IGD: Padres @ Phillies (6 Jul 06)
Thu, Jul 6, 2006
by Geoff Young
first pitch: 4:05 p.m., PT
television: Channel 4SD
matchup: Chan Ho Park (5-4, 4.32 ERA) vs Ryan Madson (8-5, 5.71 ERA)
preview: Padres.com | SI.com | ESPN
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Did you ever think, in your wildest dreams, that Chan Ho Park would have a lower ERA in July than Jake Peavy? And that that wouldn’t be a Horribly Bad Thing?
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.
July 6, 2006 at 3:44 pm
I got a few BP Pizza Feed pics uploaded … here’s a start … http://whassup98.blogspot.com/.....petco.html
July 6, 2006 at 3:46 pm
And then pics of *you* … if you went … http://whassup98.blogspot.com/.....-feed.html
July 6, 2006 at 3:48 pm
One more … http://whassup98.blogspot.com/.....round.html
July 6, 2006 at 3:48 pm
No, this one will be the last one … http://whassup98.blogspot.com/.....-dave.html
July 6, 2006 at 4:05 pm
LM, Thoroughly enjoyed the pictures. Especially the one with my handsome husband and his equally handsome best friend. Also, thanks for the spirited debate over dinner and last night regarding the “All-Star” game and how the WS home field advantage is decided. And even if you had good points, which I will admit today that you had quite a few, you are still wrong.
July 6, 2006 at 4:08 pm
Found this, sure you all have heard.
AJ and Nomar named to All Star Team
http://www.mlb.com
July 6, 2006 at 5:10 pm
Horribly Bad Thing sounds like something from the Hitchhiker series. Like the Somebody Else’s Problem Field.
July 6, 2006 at 5:34 pm
3-3 game in the 5th… anyone watching? I’m stuck in a drought on MLB extra innings for seeing the Padres…I can’t remember the last game I saw… God I miss living in San Diego…
July 6, 2006 at 5:39 pm
Did that look like a balk to anyone?
July 6, 2006 at 5:40 pm
Gonzalez gets doubled off second on a flyball to left. That’s no good.
July 6, 2006 at 5:44 pm
geez..on a fly ball to left? yahoo said on a line drive which made it sound less like a bad base running play..
Did I mention how much I miss being able to watch the games?
July 6, 2006 at 5:46 pm
Well, it was a liner, I guess.
July 6, 2006 at 6:05 pm
Park made a couple nice pitches to get out of the sixth. The pitch to Victorino looked inside to me, but the one that got Rollins was a dandy.
July 6, 2006 at 6:14 pm
Bard is on fire. I love giving my Red Sox buddies periodic Bard updates. It makes me feel a little better about the Loretta trade.
July 6, 2006 at 6:14 pm
What’s with Madson going to the rosen and throwing “puff” on most pitches? I just noticed it on Bard’s AB … Bard singled on a non-puff pitch. Seems like Bochy oughtta be complaining about the puff!
July 6, 2006 at 6:15 pm
NickG - you mean the Mark Loretta who’s the starting 2B-man on the AL Alll-Star team? No … I don’t feel better yet
(but you’re right, seeing Bard hitting .400+ does make me smile
)
July 6, 2006 at 6:26 pm
Yep, the Mark Loretta with a 740 OPS and “Boston” across the front of his jersey.
July 6, 2006 at 6:30 pm
Park just took Ryan Howard to school.
July 6, 2006 at 7:06 pm
Eight-pitch save for Hoffy. Very nice.
July 6, 2006 at 8:11 pm
Mark Loretta, who could be playing 3b instead of the 600 OPS Vinny Castilla with “San Diego” on his jersey. Bard was available from Cleveland and Boston, let’s not act like he was the ultimate target in some cunning game of bluff. We could have had Loretta at third, Bard backing up Piazza, and Barfield at second.
I can hear it now, “Loretta didn’t want to move.” Please. Did Giles or Roberts sulk when asked to play CF? He goes to 3b or he doesn’t get paid.
July 6, 2006 at 8:30 pm
Guess I didn’t make my point clear enough. I’ll try again: Loretta’s an All-Star because he plays for the Red Sox, not because of his performance this year.
July 6, 2006 at 8:41 pm
I would still take Loretta over Vinny, though. And Barfield, though looking like a future star, has not cracked 700 yet with his OPS. Bard looks like a keeper. I wonder if he could play 3B? I like Bard at third, Piazza and Bowen behind the plate. How wonderful would that be, except for the times someone hit one to third?
July 6, 2006 at 8:46 pm
If it were my choice, as Sandy suggested at the pizza feed, I would give Bellhorn about 50 straight AB’s at 3B and see what his numbers look like. I think there is a decent probability that Bellhorn could give us an 800+ OPS season at third, with regular PT.
I still don’t get that job dynamic. Last year (though I was not there), Towers complained about the way Nady was being handled. Yet he stayed buried. This year Alderson suggests he would like to see what they have in Bellhorn, given regular PT. Vinny has become a fixture. I don’t know about your guys’ jobs, but when my boss says “I think you should do this” that is more or less what happens. But apparently not with Bochy.
July 6, 2006 at 8:58 pm
Correction on my comment #15 … the pitcher throwing the puff-ball was Aaron Fulz … http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/players/6445 … reminded me of Gaylord’s puff-ball … ain’t their a rule ’bout that???
July 6, 2006 at 9:23 pm
C’mon, GY, ya gotta do better than that! Sure the BoSox jersey is a factor, but who should be starting ahead of Loretta? Loretta’s in Top20 in Batting Average, 8th in hits … http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/players/5504 … you want Cano (oh, his jersey’s not helping him get votes???), or Roberts or Belliard or Iguchi … well, now that I look at that list, and their #s, sure, any of those guys could be starting …
I just wish Loretta were playing 3B for the Padres this year … but I gotta admit, when we traded Loretta, I was assuming it was because the brass knew his injured wrist was near-career-ending … and that turned out to be clearly not the case …
July 6, 2006 at 9:26 pm
Mike Thompson with a so-so outing for Portland tonight … http://tinyurl.com/ehsa4 … no offensive support at all …
July 6, 2006 at 9:30 pm
Doug Brocail pitching for the Storm tonight … http://tinyurl.com/gv64g … Chase Headley with a good evening of work!
July 6, 2006 at 10:18 pm
We traded Loretta b/c he had value, we had another 2B. Plus, hadn’t we ALREADY traded B-Law to free up salary and obtain Vinny?
Has anyone mentioned Bobby Hill as a 3B option for the rest of the season?
Hitting:
.288/.390/.397
Not much HR-power (1), but he does have 18 doubles and his on-base skills and BA would be much better than Vinny’s utter lack of on-base skills. Anyone remember/know what kind of glove Hill has at the hot corner?
July 6, 2006 at 10:31 pm
Loretta is having a decent (not great) season but you’ve made my point for me — call him Belliard and stick him in Cleveland, and he doesn’t make the team.
Anyway, I wouldn’t mind seeing Loretta play third for us either.
July 7, 2006 at 6:11 am
Interesting discussion. The Padres don’t seem to want to do the logical thing and just stick Bellhorn at third, so the other options are:
Hill - in roughly a season’s worth of work (his whole career he’s batted 530 times) he has a 700 OPS, no power or speed. He is sure handed at third but has a weak arm. He’d provide less than Joe Randa at this point, but possibly more than Castilla. Remember that Portland is a hitter’s stadium in a hitter’s league.
Corey Koskie and Ty Wigginton are both options I have heard bandied about; Wigginton is really a terrible idea and Koskie would probably cost too much.
Leone has cooled off considerably and really can’t play third at all. Bard is the best defensive catcher on the roster, moving him to third would be completely illogical, nevernmind the fact he’s never played there anywhere in his minor league career.
If the Pads are serious about this year it might make sense to take a run at Aramis Ramirez. But he would cost a lot.
And please, as well as Antonelli is starting out, don’t even suggest it. You would wreck the kid’s career.
July 7, 2006 at 12:17 pm
Peter, Loretta having value and Loretta being traded for Mirabelli are in direct contradiction to one another. You can’t swing a dead cat without hitting a backup catcher in his mid-30s during the winter and spring. Those are NRIs or 1M FAs, not players you trade value for. And if we thought so much of Barfield, why did Towers sign Bellhorn, in his own words, to be our starting second baseman? Only Barfield’s hot spring prevented that.
I suspect there was something going on with Loretta and the team. Maybe they asked him to play 3rd and it got heated. Maybe they thought he was going to be caught in a steroid test. Maybe they thought his hand was going to fall off and made the first deal they could. Only an admirable salvage job by Towers makes it possible for me to speak of this without a vein coming loose from my brain.
Geoff’s right about why Lo made the AS team. He’s in the middle of a surprisingly mundane pack of NL second sackers, but he’s on ESPN all the time and has a huge fan base pushing for him.