first pitch: 7:05 p.m., PT
television: Channel 4SD
matchup: Chris Young (3-3, 4.32 ERA) vs Aaron Cook (5-4, 3,39 ERA)
previews: Padres.com | SI.com | ESPN
Is it me, or are the Rockies getting a little too comfortable at Petco Park? After Monday night’s 5-0 shutout behind Jason Jennings, they’re now 4-0 in San Diego this season.
Tuesday night’s matchup features a couple of right-handers who defy logic. Colorado’s Aaron Cook is one of the most punchless pitchers in all of baseball, averaging just 3.4 K/9 over 406 innings for his career. Opponents are hitting .301/.363/.423 against him during that time. This year the numbers are a little better, as Cook has broken the 4.0 K/9 barrier for the first time in a season, cranking it all the way up to 4.2, and he’s holding the opposition to a .282/.332/.394 line.
How can he succeed despite the hittability and extreme aversion to strikeouts? So far the answer has been his ability to induce ground balls. This year his GB/FB ratio is a whopping 3.12. That’s not quite Derek Lowe territory but it’s close.
Even so, it is difficult to maintain consistent pitching success while not missing bats. On the other hand, it seems to be working for Cook, so who am I to argue?
On the Padres side, the baffling Chris Young takes the mound. On the one hand, his ERA is a respectable 4.32, and he’s holding opposing hitters to a .235/.312/.452 line. On the other, he’s serving up just over two homers per 9 innings, and no NL pitcher has allowed more long balls this year. Young has surrendered 13 homers so far in 58 1/3 innings after allowing just 19 in 165 2/3 innings last season while pitching in a much more challenging environment.
The amazing part of this is that Young has served up eight of those home runs at Petco Park. How do you even begin to explain something like this:
| Year | Park | IP | HR/9 | Park Factor |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Ameriquest Field | 25.2 | 1.18 | 1.263 (4th) |
| 2006 | Petco Park | 83.2 | 2.81 | .901 (20th) |
It should be noted that Petco Park had been the most difficult park to hit the ball out of in each of its first two seasons (.691 park factor in 2004, .750 in 2005). Despite this, the opposition is hitting .301/.365/.592 against Young there in 2006.
I don’t get it.
San Diego Padres traded RHP Seth Etherton to Kansas City for a player to be named or cash.
Didn’t the Padres get Etherton from Kansas City in the Rule V draft earlier?
yes. if they don’t use him for a certain time.. you gotta trade him back.
Etherton was immediately inserted into KC’s rotation.
GY, maybe its the cold thumb that makes Young a batting practise pitcher sometimes. I guess most guys sit dead red and Chris Youngs fastball isn’t too fast but it moves. And if it doesn’t move tonight, the Rocks will be hitting it all over the park. Meanwhile, the padres will be grounding into DPs all night. Can’t wait for the rocks to leave town.
Rockies 1-2 punch (minimum 100 PAs)
Sullivan .308 (3rd to last among leadoff hitters)
Barmes .283 OBP (Last among 2hole hitters)
also
Rockies 220 RS, 233 RA 24.1-26.9
Padres 237 RS, 228 RA 26.4-25.6
Rockies are scoring less than their opponents and that could be a signal they could fall off pace soon.
Also can the Padres take a flyer on Esteban Yan? he was designated for assignment by the Angels.
LynchMob wanted to know why I haven’t put in my two cents worth here in awhile. I’m in mourning. The beginning of May was wonderful. It’s as if a light switch was turned off and the Pads are in the dark. The games are fun to watch (sometimes), but consistency is the KEY! And is it just me, or does Khalil swing at every pitch in the dirt.
here’s yesterdays win probability chart courtesy of fangraphs.com
http://www.fangraphs.com/tgraphs%5C20060528_Cardinals_Padres.png
and look at the critical parts of this game Adkins did a good job.
Also I gotta give props to gaslamp ball finding pictures of three things I never thought existed, especially the third.
( http://www.gaslampball.com/ )
In other news, the Padres came to terms with three draft and follows from last year’s draft, including Adam Breit, who I was hoping would sign. These guys all appear to throw hard, and hopefully they will be good signings along the lines of other D&Fs Kottaras and Jared Wells. Here’s the link to Baseball America’s report.
http://tinyurl.com/m5uzb
Chris Young is one of the few pitchers that are more effective pitching up in the strike zone, mainly due to the high release point. His pitches down in the zone don’t seem to have the same kind of life and of course if you make a poor pitch up around the letters it’s going to get crushed. Possibly the splits are due to Young knowing it’s hard to hit one out at Petco so he’s more aggresive, hence the low Opponent’s Battig Average.
That is great news on the juco kids. Maybe Bush should join them in the pitching ranks.
Whoo, Giles was out by about 20 feet there.
I know Bellhorn strikes out a ton, but I’d rather have him in there than Castilla.
Well we made it through the first hurdle. CY didn’t give up a hit as soon as Matty V started talking about the no-no.
Please, please, please tell me that Clay Kirby is not watching…
Oh well…his pitch count is awful high…the likelihood was awful slim…now they can concentrate on winning instead of the no-no.
Well, you ride her to she buck or you don’t ride at all.
I love watching Chris Young pitch. If it wasn’t for the radar gun you’d think he was throwing 100mph instead of 90. He just overpowers guys with what is really just average speed. If the gun is accurate he doesn’t throw any harder than Clay Hensley.
The gun is accurate…but a lot of people who have never faced a taller pitcher don’t get it. I caught Chad Specht in college, listed as 6’7″. Chad had average speed…but similar to Young, he had a big over the top delivery. With Chad’s stride and wingspan, he was releasing the ball a full 12-15″ closer to home plate. If not more.
What ‘s 15″? It’s about 2% of the distance. What the difference between a 96 mph fastball and a 98 mph one? Right. More importantly, it gives you less time to recognize what’s coming…
It may only be 2% in reality…but I bet that 2 mph seems like 5 or 6 mph when you add in the reduced reaction time…
Three more outs to go. I’m listening on the radio, so I can’t SEE how Young has looked, but I’d be inclined to let him finish.
I should note that I never tried to hit off Chad, not even in an intersquad game…just watched other people try to…and when Chad was on his game, I do mean *try* to hit off him…
I don’t think 110 pitches is too many. When a pitcher is going good, which Young apparently is, I don’t think 125 is too many. I’d have given him a shot to finish.
Trevor is pitching like Chad Specht. I guess Boch was right to pull Young.
Helton murders Hoffman. I think Leitner said he was 10-16 against him prior to that at bat. Then again, I’ve been drinking, and Leitner is a buffoon, so maybe that’s incorrect.
Done. Damned Rockies give us way too hard of a time.
Here’s the pitching details …
Pitches-strikes – A Cook 87-51; T Martin 14-9; J Mesa 3-1; C Young 110-79; T Hoffman 16-12.
Ground balls-fly balls – A Cook 10-6; T Martin 0-1; J Mesa 0-0; C Young 2-14; T Hoffman 0-3.
Batters faced – A Cook 27; T Martin 3; J Mesa 0; C Young 27; T Hoffman 4.
… Wow, 14 FBs to 2 GBs for Young … and then Hoffy adds 3 more FBs …
Nice results tonight!
Mesa’s “batters faced” stat caught my eye … oh, I see what happened …
- D. Roberts caught stealing, catcher to second
If Young was fully healthy, I’d have given him more of a go..but that circulation problem is still worrisome and he seemed visibly gassed to me…and I noted that Bochy was quizzing Piazza in the dugout. I’d be surprised if Mike didn’t quietly say to go to Hoffy…
Trivia from the AP game story …
The last Padre to take a no-hitter into the eighth inning was Adam Eaton on July 3, 2004, against Kansas City. He was included in the trade for Young. … Padres 3B Vinny Castilla took batting practice on Tuesday and is expected back in the lineup on Wednesday. He was hit on the left elbow on Sunday and hasn’t played since.
Lynch, I did a write up on that Eaton game…I linked to it in my recap of this one…the Pads have some bizarre history on this subject…
Just watched this on Tivo. Good game: it seemed like they were just having CY throw strikes and it really worked, especially early. Lots and lots of fastballs which were getting fly outs.
I HATED the call to have Giles and Piazza running with Bellhorn up there. That guy gets walks, but is not a good contact guy. My guess is without the hit and run, Bellhorn does not swing. Bochy does that a lot, and I think he does it without knowing his hitters that well. With Giles hitting, with his eye and discipline, sure. But not Bellhorn. Who knows what would have happened if he walked him, but if Greene does swat his triple, that is a 3-4 run inning, instead of a 1. Hated it.
With Blum’s hit in the 8th, how does the ball go to the right fielder near the track to 3B to second without Blum being able to get to second? It seems impossible, unless he slowed up on his running.
3 DP’s, 11 base runners, a triple and a double and two runs. Glad we won, but hate that it was this tight.
More…; I hated the home ump. In the 4th when CY walked Helton and Halliday, I thought he was getting squeezed. A bunch of borderline pitches, some on two strikes, no call. Then later in the game, he called some that were 6 inches off the plate. He seemed to give CY was pitches sometimes and then not. I don’t think SD was the net loser in the bad calls, but it was very frustrating that CY had to burn all those pitches.
I would argue it is time to give Cameron a bit lower position in the line up. I am not quite sure who moves up; maybe Agon? Barfield? In Bochy’s defense, not tons of alternatives.
Also, why is Brower still getting innings? He’s had 10 appearances, two scoreless, 1 allowing a single run (in .2 innings), allowing 2 or more runs in the other 7 appearances. We have lost all 10 games he has appeared. Towers seems to always find good middle relief. What is going on?
Since I am generally finding something that drove me crazy in a game, the thing I did like: sitting Vinny for a bit. Seems kind of obvious, but Bochy will be very stubborn at times.
Another nice feeling: watching deep drives go to our outfield defense and just assume that someone is going to catch it.
For all the things not going right, we are 3.5 back, above .500. Still in this. Any updates on Estes, Klesko or Woody?
KT was on 1090 today, he said Woody is on track for late July, he’s doing much better than expected. I think Klesko is on track for a similar time frame. Those could be two nice pick ups if they can contribute. He also said it’s not a good time to make a deal, everyone is trying to add. Said KC called him looking to add. What kind of incompetent mess is KC if they’re looking to add players? He also admitted that Castilla’s bat has slowed and he has no power. Didn’t say what he was going to do about it. I didn’t hear the whole thing but no mention of Leone.
Estes is done, he’s getting Tommy John surgery. KT said Stauffer and Carrillo are both possibilities later in the year.
I absolutely hate the strike em out-throw em out DP. It’s such a waste of outs. Like Jay says, Bellhorn is the wrong guy for that kind of play. If he’s that worried about a double play then bunt earlier in the count, don’t wait until it’s 3-2 and make the batter swing at what was probably ball four.