IGD: Padres @ Brewers (8 Jun 06)
Thu, Jun 8, 2006
by Geoff Young
first pitch: 11:05 a.m., PT
television: none
matchup: Mike Thompson (2-2, 4.91 ERA) vs Doug Davis (3-4, 5.23 ERA)
Car with a TEACH PEACE sticker on the bumper. Peace Racer intentionally runs a stop sign and then cuts right in front of me. Listen, pal, whoever you are, I dig the message, but the presentation blows.
On the other hand, the Padres snatched a victory from the Brewers Wednesday night thanks to consecutive homers by Adrian Gonzalez and Vinny Castilla on 0-2 pitches in the eighth, so I probably should cut Peace Racer some slack. But I won’t, because he’s still a jackass.
Early start today, no television. Talk about the game and stuff.
Go, Peace Racer, Go!
Picking up where last year's version left off, the Ducksnorts 2008 Baseball Annual provides in-depth analysis of and commentary on the San Diego Padres. Get your copy today.
June 8, 2006 at 7:19 am
Are you still on the family farm?
June 8, 2006 at 7:38 am
I thought that was the “funny” farm…
lol
June 8, 2006 at 8:44 am
Nope, I’m back in town. This was my drive home from work last night. Everyone knows the stop sign is there but many run it because they don’t feel like stopping.
June 8, 2006 at 11:01 am
I’m going with the Bob Uecker broadcast today on MLB.com.
June 8, 2006 at 11:14 am
Uecks isn’t happy with how the top of the first is progressing…
June 8, 2006 at 11:21 am
Torn between wanting Castilla off the team and wanting him to hit a ball across the street.
June 8, 2006 at 11:34 am
Unfortunately, I think we’re stuck with Castilla for awhile…
June 8, 2006 at 11:52 am
GameDay: In play, out recorded, Damian Miller doubles on a soft pop up to Barfield. Is that another lovely error washed away by the scorer’s desire to pad the home team’s stats? Or a legitimately tough play? Or a collision?
June 8, 2006 at 11:59 am
um.
Mike Piazza career v. Doug Davis in 14PA .500/.571/1.250 3HR 6RBI 2BB.
I know it’s a day game after a night game but maybe Bard could have started last night? That would have helped my DS NL Only too.
June 8, 2006 at 12:05 pm
1st and 3rd…1 out and Gonzalez strikes out and Vinny pops up to shortstop…. nice boys…
June 8, 2006 at 12:25 pm
DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!
BAAAAAAAARFIIIIEEELLLD!!!
June 8, 2006 at 12:52 pm
Dammit, I entered that commeny right after his homer. Don’t know what happened…
June 8, 2006 at 12:59 pm
I am so tired of Flannery…Sure he is a nice guy, but c’mon. While we may be a middle of the pack team, we are still in the major leagues…get a major league analyst/play-by-play man…Stick Flan in the pregame and postgame and leave it at that.
June 8, 2006 at 1:05 pm
Coronado,
As bad as Flan, et al are (and they are bad), the Brewers guys are practically sonambulent.
June 8, 2006 at 1:08 pm
Yeah, I was thinkin’ the same thing:
“Friggin’ sonambulent Brewer guys!!!”
June 8, 2006 at 1:12 pm
Wow. Go Embree, go. Struck out the sides after the double.
Then, Cameron grounded out after two pitches. Why is he still up in the 2nd spot? Bring Barfield up and drop Cameron to 7th with Castilla (if he has to play) in the 8th.
June 8, 2006 at 1:34 pm
Castilla just, once again, grounded out to shortstop on the first pitch to end the 8th. Looks like the mechanics still need some tweaking. We have to get this guy off the team.
June 8, 2006 at 2:02 pm
there’s your unearned run.
June 8, 2006 at 2:06 pm
Blown save Trevor. Thats his 1 for the year.
June 8, 2006 at 2:06 pm
Frick!!!
I have been hanging on but have to go now. Dr’s appt.
Geeez, whats up with Khalil? Man, thats supposed to be “game over”!
Please keep me utd in here so I can read it when I get back.
aloha, hank
June 8, 2006 at 2:07 pm
Who pitches the 10th?
June 8, 2006 at 2:17 pm
Ya, that’s the problem with the “1-inning role” strategy, ain’t it! Especially with Hoffy as the “closer” because he’s seems even more of a 1-inning guy …
June 8, 2006 at 2:19 pm
Looks like Cassidy … after AGon did the GIDP-thing in top of 10th …
June 8, 2006 at 2:23 pm
B.Hall homered to right on a 2-2 count … ballgame …
Perhaps Ry was right … we shoulda traded Cassidy yesterday …
June 8, 2006 at 2:28 pm
Walk off HR. What a drag. definately a team aiming at next year. Oh well.
June 8, 2006 at 2:28 pm
I didn’t understand pulling Embree after only throwing, what, 15 pitches? Let him pitch the 7th and you leave another arm in the bullpen that very likely could be necessary in a 1 run game.
E-6 = bad loss. F-word.
June 8, 2006 at 2:34 pm
Hey LM, I’m only suggesting if his value peaks and the club falls out of it.. it is trade time.
June 8, 2006 at 2:45 pm
Ryguy and LM.
I’ve been looking at Cassidy’s number and I’m not finished with the details yet but the overall impression I got is that the hitters are figuring him out now.
He’s much better at home and in April as opposed to be on the road and in May and June. His H/IP is way up.
This game sucked. What’s with Khalil throwing the game away.
And, once again, Vinny needs to sit down.
Lined out to 3rd on first pitch in the first,
fouled first pitch, popped to short on the next pitch in the third,
fouled first pitch, grounded to pitcher on second pitch in the fifth,
grounded to short on first pitch in the eight.
Six pitches, four outs. I much rather have Vinny do an impression of Rich Garces with his bat on his shoulder and strikes out everytime. At least then, he’d have been pitched to 12 times.
Urgh!
June 8, 2006 at 4:28 pm
I’m picking on Vinny with his ABs in this Brewers series.
He deserved it.
For the series his line is:
15AB 4H 1 2B 1HR 2RBI 0BB 0K which is not horrible but bad enough even if he did hit a game winner HR yesterday.
I checked the pitches that he took before that HR and sure enough, Vinny swung at first pitch, and the second before connecting on the third.
How did he do with his other ABs?
Let’s see.
Game 1: Swung at first pitches in 4 ABs.
Game 2: Swung at first pitches in 2 ABs.
Game 3: Swung at first pitches in 3 ABs.
Game 4: Swung at first pitches in 4 ABs.
On 0-0 count, Vinny did all these:
Looked at pitches: 2
Foul pitches: 2
Swinging and missing pitches: 4
FOut pitches: 2
GOut pitches: 2
Lined Out pitches: 1
Singled: 2.
In total, Vinny Castilla saw 29 pitches, made contacts with all but 4, got 4 hits (2XBHs), moved runners twice into scoring position.
Let’s see how he did in hit ‘battles’.
One-pitch: 7 AB, 5 outs, 2 singles, 1 RBI, moved 1 runner.
Two-pitch: 3 AB, 3 outs, moved 1 runner.
Three-pitch: 4 AB, 2 outs, 1 double, 1 HR, 1 RBI, moved 2 runners.
Four-pitch: 1 AB, 1 out.
When Vinny ’saw’ 2 pitches or fewer (2-), his line: 10 AB 2H 1RBI 8 outs 2 runners over.
In the rare occasions when he ’saw’ 3 pitches or more (3+), his line: 5 AB 2XBH 1RBI 3 outs 2 runners over.
One would think that Vinny would like to see more pitches as in this series (small samples and all) he was just as productive in the 3+ ABs as in the 2- ABs, and he could have been more had he had more 3+ ABs.
Of course, this being baseball, perhaps Vinny wouldn’t have been more successful had he ’seen’ more pitches either. At least, the opposing pitchers would have wasted more pitches and I won’t have to speculate if Vinny’s done. As it is, I still have a tiny hope he’ll improve for the Padres’ and the fans’ sakes. But first, he has to stop swinging at those first pitches. Having only seen 29 pitches in 15 ABs probably doesn’t help his confidence.
June 8, 2006 at 4:31 pm
I’m sorry. I should have caught the mistake there.
I didn’t mean that Vinny only made contact with 4 pitches out of 29, I meant he got 4 hits out of the 29 that he ’saw’.
June 8, 2006 at 4:50 pm
Hey, I know someone in the comments before has talked about this but MLB is trying to stop from allowing people to use their Sling-box to watch games..
http://news.com.com/Major+Leag.....80665.html
June 8, 2006 at 6:38 pm
Acquiring Vinny Castilla was one of the worst mistakes of Towers’ tenure here, but the worst part of it is the reason he gave at the time for the trade, it was something along the lines of “He always hits well against us.” Yep, well, now that he doesn’t face San Diego’s pitching….and doesn’t play in Coors field….and is 38 years old…well, you get the picture. It’s a lousy excuse for a bad trade, and I just don’t know hom much longer you can reasonably stick with a guy that doesn’t hit at all. When your backup catcher has more homers and RBI in less than half as many at-bats as your starting third baseman and #6 hitter, there’s a problem. If San Diego had a balanced or even decent offense, you could maybe carry a poor hitting third baseman, but the Padres aren’t even colse to being a decent-hitting team.
June 8, 2006 at 7:54 pm
Maybe Vinny should pinch-hit. He’s hitting .300/.357/.400 against relievers this year. Or maybe he should be cut, whatever.
He’s hitting .233/.250/.256 when he hits the first pitch. With that kind of success, who wouldn’t continue the behavior.
Compare that to a loser like Giles who only hits .333/.349/.571 on the first pitch.
June 8, 2006 at 7:59 pm
Basically, if Castilla doesn’t put the first pitch in play, he’s hitting .223/.282/.306 which is considerably better, but still quite awful.
You know there’s a problem when you find yourself thinking, “I wish Sean Burroughs was still playing third base.”
June 8, 2006 at 8:00 pm
Another thing, Burroughs put up a .226 EQA for the DEVIL RAYS and was demoted. Vinny recently raised his to .212 and is our regular starter at third base.
June 8, 2006 at 9:00 pm
yeah, but Tampa has Wigginton and Huff to play 3b in his absence. Who do we got? Add to that, Burroughs had one option left and Castilla has none and so could be lost for 30k waiver price.(with us paying the rest of his salary)
Not a comparable situation.
June 8, 2006 at 10:43 pm
Who do we have? Castilla is the worst hitter on the team. Anyone we have that can play third base is a better option. Castilla has zero value. Cutting him would improve the team.
June 9, 2006 at 5:31 am
Bad loss last night, guys. I really hoped the Pads could salvage a split.
Here’s something for the Friday Links. From deadspin: speculation/confirmation on some names in the Grimsley fiasco.
http://www.deadspin.com/sports.....179400.php
Looks like this thing is going to get really ugly.
June 9, 2006 at 10:13 am
“yeah, but Tampa has Wigginton and Huff to play 3b in his absence. Who do we got? Add to that, Burroughs had one option left and Castilla has none and so could be lost for 30k waiver price.(with us paying the rest of his salary)
Not a comparable situation. ”
Well, the Padres have two guys on the bench that can play third-Bellhorn and Blum. Cutting Castilla would open up a roster spot to purchase the contract of Jack Cust, who only has an OBP of 475 in AAA right now, with a Slg% close to 600. Is he that good? No. Is he better than Castilla? Yes. You’re better than Castilla. And, well, I’m going to go way out on a limb here and bet that Castilla clears waivers.