Cla Meredith, Superhero
Mon, Sep 11, 2006
by Geoff Young
Projects wrapping up at work today, so this will be brief. Rough weekend for the Padres, but it was nice to see them finish strong on Sunday in front of a national audience that is still trying to figure out whether Ryan Howard plays for the Pads or the Giants. Right-hander Cla Meredith, as is his custom, worked a scoreless inning, extending his Padres franchise record to 32 consecutive scoreless innings. There is some uncertainty as to the all-time mark for a reliver, although it may belong to former Orioles closer Gregg Olson, who spun 42 straight zeroes in 1990.
In honor of Meredith, here’s a shot I took of him from above the Padres bullpen during the last homestand:
In Other News
I’m happy to report on two really cool things that happened over the weekend that affect you and me. First, I finally managed to get all the old Ducksnorts blog archives into WordPress. There’s still some cleanup work to be done (hello, off-season!) and I need to convert the ancient, longer articles, but as of now, all the blog entries are in one place. For those keeping score at home, as of this writing, we’re up to 1388 posts and 23,264 comments. Here are a few blasts from 2001 that you might enjoy (apologies for the lame titles on some of these — I didn’t always write titles for posts, so many have been added well after the fact):
- Promotions, Trades, and the Annoying Diamondbacks. Pretty sure this is the first mention of Jake Peavy at Ducksnorts.
- Road Trip, Day One: The Mario Ramos Show. We have a Jon Adkins sighting. He was pitching for the Sacramento River Cats at the time.
- Haiku Birdie. Ryan Leaf and Hideki Irabu. Also, those two stat lines at the bottom (sorry for the lousy font — that’s part of off-season cleanup) are for Mark McGwire (A) and Russell Branyan (B).
- Hank Blalock, Grady Fuson, and Matt Vasgersian. This is right after Vasgersian was hired as Padres TV play-by-play announcer — a great move, IMO (and I would say that even if he hadn’t given us a shout-out the other night on Channel 4).
- Not All Power Hitters Showed Power in the Minors. Did you know that Mike Cameron hit no homers in 411 at-bats as a 20-year-old in A-ball?
Second, I’ve accepted a writing position for a prominent blog network. It will be about baseball (duh) but not the Padres specifically. I’ll have more details in the coming days but right now the important things to know are that this is a great gig and that it won’t negatively affect Ducksnorts at all (if anything, we may end up with more Padres fans coming out of the woodwork).
Okay, that’s all for now. Three game series in Cincy starting Tuesday. Be here for the IGDs because, you know, it’s what we do. Go Padres!
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.
September 11, 2006 at 8:46 am
Congrats on the new writing job! It’ll be something to help fill up all your free time…
September 11, 2006 at 9:06 am
Congratulations, GY. BTW, found this article on some of the young Padres posted in the Oregonian.
http://www.oregonlive.com/spor.....thispage=1
September 11, 2006 at 10:30 am
Congrats on the gig, Geoff. We’ll be reading more of your writing. How cool is that? That’s Cla Meredith and Josh Bard for Mirabelli cool.
September 11, 2006 at 10:32 am
Congrats, Geoff! That is awesome!
On a side note, did anyone catch the Fox NFL Pregame show yesterday morning? I’m settling in for my full day of NFL football in months, and who do I see on my TV? Why, it’s MATTY V!! All dressed up in a suit and doing NFL play-by-play for Fox. I nearly choked on my coffee. I didn’t catch which game he was broadcasting.
It explains why we had Steve Quis this weekend. Even his attempts at pop culture references fell flat.
Is this another sign of San Diego losing Matty V? Or just Matty’s job for after September?
September 11, 2006 at 10:45 am
#4: I read in the paper a few weeks ago that Mud signed a new 3 year deal and they were working on Matty’s. He was quoted to the effect, “I have no plans on going anywhere else, and it’s just a matter of getting a deal worked out.” He also talked about getting the Fox NFL gig, saying that he was really looking forward to doing football again and that it was nice to be forgiven for that XFL stint.
September 11, 2006 at 10:55 am
Question: Cla Meredith is eligible for ROY, right? I’m not saying he should win it, necessarily, but a rookie pitcher throwing up zero after zero in the heat of a pennant race should merit consideration, right? If the Pads make the postseason, he will have been as important as anyone, if not the most important cog in the machine. Think of how many W’s he’s rescued by coming in to put out fires.
September 11, 2006 at 11:21 am
Good news, Geoff! Can’t wait to see your new digs. Cla and Josh should get some consideration for ROY; unfortunately there are so many strong candidates this year, I think they will both be well down the list. Still glad they’re on our team though!
September 11, 2006 at 11:42 am
Didi, AND $100,000
September 11, 2006 at 12:20 pm
I think Cla, Hensley and Barfield should all be under consideration for ROY.
September 11, 2006 at 12:31 pm
The ROY should be a Marlin. Ramirez or Uggla, or the voters could be creative and give it to Johnson.
Hensley’s closer to Johnson and Cain than Barfield is to Ramirez and Uggla. Those two have been damn good.
Zimmerman, Ethier, Scott, and Willingham have been slightly better hitters than Barfield. Barfield’s defense evens that out some, but still, he’s well behind the Florida’s middle infield.
September 11, 2006 at 12:34 pm
I agree that a Marlin will likely get it and deservedly so. They have quite a few candidates, really.
September 11, 2006 at 12:35 pm
Anyone else notice that Cla has given up all three of his ERs this year vs. the Phillies?
September 11, 2006 at 1:03 pm
PF: it’s cooler than I thought. Thanks.
Cla would be in consideration if he’s not playing for the Padres.
Having said that, a Marlin should definitely win the ROY.
I’m glad no more Gigantes on the schedule and still games vs. the Dodgers. First things first, beat the Reds.
September 11, 2006 at 1:25 pm
Matty V was in Carolina for the Falcons-Panthers game. I thought that was weird too. thought he was just an NBC guy (Ski Jumping at this year’s Olympics)…
there’s an article in BP today about the NL Wild Card
September 11, 2006 at 2:06 pm
Interesting Adam Eaton article today…
http://www.dallasnews.com/shar.....913bf.html
If the Pads could grab him for 2yr/$12mm, I bet we jump on that…and I won’t grumble all that much.
September 11, 2006 at 2:07 pm
Too bad it will take 3 years to get him…
September 11, 2006 at 2:34 pm
I think I remember Matty V doing some football last season towards the end of the year…
September 11, 2006 at 3:27 pm
From Rob Neyer, over at ESPN, on the Wild Card race:
“Bottom line, this looks like a Padres-Giants affair. Throw the Dodgers into the mix — they’re only a game-and-a-half ahead of the Padres — and it looks as though the West is the National League division to watch. So don’t be afraid to stay up late this month.”
September 11, 2006 at 3:30 pm
Why would giving it to Josh Johnson be “creative”? He is the best player.
1. Johnson
2. Zimmerman
3. Uggla
Why should Bard receive consideration when he has less than 300 plate appearances? There are at least eight better candidates and only three players can be on each ballot.
September 11, 2006 at 4:03 pm
Webb should get the Cy Young, right?
Or is it a two-horse race with Carpenter?
September 11, 2006 at 4:04 pm
I think Barfield definitely deserves some consideration and should finish in the top 5, but he won’t win and doesn’t really deserve to win either…
September 11, 2006 at 4:10 pm
I didn’t realize that Cla is his middle name.
Olise Cla Meredith: http://www.baseball-reference......cl01.shtml .
September 11, 2006 at 4:21 pm
Meredith is 23rd in the Majors (tops on the Padres) in Runs Prevented Above Average. He’s 6th among relievers (he passed Mariano Rivera last night). He has faced 139 batters and been 21 runs better than an average pitcher. That’s just nuts.
September 11, 2006 at 4:24 pm
It’s a two-pitcher race between Webb and Carpenter. I would lean toward Webb.
September 11, 2006 at 4:24 pm
On the CYA, I think Carpenter’s #1 on that list. I’d probably take Arroyo and Smoltz over Webb, too. The 15 errors behind Webb are primarily a result of his being a groundball pitcher, so he should be held accountable for them.
September 11, 2006 at 4:26 pm
FWIW, Bard had played in parts of four seasons and accumulated 542 big-league PA coming into 2006.
September 11, 2006 at 4:31 pm
Johnson’s probably the ROY. If you want a “creative” pick: Saito. He’s been good enough to deserve it, too.
September 11, 2006 at 4:33 pm
Anibal Sanchez’s bid to tie Johnny Van der Meer’s record for consecutive no-hitters is over.
September 11, 2006 at 4:36 pm
Yeah, Barfield and the Cla(y)s have played really well this year and are definitely a key part of the Padres’ success, but Zimmerman, Johnsons, Uggla, Ethier, and Ramirez have outplayed Barfield and Hensley, and have had more time in the majors than Meredith.
On the Cy Young race, right now it looks like a two man race between Webb and Carpenter, with Webb having the slight edge right now.
Johan Santana is absolutely sick. He should be winning his third straight Cy Young award this year, in basically his third year of starting full time.
September 11, 2006 at 4:43 pm
Santana was robbed clearly last season.
He should win this year.
BTW, he was a right-handed shortstop, I read somewhere.
Shouldn’t Matt Bush convert now? He used to pitch in HS.
Hoffman and Santana led the way. Why not?
September 11, 2006 at 5:13 pm
19: Johnson hasn’t been as valuable as Ramirez or Uggla.
I have no idea what you mean by Bard. He’s nobody I or anyone else in this thread brought up as a ROY.
September 11, 2006 at 5:17 pm
It’s possible I imaged that. Plus, the name “Josh” can apply to Barfield, Bard or Johnson.
September 11, 2006 at 6:41 pm
Anyone read the HardballTimes.com article about Teahan?
http://www.hardballtimes.com/m.....-steps-up/
Overall, solid piece. I posted the link for you all, b/c I think Teahan could be available and we’ve talked about Teahan as a future 3B for SD. Lord knows, Alex Gordon certainly won’t be available (though KC has said they could move Gordon to RF and keep Teahan), and we could offer starting pitching (which KC obviously needs)…
One part of the analysis near the end of article bothers me though…
“Teahen has a fairly low percentage of line drives. For the season, only 15.6% of the balls he hits are line drives. Most successful hitters are north of 20%. If Teahen can hit his current .290 at his lower than average line drive rate, what can he hit if his rate is just average? I can’t do the math, but I’d figure that would add almost 30 points to his average. It’s interesting to note that his percentage has climbed two full points over the last 30 games.”
That scares me… The other side of the argument that author Craig Brown ignores, is that the success despite the low-line-drive-rate suggests the success could be flukish… The other issue that bothers me, is that with Teahan’s success, his price tag is as high as it will get right now.
September 11, 2006 at 7:13 pm
Tony Gwynn Jr. was 1-for-1 in a pinch-hit at-bat tonight.
September 12, 2006 at 7:27 am
Peter, with Teahen’s hurt and out for the season, that price tag can’t be as high…but I would dare to think that KC would not trade him at all during an off-season which he is recovering from shoulder surgery.