For here
Am I sitting in a tin can
Far above the world
Planet earth is blue
And there’s nothing I can do
Old school, baby. We’re gonna blog like it’s 1999 — at least until we get this thing fixed. Unfortunately there is no commenting, but maybe we can get some food for thought out there and then talk about it later.
Chris Young has been brilliant, if a bit inefficient. For the second straight year he is leading MLB in pitches per plate appearance. Still, he’s given the Padres a lot more than they would have gotten out of the Adam Eaton (who has yet to pitch for Texas in 2006), for a lot less.
- Overall
- Right Field
- Center Field
- Left Field
- Shortstop
- Third Base
- Second Base
- First Base
- Catcher
- Relief Pitchers
- Starting Pitchers
Chan Ho Park and Woody Williams have pitched far better than anyone had a right to expect. Park provides a strong counterexample for those who would claim the World Baseball Classic was detrimental to pitchers. He threw with tremendous confidence for South Korea and has carried his success into the regular season.
Like Park, Williams began the season in the bullpen. After just one relief appearance, he was summoned back to the rotation and quickly turned into the Padres’ most consistent starter. After missing much of May and all of June, Williams finished the first half strong with two solid outings.
Jake Peavy‘s numbers are well off the pace he’s established over the past couple years, but there is evidence that this may be a fluke. He has shown flashes of brilliance, including a career-high 16-strikeout game against Atlanta on May 22. We’ve gotten spoiled by Peavy’s recent exploits — his mediocre seasons look like most pitchers’ good ones.
As for the rest, Clay Hensley has been erratic, which isn’t too surprising given that he had made just one big-league start prior to the season and was slated to work out of the bullpen this year before Shawn Estes blew out his arm in his first and only start of 2006.
Throw in rookie Mike Thompson‘s performance while Williams was on the shelf (and trying to put Dewon Brazelton‘s two comical starts in April out of your mind), you have a rotation that ranked near the top of the big leagues in many statistical categories despite being a perceived weakness entering the season. Expected? No. Sweet? Yes.
Grade: B+
Recent Comments