IGD: Padres vs Rockies (6 Sep 06)

Wed, Sep 6, 2006Ballhype: hype it up!
by Geoff Young

first pitch: 7:05 p.m., PT
television: Channel 4SD
matchup: Clay Hensley (8-11, 4.05 ERA) vs Jason Jennings (7-12, 3.61 ERA)
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Our hearts were ringing
In the key that our souls were singing.
As we danced in the night,
Remember how the stars stole the night away.

Not exactly a battle cry, but it will do. I’ll be out at Petco Park tonight, so you’re on your own for this one. Padres are a game back with 24 remaining. Give me that any year.

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.

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137 Responses to “IGD: Padres vs Rockies (6 Sep 06)”

  1. BigKTfan Says:

    Marlins pitcher has a no-hitter through 8.2 tonight (4 walks)

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  2. BigKTfan Says:

    And he does it! First of the year, I think.

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  3. Richard Says:

    In case you missed my reply… BigKTFan (great name, btw):

    I’m basing my assertion on the conclusions drawn from huge amounts of research done by the guys who wrote “The Book.” I’m also not saying that you should manage your bullpen purely on rest. If the lefty and righty pitchers are equal in talent, you want the lefty against a LHB and the righty against a RHB. However, if the RHP is significantly better, you want him against both the RHB and LHB. Things like GB% of both the hitter and pitcher come into play when making a decision like that, too.

    I don’t have the numbers in front of me, so I’m not confident that Bochy made the (in)correct choice. What I am confident of is that 17 PA (or whatever it was) mean dick.

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  4. Richard Says:

    Anyone who hasn’t read “The Book,” should really check it out. It’s a phenomenal read.

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  5. Clayton Says:

    what’s a franchise got to do to get a freakin’ no-no? Florida has FOUR already. Sheesh, we don’t even have a cycle from a hitter yet do we? WATFO?

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  6. BigKTfan Says:

    Thanks, Richard. I’ll have to get it. Not sure how many at-bats Helton had against Hoffman. A smaller sample size has less meaning, but there has to be a threshold where one can begin to make assumptions based on previous batter-pitcher match ups. Granted, if Helton was hitting .600 in 5 at-bats, yeah, it’s meaningless, but if it was over 20 at bats (not a whole lot, but…), I still say it means something. But maybe that’s because I haven’t read “The Book.”

    Does anyone know Helton’s career numbers vs. Embree and Hoffman or where we can find out?

    Phils down 5-2 in 9th.

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  7. Richard Says:

    20 at-bats is also nothing. For instance, when looking wOBA one’s season line should be regressed by adding 220 PA of average wOBA (that’s average relative to position, playing time, etc, not average average).

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  8. Richard Says:

    Helton has hit .308/.400/.769 against Embree over a handful of PA. But again, that has no predictive value.

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  9. Richard Says:

    It’s annoying how ESPN and others frequently leave out ROE, HBP & PA. Also that they don’t differentiate between UBB & IBB is just plain unhelpful.

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  10. Richard Says:

    Batting three LHB in a row is just wrong.

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  11. Richard Says:

    That was some jump DR got there.

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  12. Richard Says:

    I HATE the hit & run.

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  13. Richard Says:

    The first two strikes of the PA were swinging strikes. That would suggest at least to me that there’s a pretty decent chance that Piazza would swing and miss a third time. That said, I hate the hit & run regardless of if it’s a bad decision or a horrible one.

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  14. Anthony Says:

    How many strike em out, throw em out DPs is that this year? I can think of at least 3. That burns me up more than any other play, I’d rather see a GIDP than that.

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  15. Richard Says:

    The hit & run is just a bad call.

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  16. Richard Says:

    Well, Padre base-stealers have only been thrown out 26 times. I suppose one could look up all 26 and see if they were K/CS DPs.

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  17. Anthony Says:

    Hit and run has it’s uses but it just seems like the risk/reward in that situation is not good. I mean, if Piazza gets a hit at least one guy is going to score anyway. Just don’t hit and run with two strikes because it destroys the inning.

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  18. Richard Says:

    There was one on July 7.

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  19. Richard Says:

    I’d keep looking but ESPN.com is destroying my will to live.

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  20. Mark O Says:

    I agree with all of you regarding the hit and run…but consider this is a rookie catcher playing for the Rockies…

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  21. Mark O Says:

    Hit submit too soon…so…with a rookie catcher playing..it’s worth taking some chances…

    Re: 19..why are you losing you will to live?

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  22. Richard Says:

    I’m curious what that has to do with anything. Did he not play catcher in the minors?

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  23. Anthony Says:

    Heh, it was a rhetorical question. I didn’t expect anyone to actually look it up. I know we had some last year too. I’m pretty sure Klesko was picked off first on the Sut move twice last year too.

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  24. BuzzTracker.com Says:

    Featured on BuzzTracker…

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  25. Richard Says:

    Some of the pages on ESPN.com load a bit too slowly.

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  26. Kevin Says:

    re: 2

    It’s the first no-hitter since Randy Johnson’s perfect game on May 18, 2004 — the longest no-hitter drought of the Post-War Era — one more characteristic of the most extreme hitters era in baseball history (1994-present).

    The front of ESPN.com currently says that no-hitter was in 2002, but that’s incorrect.

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  27. Mark O Says:

    re:22.. that’s a good point..but the Rockies announcers made big deal out of it and suggested that the Padres should run on him..

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  28. Kevin Says:

    re: Richard

    I’m glad you’re active tonight, but I’m worried about your pitch count. ;)

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  29. Kevin Says:

    Dave Roberts has 41 stolen bases, the most by a Padres player since Bip Roberts 46 in 1990. Even with tonight’s caught stealing, Roberts’ SB percentage is .891.

    In 1980, Jerry Mumphrey was 52-for-57 (.912) for the Padres.

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  30. Richard Says:

    Fair point Kevin. I’ll probably be gone by the fifth inning.

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  31. Richard Says:

    DR triples and he could have gone in standing.

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  32. Richard Says:

    It’s nice to see Dave playing this far over his head for us. He’s surely in line for a huge (over)payday.

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  33. Kevin Says:

    Roberts had 12 triples this season, the most by a Padres player since Tony Gwynn had 13 in 1987.

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  34. Kevin Says:

    Roberts has 12 triples this season, the most by a Padres player since Tony Gwynn’s 13 in 1987.

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  35. Richard Says:

    Good job by Giles to keep that a single.

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  36. Kevin Says:

    Sorry about the double post.

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  37. Richard Says:

    It’s hard for me to imagine Gwynn hitting 13 triples, but I wasn’t really following baseball that closely when I was 2.

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  38. Richard Says:

    Only 50% GB for Clay tonight. It’s the 37.5% LD that’s bothering me.

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  39. Kevin Says:

    Gwynn was 27 that season and also had a career-high 56 stolen bases.

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  40. Richard Says:

    55.6% and 33.3% after that. That 33.3% is still high…

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  41. Richard Says:

    5 pitches?

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  42. Richard Says:

    Six pitches…

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  43. Kevin Says:

    I don’t know if the Padres are about to turn in one of them, but we’re seeing a lot of low-hit games because it’s late in the season, and teams are tired. Sanchez had a no-no tonight, and Randy Johnson took one late into the game.

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  44. Richard Says:

    63.6% GB

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  45. Richard Says:

    13.2 P/IP

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  46. Mark O Says:

    Richard..you are closing in on your pitch count.. :-)

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  47. Richard Says:

    7th damn strikeout of the night for Jennings.

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  48. Richard Says:

    Mr. TTO with a non-TTO.

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  49. Richard Says:

    *tips cap* Goodnight everyone.

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  50. Kevin Says:

    Are you really done?

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  51. Ch4 Viewer Says:

    hensleys pitching a great game.. hopefuly the offense can get him the w

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  52. Stu Says:

    Serious pitchers’ duel here. Would be nice to see the Pads’ hitters work the count some more - Jennings’ pitch count isn’t nearly as high as Hensley’s.

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  53. Richard Says:

    Well, Hensley had pitched 7 innings while Jennings had pitched only 6.

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  54. Stu Says:

    And Gonzalez works a full count and doubles into the right field corner. Bring him home - one run might be enough…

    Like Barfield as a PR for Gonzalez. Gotta love the big September bench.

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  55. Richard Says:

    Now, that was a risky decision.

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  56. Richard Says:

    Speaking of that huge bench, we have to have a better hitter than Blum sitting on it, right?

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  57. Richard Says:

    Letting a guy like Blum bat in such a high leverage situation is beyond me.

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  58. Richard Says:

    When I say “a guy like Blum,” I mean “a guy who sucks at hitting the baseball.”

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  59. BFeeder Says:

    I Bet GY is tearing his hair out somewhere in Petco…

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  60. Richard Says:

    I refuse to believe that we couldn’t find a manager smart enough to pinch hit for Blum if we tried to.

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  61. Stu Says:

    Well, that was a letdown. Wish they could have picked up a run for Hensley.

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  62. Richard Says:

    Nice to see a solid performance by Linebrink.

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  63. Richard Says:

    And we get to see why you never bat three LHB in a row.

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  64. Richard Says:

    Apparently none of Bochy’s strengths involve making baseball-related decisions.

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  65. Richard Says:

    I wonder how many managers (given a September-sized bench) would lift one of their best players for a pinch runner, but would then refuse to lift one of their worst players for a pinch-hitter in the same inning.

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  66. Richard Says:

    A change up way up in the zone swung under… That was something.

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  67. Richard Says:

    Letting Iannetta hit here is interesting.

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  68. Richard Says:

    Wow.

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  69. Richard Says:

    Will Trevor throw the change 3-2?

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  70. Richard Says:

    Didn’t need to. That was a HUGE at bat.

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  71. Anthony Says:

    That was CLUTCH!

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  72. Kevin Says:

    Hoffman struck out the side. Wow.

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  73. Ryguy Says:

    wow. just watching on gameday, that was very improbable. but I’m guessing he got the young Colorado players off balance with the change.

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  74. Richard Says:

    Wow. Just wow. They have to win after that.

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  75. Richard Says:

    He was throwing the “fastball” a lot.

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  76. Richard Says:

    Kevin, I did leave after five innings, but it was to take a phone call.

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  77. Richard Says:

    Corpas is a step down from Affeldt, at least.

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  78. Anthony Says:

    The great thing about the change is you don’t have tho throw it a lot. Just enough to let the hitter know you’ll throw it in any count. I’m really glad the Padres are teaching it to all their minor league pitchers.

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  79. Richard Says:

    He looked pretty damn good against Piazza, though.

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  80. Richard Says:

    Good point, Anthony.

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  81. Richard Says:

    I still can’t believe Blum was allowed to hit for himself…

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  82. Richard Says:

    I wonder if Meredith is available in the event that this game goes into extra innings.

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  83. Richard Says:

    This has been a pretty great PA by Cameron so far.

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  84. Kevin Says:

    Serious at-bat by Cameron, started 0-2, then fouled one off, then fought his way to a walk.

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  85. Richard Says:

    Well, that was no good.

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  86. Kevin Says:

    Then Branyan swings at the first pitch.

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  87. Richard Says:

    Embree pitching would seem to suggest that Meredith is unavailable.

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  88. Anthony Says:

    I think Meredith was up in the pen earlier

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  89. Anthony Says:

    Here he comes

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  90. Richard Says:

    Where did that miss?

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  91. Richard Says:

    Bard!

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  92. Richard Says:

    Again: Where did that miss?

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  93. Richard Says:

    Meredith is a MACHINE.

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  94. Anthony Says:

    I propose a new nickname:
    The Claw Hammer!

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  95. Kevin Says:

    Here is a new page:

    http://www.padresnation.com/pl.....edith.html

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  96. Stu Says:

    Seconded. Now all we need to do is get MattyV to read Ducksnorts tonight and start using “Claw Hammer” on the air.

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  97. Kevin Says:

    Get Blum out of there.

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  98. Richard Says:

    Geoff Blum is still being allowed to hit for himself.

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  99. Anthony Says:

    Nice page Kevin. Love that picture.
    Let’s end this thing and get another W for the Claw Hammer.

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  100. Richard Says:

    Crap.

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  101. Peter Friberg Says:

    Late to the scene, been watching on tape delay and just caught up (I don’t come here when I’m a few minutes behind) & Richard, wow, you’re in rare form. ;-)

    You’re right about Blum though, when he swings early, it goes for a GB, when decides to wait, he watches the tastiest pitch of the AB go through the zone. I’d guess he decides to swing or not well before he sees the pitch.

    How’s this for future Padres’ manager: Larry Derker?

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  102. Kevin Says:

    Meredith has the Padres rookie record for scoreless innings now.

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