first pitch: 1:05 p.m., PT
television: Channel 4SD
matchup: Jake Peavy (3-5, 3.64 ERA) vs Mark Mulder (5-2, 3.74 ERA)
Jake Peavy is coming off a career-high 16 strikeouts against the Braves. After a sluggish April, vintage Jake is back. Peavy is limiting the opposition to a 2.18 ERA and .183 batting average in May, with 42 punchouts in 33 innings.
Peavy struck out Pujols on three pitches, all swings, one foul ball. With a runner on third and one out. Pujols: 1-for-7 in the series.
Cameron lays out Molina in a play at the plate, but he hangs on, and Cameron is out.
Juan Encarnocion: HR off Peavy
Great play by Barfield into short right to throw out that runner.
Pujols: strikes out again, 1-for-8 in the series.
Bellhorn: HR, Score: 1-1
Bard: HR, top shelf in Western Metal building. 2-1, Padres.
Bellhorn’s HR: 438 feet, the longest in Petco Park history.
Peavy with a poor, poor decision.
3-2. Crap.
Bard almost caught Eckstein napping.
Three run shot. That’s bad.
What the heck happened with Peavy? On GameDay it’s just a stream of badness, can’t tell if he was just missing or what.
Yes, Bochy, Castilla will turn it around. As soon as the paramedics answer his MedicAlert pager.
Castilla is absolutely worthless. The best you can hope for is he doesn’t hit into a double play.
Barfield? Misplayed single that he gained 3 bases on?
Now Gameday’s got the update. Barfield doubled, Blum got him home.
both bard HR’s were no-doubters..
Castilla was the only Padre not to score in that inning, not counting Peavy.
Castilla proves Anthony wrong. The best you can hope for is that Vinny gets plunked.
Ladies and gentlemen — Jon Adkins . . . inducing a GIDP from Rolen.
Now THAT’S what I’m talkin’ ’bout!!!!
According to Gameday, looks like Bard almost went deep again . . .
When did Josh Bard turn into Johnny Bench? I can’t see even a hint of it in his career until now, except for a brief stretch in AAA
just because I know this might get a bit of play in the next few days
just Bard for Mirabelli (through today’s games)
Mirabelli BOS .130/.200/.174 0runs 2RBI in 25 PA’s
Bard SD .395/.400/.860 9runs 5HR 14RBI in 44 PA’s
and my favorite number from this group since the trade
Mirabelli BOS 4 Passed balls
Bard SD 0 PB’s
I saw Bard’s 2 games last weekend in Seattle … and he was putting major wood on the ball … he’s *HOT*! Can/will it sustain? Is is more likely to sustain is he plays full-time? … or if he shares time with Piazza? … or if he shares time with Piazza and Bowen?
Note: Bowen off DL … Paul McAnulty sent back to AAA Portland … sigh, I feel bad for anohter opportunity lost for The Hammer.
I think it’s good news that Sledge got his first SB for Portland today … http://tinyurl.com/hqa5s … his wheels are clearly doing better!
Kevin Towers has got to be fired. Here’s a look at some of his horrible moves:
Jason Bay+Oliver Perez for Giles
Trading Bret Boone
Woody for Ray Lankford
Drafting Matt Bush instead of Jered Weaver
Signing Nevin and Klesko to long-term deals
And the farm system is TERRIBLE: George Kottaras is our best prospect; The Pads need to stop this BS and rebuild like the Marlins or D-Rays. I’d rather watch a young crummy team with loads of potential than a group of washed-up 30-year olds put together a 78-84 season.
Lance’s #85 and Dex’s #84 are now up. #83 will go up when Rich Campbell gets it to me.
no need to be a debbie downer now..
top 5 rotations by SNLVAR
Dodgers 8.3
Mets 6.8
Padres 6.6
Cardinals 6.4
Giants 6.2
Towers should not be fired. First, great game. The Giles trade was a big bust, but he had a strong impetus to win right away, before Loretta, Nevin and Klesko declined too much. They rebounded dramatically, but missed it. And he got Perez as a free agent out of the Mexican league and swiped Bay from NY for Steve Reed, a so-so middle relief. He got Nevin for nothing, and his recent implosion aside, he was a hugely productive. Adding in the “no-trade” clauses killed us because he could have gotten Griffey without them. But in defense of the no-trade, when both Klesko and Nevin signed the team was awful. It was perceived that they had signed below market value to remain in SD. You have to have a no-trade no to have that value immediately shipped to another team where you would have demanded more money to play.
I think Towers is awesome on picking pitchers, especially relievers. He is not so good with position players, but passable. Alderson claimed that they would “have more flexibility” next off-season because they did not face the triple free agent dilemma of last season (Hernandez, Giles and Hoffman).
This praise aside, I still cannot fathom what he was thinking with Vinny. And he plays into Bochy’s weakness of feeling better with solid fielding veterans, no matter their lameness with the bat.
I am SOOOO sick of the Towers bashing. C’mon now Jon! Even the recent Castilla deal…um, excuse me, but how has Brian Lawrence produced for the Nationals this year for more money?
How about the deal with Texas? How about getting Bard for Mirabelli, a deal trumpeted right over your head and one that at the time I thought was merely about getting a clubhouse cancer excised before it exploded?
The deals for Klesko and Nevin were approopriate at the time. If you are going to tell me you foresaw the offensive explosion of Bret Boone, I am going to tell you that you are either psychic or a liar. (I felt that was a mistake BTW…but not as bad as you play it).
Our farm system is terrible? How many farm systems in MLB have produced as good a combo as Greene/Barfield in recent years? I’m not saying we are at the top…but terrible is overstating things. And I am a firm believer in judging a system by it’s products, not just it’s potential.
Towers is not Branch Rickey…but he’s not bad. And he is great at assembling a bench and bullpen.
Richard:
I emailed the artcle for the next Top 100 player to Lance last night. If you see this, I don’t have a direct email for you and there is no contact link on the blog…email me at sdspotlight @ yahoo.com…
Rich – well said!
The question then becomes … can the Padres win with Towers as GM? There are multiple ways to difine “win” in this question … for me, clearly one element has to be winning a World Series. Can KT build a team that wins a World Series? The answer to that isn’t obvious … so let’s add a time frame … can he win a WS within 10 years? Eh, I think that’s the same question … I think it takes less than 10 years to build a team … but I think it also takes longer than 5 years … but I think “5-year plan” is what’s most often talked about … and the the Padres’ shouldn’t be starting from scratch … so the question becomes: can KT build a team that wins the WS within 5 years?
I don’t know … I’m just saying it’s not an obvious answer … maybe yes, maybe no … so then I move on this question: if the Padres don’t win a WS in the next 5 years, then is it time to say that he’s had his chance and try somebody else? I think so … and I think perhaps the Padres are beyond the start of that 5-year clock … in other words, if the Padres are clearly in a better place in 2-3 more years, then it’s time to look for someone that they think will do better …
Bottom Line: I think it’s worth the risk of getting worse to try to get someone in the GM office that build a team that can win a World Series every once in a while … which means being in position to compete for a World Championship frequently (2-3 years out of every 5-6) …
I think KT’s done enough to show that he’s on the cusp of being that guy … and the team may be headed toward being that competitive … so if they do string a few post-season’s together, then he’s our man … but if they stay in the 75-85 range for the next 2-3 season’s, it’ll be time for a change …
Lynch, I agree with a lot of that…I hope that the answer is pairing Towers with Alderson, and I believe that may have been the plan all along.
KT may be the best in the business at the twin B’s of Bench & Bullpen, and at doing it on a budget. And we will always be on a budget. Can Alderson provide the veto to prevent mistakes on veteran starters and use the Fuson/Chief Gayton combo to better the farm system? If yes, we have a great team.
By the way, I hate to sound like a small market guru…but I think a consistent push for the World Series every three years is beyond our budget capabilities. I’d be happy with a legitimate shot at the division consistently and a WS window once every five years.
Rich – well said … we’re on the same page … key is not KT stand-alone but how he fits into the whole management team … and yes, consistently in hunt for division title and a “WS window” every once in a while is what we can and should expect.
A few late observations from the game:
- Josh Barfield is a gamer. He chased a long fly ball toward the RF line that would have been trouble had it stayed fair. He dove for the ball but it was out of reach by a foot or so (he was closer to it than Giles was). When he got up, people gave him a standing ovation. This was after his played that threw the runner for the last out in the earlier inning. He also stole a base off the pitcher.
- Josh Bard is hitting the crap out of the ball. And he is very aware of the game. Almost picked off Eckstein at 3B with the bases loaded.
- Khalil is more patient at the plate. Worked out a BB after getting behind in the count.
- Vinny cannot swing the bat.
- Peavy made a mistake and Pujols hit the pitch out. Sir Albert hit that long HR at 0-2 count and first base open.
- Luckily, Mulder didn’t have it either.
- Three longest HRs in Petco were from this game. Bellhorn, Bard, and Pujols hit them. The one that Bellhorn hit to the beach was the longest.