first pitch: 5:05 p.m. PT
television: Channel 4SD
matchup: Clay Hensley (0-2, 9.00 ERA) vs Jason Marquis (0-1, 3.27 ERA)
previews: Padres.com | SI.com
After suffering their first series loss of 2007, the Padres head to Chicago for two with the Cubs. Clay Hensley starts for the Pads in the opener. Pay no attention to his poor numbers to date; assuming he has a plate umpire that knows the strike zone and a defense that can make plays behind him, Hensley will be fine.
The Cubs, meanwhile, have started the season 4-7. Probably not what the Tribune Company had in mind after throwing $300 million at players over the winter and putting the team up for sale, but oh well. Mark DeRosa has more homers than Derrek Lee, Aramis Ramirez, and Alfonso Soriano combined. Yeah, that’s totally bogus, but it’s probably the only chance I’ll ever get to say it, so there you go.
Speaking of power numbers and small samples, have you noticed that the Padres are outhomering the opposition, 12-4, so far? The Padres haven’t done that over a full season since 1998. Again, it’s way early, but this bears watching.
I feel like I should say something else here — something really motivational to pick us up after Sunday night’s debacle. All I can come up with is, “Please don’t send Dwight”; does that qualify?
157 Comments
dprat – thanks for the link/pointer to BP article which says Padres ‘07 payroll = $58,235,567 … I was driving late last night and caught some of “Coach John” on the radio … a caller called in pissed about this, giving this specific number … to which Coach said he truely believed the Padres exec (KT?) who told him the number is $70 million … perhaps the difference includes Todd Walker’s salary and stuff like that …
It was Sandy Alderson who quoted $70 million. He said that included incentives that the club expects will be met. Maybe I’m too trusting but I don’t think Sandy would flat out lie and give a hard number like that. I expected him to answer the question vaguely, say something like “We project it will be 5 to 10 million higher” or something to that effect. He threw out the $70 million figure on his own. He did qualify it by saying that’s what they expect it will be by the ned of the year, not opening day payroll. Maybe he’s factoring in the money they expect to spend on a deadline deal for Ichiro?
$12 million seems like a lot of incentives. How many guys are on incentive-laden contracts? I believe Wells is, maybe Trevor has some. I think Maddux is all guaranteed money.
Call it a sign of limited imagination, but I’m a little dumbfounded by Blum playing SS and batting 2nd…
Looks like some big changes in the lineup tonight.. No KG, no Cameron, no Bowen. In their place: Blum (batting 2nd), Cruz (batting 7th), and LaForest (batting 8th). I like getting Cameron a day’s rest and I can see getting KG a day off too. Surprising to bat Blum so early in the lineup (why not Cruz in the 2-hole?) and clearly Bud doesn’t see much of a drop-off between Bowen and LaForest… should be interesting tonight.
Whoops, forgot to mention Kouz gets the night off too. Branyan hitting 6th behind Sledge…
Where’s Randy Johnson when you need him?
This is not a good start.
Our bats better be big tonight.
Well that was fortunate. Clay is not looking good at all.
Wow, great grab by OG.
Dayam!
Looked like Tony G. climbing that wall.
Very close to being interference there as well..
two games in a row that Hensley has failed to get the bunt down…. very surprising considering he usually appears to have a pretty good approach at the plate (for a pitcher)… still, Clay – how ’bout a little bunting practice!
Riddle me this Batman: Why can’t most pitchers bat? When I played in H.S. and pitched, I and my fellow teamates could bat. WTF?
ok .. 24hrs and I am back … got booted off last night and could not get this blog to come back on ….. hoping this game is batter … GO PADRES
because they don’t bat in the minors .. most of our minor leages us the DH
15: lack of practice. seriously, it is just that. most pitchers in the majors were actually good hitters in high school, but as they began to “specialize” as pitchers, they stopped getting regular at-bats, both in practice and, of course, games. it’s pretty silly, though, as some of my college teammates were unceremoniously dumped into the “pitcher” side of practice despite being REALLY good hitters.
Not a fun start, though Clay looked a bit sharper in the second. I like our players, love them at times, but I doubt few contending teams can be so collectively cold so often.
17: That’s why I hate the American League. I feel if you are gonna play the game, then get with the game.
From what I have seen pitchers do not hit for themselves in the Padres Minor Leagues until they hit AAA …
15: and batting is hard in the major leagues, you have to practice it every day. That said, I raised the question last season of whether it would be a strategic advantage to have pitchers work more on hitting. I think the consensus was the amount of time it takes to improve would cut into their other duties.
No reason they can’t improve bunting though. That’s like shooting free throws, it just takes practice.
Clay looks like he may be in a groove … now the Padres need to find bats that can hit
I knew this might be a rough game as soon as I saw the unis…seriously, the sand-on-sand set is arguably the worst in the majors right now.
Nice job Clay
I’m contentious in thinking that the catcher and pitcher have the best eye for a pitch. Ergo, they should have the best slugging percentage.
Think hit the ball ……………. Think hit the ball ………………………….
27: I’m with Sue on that.
26: They also have the most to think about outside of hitting. Like Yogi says, 90% of hitting is half mental.
Clay got a call in the Theriot AB, but so far a very tight zone, but seemingly consistently called between the teams.
ok … third walk …. rumor has it lead off walks score most at least 75% of the time ….. taking bets on where Giles ends up ……
At least they are showing some plate discipline up there…
The score line isn’t in our favor, but you have to like the pitch counts through three:
Pitches-strikes: Hensley 33-22, Marquis 50-30.
Keep going Clay, the bats will come around….
In case anyone is wondering, here’s what Mark Grant did at Wrigley Field during his career:
http://tinyurl.com/3588c8
29: Oh please. My 20 year old daughter can do her college class work, talk on the phone, text message, and IM, without missing a beat. And you are talking about throwing a ball and swining a piece of wood.
35: swinging
hmmmmm Giles still on first ……..
No hit through 4. This can be so frustrating…
31: So what odds were you offering? Sigh
Yet another mediocre starter shutting down our lineup. The roster of tomato cans who have done that this year is alarming…Cook, Morris, now Marquis.
Hey Geoff
Do we need to have a IGC (in game contest) – what inning will the Padres get their 1st hit??
I’ll pick the 6th
41: I’ll take the 8th after we sing take me out to the ball game they might figure out they are at a ball game …
not pretty but we gor the double play
OK i AM FEELING TO NEGATIVE … need to get back to basics
Lets Go Padres Lets Go (clap) (clap)
Nicely done … now lets get the bats going
We are now 44 runs Padres, 44 runs opponents.
#40: Cook is a good pitcher. Getting shut down by Marquis is a bit embarrassing.
Clay’s pitches just don’t have the usual movement tonight. His control isn’t there either. He’s lucky the damage hasn’t been worse.
Clay is off, putting guys on with BB’s, but the Cubs BA with RISP is pretty damns good, also somewhat fortunate for them. Hopefully some of the hits will come around for us.
A HIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Finally!
Crudge rocks
That’s the way Cruz
Cruz looking like a great pick up…
Cruz seems like a great diversification within our portfolio of hitters… seems like everytime the rest of our lineup is “down”, he’s “up”…
OK, let’s go Pepe LePue!
Pierre looks a little like Klesko up there. All he needs is the crooked soul patch and to wear his helmet cocked at a jaunty angle. And the helicopter swing.
53 – it’s the stirrups
Mark just said ‘Ducksnort’
Thank goodness the Cubs don’t have a big-league center fielder out there.
Nice Clay …… hmmm .ot sure on the call
that definitely bounced
It bounced into his glove.
The locals don’t like it, but most of them are too sauced to know what inning it is
definitely bounced….and we got a run..
Being a former Chicagoan, I have to agree with Clayton!
OK baby G … lets go …
Clay bringing the lumber. I think in the game last year when he shut down the Cubs in a complete game, I think Clay had at least 4, maybe 5 K’s; nice to see the hit.
im confused as hell…my tv said 2 outs when NOG was up…
CLAY STOLE A BASE !!!!!!
66 – and the wheels! I didn’t see that one coming baby!
Wow, that was Rickeyesque.
wow…that was impressive…
Best stolen base ever.
71: impressive and waisted
RE #15, the great why can’t pitchers hit debate. Hitting a baseball and pitching a baseball are very different skills. Why would you expect that someone could have truly world-leading talent for both?
….and leave it to Bellhorn, I mean Blum, to screw it up
70: And Ricky always gets on.
How cool is Clay’s SB? Coolest, perhaps not smartest, base running this year.
Their pitcher can hit better than our pitcher…
74: I think they chose to not exel. The Bambino could do both and he didn’t do steroids.
79: no…his “supplements” were hot dogs and beer…
That is an out 99% of the time. WTF?
Yuck, terrible turn by NOG.
$%#@@+%&*%&** @!!!!!!!!!!!
wow……wow…..
Watched the replay in slo-mo, normally called an out, but NOG’s throw was not good.
this is getting out of controll
Charge those last three runs to NOG.
This is not looking good.
damn – that reminds me a bit of the 400 foot shot he hit off of me once…. nice kid, but a bastard at the plate. couldn’t throw a thing by him!
well…this has been fun… at what point this year do we start to think that Hensley just doesn’t have it?
90: Um, when his defense plays well behind him and he still gives up runs.
Also, I still think it was a bad feed by Blum.
Other than the last 3…he still gave up 4 runs in 5 innings. And I have a hard time not blaming him for giving up a 50000 foot HR, despite the defense not turning the DP.
A .371 BABIP against Hensley coming into today. That’s just bad fielding/luck.
what does BABIP stand for?
someone wanna tell OG that if it’s a strike the first time, it’ll be a strike the next time as well. Swing the Bat!
95: Batting Average on Balls In Play.
Even if these bad starts are his fault, we’re giving up on the guy after 3 starts?
I am out; hopefully I was bringing some sort of curse that I am now taking away. Go Pads.
98: No. You’d have to be an idiot to do that.
98: I just asked the question as to how long you stick with a guy who last looked horrid in his first 3 starts.
His ERA has got to be pretty high at this point..
hahahaha anyone above 30 probably just missed that impersonation
80: Says something for dogs and beer!
101: A lot longer than three starts and he hasn’t looked horrid. You have to take the play of his defense into account. Also, you have to consider that he had a blister.
And just when does the hemoraging stop?
His mechanics do look bad tonight, though.
RE 101, even if we did give up on Hensley, who’s a better option? Vanilla Mike? Ted Stauffer? Maybe Wells would be better pitching two days out of five…
he’s gettin shelled….maybe the blister is still a problem, or he’s bein too careful about throwin hard with that finger
I agree that we’re nowhere near giving up on Hensley for the season (not even close), but, um… shouldn’t he be done for the night?!?!?
This is looking like Friday night.
107: Tim not Ted.
109: I think Black was trying to save the bullpen a little because the game had already been blown open.
#110: Or last night.
I wasn’t saying that we do give up on him….just wondering at what point do we think about someone else in his spot?
This officially sucks.
111: Quite right, sorry ’bout that…
hmmm….nice pitch there…
This game is over. No excuses for this one. Yikes.
geez, call this one off on the mercy rule
I seem to remember us blowing out the cubbies early last year at Wrigley. I guess this is payback.
I ask again: why is Thompson on this team? He’s been skating on thin ice all season.
wow…..again….wow…..
maybe a fight would help…
im outta here this blows…seinfeld time
We look like the Raiders tonight.
Notes from AP
SAN DIEGO: RHP Greg Maddux will make his first start Tuesday against the Cubs since his second stint with them ended with a trade to the Los Angeles Dodgers last July 31. He is 1-1 with a 3.18 ERA. “I don’t throw hard enough to hurt anymore,” Maddux said. Pitching against the Cubs is nothing new for Maddux, who spent 11 seasons in Atlanta after breaking in with Chicago. He is 11-3 with a 2.38 ERA against the Cubs. … C Josh Bard’s left groin is improving, and manager Bud Black expects to have Bard back soon. “He’s progressing,” Black said. “We seem to think he’ll be ready when his time (on the disabled list) is up.” … Geoff Blum, batting .111 with no homers and one RBI, started at shortstop instead of Khalil Greene.
125: that’s an insult to the Raiders
It is no fun when the Padres stink.
121: Perhaps because of what he did last year as the emergency starter and they felt they’d like to keep him in long relief which is fairly low leverage and doesn’t really matter that much.
127: That’s OK, I take pleasure in insulting the Raiders.
We are now 45-53 for runs this year.
Watching our pitching implode the past few days has not been fun, but I am more worried about our hitting at the moment.
you know that Thompson is stuck out there to finish this game on his own no matter how bad it gets..
yup, I’m done. check please?!?!
Guess it didn’t hurt playing six games against the Giants.
Thompson should get released after a brain dead stupid ass play like the one he just made…
I’d just let ‘em hit. We’re not getting out of this one. Let them rack up the runs.
Ok, time to take bets on which Padres position player pitches in this one…PMac?
Geoff, I know you run a respectable blog. #137 was overboard.
129: I realize what he did last year was valuable, but let’s not let get carried away. His numbers when adjusted for norms were not all that good. He’s a long reliever on a team carrying 12 pitchers. If we keep pitching like this he has a role otherwise he’s wasting a roster spot.
141: Geoff has your e-mail you idiot. Go lock up your trailer.
Zito no runs and 2 hits through 5…rats, hoping he’d be a total bust for SF this year.
RE 143: I’m with Rick on this one. Earth to Geoff…
145: You are truly exibiting your youth, lack of intelegence, and lack of education. I consider you a product of bad parenting. Go smack your parents (if you know who they are) and tell them they should have raised you with better values.
How about just ignoring inappropriate behavior?
The outlook for the month of April has taken a dire turn the last 4 days. Thought we were breaking trend and starting strong out of the gate, ala ‘98. Right now we look overmatched on offense, and the pitching, with the exception of Peavy, looks shaky. Need to keep perspective of course, but I was really excited thinking we were going to take the division by the throat early on.
150: Didn’t they tell you? Spelling doesn’t count in life.
Geoff, you have a juvinile problem here. I’ll come back when it is gone. Later…
A summary of the worst day of my life:
- Wake up ass crack early to get to my new job
- Walk a half mile in the worst rain ever (at least I wasn’t running 26 miles, I guess)
- Wait an hour in the lobby for my new supervisor to come get me
- Sit at a computer all day with nothing to do because my new supervisor is busy
- Eat lunch in a crowded south station next to the smelliest homeless person ever
- Get super detoured coming home because of flooding
- Watch the worst Padres game ever
- Lose at online backgammon after being ahead 4-0
- Eat a gross banana
This is what publicity gets us…
Sorry ’bout the spam, folks. I’d given up on the game and left the IGD. It’s been resolved.
#145: Good call, dprat.
Thanks Geoff…
One of the worst games I’ve seen the Pads play in a long time. As far as I’m concerned, Black threw in the towel before he even turned in the lineup card. All in all, a disappointing night at Wrigley.
73 – Sue … are you talking about David Wells? If not, then I guess it’s just a typo
Not to step on PF’s toes … too much … but …
Stansberry is off to a good start for AAA Portland … http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?gid=2007_04_16_freaaa_poraaa_1&t=g_box&did=milb
A nice showing by our boys at AA San Antonio tonight … http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?gid=2007_04_16_wicaax_sanaax_1&t=g_box&did=milb
Cedric (the Great) with his first HR of the season … http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?gid=2007_04_16_dayafx_ftwafx_1&t=g_box&did=milb