first pitch: 7:15 p.m., PT
television: Channel 4SD
matchup: Jake Peavy (8-13, 4.32 ERA) vs Matt Cain (11-9, 4.11 ERA)
previews: Padres.com | SI.com
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Matt Cain is one of a couple young pitchers in the NL West who scare me (LA’s Chad Billingsley would be the other). I don’t want the Padres to have to face this guy for the next several years. Opponents are hitting just .220/.310/.370 against the right-hander this season. In August and September, Cain is 4-2 with a 2.20 ERA over 45 innings.
Good news is, Jake Peavy is also doing well during that stretch. His record is just 3-3, but he has a tidy 2.51 ERA over 46 2/3 innings. The other good news is that, for as inefficient as Peavy has been at times in 2006, Cain has been even worse. Not surprising for a young power pitcher, Cain is tied with Chris Young for the NL “lead” in pitches per inning at 17.4. (Peavy is #7, at 16.8, so it’s not a huge advantage.) Incidentally, Young, Cain, and Peavy are the only NL starters who are averaging 4.0 or more pitches per plate appearance this season.
Anywho. First of three against the Giants at PhoneCo tonight. Pads need to take two of these, and a little help from the Mets (who pounded the Dodgers at Shea on Thursday) would be nice as well. Go Padres!
32 Comments
odgers 5-0 bottom of the 8th. ITs on ESPN.
Ryan Howard with 2 more bombs (56 now).
What happened to Teahen. Season-ending shoulder surgery?
So i’m trolling the Union-trib board and everyone seems to agree that Zito is too expensive, too inconsitent, blah blah blah. I dont get it. I mean, we have a whole bunch of money opening up and the same people are hollering for us to resign Dave Roberts. If thats the case we only have one position spot (3B) and possibly two starters spots (with Peavy, Young, Hensley entrenched) open. Say we have 20-30 Million. Where are we supposed to spend it if not on a top flight starter like zito?
http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20060908&content_id=1652125&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb
I don’t know if this was posted before, but it’s an MLB.com article on Hoffman and the evolution or de-evolution of the role of the closer. Good stuff from Gossage.
And here’s a page with plenty about Hoffman and closers and the record:
http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/mlb/events/hoffman/index.jsp
jake doesn’t look sharp
Two good swings by Piazza – fould the frst back and got just underneath the second one…
don’t like the ‘feel’ of today…Dodgers rout the mets, jake looks off
You could really see on that last Alou pitch that Jake isn’t driving through. He was even more straight up and down than usual.
…and the fossilized remains of Moises Alou just tripled for crying out loud
Here’s an AP story that moved yesterday about Hoffman:
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/wire?section=mlb&id=2578305
Well, Peavy had the best at bat that inning, and he struck out.
Brian Giles has hit the ball really well both times up now, so that is good to see.
At least at this rate of throwing pitches, there is no way Matt Cain can complete the no-hitter he has going.
Another pitched grooved for extra bases. More inane comments from Giants announcers. Peavy again falling behind the next hitter. This is frustrating.
Having Geoff Blum and Manny Alexander as the options at SS is really depressing.
I am extremely impressed by the restraint of the Giants announcers in not mentioning that Cain has yet to allow a hit. Usually the announcers are all over that after 3. But, no-no through 5.
Peavy has looked really good hitting. He did a good job in that at bat of realizing he would help the team most by making Cain throw a lot of pitches.
Peavy finally puts a good slider over for a first pitch strike, and the ump blows it by calling it a ball.
I’m not sure what made me yell louder – Piazza throwing out a base stealer or the fact that the throw nearly hit Peavy in the head.
It’s not worth talking about until a pitcher does it through six innings.
That’s Giles third well hit ball, so it’s good that one of them finally found a hole. The Giants announcers just said it was good to pitch in the Bay Area because the fans know when a no-hitter is going on. This is so true because in San Diego we have a hard time deciphering the meaning of the 0 beneath the H on the scoreboard.
There you go. No-hitter over.
Is it just me or has Durham been killing us all season long?
Durham has hit .314/.340/.549 against the Padres. So he has hit well, but his season line is .295/.361/.535, so that’s about average for him.
Why can’t the Padres hitters do that?
I love the celebration in the Giants dugout over the groundout to second.
So let’s take Roberts out for PH because there’s a left-handed pitcher coming in. How much do you want to bet he doesn’t pinch hit for Giles, despite that he’s hitting 80 pts below Roberts against lefties…
Well, Giles has hit the ball really well today. Of course, that was against a righty, and he ends up looking bad against the lefty and popping it up.
Bellhorn with a leadoff single in the 9th. In the distance, a flicker of hope…
re: 3, Sam, our problem isn’t pitching, it’s hitting… Let’s spend the money where we need it, not just because we like the big name guy who’s on the board
STOP LETTING BELLHORN SWING THE BAT, BRUCE! I know he singled there, but a well placed grounder up the middle does not make up for 250 absolutely horrible at bats.
…which is promptly extinguished by the breeze from Piazza’s whiff.
Well, that was incredibly depressing.