Polls, Prospects, Restaurants, Television
Tue, Feb 27, 2007
by Geoff Young
No, these are not four things that have never been in Cliff Clavin’s kitchen. Well, they might be, but that’s not the point…
- The poll feature seemed to be pretty popular over the weekend, so I’ve added it to the sidebar, right above the merchandise link. We had a cool little over/under thing going yesterday courtesy of HOOS-UR-PADRE and LynchMob suggested we kick it up a notch and make it a poll. Today’s poll asks how many homers you think Brian Giles will hit this year. Go vote. You’ll feel better.
- The San Diego Union-Tribune has an article on prospect Cedric Hunter. I think Hunter’s a fine young player and it’s nice to see him get some ink here, but the Tony Gwynn comps have got to stop. Just to refresh everyone’s memory, Hunter is 19 years old and has 52 professional games under his belt; Gwynn is in the Hall of Fame. Am I excited about Hunter? Absolutely. But let’s get real.
- With the season almost upon us, it’s time to start thinking about our favorite places to eat near Petco Park. Let me know if there’s anything we need to add to the list. Also, I hesitate to mention this because it takes the focus away from baseball and the Padres, but a story on one restaurant’s treatment of an autistic child disgusts me (more here) to the point that I have to say something: I’m recommending against a place called Pokez (hat tip to San Diego Blog).
- On a brighter note, the Padres’ first televised game is one week from today. They’ll be taking on the Diamondbacks, Tuesday, March 6, 6:05 p.m. PT. Oh yeah, get ready for some IGD.
Happy Tuesday. Go Padres!
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February 27, 2007 at 7:43 am
You should be able to see more games with the Spring Training package from MLB.com…
Oh yea…and ESPN is showing its first Spring Game this Friday at 10:30am…
Baseball is here boys and girls…yes it is!!! WOOOOHOOOO
February 27, 2007 at 7:49 am
And how bout that Tommy Lasorda…..who knew!
http://tinyurl.com/2lk9f5 (from the LA Times this morning)
February 27, 2007 at 7:54 am
Giles, even with NOG around is a classic declining vet (VT) living on off past performance, but then you see a guy like Rich Aurilia play well in the twilight of his career and hope Giles can do the same. Christ, maybe Klesko will have a monster year, wouldn’t that be crazy. Actually, probably will with McCovy Cove on a poke away.
February 27, 2007 at 8:15 am
Klesko = Done
Giles = .275 hitter who can still get 75 RBI and field well
February 27, 2007 at 8:38 am
I would not be surprised if Klesko had a great year. He looked great in PH when he came back. Small data set, but before his injuries, he was a dominant hitter. Yes, he has aged, but he is great athlete (albeit crappy fielder), and good athletes tend to age well.
I just wish he was RH, and then it would have been good to keep him as a PH and back up to Adrian.
I hope we keep Walker, even with the money. Having a platoon at second and a guy who can play 3B in a pinch and has proven he can get on base, is valuable. $4m valuable? Perhaps not, but I hope we keep him.
Giles’ power is way down and will probably stay there. But he has a great eye, and can still eke out an 800 OPS by getting on base, and hopefully, occasionally, getting a platooned against LHP (his splits were pretty bad last year; he is a 600s OPS guy vs. LHP). I wish the Bucs would give up on Nady; he would be a great guy to have around that can play some infield and some OF.
February 27, 2007 at 9:06 am
It would never happen but a Walker/Nady trade would really help out both parties.
February 27, 2007 at 9:18 am
I’m counting on Merv fixing OG’s swing. I remember last year Merv saying he wanted to try the same thing with OG that he did with Finley, a tweak which resulted in a big power year for Finley. Put my money on an increase in power from OG this year.
On another note, GY, put me on the official boycott list of Pokez. On of my sons has Asperger’s Syndrome, a form of autism. I encourage him to order at restaurants on his own, since he’s not always going to be with his family to order for him. The reaction of the waitress, followed by the actions of the manager are appalling.
February 27, 2007 at 11:44 am
Anyone have some insight as to why Keith Law is negative on the Pads? I don’t remember a positive he’s given in his chat on ESPN. Today he said Matt Antonelli was a projected bench guy and the Padres were the team, other than the Angels, likely to disappoint this year. Was it something we said?
February 27, 2007 at 12:34 pm
8: Law does sometimes seem to have it out for us, but —-
Antonelli does look like a bench player, or a super-utility type like Ryan Freel. So far he hasn’t even shown Chase Headley power. That’s not just after he was drafted, it was the Cape and college too.
You can’t disappoint if people don’t expect you to be good, so we’ve got that going for us. Which is nice.
February 27, 2007 at 12:41 pm
The link to the Cedric article (nice, thanks GY!) has blurbs on the bottom … mentions that Bill James projections show Branyan with 23 HRs … sounds like an idea for a poll … who hits more HRs: Branyan, OG, OG+NOG?
February 27, 2007 at 12:44 pm
6: Why do the Pirates need Todd Walker for one year? They’re trying Sanchez at 2b right now and they could (and should) give Castillo another shot, since they’re not winning this year. Nady’s making just over 2 million and should play everyday in RF for them.
There aren’t too many teams looking for a 2b.
February 27, 2007 at 12:46 pm
More on Branyan from UT …
Russell Branyan hit a 415-foot shot of reliever Scott Strickland in one batting session, then took a pitch off the knee from reliever Cla Meredith. Branyan returned to finish the workout.
February 27, 2007 at 1:01 pm
Hmmm, a brief look at 2006 “park factors” (http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/stats/parkfactor?sort=HRFactor&season=2006) shows that Petco was near league average for HRs … what it really supresses is doubles … does that make sense?
February 27, 2007 at 1:02 pm
Oops, here’s that link again … http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/.....eason=2006
February 27, 2007 at 1:11 pm
LM,
One-year park factors have a fair amount of noise in them. Note that is ‘04 & ‘05, Petco suppressed HRs much more than doubles. And I don’t think the minor tweaking of the fence made that much difference. That said, part of the reason for the “suppressed” doubles is that in those vast alleys of Petco many more potential doubles become triples!
February 27, 2007 at 1:30 pm
THT has a story on hitter’s K rates and guess who gets a lot of love and ink (OK, pixels until you actually print it out)? Our own TGwynn. He had phenomenally low K/ab rates for seven years. We all knew he was great, this is just another indicator of how great.
February 27, 2007 at 1:31 pm
Sorry, forgot the link for 16
http://www.hardballtimes.com/m.....s-k-rates/
February 27, 2007 at 2:21 pm
Interesting view.
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/asia/index
February 27, 2007 at 5:09 pm
Sorry to hear that about Pokez. Great food, lousy service has always been my experience there.
I can recommend Basic, which is right near the ballpark. It’s a bar, hip but not in an annoying way, not one of the overdone Gaslamp places - it’s spacious and stripped-down. They serve drinks and pizza, that’s it. And the pizza is very good.
Red Pearl Kitchen has outstanding Chinese-style tapas and great mixed drinks. Not cheap but not outrageous. If you sit at the bar, they have HD panel TVs where you can watch the game. It’s a good date place.
Pizzeria Luigi on 25th has the best (flat crust) pizza in town. It was started by one of the guys who used to work at Bronx, except it’s 1 million times better than Bronx. They also have a decent imported beer selection.
The House of Blues also has a pretty good happy hour, if you can handle the crowds.
February 27, 2007 at 6:03 pm
Depending on playing time, I think Branyan will hit more home runs than NOG, but fewer than OG and OG+NOG.
February 27, 2007 at 7:02 pm
Goeff = killjoy
Let the Cedric-hype rage on!
February 27, 2007 at 9:17 pm
21 … welcome back, Pete! I’ll be sure to take a picture of Cedric when I’m down in Peoria (not ’till end of March) …
February 27, 2007 at 10:19 pm
Dayn Perry of FoxSports.com has Padres Cesar Carrillo @ 81 & Cedric Hunter @ 76 (he has only posted 100-to-71 so far).
http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/6494682
Thanks Lynch, I’ve been around but haven’t felt the need to chime in much…
February 27, 2007 at 10:47 pm
One other thought on 2B and Park Factor’s and Petco. In 2004 we got a good year out of Payton in CF, but mostly had Klesko and other poor defenders in LF. In 2005 we had DR in CF, and he was horrible, plus more Klesko in LF. There were a LOT of 2B falling in and hitting the gaps with those two groups of OF. But in 2006 we had Cameron in CF and DR did a great job in LF, which probably accounts for the suppresion of 2B. Either that or it’s noise like dprat said.
February 27, 2007 at 11:45 pm
I’ll throw in a second for Basic. I live across the street (Basic is on J St. between 9th and 10th) and my wife and I find ourselves there at least once a week. It’s a great place to grab a beer and some pizza before or after the game. I recommend getting the mashed potatoes as a topping. Just try it, it’s fantastic.
McCormick & Schmicks in the Omni has a great happy hour in their bar with items for $1.95.
Last year The Omni Hotel was doing a dog and beer special on the street (L St.) before the games. A good dog (brat or italian) and a premium beer for $5.
February 28, 2007 at 7:10 am
19, 25: Thanks much, guys — those have been added to the list.
February 28, 2007 at 7:14 am
Nice article in the USA Today about NOG/OG
http://www.usatoday.com/sports.....iles_x.htm
February 28, 2007 at 7:15 am
Wow, Gary Matthews Jr. is being fingered in a steroids scandal broken by the NY Albany Times-Union.
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/ne.....;type=lgns
March 2, 2007 at 7:49 pm
[...] I’m calling upon the kind sweet spirits in San Diego to raise hell. And already, they are already doing so on Yelp.com, and several blogs (Ducksnorts, San Diego Blog, and Starline X Hodges’ CandiComics). I heard that Rancho’s at 3910 30th Street has a more friendly clientele and more consistently decent food. And if any prospective employers have a chance to review any job applications from that waitress, I appreciate you guys greatly if you place her applications into your circular file. Thanks in advance. [...]