first pitch: 7:05 p.m., PT
television: Channel 4SD
matchup: Chris Young (3-2, 3.58 ERA) vs John Thomson (1-3, 2.76 ERA)
previews: Padres.com | SI.com | ESPN
Some interesting splits for John Thomson. The first two batters in the lineup are doing a lot of damage against him this year: #1 is hitting .360/.429/.640, while #2 is hitting .375/.444/.625. Seems kinda fluky, but who knows. Dave Roberts and Mike Cameron, get on it.
The other weird one is that opponents are hitting .333/.429/.500 against Thompson on pitches 1-15 of a game, .219/.271/.273 on pitches 16-75, and .375/.462/.625 on pitches 76+. Get to him early, get to him late, but watch out for the middle.
On the other side, Chris Young’s ERA is 2 full runs higher at Petco than away from it. So much for coming to a pitchers’ park. Also, I don’t know if anyone has been talking about this, but Young is 6’10″.
Haven’t been in position to win a series in a while. Go Pads!
The lesson there is don’t throw Andruw Jones back-to-back fastballs down the middle.
In the last discussion, someone asked for nominations for Padre personnel blunders, i.e. Randy Myers, Ruben Rivera. In a Rivera-related blunder, one of my favorites was letting Steve Finley walk after the ’98 season. If memory serves, he wasn’t asking for the $$ that Kevin Brown was, and it took until this month to find a legitimate center fielder (umm, ignoring that last play) and Finley has been generally very productive for almost every other NL West team….
wow I’m really unhappy I picked this game up now.
What happened aboard the Chris Young bandwagon?
However, I did just read the book that inspired the film and then watched the film “Munich” for the first time (didn’t know it’d take 2.5hours but still) and I have to say that is Spielberg’s best film ever, no doubt.
Ry – thanks for the reminder … I missed seeing “Munich” in the theatre …
Hey, was that The Hammer getting a PH and scoring a run in the 3rd inning? Wonder who told Bochy he was on the roster? Eh, I’m happy he’s got his first knock of the season! Now let’s get him a start … 3B?
Stauffer with a decent outing tonight for Portland … http://tinyurl.com/g9zhq … 6 IP, 6 H, 1 BB, 4 Ks, 0 ER … ERA now @ 4.61 … odd to see “Gwynn, T” in a box score
Wells with an excellent outing @ Mobile … http://tinyurl.com/l6szd … 7 IP, 3 H, 1 BB, 8 Ks, 0 ER … ERA now down to 1.77 … sweet!
hmmmm
I watched the game last night . . . for 5 innings, anyway. I have to say, I am a very frustrated Padres fan right now.
Thankfully, I did not get to see Jim Brower pitch last night. When is that dude going down to AAA? Probably when Bowen comes off the DL, right?
He’s terrible.
Why is Jim Brower even on the team? Is he the mop-up guy in the bullpen?
Chris Young needs to go back to pitching school. Good to see the Padres scored some runs, though.
Watching the game it was apparent that Chris didnt have either movement or command of his fastball. For that matter, he wasnt commanding his breaking stuff either. Bochy stayed with him hoping that he would find his command and that led to us falling too far behind. You cant actually fault Boch but hindsight shows us that going to the pen earlier might have left the game at a overcomeable(is this a word) deficiet. Dang..
hank – in both the Sat & Sun games in Seattle, I felt Bochy stayed with the starter too long … we’ve got a good ‘pen … go to it! And if McAnulty isn’t going to play, get another reliever! I know it’s not that simple …
Ken Rosenthal says we’re looking for an upgrade at 3b. Ya think?
Will we ever know why Brower was promoted while Sikorski keeps striking people out in Portland?
I heard something somewhere (I know, that’s gospel) that Sikorski has to pass through waivers before he could be promoted if that happens before June 6th or so. Anyone know anything about this? Also, I really think PMac could be just as good at 1B as Adrian (off and def) if given the opportunity. AGon has shown no ability to adjust to the hard stuff inside. He spins on everything (granted, it took Tony Gwynn about 10 years to learn to turn on the inside heat). By the way, it is indeed weird to see T Gwynns name in the lineup, especially when Anthony Jr. is hitting .320. I’m pulling for him, but I don’t think he’ll get a shot in Milw.
Not sure what prompted this, but WC @ BP reported this today …
The Padres think that both Ryan Klesko and Woody Williams will be back around the ASB.
Since I’m bored at work here’s a question for everyone: What are three realistic things the Padres can do right now to improve the team?
My three:
1. As Tom says, let’s give Sikorski a shot and send Brower back down or release him.
2. Release EY, bring up Justin Leone and bench or release Castilla. Keep looking for an upgrade in case Leone doesn’t produce. Bellhorn can also fill in but I don’t think he’s an everyday option at third.
3. Make room for Ben Johnson or trade him for something useful. I don’t see why he can’t start 2 or 3 times a week in the outfield and pinch hit.
3a would be the same with P Mac. Play him or trade him.
1. Release Brower – promote Sikorski or whoever
2. Trade, release, waive EY, bring up Ben Johnson
3. Trade, release, waive Bellhorn (since he is essentially the same player as Blum and has more value to other teams, I percieve), move Vinny to bench, move Khalil to 3B, since he’s going to be there in a few years anyway, acquire all-star SS, promote Wells, Carillo and trade for David Wells with Estes, Woody, Chan Ho, and Peavy.
“acquire all-star SS”? Heh, there’s plenty of those just hanging around. Maybe we can trade Brazelton for one.
I like Khalil at short but I’d be fine with moving him to third if we could find someone with really great defense, some speed and a mediocre bat. Probably easier to find that than a slugging 3B.
Nevin with a walk-off HR tonight vs Houston Street … way to go, Phil!
DUDE!… Are you serious? You want to take Khalil Greene and move him to 3rd? He is probably the best all around SS in the national league (based on his defense and his power potential). For a SS Khalil’s power numbers are outstanding for a 3rd baseman they would be only average at best. Not to mention the knock on him in college at 3rd was that his arm wasn’t that of a big league 3rd baseman. To be honest what I think we need is a big power guy at third. With Adrian Gonzalez (who will hit more for average than power) at first I think we have got to get some sort of power from our other corner spot infield spot. Pitchers are not scared of anyone in the batting order except for Giles and maybe Greene, only because they are starting to respect his power. We need a guy that opposing pitchers have to respect. Nobody in our lineup is scary at all and opposing pitchers are not afraid to walk a guy or pitch around Giles. Why do you think Giles gets so many walks? I mean yeah he’s a great hitter but it doesn’t hurt when you’re the only threat in your teams lineup. I mean what incentive do pitchers have in pitching to him? Piazza doesn’t have it anymore and everyone knows it. I don’t dislike him on the roster but he is not that guy and everyone knows it. It seems like we have 1000 guys who play great defense at their position but no real offensive pop. I love to see the guys put it together and score runs station to station and I think that’s great but it would be a whole lot easier and I think they would all see a lot more pitches if pitchers knew they had to look out for more than one guy in the batting order. It drives me crazy that we have to count on Barfield and Gonzalez to get hits and knock in runs. I would hate to see either or both of them fall into the same young player thrown into the fire and counted on immediately situation that I think single handedly ruined Sean Burroughs. I don’t know I honestly think this season is a wash at this point and I’m anxious for the offseason already. I was excited to see Vinny come in but his lack of production has hurt the team so much. Maybe he pulls it together at the plate and the dynamic of the batting order will change but I just don’t see it happening.
Okay I think I am done. Haha. See you at the game tonight!
-Kris
P.S. DAVID WELLS SUCKS… I’d rather have anyone else in the league take the mound over that overweight alcoholic wannabe hot shot firing his 80mph grapefruit pitches… Alright that’s a little harsh but I’m pretty sure the only pitcher worse then Wells is Darrell May!
Welcome, Kris! Keep it comin’!
Haha I’ll try. Sorry to sound like a typical complainer. I really do love the Padres and have for going on 24 years now. I’m new but I’m sure you’ll see me around often. Thanks!