IGD: Padres vs Giants (15 Aug 06)
Tue, Aug 15, 2006
by Geoff Young
first pitch: 7:05 p.m., PT
television: Channel 4SD
matchup: Chris Young (9-5, 3.84 ERA) vs Matt Morris (8-10, 4.75 ERA)
previews: Padres.com | SI.com
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Time to play good news, bad news.
Good news: Chris Young induces a lot of fly balls.
Bad news: Many of those fly balls leave the yard at home.
Good news: The Padres are a game better than they were through 118 games last year.
Bad news: The Dodgers aren’t messing around — they had an opportunity to play this hand and they jumped all over it.
Good news: Despite themselves, the Padres are only a game back in the wild card chase.
Bad news: The Reds — the one team that helped itself even less than the Padres at the deadline — are leading the pack.
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.
August 15, 2006 at 6:02 pm
GY … actually, it’s “good news” that the Reds are leading the Wild Card race … isn’t it? Unless you don’t want to win the WC, I s’pose … but I gotta think we do … so it’s good that we’re only chasing the Reds … I gotta believe we can catch / beat the Reds.
Also, good write-up of Mike Thompson’s good outing for Portland Beavers yesterday at http://www.pdxbeavers.com/ …
August 15, 2006 at 6:12 pm
Orlando Hernandez’s (of those Mets who are so much better than the Padres) line score for today:
4.0/10hits/11ER/5walks/4K (losing 11-2)
At least the Pads haven’t had one of those in a while!
August 15, 2006 at 6:19 pm
LM: I hope you’re right about the Reds. I still think it’s kinda pathetic that we’ve fallen behind them.
August 15, 2006 at 6:24 pm
Bad news: That we’re even talking about the wild card.
August 15, 2006 at 6:28 pm
Well, I hate to bring this up after last night…but the weather is cloudy again as the marine layer rolls in. I predict another low scoring affair.
August 15, 2006 at 7:03 pm
At least with Chris Young in there we shouldn’t see so many infield errors.
August 15, 2006 at 7:11 pm
I like low-scoring affairs.
August 15, 2006 at 7:13 pm
Young’s first inning: 6 pitches, 6 strikes, 3 outs.
August 15, 2006 at 7:19 pm
Mets, Cardinals, Dodgers, Padres. But don’t book it; I’ve already got enough problems with my AL picks.
– Rob Neyer’s NL playoff picks from his chat today.
August 15, 2006 at 7:21 pm
Ah, RISP with less than two outs and nothing to show for it. How refreshing.
August 15, 2006 at 7:25 pm
I wonder: When we are going to start hearing the calls to fire Merv Rettenmund?
August 15, 2006 at 7:26 pm
LOL, I wonder if Dave Magadan is available.
Nice play by Gonzalez.
August 15, 2006 at 7:28 pm
Any chance Gonzalez wins the gold glove this year? Off the top of my head I can’t think of any real good fielding first basemen in the league.
August 15, 2006 at 7:32 pm
I don’t think he’ll win it..but he should get some serious consideration…kinda like Barfield for ROY
August 15, 2006 at 7:35 pm
Okay, let’s get more than zero runs here.
August 15, 2006 at 7:35 pm
Can we score a freakin’ run here please?
August 15, 2006 at 7:38 pm
Man, this is brutal.
August 15, 2006 at 7:38 pm
That might be the overstatement of the year Geoff..
August 15, 2006 at 7:39 pm
Pujols will probably win it, because he’s probably still the best fielding first baseman, but more importantly, it’s based mostly on reputation and for some reason, good hitters win the award a lot.
Fielding win shares, through Aug. 5:
Pujols, 1.5
Fielder, 1.5
Berkman, 1.3
A-Gon, 1.2
Helton, 1.2
August 15, 2006 at 7:46 pm
Since the ASB:
Mike Cameron: .277/.331/.580
Chris Young: .000/.000/.000
Which do you have bunt and which do you have swing away?
August 15, 2006 at 7:49 pm
I need more information, Geoff.
August 15, 2006 at 7:54 pm
They need to bring in Piazza for his defense.
August 15, 2006 at 8:00 pm
Situation for Cameron: 8th inning, down 1-0, runners at first and second, nobody out.
Situation for Young: 2nd inning, no score, runners at first and third, one out.
It was a rhetorical question…
August 15, 2006 at 8:02 pm
Oh, that’s easy. You have Cameron bunt to stay out of the double play and have Young swing to… to… uh, catch the defense off guard?
Ugh, the heavy air got that one.
August 15, 2006 at 8:04 pm
Yeah, I know, I was joking.
August 15, 2006 at 8:18 pm
Pedro Astacio threw a two-hit shutout against the Braves.
August 15, 2006 at 8:24 pm
Gotcha. See, they’ve killed my sense of humor.
August 15, 2006 at 8:28 pm
The TV guys were just mentioning Omar Vizquel as a potential HOFer. I’m not sure I see it. I guess he compares fairly well to Ozzie Smith, but I’d still put Alan Trammell in there first.
August 15, 2006 at 8:53 pm
These swings are really late.
August 15, 2006 at 8:54 pm
Geoff, which one of Cameron’s at-bats today would you have taken over the bunt? With your team down 1-0 in the 8th — not bunting had got you nothing all day — and knowing your bullpen is markedly better than the opposition’s, why not at least get runners to 2nd and 3rd with Giles and Bowen coming up? If Cameron doesn’t bunt so hard, the Pads tie it. A fly ball or grounder gets you nothing — not to mention a K (as in K for Kameron).
Not saying I agree with Bochy, but it’s hard to find fault with his strategy.
As for Young, a bunt from a decent hitting pitcher in the 2nd inning to move a runner up so you’ve got 2nd and 3rd and two outs? If you’d have Young bunt in that situation, it’s hard to disagree with Bochy’s Cameron strategy in the 8th.
August 15, 2006 at 8:58 pm
Because Cameron has been a good hitter this season, and an especially good hitter since the All-Star break. He may have driven those guys home. He definately could not have done that by bunting. Young could never have driven those guys home.
August 15, 2006 at 9:01 pm
See, Walker makes others make throwing errors, too.
August 15, 2006 at 9:02 pm
Morris has gone into self-destruct mode. Let’s take advantage.
August 15, 2006 at 9:02 pm
Piazza must have a target on him.
August 15, 2006 at 9:03 pm
That’s all we will see of him.
August 15, 2006 at 9:03 pm
Kevin (#32) gets the line of the night.
August 15, 2006 at 9:03 pm
Squeeze, Geoff? Lol.
August 15, 2006 at 9:04 pm
Very funny that the announcers are talking about how well Morris pitches in the 7th, 8th, and 9th innings, and now they say that Alou should really pull him before he goes through the lineup a fourth time and people figure him out.
August 15, 2006 at 9:06 pm
Chris Young: no decision
August 15, 2006 at 9:07 pm
Dodgers just got a leadoff single in the 7th (0-0 game) and Grady Little had his .300 pinch-hitter — bunt the runner over. Hmm.
August 15, 2006 at 9:09 pm
Grady Little is the Padres’ best chance for a division title.
August 15, 2006 at 9:11 pm
The manager of the 1-12 Dodgers or the 16-1 Dodgers?
August 15, 2006 at 9:12 pm
The Dodgers have excellent talent. But Little can be counted on for some mistakes down the stretch.
August 15, 2006 at 9:17 pm
4-0 talent-laden Dodgers are winning again (despite Grady).
August 15, 2006 at 9:19 pm
Bochy’s got no case here — Durham reached the base before Barfield applied the tag.
August 15, 2006 at 9:20 pm
And it comes back to haunt us. As for the Dodgers, it’s on the verge of becoming impractical to worry about them. At least the Reds lost.
August 15, 2006 at 9:21 pm
It looked to me like Barfield had bad positioning on the catch; if he had actually been there to catch the ball in the right spot then Durham would have been out by several feet. Thoughts?
August 15, 2006 at 9:21 pm
So the Marlins’ starter throws 6 shoutout innings. If the Marlins came back (a very long shot), the win would go to one of the relievers who have now given up 4 runs in less than an inning.
Have I mentioned I hate that rule?
August 15, 2006 at 9:28 pm
The Giants’ broadcast had a great replay of the Durham steal - Barfield got short-hopped by the throw, had to raise his glove to catch the ball, and then didn’t get a good tag down (he tagged Durham’s thigh after his foot had hit the bag). Durham was safe.
August 15, 2006 at 9:29 pm
Wooo! Bellhorn didn’t make an out!
August 15, 2006 at 9:30 pm
By the way, Geoff, I live in Japan — only Internet radio here — so it’s very cool to have this site to chat on with some guys. Although my Japanese girlfriend probably knows all the Pads’ names now, it’s just not the same debating Bochy’s strategies with her.
August 15, 2006 at 9:48 pm
BKTF: Glad we can be of assistance in that regard! Wish we could do something about the Giants.
August 15, 2006 at 9:48 pm
Even though we lost tonight…I wish i could’ve seen the game on the extra innings package…according to directv’s website the game was supposed to be on..but it wasn’t anywhere to be found…Sounded like another frustrating loss for the Padres..
August 15, 2006 at 9:51 pm
Frustrating (again), but let’s get a split and stay within striking range. If we keep getting pitching like the last couple of days, we should be fine. I sure would like to see Giles in that 2 hole against righthanders, though.
August 15, 2006 at 9:57 pm
cant blame walker for this one, Teddy mentioned an intresting thing on the radio, linebrink has not had a 1-2-3 inning since his only save before the ASB.
Padres did the same thing as the chargers (withg Breese) held on to one of their talents for to long and wont get anything in return for them.
well atlease it will be nice facing bediment 19 times a year for the next 10 years.
August 15, 2006 at 10:09 pm
Extra Innings pisses me off. They deliver about half the time.
August 15, 2006 at 10:29 pm
For Portland tonight … http://tinyurl.com/r3q29 … McAnulty play’d 3B … Leone played SS … BSweeney got hammered (10 H + 2 BB for 5 ER’s in 5.2 IP) … Sledge with a 3-run PH HR …
August 15, 2006 at 11:10 pm
Yeah, I’m not ready to write off Linebrink yet. Those were two singles today, both unimpressively hit, and with a little bit of luck Durham was out at 2nd. As long as his habit of giving up HRs doesn’t return, I think Linebrink should continue to be a solid middle reliever. That being said, the trade for Betemit sure looks good right now, because a decent bat at 3B is waaay more important for the Padres right now than another solid relief arm.