IGD: Padres vs Nationals (2 May 07)
Wed, May 2, 2007
by Geoff Young
first pitch: 7:05 p.m. PT
television: Channel 4SD
matchup: Clay Hensley (1-3, 7.86 ERA) vs Matt Chico (2-2, 5.70 ERA)
previews: Padres.com | SI.com
Just a few quick comparisons:
| Year | AB | BA | OBP | SLG |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stats courtesy of ESPN. | ||||
| 2006 | 682 | .276 | .346 | .400 |
| 2007 | 115 | .296 | .346 | .435 |
| Year | AB | BA | OBP | SLG |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stats courtesy of ESPN. | ||||
| 2006 | 621 | .274 | .315 | .415 |
| 2007 | 111 | .297 | .350 | .414 |
| Year | AB | BA | OBP | SLG |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stats courtesy of ESPN. | ||||
| 2006 | 665 | .275 | .340 | .386 |
| 2007 | 99 | .303 | .415 | .586 |
I miss Josh Barfield and Dave Roberts, too, but the team seems to be over them…
Picking up where last year's version left off, the Ducksnorts 2008 Baseball Annual provides in-depth analysis of and commentary on the San Diego Padres. Get your copy today.
May 2, 2007 at 6:14 pm
At the game last night. Had a great time. KK surprised us with that deep hit to the right corner. Then that surprise sqeeze play. Whoa! All in all, that was the best game I’ve seen the Padres play this year.
May 2, 2007 at 6:51 pm
Great comparisons Geoff. I think a lot of people were judging this team in the off-season purely on sentimental value, and not on performance. I’m entirely pleased with Marcus, and I’m loving Crudge (both of them).
If Kouz can hit anywhere near his past history, we should be fine.
May 2, 2007 at 7:07 pm
“If Kouz can hit anywhere near his past history, we should be fine.”
That, and let’s get Cameron going. We’re good top to bottom if they play to their career numbers. It’s going to be a lot of fun once they start coming around. Until then, it’s still a little frustrating. I love good pitching and defense, but it’s tough to watch them not get wins when they pitch well.
May 2, 2007 at 7:09 pm
Not a good start so far.
May 2, 2007 at 7:16 pm
That inning could have been much worse.
May 2, 2007 at 7:16 pm
I’ll take giving up only one run after having a runner on 3rd with no one out. Let’s try to avoid having that situation again this game.
May 2, 2007 at 7:23 pm
We sure have a way of making bad pitchers look awesome.
May 2, 2007 at 7:24 pm
Man. I really thought we’d do more damage than that. He’s missing spots up left and right. The problem is, we’re only swinging at the pitches that hit the freakin’ target down in the zone.
May 2, 2007 at 7:27 pm
Not a good sign for a ground ball pitcher to get his first 4 outs on fly balls.
May 2, 2007 at 7:41 pm
“Testing the testes”?!
May 2, 2007 at 7:42 pm
Paging Justin Germano…
May 2, 2007 at 7:43 pm
Justin Germano, come on down! Too bad about Clay…
May 2, 2007 at 7:43 pm
Hopefully, we won’t see Michael Thompson because he has some options to burn…
May 2, 2007 at 7:44 pm
Okay, two quick things, as I’m trying to catch the end of lost (great episode): (1) how sad is it when the link to todays game on padres.com reads “Padres trying to stay hot” (um, we won 1 game on something like 4 hits); and (2) I really, really wish that I hadn’t seen Hensley throw that warmup pitch (I think I felt the pain in MY groin)
May 2, 2007 at 7:45 pm
The way he was messing with his cup I was afraid it was a crushed testicle.
May 2, 2007 at 7:48 pm
pulled groin. no doubt about it. that must have hurt like hell.
May 2, 2007 at 7:53 pm
Whoa, wtf. MLB.TV just switched feeds. What the crap is this?
May 2, 2007 at 7:54 pm
Doug Brocail hits lefty? He looks like a little league kid that decides to turn around and hit switch on the last day of the season.
May 2, 2007 at 7:57 pm
Not able to watch…what’s up with Clay? Strained groin? Serious? any word. Let me know.
May 2, 2007 at 8:01 pm
19: I would have let you know had I not lost Matt & Mud. Stupid Nats broacast.
May 2, 2007 at 8:04 pm
holy shit, does anyone see the bombshell sitting next to Jim Bowden?
May 2, 2007 at 8:05 pm
what’s the over-under on how much she costs for the night? for an hour??
May 2, 2007 at 8:07 pm
21: Good call, they just showed another clip of her. The fur coat is a dead giveaway.
May 2, 2007 at 8:08 pm
Lay off the off-speed Khalil!
May 2, 2007 at 8:10 pm
Greeney is starting to make those Right-Center triples a principal part of his repetoire.
May 2, 2007 at 8:10 pm
3 triples? Who knew Khalil was a speedster?
May 2, 2007 at 8:10 pm
NICE JOB KG!!
May 2, 2007 at 8:11 pm
2 of those triples have been stand-up triples too.
Here’s a question:
Do we sacrifice some HR power from Khalil for more extra base hits into right?
May 2, 2007 at 8:14 pm
Too bad Robles isn’t up here
May 2, 2007 at 8:14 pm
I love seeing KG hit the ball the other way.
May 2, 2007 at 8:14 pm
Cameron, make him pitch to you.
May 2, 2007 at 8:15 pm
C’mon Kouzy. Make it count buddy.
May 2, 2007 at 8:15 pm
It’s got to be hard to be patient when you’re struggling. Nice AB from Cameron.
May 2, 2007 at 8:15 pm
COME ON KOUZ!!! HERE’S THE DEFINITE SLUMPBUSTER!
May 2, 2007 at 8:17 pm
Why the f**k is f**king Geoff f**king Blum on f**king deck?
Sorry. That’s just the hieight of frustration for a Padres fan.
May 2, 2007 at 8:18 pm
That’s a RBI for Kouz. Was that ball four?
May 2, 2007 at 8:19 pm
oh well, decent poke and a good r.b.i.
May 2, 2007 at 8:20 pm
Blummer!
And the bonus is now he can’t pitch hit later on.
May 2, 2007 at 8:20 pm
So, Brocail hasn’t hit since ‘96….. are we sure he isn’t a better option than Blum??
May 2, 2007 at 8:20 pm
OMG, Blum got lucky!
May 2, 2007 at 8:20 pm
Great. Blum lucked out and now he’s “clutch” again. Wonderful.
May 2, 2007 at 8:22 pm
OMG, we brought in men on base! Glad to see us breaking this open early.
May 2, 2007 at 8:22 pm
this is amazing! is it a full moon???
May 2, 2007 at 8:22 pm
OK, now we’ve got a ball game.
May 2, 2007 at 8:23 pm
Nice heads up play too by Marcus to take the extra base on that.
That play by Belliard is HUGE now.
May 2, 2007 at 8:23 pm
To quote the Commodore from Space: Above and Beyond - I want you to go out there, find this bastard, and you pile on!
May 2, 2007 at 8:24 pm
Nice to have NOG back in the lineup…
May 2, 2007 at 8:27 pm
I predict that Blum will get lucky and get a hit about 10 to 15% of his at-bats … really!
May 2, 2007 at 8:30 pm
48: That wasn’t a hit. If the Nationals aren’t running a team of collective little-leaguers (ok, so maybe that’s a little harsh), that’s an out and the rally’s dead.
Seriously, that’s an out almost any other time.
May 2, 2007 at 8:32 pm
Last night at the ballpark I was yelling out “OG” and “Crudge” and people were looking at me funny. I then told them about Ducksnorts and all of us baseball geeks.
May 2, 2007 at 8:32 pm
OT … Soria with Save #4 for Royals tonight … http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/boxscore?gid=270502107 … I mention it just because it is so interesting to me that a total unknown one year can be a “closer” the next. Hey, I follow the Padres minor league system closer than 99% of y’all … and I didn’t know him … he pitched 11 innings as a 22 year old at Ft Wayne last year … http://www.thebaseballcube.com.....oria.shtml … just amazing … how did KC know? (ie. what made them take him in the Rule 5 draft?)
May 2, 2007 at 8:33 pm
Thank you Nats broadcast for the protracted look at Manny Acta’s face.
May 2, 2007 at 8:33 pm
damnit! if you’re going to show Bowden, then show the bombshell too!
May 2, 2007 at 8:34 pm
49 … tell me more … I didn’t see it … where did he hit it? Thx
May 2, 2007 at 8:38 pm
He hit a shallow bloop fly about 15 feet past first base that everyone thought was going to be foul and feel in between 3 people.
May 2, 2007 at 8:38 pm
Antonelli with 3 hits so far for the Storm this evening … http://web.minorleaguebaseball.....a_lesafa_1
May 2, 2007 at 8:39 pm
55 … thanks … you said “bloop fly”, but I’m sure you meant “clutch fly” … as in “hit ‘em where they ain’t” … that’s all that matters right? I’d rather be lucky than good? Uh …
May 2, 2007 at 8:39 pm
I’m no expert but Wagner looks like an arm injury waiting to happen.
May 2, 2007 at 8:41 pm
Damn. That should have gone farther into the stands.
May 2, 2007 at 8:43 pm
Where’s that fan that got in the way when Gonzalez tried to make a catch last night?
May 2, 2007 at 8:43 pm
59: Seriously. Fick reacted like he missed it at first too.
Oh well, I’ll settle for a triple if he gets nothing else tonite.
May 2, 2007 at 8:46 pm
Hmmm, wonder why Bell only went 1 inning? I guess he can’t go 2 every time out … but I’m not sure why not …
May 2, 2007 at 8:47 pm
61 … who “he” you talking about?
May 2, 2007 at 8:49 pm
barry bonds just put one out….. I hate that guy
May 2, 2007 at 8:53 pm
62: With the day off tomorrow Bud probably wants some guys to get a little work.
May 2, 2007 at 8:54 pm
Another hard shot from Kouz that manages to find a glove. The poor kid cannot get a break.
May 2, 2007 at 8:54 pm
KOUZ HAS NO LUCK!! but, at least he’s putting some good wood on the ball…
May 2, 2007 at 8:59 pm
Wow, Clam just routinely makes hitters look terrible at the plate
May 2, 2007 at 9:02 pm
C’mon Cla, keep the scoreless inning streak alive!
May 2, 2007 at 9:02 pm
Damnit. Now its a two-run game.
May 2, 2007 at 9:04 pm
This does not look good, Cla is getting creamed.
May 2, 2007 at 9:05 pm
What the hell is up with Cameron?
May 2, 2007 at 9:06 pm
Guess he should have let Bell go two and Cla go one. Oh well. It had to happen sometime.
May 2, 2007 at 9:09 pm
72: Did you just notice today that he’s playing like he could give a shit?
May 2, 2007 at 9:11 pm
C’mon Scotty. You can get out of it.
May 2, 2007 at 9:12 pm
Khalil Greene + Adrian Gonzales = Defensive Masters
May 2, 2007 at 9:13 pm
Let’s get some back now boys. Get back up on top.
May 2, 2007 at 9:13 pm
74 … prolly meant to point to 72?
72 … describe why you ask … what’d he do this time?
May 2, 2007 at 9:15 pm
It was another booming double to deep center that Cameron played off the wall. It would have been close had he gone for the catch, but I thought that one of the balls hit in the first could have been caught by him.
May 2, 2007 at 9:16 pm
Ray King’s ERA is > 10 … GO FOR IT, BOYS!
May 2, 2007 at 9:17 pm
OT … http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/ne.....;type=lgns … Piazza to miss 4-to-6 weeks with shoulder injury
May 2, 2007 at 9:19 pm
Ouch. Piazza is on my fantasy team
May 2, 2007 at 9:22 pm
56 … a cool line in the Storm box score tonight … one of the opposing pitchers threw 0.1 IP (ie. one-third of an inning pitched) with 2 K’s
May 2, 2007 at 9:23 pm
82 … that means your playing either AL-fantasy or mixed-fantasy … that’s breakin’ one of those “Man Law”s, me thinks …
May 2, 2007 at 9:25 pm
AL only… what can I say, I’m from New England so I grew up an AL fan. Even worse, I have David Ortiz and Frank Thomas on the same team.
May 2, 2007 at 9:26 pm
Rox go up 3-2 on Gi’nts in top of 8th … I don’t believe it matters in the long-run … but just in case, I s’pose it’s good to get them both to trend towards .500 …
May 2, 2007 at 9:27 pm
Anyone else not like that slide by Zimmerman? It’s one thing to slide at a guy, quite another to target his knee like that.
May 2, 2007 at 9:29 pm
Yo Adrian!!!!!!!!!!!
May 2, 2007 at 9:29 pm
Who says you can’t hit em out at Petco?
May 2, 2007 at 9:30 pm
mijo!
May 2, 2007 at 9:30 pm
87: He went straight into the bag, NOG was standing right in his path. It was just one of those things, the ball was hit so softly that Giles had to hang around second too long.
May 2, 2007 at 9:31 pm
91: I know I’m probably being overly homerish here, but on the replay it really looked like he elevated his legs to get to NOG’s knee.
Nice play by NOG to hang in there. Barfield would have gotten creamed.
May 2, 2007 at 9:32 pm
http://web.minorleaguebaseball.....;fext=.jsp
05/02/2007 11:34 PM ET
Carrillo facing Tommy John surgery
Padres prospect diagnosed with strained elbow ligament
May 2, 2007 at 9:41 pm
MCamy with a double … that gets Sledge an AB … seems like a good thing …
May 2, 2007 at 9:42 pm
When was Kevin Cameron’s last appearance? Did he pitch on Sunday? I cannot recall, and I’m mildly surprised we haven’t seen him at any point tonite.
I love Trevor, but it’s nice to not have to use him tonite.
May 2, 2007 at 9:42 pm
If MCam is heating up and Kouz is making consistent contact May is going to be a good month.
May 2, 2007 at 9:42 pm
Nice shot by Oscar. Guys are putting otgether some nice ABs right now.
May 2, 2007 at 9:43 pm
94 … yup, ’twas a good thing … Sledge with an RBI double … cool … and that gets Oscar an AB … seems like a good thing also … only downside is now the bell prolly won’t ring, will they?
May 2, 2007 at 9:44 pm
98: Our Crudge situation in LF has been very productive. If Cameron does indeed continute to struggle, I’d feel comfortable with a Crudge OF on a daily basis.
May 2, 2007 at 9:44 pm
95: KCam pitched on the 29th, he had to throw 49 pitches in 2 innings.
Robles is so much better than Blum. Why are we carrying both again?
May 2, 2007 at 9:45 pm
100 … hopefully just awaiting Branyan’s return …
May 2, 2007 at 9:45 pm
100: That’s right, Cameron struggled mightily on Sunday. It’s probably a good thing they’re giving him a couple days rest.
With the off day tomorrow, would it be possible to adjust the rotation so that Clay could miss about 8 to 10 days without having to call up someone else? This is of course assuming that his groin issue isn’t overly serious.
May 2, 2007 at 9:48 pm
The difference between good teams and bad teams:
Royce Ring is our lefty out of the pen. He makes the minimum
The Nats are paying Ray King $850,000
May 2, 2007 at 9:52 pm
KT has really fleeced some other teams these past few years. Ring & Bell for Johson and Adkins?
Mirabelli for Meredith & Bard?
Aki & Eaton for Adrian, CY, and Sledge?
It’s a matter of time to see if Barf for Kouz works out in our favor, but NOG is clearly a much better player than Barf already.
Way to come back from the tough opening game and take the series boys.
May 2, 2007 at 9:57 pm
104: Don’t forget B Law for Vinny Castilla. Vinny was a washout but B Law hasn’t pitched in the big leagues since 2005.
May 2, 2007 at 10:12 pm
105: I just read today that he might sign with the Pads AAA team.
May 2, 2007 at 10:50 pm
Just got back from the game. Bummer about Hensley (he’s been placed on the 15-day DL), but what a great team effort. Seven innings from the bullpen, three solid at-bats by Kouz, an absolute monster of a homer by Adrian, NOG back in the lineup. I know it’s just the Nats, but we needed this one.
#30: Couldn’t agree more. Teams have to start respecting KG’s ability to go the other way, which makes him that much more dangerous at the plate.
#38: LOL, Anthony. That’s almost exactly what I said to my wife at the game.
#50: Solid. Thanks, TD!
#58: Wagner looks like a completely different pitcher than when he first came up with the Reds. Scoreboard gun had his fastball barely into low-90s.
#87: A lot of people booed at the park, but Zimmerman’s slide looked pretty clean to me. I’ve seen OG do worse.
I am very encouraged by what I’ve seen from Kouz the past couple nights. Here’s hoping this is the beginning of better things from him.
May 2, 2007 at 11:04 pm
Fun game.
Hate to see Clay go down, but if any starter is going to have some DL time, it would be him. Let that blister and groin heal.
My observations:
Aside from Brocail and Ring, our relievers looked tired. The rest will do them some good.
I have taken to watching Cam and KK’s AB’s in slo-mo detail, and, tonight, I liked what I saw. KK had pretty good pitch recognition and didn’t expand the zone too badly (it was close, but his sac fly looked like ball four and his line to 3B a little inside) but nice. He has power (duh).
Cam actually went with a pitch in his line/fly out to RCF. Bad results, but it was a much better swing. And his double was nic