After Friday night’s 4-3 loss to the Rockies (recap | box score), I’m reminded of two things: First, losing stinks. Second, it’s a long season, and thank goodness for that.
Pregame: Sushi and Flag Raising
I met my wife downtown around 4:30 p.m. After a sushi dinner at Ra (don’t be fooled by the trendy looks; these guys deliver the goods), we arrived at Petco a little after 6. Beneath an overcast sky and a brisk wind coming off the harbor, a house full of baseball fans came to celebrate the opening of a new season in San Diego.
Before the game, Trevor Hoffman, Scott Linebrink, and bullpen catcher Mark Merila hoisted the 2006 NL West championship flag. Tony Gwynn, whose Aztecs were busy beating New Mexico on the other side of town, delivered a scoreboard message thanking the fans for their support and welcoming them to the 2007 season.
During the pregame introductions, former Padres Steve Finley and Brian Lawrence both received a warm welcome home. Even Rodrigo Lopez and John Mabry (who played here for about 20 seconds) got a nice round of applause.
Maddux: Everything but Results
The contest itself featured future Hall-of-Famer Greg Maddux and rookie Jason Hirsh. On the Rockies’ side, Hirsh kept the Padres off-balance with an assortment of pitches. He didn’t light up the radar guns, but the kid worked some nice sequences. The cliche “he knows how to pitch” applies here, or it least it did on this night.
Maddux? Don’t believe the final line. He looked fantastic. Watching him pitch reminded me so much of watching Hoffman pitch. How do you break a guy’s bat with an 84-mph fastball? That’s just unreal.
Unfortunately, Maddux made a few mistakes. The first came with two out in the third inning, when he plunked the speedy Willy Taveras on an 0-2 pitch. The second came when the next batter, Kaz Matsui, ripped a triple into the right field corner.
Then in the sixth, Maddux made two more mistakes. With Matsui on third, Maddux uncorked an uncharacteristic wild pitch to plate the Rockies’ third run. After a walk to Todd Helton, Matt Holliday crushed an 0-2 pitch into the left-center field bleachers.
If you’re looking for silver linings, let me offer a few: The hit by pitch and wild pitch were flukish. He now has one more of each than he did all of last season. Hey, stuff happens.
The other reason for encouragement is that the only two pitches hit hard all night were the Matsui triple and the Holliday homer. Maddux gave up a few more hits, but none left the infield.
All things considered, Maddux delivered exactly what I expected. If he keeps pitching the way he did in his Padres debut, he’ll be just fine.
Bullpen Rocks Again
Other positive signs? How about the bullpen. Heath Bell and Mike Thompson did a tremendous job of keeping the game close and giving the Padres a chance to pull it out at the end.
I don’t know what to say about Bell. The guy’s stuff is way better than I thought it would be. I’m not sure how the Mets couldn’t find a use for him. He looks like another Linebrink to me. As for Thompson, anytime you don’t allow a runner to score from third with nobody out, you’re doing something right.
Sledge and Greene, Nothing in Between
On offense, Khalil Greene and Terrmel Sledge continue to impress. Greene’s two-run homer in the ninth off Colorado closer Brian Fuentes reignited the crowd and kept the Padres alive for a few moments. The home run itself was impressive. From where we were seated, when the ball left the bat, I assumed Taveras would catch it in center, but it just kept carrying. Maybe now Khalil will get it in his head that he can hit at Petco Park. That would be nice.
As for Sledge, he battles every at-bat. He knocked a solo homer in the fifth to open the scoring for the Padres and singled in the seventh. Even in his first at-bat, which resulted in a strikeout, Sledge nearly hit a ball out of the yard. Actually, he did, but it hooked foul at the last second.
This brings me to a couple of peeves I had from the game. First, with Sledge swinging the bat so well, why lift him for Geoff Blum in the ninth? Yeah, I know Fuentes is a tough lefty, but Blum hit just .167/.211/.222 against southpaws last year. How is that a better option than Sledge? Don’t send a guy up to the plate just because he bats right-handed. That was so Bruce Bochy.
The other gripe I have is with Kevin Kouzmanoff‘s approach at the plate. It’s way, way, way too early to panic, but he needs to make an adjustment. I don’t know if he’s feeling pressure to replace Josh Barfield or what, but Kouz is just hacking at all kinds of stuff right now. This is not the same hitter we saw in spring training.
Woulda, coulda, shoulda. It happens. It’ll happen again. Sometimes they’ll set the world on fire, sometimes they’ll break our hearts. But we’ll be here just the same. Hang tight, folks, we’ve got 158 of these to go.
Maybe more…
I know it’s way early to read too much into this, but I agree that Blum decision scares me, much too Bochyesque. The only way Blum should ever be hitting is a concession to a defensive need or extra innings. But I’d leave Black a lot of room for experimentation in April with a new team. Maddux did look really solid minus those mistakes. And Kouz just seems to be pressing it now, hopefully somebody’ll calm him down, it’s only 4 games in, no need to feel so much pressure yet. Famous easier said than done
I’m with you on Kouzmanoff. He looks way too anxious. We heard from Towers all spring that “He has an idea of what he’s doing up there.” Hopefully, he’s just forgotten temporarily, since he looks like he’s pressing.
On the other side of the coin, though, Khalil is looking strong for being a notorious cold starter. I still don’t think he’s drawn a walk, though. He looked horrible in that strike out last night, but Hirsch made more than one Pad look horrible swinging at a 3rd strike changeup. In fact, when was the last time you saw Agon get called out on strikes twice in a night?
We all seem to be on the same page with Kouz. Which, in something I don’t think any of us have mentioned, is going to be his nickname among most Friar Fans…the “Kooooouuuuzzzz” thing started during the pregame intros. People love to make that sound, twisting any name that can be considered to have an “ooooo” in it to a new replacement for applause.
He’s pressing. On the other hand, defensively he looks just fine so far. Not gold glove maybe, but not a butcher.
Again, we’re all on the same page about pulling Sledge. I hate The Book. Or, if you are going to follow it, how about the part that says “go with the hot hand”?
Was anyone else wondering why Branyan wasn’t pinch-hitting for McAnulty when they took out Hirsh for Corpas in the 7th? We had two guys on base and the tying run at the plate; why not use your best bullet there and try to get back to even?
4: Branyan has more power, but he’s not more likely to do something productive. He and PMac both get on base. If you switch you’ve burned a player without getting a meaningful advantage.
Considering Blum as anything but the last man on the bench is bad, period. That’s what happens when you carry 12 pitchers, your bench gets short in a hurry.