first pitch: 4:05 p.m. PT
television: Channel 4SD
matchup: Chris Young (3-2, 3.34 ERA) vs Chuck James (3-2, 4.83 ERA)
preview: Padres.com | SI.com
If you dig deep enough, you can almost always find a statistical split that casts your favorite team/player into a more positive light. Here’s a fun one for the Padres so far this season:
| AB | BA | OBP | SLG | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stats courtesy of ESPN. | ||||
| Padres | 393 | .247 | .319 | .412 |
| Opponents | 383 | .198 | .274 | .279 |
Just another way of looking at something we’ve already seen. Still, it’s always nice to have the view confirmed from multiple angles, especially when it looks so freakin’ good…
134 Comments
For those of us out-of-towners, does anyone know if tonite’s game is on TBS? I realize that it would only be marginally better than MLB.TV, but my 50 inch plasma beats my 32 inch LCD any day of the week.
Sorry, Phantom; per Braves web site, no TBS tonight.
Oh well. Thankfully I have XM, so I can listen to the game while I work!
MLB.TV will just have to do.
Yeesh, 2Ks this inning. Quick inning for James.
That K of Chipper is clutch.
Great job by CY. Fell behind Chipper 3-0, then threw three straight strikes to get him looking and end the first.
That split would probably look even better if the Padres didn’t have so many extra inning games already.
AGON!
Adrian homers against a lefty. What else is new. Ball hit the top of the left-field wall and bounced over. Nice.
I went to the bathroom and I come back and I’m like “WTF!? We scored?”
Only one run, but some good at-bats. Bard made James work very hard, Cameron drew a walk, and Kouz hit the ball deep to right — off the bat, I thought it might have a chance to leave the yard. If we see more of that approach from him, he’ll be fine.
CY again falling behind 3-0 before striking out Francouer to end the second. I think CY got a call on the 3-0 pitch.
James is all over the place. We really should be doing more damage against him.
I’m here! I’m here! Finally a game with a decent East Coast start time.
By the way, this weekend I went down to New York to catch a Yankees game. I was at the almost perfect game by Wang. I was definitely a Yankee fan for one afternoon. That would have been awesome to witness.
Filthy breaking ball down and in to get Thorman swinging.
James is at 59 pitches already, so the Padres seem to be following your prescription for beating the Braves, Geoff.
Having to watch the F’n game with earphones on because my wife is watching Oprah. This is so wrong.
CY set up Johnson beautifully to strike him out with the breaking ball. Fastball and curve are working tonight — he’s already fanned six through three innings.
I like the hit by Bard, but what is he doing swinging like that on 3-1?
crap. we needed to score on that. i understand agon holding, but CRAP! good job of hitting by Mike Cameron…
wake up, a little Kouzy, wake up…. your bats been sound asleep, the glove’s kept you in the big leagues, wake up a little kouzy… it’s time for a home run…..
Another nice job by Kouz, working the count and driving it hard to right. I’m liking the approach. James is up to 86 pitches already.
Great at bat by Kouz. That ball was drilled too, just right at someone again.
Not to take anything away from CY, but how do you walk a 6-10 guy twice in the same game?
Because his knees are higher than everyone else’s. Those low pitches, not strikes anymore.
23: CY walked at least once last game too. Good eye from the gentle giant.
Nice AB by CY to. Even though we only got one out of that, we got into their bullpen already.
1-2-3 hitters are now 0-7 with 3 k’s. Everyone else is 3-8 with 4 BB’s and 0 k’s.
throw the curve.
These announcers are boring. As usual.
Does anyone know if I can get DirecTv and have them set it so my local channels are San Diego channels, so that way I’d get to watch Channel 4?
29: Can’t be done. If you know someone in San Diego you can buy a Slingbox and have them leave it on Channel 4.
these announcers are horrible. its as if they’ve never seen CY pitch before or at least read about him.
lololol… that was one of the best almost hit a batter shots I’ve seen.
30: Thanks Anthony, I’ll check up on what a Slingbox is
WHO IS BILLY KILLIAN?
Thank goodness Bard is so slow. Otherwise Woodward never makes a return throw to first.
#33: Killian was the other guy in the deal that brought CY and Adrian to SD. Minor-league catcher.
35: gracias.
34: At least Bard made a good attempt to hustle.
Greeney’s not looking so comfy at the plate today.
cool fact, Francoeur and McCann were high school teammates at Parkview Highschool…
Crap.
WTF? How do you fake a throw to third when there’s nobody on that base? Unreal.
Great. After not getting the pickoff call, CY decides to fall apart.
yikes.
McCan was clearly out.
McCan was clearly out.
McCann was out? Funny, the Channel 4 guys never even mentioned that possibility.
Now we’re getting a great demonstration of why you put a pitcher away when you have the chance.
Bad play by Cruz. We cannot let this game fall apart.
What is up with the complete brain-farts by Padre pitchers? Jake in the windup the other day vs the Nats, CY with the silly balk?
45: Atlanta guys were all over it. They called it immediately.
On the bright side, we’re about to see the Braves’ third pitcher of the night. Hopefully it’s with the lead intact.
McCann was definitely out, at first I thought the ump just had an angle where he couldn’t see the foot not reach the base, then I saw on a different replay that the ump was circling and definitely should have been able to see the foot wasn’t on the bag. Bad call.
45: yeah, that’s funny. the Atlanta guys had a great angle for it, but they definiltey called a spade a spade.
51: Kind of refreshing to see an announce team aknowledge their own luck.
#48, 50: Thanks, guys; I’ll have to go back and look for that when I review the game. Didn’t even seem all that close from what I saw.
53: McCann just never touched the bag.
At least we got out of that. A bad call and two bad plays doomed us that inning.
Whoa, that was clearly retailiation
You could see that HBP coming from a mile away.
okay, that’s fucked up. guaranteed we hit a brave next inning.
OK, Paronto gets one in the ear next. Even if he’s just sitting in the dugout.
That was B.S.
Good response; let’s score some runs here.
Completely unnecessary to hit CY. I’m pretty sure he didn’t mean to throw at either of those guys (especially since he was ahead on both of those guys(
We’ve got Maddux and Wells going the next two days…neither one of them will be afraid to retaliate…
That’s really messed up. CY didn’t mean to hit the guy before.
YEAH YOUNG!!! YOU TAKE THAT BASE!!!!
I sense a brawl coming. Not happy about it – we’re leading and can’t afford to lose anyone.
They just gave us a baserunner when Young likely would have ended the inning.
OMG, you can read Buddy’s lips-too funny.
Right at his knee too, that could have been a serious injury. First guy up next inning has to go down.
Seriously, that’s a cheap shit move. I hope this comes back to bite them in the ass.
Make ‘em pay, Jose!
You just know that Maddux or Wells will drill someone if we haven’t gotten them back by then..
70: I sincerely hope so. I’d really like to get about 2 right here though, just to show them to how dumb hitting CY was.
Heh. Paronto feels pretty smart now, eh?
That serves ‘em right.
Man, Buddy still looks like he’s ready to fight someone
Now that is a fun run to score.
HA! That’s right, jackass!
NOW we’re even. Take that dickheads.
Hitting the pitcher with two outs was a brilliant idea wasn’t it, tough guy.
We should still plunk one of their guys though.
I still think at some point..maybe not tonight…but sometime soon…someone from the Braves is gonna get drilled…
I love it. When they first hit CY the Braves announcers were all, “Yeah, now we’re even.”
And then it got to, “Maybe that was a mistake…”
Damn, more runs would have been nice. We’ve been letting them off the hook all night.
If that had been Wells, with his temper I think we would have seen a fight.
82: That’s true. We’re not getting much production out of the first 5 guys tonite (save Adrian’s HR).
#80: Agreed. Game is too close right now, though. I like that we’re getting deep into their bullpen in the first of a four-game series.
85: Take second base, Mr. Harris. Go ahead, we won’t even try to stop you.
okay, so funny story: My junior year we were playing at the Citadel and their #4 hitter was a big, lanky jackass that was going for some sort of single season doubles record and pulled up at 2nd on a clear triple. So, next time he was up, our catch gave the ‘plunk him’ sign (the down thumb) and of course, we all knew it was going to happen so we were ready for some shit to hit the fan. So, our pitcher – a crafty lefty – reared back, hurled it in there – only it was right down the middle and the guy crushed it over the left field fence….
Nice to see the Braves unable to move the runner.
Yikes, CY got away with one there. Let’s turn this thing over to the bullpen..
Living well is the best revenge.
How great would it have been if CY had charged the mound when he was hit? He seems so mild mannered, he’s probably never punched anyone.
90: seems like that, but I have to imagine that he dealt with a fair share of cheap shots playing basketball all his life… I’m betting he can hold his own…
Bard has had some great ABs recently. He;s working the count well.
Ugh. Khalil still struggling at the dish.
I like how Khalil Greene sort of jogged to first on the double play ball he hit.
COME ON KOUZY!
94: He was really stunned when the bat exploded in his hand. By his reaction, I was worried he might have hurt himself.
The look on this face when the bat shattered was like, “Oh, my. What have we here.” And then he realized the ball was in play.
COME ON KOUZY! !!
That’s two in a row for KG
Two in a row that he made look fairly easy.
Too bad we didn’t double switch Branyan in so Bell could go two. The guy threw 8 pitches this inning, but now he’s done.
The Dodgers are making quick work of Florida, they’re up 6-1 in the bottom of the ninth.
For most teams, a player needs to stay above the “Mendoza Line” to keep his spot in the lineup. The Padres have another set of rules:
The “Kouzmanoff Line”= .100
How long can Blum and the aforementioned Kouz keep there heads above water?
Bell is simply lights out right now. Another Kevin Towers gem. This trade is looking really great. Ring will contribute this year as well, while Ben Johnson and John Adkins may not get a whiff of the Mets roster.
Kouzmanoff is simpy not a major league hitter right now.
102: From my observations of Kouzmanoff, it looks like he’s starting to heat up. He hit two balls hard tonight, and it hasn’t seemed like he’s struck out as much. Blum, well, Blum’s never been any good, so it’s not really that surprising.
What’s up with Padre hitters swinging weakly at balls while ahead in the count?
Free Craig Stansberry!
Another single! Big deal.
What’s up with OG’s so-called slugging percentage?
It appears Kouz, Cammy, and Blum have deflected any criticism of Brian Giles weak swings.
I suppose there has to be a chain of criticism.
108: It is fairly weak that OG doesn’t contribute as much offensively anymore, although it’s not much of a surprise.
I wanted to cry when the Braves announcers detailed his declining slugging percentage.
Khalil is making some nice picks tonite.
Quick inning from Linebrink. Should have been even quicker but we’ll take it.
Re: 109
If you were Bud Black, who would be your three starting outfielders?
Man Adrian has a beautiful swing. He made that look easy.
111: If I had to pick a starting OF from our guys, I’d probably go with:
LF: Sledge CF: Cruz RF: McAnulty
Is it a compliment or a critique to compare Adrian Gonzalez’ swing to Will Clark’s?
Re: 113
Word.
Compliment. Clark had a career 138 OPS+ and .303 batting average.
115: Sledge and Cruz give you some speed. McAnulty has more pop than Giles at this point, and probably gets on base at a similar clip.
I’m hating that we’re leaving guys stranded tonite. We can’t do this and expect to win the series against Atlanta.
113: A big problem with that outfield is the defense, though. Cruz would be an average to below average center fielder, and both Sledge and McAnulty have looked pretty bad at the corners.
#114: Compliment. Accurate, too.
118: Good call on the sketchy D. Although honestly, I’d rather have Cruz in CF than Cameron at this point.
Nice outing by CY and Trevor.
Gotta love the month of May.
#90: And now we are living well. I hope Paronto enjoyed his moment.
I love that the plunker to Young gave us a cushion for this game. I’m looking forward to seeing us drill someone on their team tomorrow.
Really got to tip your hat to CY for a couple of great starts in a row.
CY is really starting to put it together. A better call on McCann and and no balk and CY could have had a shut out.
5-1 in May. Keep it up boys.
At Portland … another HR from Sinisi … good stats from Stansberry and McAnulty … http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=milb&t=g_box&gid=2007_05_07_cspaaa_poraaa_1 … but another MEGA-YACK outing from Thompson … ERA now over 19???
Regarding the Hall of Fame trip – has everyone figured out what the best way to do this will be? Was the consensus that a membership would be the best way to go, so that we have better/closer access to the podium?
A very nice, effortless save by Hoffmann and a good win. I bet he does not blow more than 2 more saves this season. Batters hitting .178 against him this season.
Contrasting that is the second best reliever in baseball history who lost a game tonight on a home run. Mo Rivera has this Yankee fan concerned with a 1-3 record, 8.44 ERA and .318 average against.
All good things must end but it certainly looks like Hoffmann has another great year in him.
Just a curious question about tonight’s game – Justin Germano is the scheduled starter for the Pads, but as far as I can tell he hasn’t yet been added to the active roster. Is this true? If he’s already been added then who has been demoted? My guess is that Kouzmanoff gets sent out, since sending down Blum would require putting him on waivers (not that losing him would be much of a blow to the team) and Kouz is batting, what, .103 or something. I truly believe that a hitter as good as KK is going to finish the season with respectable numbers, something like 250/350/450, but damn if he isn’t trying my most optimistic outlook.
Royce Ring has been demoted to make room for Germano.
Thanks Geoff. I honestly had forgotten about Ring. So do we still have 12 pitchers?
Just for the hell of it, since we’re officially 1/5th of the way through the season I’ve been looking up season numbers for Pads pitchers so far – I generally only occasionally check accumulated stats during the season. I was astounded by a couple things – I knew Bell had pitched really well, but until looking at his actual numbers this year I wasn’t aware of how good he’s been. 21 innings, 7 hits, 23 strikeouts? A BAA of109 and a .56 WHIP. He always had great stuff, maybe the Pads just figured something out. Regardless, I’ll take it.
The other thing I noticed is how well Doug Brocail has pitched. 16 innings, 10 baserunners, 10 K’s. I lobbied hard against him this offseason, and I’m glad I was wrong, at least so far. Those two guys have really helped shield the Pads from Linebrink’s homeriffic tendencies this season, not to mention Liney’s sudden inability to strike anyone out – 8 K’s in 16 innings, with only 4 in his last 11. Those are troubling numbers. If he rights things, though, that foursome – Bell, Liney, Brocail and Meredith – is a formidable ‘pen. When your last guy in the bullpen is a rule 5 pick with a 0.00 ERA and a .130 BAA (Cameron), things are looking right in the world.
128: My family opted for a HOF sustaining membership ($100, good for a family of four). The membership won’t help you out for the induction ceremony (it’s a public event that’s held in a park, weather permitting), but it does allow you to get into the HOF about an hour before the general public, as well as as some other neat perks (10% discount in the HOF store, quarterly HOF magazine).
My family is making a 10-day trip out of the whole thing. We’re flying into Detroit, driving to Syracuse (where we’ll stay for a couple nites while we visit the HOF), driving to NYC to catch a game a Yankees stadium before it’s torn down, driving to Pittsburgh to catch a game at PNC, and then returning to Detroit. It’s going to be a lot of driving (and we’re doing the Detroit thing because we have family in Western Ohio), but we’ll get to see a great ceremony and see a couple ballparks along the way.
Thanks for the info Phantom!