Don’t look now, but the Padres are 4-2 at home. What worked in Wednesday night’s 4-0 victory over the Giants (recap | box score)? Pretty much everything.
Greg Maddux pitched brilliantly, winning his 334th game as a big leaguer and first as a Padre. He needed just 75 pitches to complete six shutout innings before passing the baton to a still-flawless bullpen. Efficient? Yeah, a little bit. Maddux threw 73% of his pitches for strikes. He started 18 of the 23 batters he faced with a strike.
So much impressed me about Maddux’s performance that I hardly know where to start. Do I talk about the sick movement on his pitches (almost a reverse cutter) that led to four called strikeouts? Or that for the second straight game he broke a bat with a fastball barely into the mid-80s? Or maybe we marvel at the fact that he retired Barry Bonds three times in a row, on a total of four pitches. Sure, the last one was pretty well struck, but that’s insane.
Maddux is a pleasure to watch, and I couldn’t be happier that he’s finally pitching in San Diego.
The Professor also received help from his defense. With one out and runners at the corners in the third, Rich Aurilia hit a slow grounder to shortstop. Khalil Greene charged the ball nicely and made a quick feed to Marcus Giles (NOG), who got rid of the ball in a hurry to double up Aurilia and end the inning. This came on the heels of a single to left by Omar Vizquel that advanced Dave Roberts only to third thanks to a strong throw by Jose Cruz Jr.
In the bottom of the third, Cruz led off with a walk. After a perfect sacrifice bunt by Maddux, NOG singled to center, scoring Cruz ahead of Roberts’ throw. As we know here in San Diego, you run on Roberts every chance you get.
Mike Cameron then smashed a grounder down the third base line. Aurilia made a terrific diving stop but threw wildly to first baseman Ryan Klesko, who failed to come off the bag to field the errant throw, plating the Padres’ second run of the inning. Nice to see the defensive shortcomings of Roberts and Klesko working in the Friars’ favor this time.
Roberts later made up for his weak throw by robbing Cruz on a spectacular running catch at the wall with the bases loaded to end the sixth. That would have cleared the bases and broken the game wide open, though as it turned out, the four runs the Padres ended up scoring this night were more than enough.
The at-bat immediately before Cruz’ was the worst of the evening. After an intentional walk to Greene to load the bases, Geoff Blum hacked at a first-pitch, belt-high fastball and popped weakly to third. Again, thanks to the Padres’ pitching staff, it didn’t matter, but that was just terrible.
Cla Meredith, Scott Linebrink, and Doug Brocail finished with three perfect innings to seal the victory. Intending no disrespect to anyone else on the staff or in the league, it’s hard to imagine a reliever pitching better than Meredith is right now. I will be sure to cheer Tim Wakefield vigorously when the Red Sox come to town.
Incidentally, here’s what the bullpen’s scoreless innings streak looks like through Wednesday night’s game:
| IP | H | R | BB | SO | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 28.1 | 12 | 0 | 4 | 23 | |
| Stats courtesy of ESPN. | |||||
Wow.
by Peter Friberg
You will not see all the notable performances from the night before, but you will see the notable performances from those who are actually prospects.
AAA
Luke Carlin: 3 AB, 1 R, 2 H, 0 RBI; 2B, BB, SO
AA
No games scheduled
High-A
Matt Antonelli: 3 AB, 0 R, 0 H, 0 RBI; 3 BB, SO
David Freese: 3 AB, 1 R, 1 H, 3 RBI; HR
Kyle Blanks: 3 AB, 1 R, 2 H, 0 RBI; 2 BB, SO
Low-A
Snow wins — all Midwest League games postponed
Commentary:
Josh Bard, Rob Bowen, Pete LaForest, Todd Greene, and Luke Carlin… The Padres have an unexciting but talented, deep catching corps between the big league team and their AAA affiliate.
In the 2007 Prospect Handbook, Baseball America said Antonelli had the “Best Strike-Zone Discipline” of all Padre minor leaguers.
Old for a prospect, drafted as a 5th year senior, serious bat with questions about the glove; Freese is Kouzmanoff-redux.
Off day on Thursday, then three in Los Angeles over the weekend. Go Padres!
Hey Geoff:
Great job on the full-time site. I have one pressing question maybe you can answer.
Is there a reason Geoff Blum continues to receive At Bats, often at crucial times? (Please don’t say he had a solid spring, because so did our AA backup utility man.) Last time I checked, Bochy wasn’t the manager anymore. I was hoping that we would see someone like Robles take the final roster spot; at least he could pinch run and play D.
Just wondering. I guess second guessing is easy.
Keep up the terrific work.
PF … nice to see you include Carlin on that list … he’s a guy that can help the Padres this year (and/or next) … it will be good if they don’t have to call him, but it’s nice to know that if the need arises, we have a replacement-level player available at such a key position.
1 … hey, what are you talkin’ about? Blum has drawn a walk, so his OBA is above 0 … that’s great “Strike-Zone Discipline”!
Nice summary, great game. I am sure OG will warm up, but we have three corner outfielders and their OPS’:
OG: 711
Cruz: 896
Sledge: 976
I do hope that Black finds some reason to “rest” OG more often, though he is playing nice defense.
Pitching: GY already summarized the relief pitching that SD has started with, of course being well covered by the national press, or maybe not.
Starters: 52.2IP, 48H, 19ER, 1.22 WHIP, 3.25 ERA; OK, but not amazing, like the relief. But without the two bad starts by Clay (with some bad umpires and defense)
w/o Clay: 43.2IP, 35H, 10ER, 1.04 WHIP, 2.08 ERA. I am quite optimistic about Clay, so am just so excited about this pitching.
Re: 1 Black was quoted in the UT today saying how great it is to have blum on the roster, and how versital he is because he is a switch hitter and can play all 4 infield spots.
Heres the only problem that I have with blacks statement, I can switch hit and play all 9 spots on the diamond I just cant do them on a major leauge level (I cant even do them on a pony leauge level) but just because Blum can play all 4 IF spots does not mean he should, he has not range and cant even get a guy home from third with only 1 out.
Game: If Cruz’s long fly ball had occurred with 1 out, I bet the runner from second could have scored after tagging up. Doc was in Guam, crashed into the wall, with no arm.
Blum hit well for a couple of months last year, but he’s not a good hitter. Last night’s final AB was flat-out terrible.
Minor leagues: I’d love to see the Padres be aggressive with Freese. Two months in Elsinore and bump him if he’s hitting.