first pitch: 7:15 p.m. PT
television: Channel 4SD
matchup: Chris Young (11-5, 3.46 ERA) vs Matt Cain (13-12, 4.15 ERA)
previews: Padres.com | SI.com
Not to bring anyone down after that excellent Opening Day shutout, but it was only one game. We’ve got a long way to go, and I, for one, will be loving every minute of it.
The Padres and Giants hook up again tonight in San Francisco. This promises to be one gem of a pitching matchup. Chris Young enjoyed some serious success in his first National League season, finishing sixth in the league in ERA. His 2.41 ERA on the road was best in the NL last year. Young also destroyed left-handed batters to the tune of .176/.259/.309, which is fascinating for a guy who doesn’t change speeds much.
As for Matt Cain, he’s young and he’s real good. His overall numbers as a rookie last year were pretty solid, but he pitched especially well after the All-Star break:
| GS | IP | ERA | H/9 | HR/9 | BB/9 | SO/9 | BA | OBP | SLG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15 | 99.1 | 3.26 | 6.98 | 0.72 | 3.62 | 8.97 | .214 | .296 | .357 |
That’s sick. Honestly, if there’s one pitcher in the NL West that I think could be another Jake Peavy, Cain is the guy. There aren’t many chinks in his armor. About the only thing I could find is his performance with a runner on first base. In that situation, opponents hit .262/.358/.551 last season. It’s only 130 plate appearances, so who can say if this is legit. Still…
Should be a good one. Go Padres!
165 Comments
Hey here’s a question… what happened to the Padres’ (and everyone else’s) new fangled hats? You know, the one with the fancy racing stripe down the side?
I spent quite some time in deep meditation convincing myself that those ridiculous looking hats were just the way things were gonna be from now on and I needed to accept it.
Was that extended self brainwashing session all for naught?
1: I thought those were specifically for spring training or something like that.
1: Steve: I seriously laughed out loud on that one. Good stuff.
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/boxscore?gid=270404118 … Woody pitched for the ’stros tonight … and not well …
4: hooray
A couple of other teams had those stupid racing stripes as well during spring training
It took all of five at bats, but I have officially soured on NOG as a leadoff hitter.
OG picking up bad habits from NOG?
At least OG drove the ball to the warning track.
seriously, Agon’s “el hombre”
not a good looking at bat from Shakespeare – really appeared to be guessing, and therefore, really late on the fastball…
Matt Cain’s stuff looks so hittable. It’s straight fastballs, mainly down the middle, and he’s not throwing 100.
Signed, the guy that can’t touch 85 mph fastballs from a pitching machine.
12 … last time I was in a cage, I couldn’t touch the 70mph fastballs … bummer … then a 14-year-old kid step’d in after me and RAKE’d … ouch …
Crap! Young got hosed on that 1-2 pitch….
Ouch.
cheater.
After 1 inning …
Pitches-strikes – C Young 15-10; M Cain 13-10.
Ground balls-fly balls – C Young 0-2; M Cain 0-2.
Batters faced – C Young 4; M Cain 4.
Why is everyone swinging at the first pitch?
And Khalil of all people lays off the first pitch.
That was an incredibly hanging pitch. Why can’t we hit these?
Hey what’s the deal with all this swinging?
Alright Kouz, let’s get the tone of this thing set.
Whats up with not taking pitches?!?
Not taking pitches is ok if the guys can drive the ones they swing at, but not a single one of those has been hit hard.
Hey GY have you dont a a poll on who like MN and MV as broadcasters…just curious For the record I love um
**MG and MV**
24: I love ‘em too. Us MLB.tv people are stuck watching the stupid Giant announcers. (And have to watch that Bonds home run 500 times from every angle) I can’t wait till I get my announcers back.
I really can’t stand any other announcing team out there. The only other announcer that I enjoy is – you guessed it good ol’ Vinny.
Thru 2 …
Pitches-strikes – C Young 31-19; M Cain 27-19.
Ground balls-fly balls – C Young 0-3; M Cain 1-2.
Batters faced – C Young 8; M Cain 7.
NOG! Stop swinging at the first pitch! Or, stop fouling it off! Or stop not crushing it fair!
Ok, that hit is acceptable.
2 out Rally Caps!!!!
NOG!
Hey Steve – What’s with the snow here in Boston? It’s April, right????!?!?
NOG’s got a nice quick swing
Anyone else see Bonds knees failing?
Right down the middle. Right down the middle. Does Cain have an awesome offspeed pitch everyone is sitting on?
Oh, like we’re supposed to be impressed by that catch? Good work grandpa, you managed to run over to the ball in time.
31: My classic quote regarding New England weather: “What if New England doesn’t have unpredictable weather? What if we’re just notoriously bad at recruiting talented meteorologists?”
#33 Looked that way to me
i love OG’s plate discipline and all, but he seems to let a lot of first pitch fastballs go right down the gutter without swinging
haha i am so happy flan man is outta the radio booth
Damnit Doc!
Bonds is limping through the dugout. Announcers said he went back into the tunnel between innings. Bonds is standing on deck now though.
4 – just noticed that Woody HBP’d X today … it was after Nady hit 2B in first AB … prolly didn’t hurt him …
young’s getting squeezed….
Oh now that outside strike gets called. And the Giants announcers agree: “if you’re not Barry Bonds, that’s a strike.”
Young got squeezed with Bonds and then Durham shakes his head when he doesn’t get the 0-1 call. I really hate the Giants.
26:
I completely agree.
Pitching coach is out to tell Young that everyone else in the Giants order sucks, so just throw strikes.
43:
That reminds me of the old story about Ted Williams strike-zone judgement.
The pitcher argued that the pitch was a strike, after it was called a ball.
The umpire said: “When Mr. Williams swings, then it’s a strike.”
What an ugly inning. Giants had chances to blow the game wide open there.
47: Great story. You really think it’s true, though?
Glad to get out of that inning alive. Yikes.
I hate to bash Bochy because I actually like the guy but that sure felt like Bochy ball. First pitch swinging killed the inning.
I understand why everyone’s swinging at first pitch strikes. They’re fastballs down the middle. Not understanding why those pitches haven’t been crushed by people swinging at them.
thru 3 …
Pitches-strikes – C Young 62-37; M Cain 46-31.
Ground balls-fly balls – C Young 1-5; M Cain 2-4.
Batters faced – C Young 15; M Cain 11.
49:
I guess one umpire might have said it once in Williams’ career.
There’s another one right down the middle fouled off.
CY looks like he’s trying mix it up, throwing breaking balls and change ups, but he’s still racking up the pitch count. The command hasn’t been there, especially on that curve.
He can field!!! He can field!!!
Great play by Kouz to field Winn’s bunt and throw him out.
There we go. That’s the Giants lineup we know and love.
Who says Kouz can’t play third base?
And Khalil goes yard. Nice.
Greene is on pace for 81 home runs this season.
My money is on 15.
61: More than that. This is one every 1 and 5/9 games. So he is actually on pace to hit 104.1429.
I’ll just take the under on 81.
Did anyone else catch that article that mentioned Khalil leaves the donut on the bat when he swings against the pitching machine? No wonder he can get around on those inside fastballs.
This is what they should have been doing the whole game
Okay, maybe NOG can stay.
thru 4 …
Pitches-strikes – C Young 74-46; M Cain 57-39.
Ground balls-fly balls – C Young 2-6; M Cain 2-6.
Batters faced – C Young 18; M Cain 14.
NOG!
Great lead-off man.
NOG DONG! NOG DONG!
Wahaaaaaaaaa!!! NOG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
NOGNOGNOGNOGNOGNOGNOG!!!!!!!! Launched!!!!
how about that! the two “non-performers” from last night pull us ahead!
I knew there was a reason I pulled on my NOG shirt when I got home!
Top o’ cap to Sledge for taking the BB … and being on-base ahead of the big fly!
I think you have to be wary that with Young, he’s an extreme fly ball pitcher. which is why his BABIP is so low because he pitches in a lot of pitchers parks in the NL West… that being said, all these guys are coming from Arizona, where Spring Training homers are highly frequent so the fly ball swings have come out.
Interesting note about MLB.com gameday, they have some cool new stuff there and also Marcus Giles’ shot was tracked longer than Bonds’es.
71: Classic
I hope we see some NOG and OG signs on the homestand
Nice quick inning. CY needed that. So did I.
I love watching hitters (especially Bonds) hit fly balls against Chris Young and just shake their heads coming out of the batter’s box ‘cauase they know they didn’t get all of it.
Anthony, do you have that link about Greene?
thru 5 …
Pitches-strikes – C Young 84-55; M Cain 80-52.
Ground balls-fly balls – C Young 3-8; M Cain 2-8.
Batters faced – C Young 21; M Cain 20.
78 … an idea for a sign is …
“GO OG”
… and then for when NOG hits a HR …
“GON NOG”
WTH !!! Why Claw warming up?
Stranded a small village?
To come in and get the ground ball in a situation like this?
Molina first-pitch swinging again. Thank you very much.
Thank you, Bengie
http://www.signonsandiego.com/sports/padres/20070321-9999-1s21padnotes.html
Many hitters warm up by swinging a bat that has a weighted doughnut on it. Khalil Greene goes one step further, leaving the doughnut on the bat when he hits off a high-speed pitching machine. Greene said it helps emphasize the “backload†part of his swing. “It’s pretty loud when he hits one on the doughnut,†said hitting coach Merv Rettenmund, who said Greene was the first of his pupils to adopt that approach. In his last seven games, Greene has batted .522 with four home runs and three doubles
How do you hit a ground ball against Chris Young on the first pitch in a situation like that? You really have to be trying, I think.
Man, how do you give up a hit to Feliz on a 1-2 pitch?
By missing your spot by a foot.
Sledge really should have caught that.
91: You really have to be trying, I think.
Linebrink is the one from the pen that should be pitching to lefties. With Klesko pinch-hitting, Meredith will face 5 lefties in a row.
::Orders ‘Meredith’ T-shirt::
thru 6 … both starters done …
Pitches-strikes – C Young 98-66; C Meredith 11-6; M Cain 90-59.
Ground balls-fly balls – C Young 4-9; C Meredith 1-0; M Cain 4-8.
Batters faced – C Young 26; C Meredith 2; M Cain 23.
Just another day at the office for the Claw
Giants TV broadcast seems intent on showing as many shots of “old dudes in the crowd” as possible. Maybe some kind of Bonds tribute.
99: yea, the creepy old guy montage was a little weird.
Great work by Cla. That sequence to Bonds was nasty.
Re 95: You have no idea what you are talking about. Questioning the The Claw’s ability will always end with you completely incorrect.
3 GB, 1 K
He’s pretty good.
NOG with a nice showing tonight.
Well, questioning going to Meredith instead of Linebrink worked out pretty well for us, so I’ll go ahead and question sticking with OG here. OG doesn’t hit lefties well, and Cruz Jr. does.
102: Just ask Boston.
I think it’s kind of early in the season to start pinch hitting for your established players. Give Giles a few months to see if he can bounce back and start hitting lefties again. Even if he did pop it up…
Got here late so I have to chirp up on this – the Giants’ regular announcers, Duane Kuiper and Mike Krukow, are among the best in the business. Bits of their shtick can be a bit much (have they “eliminated” anyone tonight?) but they know the game and talk it well. I really enjoyed listening to them on the tube when I lived in SF…
A-GONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!!!!!!
A-Goooooonnnnneeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!
Wow. Adrian is out of control. What a bomb.
YEEEEAAAAA!!!!!!
Adrian!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I went to high school with that guy!!!! Yeahhhh!!!
Whoa. Wow. Wow.
Wow!
Heh, Bud Black has to be thinking he picked the right gig
Game 1: 7 Runs w/o a Home Run
Game 2: 5 Runs all off Home Runs
We win with base hits and pitching G1…..We are in the game with pitching in power G2…loooks likt this is gonna be a great year
Now….c’mon with the clear advantage we’ll have over the G-men all year…the bullpen!
GY … reset your “How many homers will Adrian Gonzalez hit in 2007?” poll and see if you get different results now
Last year it seemed like Linebrink could never really get out of the 8th inning without making it interesting.
Please Scott, bore me to tears.
Gold Glove voters know their stuff
Another routine spectacular catch by Cameron.
Did I say bullpen? I meant to say outfield defense…no, really. I did.
#119: LOL. Over/under on him and KG is now 81.
Ah, Pedro Feliz, so nice to have you on the other team.
120: Yawn.
Sledge is having some nice at-bats tonight.
More runs would be nice…I’m not THAT eager to see Hoffy get #500…
Here we go…Trevor Time.
Death.
Taxes.
that changeup was righteous
Hoffman.
Bonds can have his home run; we’ll take the win.
I love it. Love it. Padres. Love it. So glad baseball is back.
And so glad for this IGD! You guys are all wicked awesome.
1/81 of the way to 162-0! Magic number is down to 160.
What comes first? Bonds past Aaron or Hoffy to 500?
Hoffman: 483 saves in 539 opportunities, 89.6 percent.
Great flippin game..good job Red Riffle BB gun Mr Budy Black
56 blown saves seems like a lot … how many does Benitez have, for example?
You think Bochy misses the SD bullpen?
90 percent is pretty great.
Benitez: 280 saves, 51 blown, 84.6 percentage.
Rivera: 413 saves, 55 blown, 88.2 percentage.
anyone else?
140: Rivera has 55 blown saves in 468 chances.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Save_(baseball) … has a list of the “Blown Save” leaders … top’d by Gossage @ 112 and Rollie @ 109 … who knew?
Hoffman is the best closer of his era.
re: 146
They pitched in tougher situations.
144 … Gagne?
As long as he can maintain a 10mph difference between his fastball and change Trevor can pitch as long as he wants. The guy is throwing 85 mph fastballs and major league hitters just watch it go by because they’re looking for the change. Amazing.
161 saves, six blown, 96.4
three great seasons, then nothing else.
A player usually has to have 200 saves to qualify in the percentage leaders.
151 … thanks for the data … do you have a link to a “percentage leader” list?
Not really, the active guys are easy to figure out on ESPN.com.
here’s something from last september … http://blog.stats.com/2006/09/is_trevor_hoffman_the_greatest.html
here’s 2006 NL blown saves leaders … http://tinyurl.com/2zgj8l … wow, Linebrink in 2nd with 9 (in only 11 ops)???
Yeah, that’s good stuff. I think Hoffman has the best percentage of all time. Some of that is because closers pitch one inning now. The rest is because he is the best of this era.
Linebrink also led the league in holds (36) by a long shot.
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/stats/pitching?split=0&league=nl&season=2006&seasonType=2&sort=holds&type=pitch1&ageMin=17&ageMax=51&state=0&college=0&country=0&hand=a&pos=all
That’s because he was always in in every save situation in the eighth inning. So he was going to get a blown save, loss or hold. A player can also get a hold and blown save in the same game.
here’s hoffy’s stats, including blown saves … http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/stats?playerId=2817 …
153 … thanks for pointer to ESPN … i don’t often go there, too much graphics and ads … but they do have the content!
Right, that’s where I got his percentage from.
Here’s my favorite line from the AP story of tonight’s game …
The Padres will try for a three-game sweep Thursday.
Kevin … you still out on the east coast? It’s *late*, dude!
This was fun to read even after the fact. I was surprised no one picked up on Marsh’s comment in #10. I think that is a great nickname for Adrian, especially after the HR. How about Adrian “El Hombre” Gonzalez?
Yeah, I work nights, so I’m on a weird schedule.
162 … how about this …
El Hombre!
… so’s that Ichiro! isn’t the only dude with an exclamation point in this name
Running a little late this morning. Will have something posted by 9 a.m. PT.