first pitch: 1:09 p.m., PT
television: ESPN
matchup: David Wells (3-5, 4.42 ERA) vs Jeff Weaver (8-14, 5.76 ERA)
previews: Padres.com | ESPN
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Two in-season acquisitions hook up this afternoon at Petco Park, as fans of both teams try to figure out how to accommodate MLB’s decision to schedule NLDS games during the middle of the day. I’m fortunate enough to have tickets to Thursday’s contest and an understanding boss. Others have to follow along on radio or the Internet at work, or watch the game on TiVo when they get home. Face it, the scheduling stinks. And so does losing the opener on Tuesday.
But you know what? Those are things we cannot control, and today is a new day. And if you need justification for your optimism, look no further than today’s starter for the Cardinals, Jeff Weaver.
Aside from the fact that Weaver is about as volatile a pitcher as you’ll find in the playoffs this side of Brad Penny, he also plays into the strength of the Padres lineup:
| vs LHB | vs RHB | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | AB | BA | OBP | SLG | AB | BA | OBP | SLG |
| 2006 | 350 | .340 | .396 | .609 | 352 | .267 | .310 | .438 |
| 2003-05 | 1219 | .308 | .371 | .526 | 1183 | .234 | .271 | .368 |
| Stats courtesy ESPN. | ||||||||
Heck, Weaver’s been getting knocked around by lefties since his days at Fresno State.
So, what does this mean for the Padres? We’ll probably see Todd Walker at second (actually, we’ll definitely be seeing Walker — dude is hitting .381/.409/.667 against Weaver in 21 career at-bats). And, with Friday being a travel day, it wouldn’t be shocking to see Josh Bard behind the plate.
On the other side, David Wells has no appreciable lefty/righty splits, but a few Cardinals have had success against him in the past, namely Jim Edmonds (.314/.351/.629 in 35 AB), Juan Encarnacion (.292/.320/.583 in 24 AB), and Scott Rolen (.444/.444/1.222 in 9 AB).
And how about Wells’ famous post-season experience? I have to admit, he’s got a pretty impressive line (120 IP, 109 H, 25 BB, 81 SO, 3.15 ERA, 10-4 W-L). The usual disclaimers about past performance apply, of course, but I’m liking what I’m seeing.
I’ll be out at the ballpark today so you’re on your own for this one. Talk it up and be good to one another. When I come home, I’ll post photos, hopefully of San Diego’s first playoff victory in 8 years. Go Padres!
That article about how loose the Padres are, the barbeque at Giles’ house, that all looks pretty f-ing stupid right about now. How about a sense of urgency? How about some extra BP? Rundown practice would have been nice too.
547: I thought was what Giles was supposed to do for us. That f’n giles… I swear we’d be a much better squad without him.
Here’s a bright spot … if you’ve got a ticket to game 5 monday … you’re either gonna get a refund … or it’s gonna be a *WHALE* of a game to be at!
See you in the spring. There is no way in hell this bunch of clowns are taking two straight in St. Louis. As I said tuesday…we are going to get swept again.
You know what, I’m about to apologize to the phillies fan I know.. I’d rather be out of the playoffs than watch what is this shi_ show right now. but at least NL WEst champs shirts will be on sale in a month for me to buy
Lets see, what to do, just about anything here in SD other then spending time watching a team unable to hit the frigging ball against a medicore pitching staff. No httin, no winning. We don’t deserve to be in the playoffs.
So, who the chargers playing? Pittsburg, Sunday night? Cool. I hear the surf is up to and its fleet week so lots of activities here in SD.
Looking good dudes, loking good!
Who wants to bet Bochy doesn’t work here next year? That guy couldn’t motivate a fat guy to eat cupcakes let alone ball players to score runs. What a f-ing drag!
I am sorry, I hate Petco. If our hitters are so bad, no one has explained why we can hit so well on the road. Yes, it is a pitchers park, but our pitchers don’t get much lift from it, nothing compared to what our hitters lose. Why does it not affect the other team as much (looking at the delta between our road and home pitching)? I am guessing the visitors don’t have to really deal with it all the time like the SD hitters do, so they don’t alter their swing or let it get in their head. You can say “Don’t do that” but when you see it affect player after player, I don’t think that is a helpful response.
Maybe I am just being overly optimistic, but I expect SD to go into STL and play them very, very tough. I would not be shocked to win two games. But then we still have to deal with Petco. Hopefully, if we get it back here, we can play a night game.
More offense would be nice, but anyone want to explain why we are so hurt by Petco on a net basis (hitting lost vs. pitching gained), aside from the park dimensions just killing the offense and thus making the pitchers really self-conscious?
I really, really like our team. Petco I could do without.
Like I said, I like Chris Young in Game 3, I think we’ll win that one. I’d start Woody in Game 4 and bring back Peavy for Game 5 at home.
They can’t possibly play this bad for three straight games and Welke won’t be behind the plate next time.
I still hold out hope because we have road games but this has been terrible.
but hey at least the pressure is off?
If I got paid $10 million this year and hit a sorry-ass .265, I might opt to take a day of BP before game 2, as opposed to hosting a BBQ.
What a bunch of gutless wonders, the whole lot of them. It’s not enough to continually bore all of San Diego with that mind-numbing machine they call an offense. Now they have risen to a new level and put the whole nation to sleep.
Way to light a fire under their ass, Boch. After you “tip your cap” to Jeff Weaver, why don’t you stick it where the sun don’t shine?
Petco and Bochy’s roster. I mean if KG cannot really play, why is he there? If Bellhorn cannot really hit, why is he there.
Ok, I’m as frustrated as everyone else, but … you can’t just turn on the team because they have two consecutive bad games, one of them against a dominant pitcher. It’s not some tragic character flaw that causes strikeouts. It’s not “choking”. It’s not Bruce Bochy being a terrible manager (what can he do anyway?). Ok, Bellhorn hitting was Bochy being a terrible manager.
In the regular season the team proved they were good enough to make the playoffs. They were the third best team in the National League (right behind the Dodgers) in third order winning %, way ahead of the Cardinals. Those previous 162 games are a much better judge of how good this team is than the 2 bad games here in the playoffs. It sucks that it happened here, and I hate Mark Bellhorn and the David Wells trade as much as anyone now, but it’s the playoffs. It’s a crapshoot (most of it, at least. BP’s research seemed to show that good pitching is much more important in the playoffs than good hitting, which should help us, but still mainly a crapshoot.) Billy Beane said it best.
At least that’s what I keep telling myself to feel better.
Just bounce back on Saturday and win that one, where we most definitely have the advantage, as much as that’s worth.
Wow guys. I’m a Cards fan and came to see Padres’ fans reactions to today’s game. A little too much balls-and-strikes arguing perhaps, but overall you seem like a really intelligent bunch, maybe the best I’ve seen on other teams’ sites. I hadn’t realized the Pads (Pods?) had that good a fan base.
Not much I can say, except hang in there. We all knew Weaver had the potential for this, but that doesn’t make it any less surprising. Crazy things happen in a 5 game series.
A few observations:
Piazza and Bard should be gone next year. If either of them come through, the Padres have at least a split. We need to trade for someone like Jason Kendall or Jadier Molina who know how to win in the playoffs.
Peavy also should be gone. It’s obvious he is not a big game pitcher. He may get us to the playoffs, but he’s of no use once we get there. We should ask for a straight up from the Cardinals for Weaver. Although Weaver may not get us to the postseason, once he’s there he comes up big.
Same goes for AGon. Guy’s done very little in the postseason. Trade him for Frank Thomas. Sure, Thomas is a DH, but he wins in the playoffs.
As for Bochy, it becomes more difficult. He got virtually no power out of his corner outfielders and 3B, he had rookies as starters at 1B and 2B and middle relief (Cla), he lost two starting pitchers and his team could neither hit at home or drive in runners in scoring position. Yet, the Pads still managed to have the 2nd best record in the NL.
And as for those Oakland players the Pads should trade for, my comments are only valid for this year. Oakland has failed to advance past the first round for how many years now?
Oh yeah, and get Kotsay back if the A’s will take Cameron.
Now let’s get a sweep in St. Louis!
Just got back from the game. I haven’t read any of the posts, so I apologize if I duplicate something, but, boy, when our bats go cold, they go frigid. Pads fans tried to stir things up, but it’s tough when you go 0 runs in 9.
564: Thanks for stopping by. You caught us on a particularly bad day, we usually don’t whine this much
Baseball Prospectus has sortable umpire stats so I looked up our crew. If you go by K/BB ratio, Welke, Marty Foster and Brian Gorman are pitcher friendly, Greg Gibson and Gerry Davis (Game 1 ump) favor the hitter and Wally Bell is right in the middle. Now way of knowing who we’ll get in Game 3, or whether it makes a difference. At least it won’t be Welke again.
Gorman and Foster are even more extreme than Welke:
Gorman: 2.49 K/BB
Foster: 2.31 KBB
Welke 2.21 K/BB
Bell 2.03
Davis 1.66
Gibson 1.64
No idea if any of that is relevant but something to keep an eye on.
Yikes, another nightmare. I’ve been working this afternoon, so didn’t see any of it, but it looks like as bad a game 1 was, it has been proven that things could still get worse in game 2.
If the Padres go 3-and-out again, I have to say that I’d rather have an entertaining last-place team than a boring first-place team that dies unceremoniously in the first round for 2 consecutive seasons (and that goes double for you, Chargers!).
564-Thanks for not gloating.
So Todd Walker is supposed to hit, right. That’s why he was in the lineup. He went 0-2, failed to cover second on a rundown, gave up an infield single to Jim Edmonds of all people and got pinched hit for. He was involved in turning 3 DP. Barfield can do that just as well. Barfield then rope a double after a strike out.
Shoot, at least give the defense a chance.
Blum at short is useless in the late innings for defense. At least he drew 2 walks.
The lineup just sucked. Bellhorn yesterday, Walker today.
If the team has reached the post season based on pitching and defense, why change in the playoff?
Losing to a team that is clearly not as good and making Weaver into a shutdown pitcher is just really crappy.
Well got back from the game, most frustrating afternoon of baseball I’ve seen in a long, long time…..it was interesting to be sitting next to one of the 10 Cards fans I saw all day(I work downtown so its not like I wouldn’t be in place to see them)
Was the umpiring as bad as it seemed from Section 108? It seemed like Molina was setting up on the outside corner, reaching to catch the pitch and having it called a strike, even my fast friend from Missouri was surprised to see Weaver getting called Wells didn’t.
We’ll see what happens in St. Louis, the bats can’t possibly only score 1 run all series right?
565
That’s about the stupidest post I’ve ever read! Honestly GY should probably ban you.
I think 566 summed it up best, wait a few hours before you post.
Heh, you got lucky. On Tuesday I had to sit near two obnoxious chest-painted drunken frat boy Cards fans.
Yes, the strike zone was that bad. I think the ump has a hard time tracking breaking balls, he was really giving the outside corner on those.
If I had to guess, 565 was pure sarcasm.
I have now decided that the post season solely exists so that I can stand up with my hands raised above my head just long enough to get simultaneously punched in the nose and kicked in the pills.
0-9 in last 9 playoff games.
Well Boch goes to 7-15 in the playoffs, I guess its not as easy when you dont have Camy, Gwynn, Brown and Finley, and Vaughn on the roster.
Hi. Only watched the last at-bat today. Just too scared I’d jinx it for the Cards.
To BiGKTFan: If the Padres would be willing to trade St. Louis Josh Bard and Jake Peavy for Yadier Molina and Jeff Weaver, I believe I speak for all Cardinals fans (or most of them) when I say, deal.
Look, I love Yadier’s defense, and his throwing arm? Awesome. But the man makes Tom Pagnozzi (career OPS: .658) look like an offensive juggernaut by comparison. A big part of the Cardinals problem this year has been there are too many black holes in the lineup to compensate for the weak pitching. And Yady’s one of the biggest of those holes. I mean, a .595 OPS this year? Marquis could have done that (and if he’s catching then he can’t keep killing us with his pitching).
I’ll be totally honest and say I’m stunned that Weaver pulled this off. So often this year, the guy’s looked like he just doesn’t want to be out there, I figured in the playoffs he’d fall apart.
And for the record, Weaver’s postseason ERA prior to today was 9.72. Suffice to say, he doesn’t have a past history of this.
I’m not going to say I’m not feeling good right now, but here’s the thing: the Cardinals are a hot and cold team. They go 3-13 (with an eight-game losing streak in there), then go 13-3, then go on another eight game losing week about two weeks later. The pitching’s good, then it stinks. The bats boom, then they go quiet. Player comes off the DL, somebody else goes on. That’s why they were 83-78.
However it goes, I’m hoping the remaining games are close, tense ones like this one.
All right, Cardinals fans, I’m tired of you being nice. You guys really need to start taunting us. We need a change in karma.
Re 571:
Dude, chill. It is telling about the recent comments that you even took my post seriously. My post was simply a reiteration of all the rash comments I’ve read over the past three days. For some reason a large number of posters are ready to immediately turn their backs on the players and manager who got us to the post-season based on a couple of playoff games when things didn’t go in the Pads favor. Sad to see SD fans develop the East Coast mentality of getting down on their own players. If the guys were dogging it, it’d be different, but if any one thinks every guy on that team didn’t do his best all year to get to this point — then maybe it’s time you move to Philly or NY.
BTW, I’m glad to know that you think keeping a few of those players might be a good idea, and that the A’s aren’t necessarily that much better than the Padres just because they’ve won their first two playoff games and the Pads haven’t.
I also wonder if Twins fans have become as defeatist, negative and nonsensical because their team is down 2-0. And they live in Minn., FCOL. At least, facing the dreary winter ahead, they have a right to be negative.
And re 556:
I’ll take your bet. Maybe you think Girardi, who’s Marlins completely tanked in the final ten days of the season would be a better manager? Give me a break. If the Pads dismiss Bochy it will go down as a worse move than taking Matt Bush with the top pick.
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