamondbacks.
The Petco-bound Leone-express chugs along today … http://tinyurl.com/qh2x5 … good day at the plate for BIG Walter Young also (2 HRs) …
Our man Carillo goes 7 IP of shutout ball … http://tinyurl.com/qjzor … only 3 H’s + 1 BB to go along with 5 K’s … sweet! (plus Kottaras with HR #3 … but he’s only hitting .244 (but OPS is .370 + .511 = .881
)
Great update Lynch!
So as soon as the Padres trade Roberts for Wells I can hang my hat on a trifrecta of predictions for this season
1. AG would play more 1B than Klesko
2. Hensley would be more than a spot-starter
3. Wells is a Padre
Barfield, Gonzales, and Giles are fun to watch. Cameron might join that group, but I’ll reserve judgement. Greene’s popular, but I just don’t get as jazzed watching him. But either way, those 5 are a strong foundation for 2007.
I was excited to see Cameron out there yesterday. Difference between Cameron and anyone else in CF:
Cam gets a bad jump on that last flyball, but catches up to it, and makes the grab look easy.
Has anyone noticed that Greene is walking at a very high rate? He’s already got 10 BBs.
Also, great piece of hitting by Gonzalez in the sixth driving in Barfield — he fists tough 1-2 pitch the other way for a single. I was really impressed with that.
GY: I agree — I am not impressed with Mirabelli so far. I’m really glad he’s not the Pads’ everyday catcher at this point.
The good news is that right now, the Pads look like they have 3 good relievers — Embree, Hoffman and Linebrink. If one or two of these other guys steps up and is even halfway decent (Sweeney’s been fine), they’ll be in pretty good shape.
This is all, of course, dependent on Chris Young being OK.
Agree about Greene. Get his mind off hitting home runs and he might start hitting better. Mets are touhg but we played them well. Go Padres.
Unusual quote of the week:
take out
“I think we all know what kind of player X was and is. ” Peavy said
….
“I was always high on X. Obviously, that hasn’t changed.”
–Padres pitcher Jake Peavy (MLB.com)
Peter – you don’t WANT the Padres to trade for Wells, do you? It sure doesn’t seem like he is nor will be healthy enough to help … but maybe you’re just comparing him to how much help Roberts is? I dunno, I think I can pass on Wells …
Ryguy – huh? Oh, whew, OK, I just figured out that “X” is Nady … OK, I’m slow, it is Monday morning … perhaps I was thrown off by “take out”???
yea I thought it was funny. cause if you take out the first sentence it kinda relates to drug use. Also a note about Peavy, word is he puts icy hot in his jock before every start because that’s what the Rocket told him he does.
I was about to say about Wells, he’s on the shelf (DL) and I think he’s considering retirement.
At this point, if the Pads can get Wells for 10 cents on the dollar, great. If not, that’s fine too.
KG @ BP had this comment today …
OF-L Will Venable, Padres
The son of 12-year big leaguer Max Venable, who doubles as Will’s hitting coach at Low Class A Fort Wayne, Venable focused more on basketball at Princeton, where he was an all-conference guard in his last two seasons. He was also the school’s top baseball player, and the Padres took him in the seventh-round last year. He’s a strange case because he’s 23 and still a raw talent because of the commitment to hoops, but some in the Padres organization have compared him to David Justice. He’s been the Wizards’ best hitter this season, going 5-for-9 with three doubles over the weekend, and batting .366/.449/.537 on the season.
Venable’s plate discipline / pitch recognition is striking, even if he is a college guy in the MWL. Hope he keeps it up. Good to have some jocks with skills in the org.
So, did they move somebody to activate Cameron or did someone go on the DL?
Adkins went down.