It was a long time coming, but worth the wait. Not that this is the end, mind you. As the fortune cookie from last night’s Chinese dinner informed me, “Winning starts with beginning.” I don’t really understand it either, but it seems vaguely applicable to the situation and I doubt I’ll get another chance to use it, so there you go.
The Padres, behind six innings of nerve-wracking one-hit ball from Chris Young (he walked five batters) and strong work from the bullpen, defeated the Dodgers, 2-1, Sunday afternoon in Los Angeles to return to first place in the NL West for the first time since August 10. Pinch-hitter Terrmel Sledge singled home pinch-runner Khalil Greene in the top of the ninth against Jonathan Broxton to break the deadlock. Trevor Hoffman sealed the deal in the bottom half with his 39th save of the season and #475 of his career, bringing him to within three of Lee Smith’s all-time career mark.
Unlikely heroes? Yes, there were a few. Russell Branyan, who has been better than advertised since coming to the Pads from Tampa Bay, opened the scoring on Sunday with an opposite-field solo homer off Derek Lowe in the fifth. And although the seemingly invincible Cla Meredith coughed up a solo shot to Russell Martin in the seventh, snapping the rookie reliever’s scoreless innings streak at 34, the guys behind him in the ‘pen had his back.
Scott Linebrink again looked like the pitcher we used to know (Peter’s got some interesting numbers on him), shutting down the Dodgers in the eighth after allowing a lead single to Jeff Kent. And obviously Sledge came through at an opportune time. His seventh RBI of the year just might be his biggest.
Perhaps more important than all this, though, is the fact that the Padres players seem to believe in themselves and are no longer focused on the front-office’s “failure” to make big moves at the trade deadline. This club is beginning to see the possibilities, and as we all know, winning starts with beginning.
First place is a good place to be, but today is another day. Time to begin again.
Regarding the off-season needs, I would love to see deeper, medium power, high OBP guys. I like the Walker pickup more and more and fits with the team. Keep KT doing his magic with the bullpen.
We have scored 368 runs on the road this season, 5th in the NL. We have scored 295 runs at home, last in the NL. We could use a bit more offense, but our players are OK. Petco is a huge liability. I base this on my analysis here:
http://www.sports-analysis.net/My_Homepage_Files/Page30.html
This home/road split on offense has been going on since Petco opened:
Year Road Runs (NL Rank), Home Runs (NL Rank)
2005: 376 (3), 308 (15)
2004: 439 (2), 329 (15)
Want to add ~80 to 100 runs? Don’t go sign Carlos Lee, adjust the fences to make the ballpark as “neutral” as possible. Then you will see us start putting this division away. We have wasted three years with it now. It needs to stop.
Ah, but think of all the benefit we would relinquish to our pitching. Not much benefit to worry about. Here are runs allowed, road/home and rank by year:
Year Road Home
2006: 303 (1) 322 (3)
2005: 408 (13) 318 (3)
2004: 363 (7) 342 (5)
So, we got some lift in 2005, but hardly any in ’04 and a slight detriment this year. So beloved Petco is costing us a lot. I would love to see some investment there before we keep this trend continuing.
20: Park and Williams are not internal options making the league minimum, probably not anywhere close to it. And a couple months of Carrillo, if he’s ready in 2007 at all, is a lot different than 35 starts from Zito beginning with the second game of the season.
51: Petco might play a role in keeping the pitching fresh and helping us on the road.
Our offensive problems the last 3 years can be laid mostly at 3b. There’s been nobody good there since Petco opened. Fix that before changing the park again.
I doubt the Padres would be crazy enough to go for Soriano… The guy just reeks of clubhouse cancer… remember the battle with the Nats over 2B and LF? Seems to me he would be another Nevin / Klesko deal there… by the time his contract ends, you’d be dreaming of him being injured just to recoup some insurance money. He’s the kind of guy I would love Boston to sign… just to see how he and Manny Ramirez react in a battle of who could outdo the other in weirdness.
Zito? Make a nice fit, but why overpay that much for a Boras guy? Remember all the concerns when 2006 began over the Pads starting rotation? Hasn’t turned out too bad so far… I trust in KT when it comes to pitching…
Aramis Ramirez has an opt out of his contract at the end of the year, He’s currently making $11+ million for the next couple of years, so it would cost more than that to get him. But, with his power and rbi history, he’d be the answer to 3rd base, getting us needed right handed power and a run producer and we’d still have money left to sign pitching, re-sign Roberts, etc., assuming, of course, he opts out of his contract with the Cubs. (who, by the way are leading 8-2 over the Phillies. Ramirez has 6 of the 8 rbi’s on 2 HR.)
Whoops! Just checked the Philly score after switching over to the start of MNF, now 8-6 Cubs.
Ramirez would be a great fit and would fill a huge hole, the pads dont have anyone who will even sniff 100+ RBI this year.
We know that Ramirez can hit them out of Petco. He took us deep twice this year. Both to left field.
sign ramirez trade for tejada make a run in 07!
Another option at 3rd, although not my favorite, would be Nomar. I suspect the Dodgers won’t re-sign him. He’s got consistent injury problems, but might be a 1 – 2 year fill-in until things get better on the FA market or someone can develop in the minors. Besides, if he gets hurt, we always have Branyan. Plus, it gives us a back up for Khalil and his injury problems.
Can Nomar still make the throw from 3rd to 1st?
That’s another question. I know his range sucks, but he wouldn’t need as much range at 3rd. We looked at him at 2nd in the off season last year, but bailed out when his arm angle didn’t look right, from what I remember. But, I don’t know if it affects his throwing from third.
#51: Interesting stuff, Jay. There are two ways to solve this problem. One is, as you suggest, to modify the surroundings. Another would be to employ hitters who aren’t intimidated by the surroundings that already exist.
I told you I was e-mailing Rosenthal. He replied:
“Good point on Soriano – I don’t rule [the Padres] out. I’m pretty sure Towers loves him. Soriano is NOT a clubhouse problem, by the way.”