first pitch: 11:20 a.m., PT
television: Channel 4SD
matchup: Chris Young (3-2, 3.61 ERA) vs Greg Maddux (5-2, 3.64 ERA)
previews: Padres.com | SI.com | ESPN
This post was supposed to be full of optimism and hope. I was going to mention that the Padres had climbed into a first-place tie with Colorado and provide a chart showing how ridiculous the Friars’ success in May over the past two seasons has been compared to what they’ve done in other months.
But then Woody Williams’ injury on the basepaths in Friday’s win turns out to be a good deal more serious than we’d imagined. Now it looks like the Pads will be without their most reliable starting pitcher so far this year for a couple of months.
Damn.
Shawn Estes is still at least a few weeks away from returning. Candidates to replace Williams in the rotation include Brian Sweeney, who worked three innings in Friday’s game and picked up the win, and Portland starter Mike Thompson. Both are similar pitchers who throw strikes and let their defense do the work.
Ah well. As the currently popular tautology goes, it is what it is.
In other roster news, Dewon “Instant Offense” Brazelton has been outrighted to Portland (aw, c’mon, if he threw four straight shutouts, his ERA would be down to 4.00) and Jon Adkins recalled from same. There is some understandable confusion as to why Adkins got the call over Brian Sikorski and his guaranteed contract. Seems to me if you’re going to pay a guy anyway, you might as well put him in a situation where he’s most likely to hellp, but that’s just me. Adkins has 12 shutout innings going for him, while Sikorski is merely leading the Beavers in strikeouts with 40 in 24 1/3 innings.
Also, catcher Rob Bowen has been placed on the 15-day DL due to a sprained left thumb incurred during Thursday’s game against Milwaukee. Paul McAnulty was recalled from Portland and offers the Pads a legitimate left-handed bat off the bench if needed. McAnulty was hitting .278/.389/.583 in 108 at-bats at the time of his promotion.
Anyway, enough of that. It’s still May, and you know how much we love that month. As LaMar suggested during Friday’s IGD we should “get into the clubhouse and change every calendar to read ‘May’ for every month.” C’mon now, who’s with me?
I would be the worst scout or GM ever. I am a glass “half-full” kind of guy when assessing players. Like Tankersly can still turn it around (I keep hoping they will sign him to a minor league deal); that Burroughs will turn it around, that Kevin Jarvis, Brian Tolberg, and Jay Witasik will once again shine. Not every Padre is so lucky; I would be fine to not see Castilla swing that bat again, glad to Nevin go, and think that Bowen (once healthy), ought to get a much higher mix of PT vs Piazza (yesterday’s performance included).
So, Dewon is my new hopeful. His work in relief and in the spring, while either a small sample or unrepresentative one, has me hoping he can pull it together.
BTW, any word on Klesko’s return? Not that I expect him to be much better than AGon, but just curious. Can Adrian play 3B?
So if we win today, is that a tautological victory, as in repeating a win a second time?
To bad about the Wood, but towers is a magician when it comes to finding pitchers, so lets see the rabbit he pulls our of his hat this time.
Meanwhile, how bout the Padre bench clearing, while the Cub bench stayed in the dugout? Pads are a tight team, and its good to see them jump to the defense of each other.
The swagger is back.
The cubs, OTOH, its a tough game.
This just in from SFGate.com:
The San Diego Padres placed right-handed pitcher Woody Williams on the 15-day disabled list with a strained left calf and purchased right-hander Jim Brower’s contract from Class A Eugene on Saturday.
The Padres also optioned outfielder Ben Johnson to Triple-A Portland and called up pitcher Cla Meredith.
Maddux just stole a base.
I see no hopes of getting into the Cubbie bullpen when we are giving Maddux six pitch innings…this may be one of those days we just chalk up to a HOF’er on his game…
Yeah the Padres look like they are ready to hit the town and come back tomorrow against an inferior pitcher and warmer weather.
Interesting pitching moves, bringing up two relievers and sending Ben Johnson down. I’m glad Ben will get a chance to play everyday but as long as EY is on this roster he wasn’t going to play a lot. Not happy about bringing up Brower ahead of Sikorski although. It’s like someone just doesn’t like Sikorski. What more does he have to prove? I mean the frickin’ Orioles just released Brower!
Does anyone know if there is a service time issue or an options issue with Sikorski? It could be an operations/organizational thing as opposed to a performance thing…
Unless there are some specific numbers to justify it, there is no way I would have pulled a hot hitter like Roberts here…
I couldn’t figure out why they pulled their hottest hitter, Roberts, for EY. Then again, I don’t understand why Boch is so high on EY.
THAT’S why he is as much of a HOF’er as Maddux is!
Piazza! As Mud would say, “That’s some kind o’ nice.”
Top o’ 9th May Magic …
R. Dempster relieved S. Eyre
- M. Cameron singled to center
- B. Giles singled to right, M. Cameron to third
- M. Piazza homered to deep left, M. Cameron and B. Giles scored
BONG!
I assume Hoffy is warmin’ up!
Man, do I like May! No matter what happens in the bottom half, this keeps the team confidence on a roll…and if Hoffy can shut the door, even more so…
That is just a huge win.
That is one classic May 9th inning … here’s how the bottom went down …
Bottom 9th: Chi Cubs
- T. Hoffman relieved C. Meredith
- J. Bard catching
- J. Mabry hit for R. Dempster
- J. Mabry grounded out to third
- J. Pierre popped out to second
- R. Cedeno struck out swinging
SWEET!
dang these old men can still play some ball..
vinnie singles to pick up one run, makes a great defensive play
piazza homers for the winning run
and Hoffy nails it down..
ahhhhhh…some things never get old
A pair of diamond kings trumps an Ace.
That was a rough game to watch on Tivo until the far edge.
Our half-innings flash by like lightning until the 8th.
A hopeful buildup into EY’s seemingly inevitable DP.
Then boom goes the dynamite.
I agree with BA’s Jim Callis … here’s his callous summary of the recent trade with Texas …
Guzman, one of the fastest players in the minors, could take over Texas’ center-field job from Laynce Nix in the near future. Sinisi and Hudgins are reunited with Padres vice president for scouting and player development Grady Fuson, who drafted them both in 2003 while with Texas. In the long run, however, none of these players will have a major impact on their new club.
… it’s a tough game to succeed in …
In defense of EY, it was not a bat AB; not sure how hard it was hit or if it was just good positioning. Cameron and Giles made up for giving up a run earlier in the game.
If I am a Cub fan, I hang this on Dusty Baker. Maybe he is a good guy, but he seems like such a value destroyer. He was the manager of the Giants when they were killing us, so hate him from then. But he pulled Maddux on 73 pitches. A walk and a strong single do not justify it. That inning worked OK, but there is now way anyone is going to hit a bomb off of Maddux today. At least give him another hitter. I am happy for it, but was stunned when I saw him walking out. A manager was given two visits, so thought he was going to chat up Maddux. Instead he yanks him. On 73 pitches.
Glad to see Meredith pitch well and glad they read my ranting post and decided to pull up another pitcher.
May Magic continues.
Team W L WP GB
Apr 29: San Diego 8 15 .348 5.5
Now: San Diego 21 16 .568 (0.5)
True, Colorado has not played, but what a run. 7 under to 5 over. Aside from EY, Bochy’s plays turned out OK. Pitching Meredith instead of Linebrink. Keeping Piazza in the game; I was fearing giving up another run. Then I saw his numbers against Dempster (.300), and thought “Clever”. And how sweet was it watch Trevor do his thing. A K and two weak swings on the change. You know its coming, you steel yourself, but you still get out. Great control on a mid to upper 80s fastball and sick change and a smart pitcher gets guys out.
Jonathan at pdxbeavers.com posted this link to an interesting interview with Padres’ farm hand Eric Junge … http://tinyurl.com/l5bh4 … I’ll bet some of you like John Coltrane and The Shins too …
something was wrong with Maddux. First of all, he never, i mean never, walks anyone on 4 pitches. Secondly, the announcers said that Maddux was walking around the mound holding his right side while Baker was visiting the mound. He might have a slight pull of the rib cage or something. Greg Maddux is a future first ballot hall of famer, he doesnt come out in that situation unless he wants to.
Unmentioned so far is the fine job Chris Young did today! We needed a long start … and got it! Here’s his final numbers …
IP H R ER BB K HR Season ERA
C. Young 7.0 6 3 2 3 4 0 3.47
Pitches-strikes – C Young 100-67; C Meredith 9-8; T Hoffman 14-10; G Maddux 73-48; S Eyre 6-5; R Dempster 20-16.
Ground balls-fly balls – C Young 4-13; C Meredith 1-1; T Hoffman 1-1; G Maddux 14-5; S Eyre 2-0; R Dempster 0-2.
Batters faced – C Young 31; C Meredith 4; T Hoffman 3; G Maddux 27; S Eyre 1; R Dempster 6.
… it’s something both he and the Padres can & will build on!
hank – good point! wonder if something happened during the stolen base? he had one last year … and 8 in his career!
Check out this quote from Paul McAnulty, aka The Hammer …
“It’s great to be back with the big club,” said McAnulty, who played some third base at Portland for the first time since high school. “I’ll pinch-hit, play the outfield if they want, first, even third. The team’s going good, so I’ll try to help keep it going.”
… I love the way he slides “even third” in there! Good idea, Paul! You da man!
The Dogs are havin’ major bully issues too … http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/boxscore?gid=260513126 … boo-ya!
The DS#2 LynchMob gladly throw Baez under the bus
Good point, Hank. I retract my rambling. The walk on 4 did seem odd, too odd to be normal in hindsight. I was Tivo-ing, so fast forwarding over the pitching change, so missed the commentary. I guess sometimes that stuff is useful.
Still amazed we pulled that one ought. Watching Maddux do his thing was sick. You can’t really tell how much he is changing speeds, so while you can acknowledge the precision in location, it is hard to appreciate how hard he is to hit.
The one thing that kept me hoping was that CY was keeping us close. The dropped ball in right center had me screaming, though. While Giles seemed to cut off Cameron, who was calling, it appeared as though Mike was going to basket-catch it, unless he pulled up because Giles was still coming. If he was planning on basket-catching, why? He’s got the wheels to get under it, so perhaps his nonchalance fooled Giles. They atoned with their 9th inning knocks, setting up Mike, the man for two days running.
That caused me to go to Itunes and check out “The Shins”. I downloaded “Chutes to Narrow”
Maddux definitely gave himself the hook, it was on the replay just now. Dusty is still a terrible manager, it amazes me that he still has a job.
Just a note, The Padres could sweep the season series with a win Sunday against the Cubs. I don’t have the media notes yet but I’m sure it might be mentioned in tomorrow’s.. has that ever happened before (vs. Cubs or v. 7 game time)?
Also remember what happened last year @ Atlanta which I think was the last time the Padres had a shot for a full season sweep.
Still, get the brooms out for sunday.