IGD: Padres vs Reds (15 May 07)
Tue, May 15, 2007
by Geoff Young
first pitch: 7:05 p.m. PT
television: Channel 4SD
matchup: David Wells (1-2, 6.32 ERA) vs Aaron Harang (5-1, 5.04 ERA)
previews: Padres.com | SI.com
I wonder if we haven’t become so numbed by all of these numbers that we are no longer capable of truly assimilating any knowledge which might result from them.
–The Bill James Baseball Abstract 1988, p. 234
Maybe it’s because I recently “celebrated” a birthday or maybe there are other reasons. Whatever the case, I find myself increasingly interested in the narrative of baseball and in truths beyond numbers. I love stats as much as anyone, but I hope that when I throw tables full of data at you, I’m adding more than just noise to the conversation.
Balance is good. Sometimes we deconstruct a game at the subatomic level. Other times we tell stupid stories or just sit and watch. Or give someone a hot foot. That’s always fun. When I played tennis in high school, you never wanted to fall asleep on the team bus. Because when you woke up, your shoes would be tied together.
What the heck am I even talking about? Oh right, I was giving you my excuse for not providing any real analysis tonight.
Go Padres!
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 15, 2007 at 6:44 pm
Let’s hope tonight’s game goes as well a last night’s.
May 15, 2007 at 7:09 pm
Nice start for Boomer.
May 15, 2007 at 7:13 pm
6′7″ 275lbs.! This guy should be playing football.
May 15, 2007 at 7:20 pm
Conine is still playing? I had no idea.
May 15, 2007 at 7:21 pm
Nice DP.
May 15, 2007 at 7:21 pm
Man, Adrian is smooth. Beautiful 3-6-3 DP.
May 15, 2007 at 7:21 pm
Nice DP boys. Nice.
May 15, 2007 at 7:26 pm
Damn, Cameron hammered that ball.
May 15, 2007 at 7:26 pm
Cammy is swinging the bat better lately. Talk about being Petco-ized.
May 15, 2007 at 7:27 pm
I really thought that was gone.
May 15, 2007 at 7:28 pm
I’ve just decided that I HATE Petco. That ball should have been a dinger for Cam, but no. Crappy-ass pitchers park. Did anyone catch comments from Mags about the wind-tunnel effect from left to right in the UT. Stalls the balls so they never make it out. That, was a perfect example.
May 15, 2007 at 7:29 pm
11: Also interesting from that article was Mags saying that the person it hurt the most is Khalil.
May 15, 2007 at 7:31 pm
I’d rather have a park like Petco than one like Coors.
May 15, 2007 at 7:35 pm
That bat looked like it exploded!
May 15, 2007 at 7:43 pm
Nice to see some of our pitchers making better moves with men on base lately.
May 15, 2007 at 7:50 pm
This is turning out to be a very boring game.
May 15, 2007 at 7:51 pm
#15: That move by Wells to nail Phillips was nice.
May 15, 2007 at 7:55 pm
Anyone think Boomer is hearing footsteps with Germano doing well and Hensley due back soon? He sure is pitching like it so far…
May 15, 2007 at 7:58 pm
18: Yeah Geoff, it kind of looks that way. Germano is an up and comer. Not so sure about Hensley. But Boomer isn’t getting any younger.
May 15, 2007 at 7:59 pm
18: If it gets him fired up and leads to him producing like the HOF he’s supposed to be, that’s great.
Off the bat, that totally looked like a knock for Khalil.
May 15, 2007 at 8:00 pm
Yep, I think Cammy is feeling it.
May 15, 2007 at 8:00 pm
Cameron is showing signs of life, good to see.
May 15, 2007 at 8:01 pm
C’mon St. Louis, mount the comeback. You’ve still got plenty of ABs.
May 15, 2007 at 8:02 pm
C’mon Kouzy, great time to extend that streak to 4 games.
May 15, 2007 at 8:02 pm
Damn you Cincy, damn you. Do it Boomer!
May 15, 2007 at 8:03 pm
Boomer doesn’t even give an effort at the plate so this inning is over.
May 15, 2007 at 8:07 pm
#26: I think he hit that ball hard just to spite you.
May 15, 2007 at 8:07 pm
We’re lucky A-Gon didn’t pull a hamstring on that.
May 15, 2007 at 8:09 pm
27: You may be right. If I can get him to spite me more this season, it wouldn’t hurt my feelings.
May 15, 2007 at 8:09 pm
Well, St. Louis has tied it up, but Boomer is starting to look hittable.
May 15, 2007 at 8:10 pm
Another nice play by Kouz. Ho-hum.
May 15, 2007 at 8:10 pm
I just posted the balls and strikes charts from last night’s game over at Friar Watch for those that are interested.
Wow, that was a heck of a play by Kouz.
May 15, 2007 at 8:10 pm
Nice play Kouz!
May 15, 2007 at 8:11 pm
Freel owns the right-field line. He’s like a right-handed hitting Sean Burroughs.
May 15, 2007 at 8:11 pm
Shit. Boomer falls apart in the sixth again.
May 15, 2007 at 8:13 pm
We were lucky to only give up one.
May 15, 2007 at 8:13 pm
After Boomer’s at bat I had actually typed this question but decided not to post it:
What do you guys think about pinch hitting in that situation? Boomer has pitched well but realistically won’t give you more than 6 innings anyway and the bullpen is rested. The downside to that strategy is Blum would probably have been the pinch hitter.
Wells hasn’t been awful this inning but I think anyone in our bullpen could have done the same.
May 15, 2007 at 8:14 pm
I have to defend Wells. Nothing was hit hard that inning. Ground ball to the left side, ground ball up the middle, blooper down the right-field line. Boomer did a nice job of escaping with just the one run.
May 15, 2007 at 8:15 pm
35: Ammending my statement. He didn’t fall apart, he handled that well. That should have been much worse.
That said, with the way Harang is pitching, one run looks insurmountable at this point.
May 15, 2007 at 8:17 pm
38: Yeah, saying he fell apart was a little harsh, but last week’s game in Atlanta looms large in my memory. Two weak grounders that found holes and then a bloop double. Can’t blame that on him. The offense needs to pick him up.
May 15, 2007 at 8:18 pm
Mudcat with the Talking Heads reference.
Nice!
I love those guys.
May 15, 2007 at 8:19 pm
Wow, Crudge a stolen base!
May 15, 2007 at 8:19 pm
#41: That was solid. Same as it ever was…
May 15, 2007 at 8:19 pm
Nice job by Cruz. Get him in OG.
May 15, 2007 at 8:19 pm
37 … I say Wells should have been PH’d for … take the 5 IP and *run*!!! *AND* get a hitter up there for the AB … even if it is Blum … the more ABs he gets, the clearer it will be that he needs to be cut, and so the sooner he will be cut …
May 15, 2007 at 8:20 pm
Boomer should be able to get a win though, going six innings and only giving up a run. Time for Adrian to come out of his mini-slump.
May 15, 2007 at 8:21 pm
Ugh, back to our old tricks. I liked seeing guys hit with RISP last night. That was fun.
May 15, 2007 at 8:23 pm
47: It appears that Cincinatti has unequivocally figured how to contain Adrian.
May 15, 2007 at 8:25 pm
Wonderful. Wainwright grooves a fastball to Furcal and he hits it for a bases-clearing triple. Ugh. Dodgers up 7-4.
Our offense REALLY needs to pick up Boomer.
May 15, 2007 at 8:29 pm
Boomer is pitching great so far. Some of whatever was in Maddux’s arm must have rubbed off last night.
May 15, 2007 at 8:30 pm
Our bats need to start working here. It’s not enough to have good pitching. Wells has done a stand-up job so far. He needs some offensive help.
May 15, 2007 at 8:35 pm
Yeargh, our offense can be frustrating. Gotta credit Harang though, he’s pitching well.
May 15, 2007 at 8:36 pm
Geoff, I really liked your write up in the Annual about Tony G’s 3000th. I think it epitomized everything we all were thinking at the time. Thanks.
May 15, 2007 at 8:38 pm
Damn, Hamilton is fast. Khalil did everything possible on that play.
May 15, 2007 at 8:40 pm
#53: Thanks, TD. Except for all the losing, those were some fun times.
May 15, 2007 at 8:40 pm
OMG, fantastic play by Khalil.
May 15, 2007 at 8:40 pm
54: Your right. But he just redemed himself.
May 15, 2007 at 8:41 pm
What a difference offense makes. If the Padres scored 7 runs tonight we’d be raving about Boomer. Instead I feel like we’re pushing our luck asking him to go 8.
Wow, I thought Khalil had no shot on the catch or the throw
May 15, 2007 at 8:42 pm
I could care less if he hits .240 with 80 RBI in a season. I’ll take that kind of D any day of the week.
May 15, 2007 at 8:45 pm
Great outing by Boomer. Really did a nice job of keeping guys off balance all night. I know It’s cliche, but when he hits his spots, he still can be effective.
May 15, 2007 at 8:46 pm
Boomer deserves better than a loss tonite. The boys really need to pick him up, right now.
It’s interesting that his best outings have been losses.
May 15, 2007 at 8:47 pm
60: Agreed. When he maintains his temper, Boomer can be fantastic. I just wish our bats would show up.
May 15, 2007 at 8:49 pm
#32: Very nice.
May 15, 2007 at 8:49 pm
Blumer!!!!!!
May 15, 2007 at 8:50 pm
Geez, Blummer crushed that one.
May 15, 2007 at 8:50 pm
Blum: what a clutch player.
May 15, 2007 at 8:50 pm
blum?
May 15, 2007 at 8:50 pm
Petco-ized again. Blum must have been reading Ducksnorts and Gaslamp Ball lately, he’s playing like he wants to stay a Padre.
May 15, 2007 at 8:50 pm
c’mon boys! David deserves better!
May 15, 2007 at 8:51 pm
Oh my God. Let’s go Crudge!
May 15, 2007 at 8:51 pm
We’ve had a couple hard hit balls tonite. Time for one of those to do some uber-damage.
May 15, 2007 at 8:53 pm
OG drive it in!!!!!!!!!!!
May 15, 2007 at 8:54 pm
Couldn’t we just get a past ball, or something?
May 15, 2007 at 8:54 pm
Clutch balk! Woo-hoo!
May 15, 2007 at 8:54 pm
come on OG!
May 15, 2007 at 8:54 pm
HAHAHAAHAH!!!!!!
That freaking rocks!!
May 15, 2007 at 8:55 pm
That should make the ESPN highlights!
May 15, 2007 at 8:55 pm
thats one way to tie it up…
May 15, 2007 at 8:56 pm
77: That, and KG’s defense.
May 15, 2007 at 8:56 pm
If you gave Harang 10,000 more tries to do that, I’m pretty sure he couldn’t.
May 15, 2007 at 8:57 pm
Man, Harang came SOOO close to saving that too.
My MLB.TV feed is clearly lagging tonite. I saw the “clutch balk” call before it happened. I thought Geoff was just building off of my passed ball request. Sadly, I was wrong.
May 15, 2007 at 8:57 pm
80 … do what?
May 15, 2007 at 8:58 pm
What a trip…
May 15, 2007 at 8:59 pm
Why Hoffy here? Shouldn’t it be Taco? Or Cla?
May 15, 2007 at 9:00 pm
It looked like he kind of stubbed his front foot when he planted it and lost his footing. I’ve never seen that before, and certainly not in that kind of a situation. Crazy.
May 15, 2007 at 9:01 pm
84: My thoughts exactly. In fact, who is pitching next?
May 15, 2007 at 9:01 pm
#82: LM, Harang stumbled while delivering to the plate, thus balking home the tying run. It was an unbelievably fluky play.
May 15, 2007 at 9:03 pm
As Harang went to sweep his foot down to plant it going toward the plate he caught his front spike on the mound. Although the ball did eventually head towards home plate, it was only after a stutter step and clearly could not be called a continuous motion. Therefore, it’s a balk.
May 15, 2007 at 9:04 pm
I’M amazed that Conine is still in the league. This is his 18th year! And, didn’t he get the first hit in Marlins history? Or he was 4-4 or something notable like that in the first game…
May 15, 2007 at 9:05 pm
Our best bats up. But, can they make it happen? They obviously have to try for long ball.
May 15, 2007 at 9:05 pm
re: 84,86
Trevor was already warm. You’re only gonna use him a single inning regardless… and by definition, the home team will not be in a save situation now. Why not use him rather than trying to warm someone else in a hurry?
May 15, 2007 at 9:07 pm
wow - at 114 pitches and still in the game in the ninth…
May 15, 2007 at 9:08 pm
Tells you something about the Cinncy bullpen, eh Marsh?
May 15, 2007 at 9:08 pm
C’mon Khalil, time for a game winner!
May 15, 2007 at 9:09 pm
This feels familiar
May 15, 2007 at 9:10 pm
Damn, I really needed to go to bed early tonight.
May 15, 2007 at 9:15 pm
Almost a spectacular catch by Adrian. At least we’ve got Dunn out of the game.
May 15, 2007 at 9:16 pm
Great effort by A-Gon!
May 15, 2007 at 9:16 pm
Nice punch-out by Scotty. Close it out Scott.
May 15, 2007 at 9:18 pm
Linebrink is dealing.
May 15, 2007 at 9:22 pm
Fantastic sequencs there by Liney. Awesome inning. We’ve got all the momentum, we’ve got to capitalize on it now.
May 15, 2007 at 9:31 pm
2 HRs for LaForest + 1 for McAnulty tonight for Portland … http://www.minorleaguebaseball.....p;did=milb … another not-very-good outing by Stauffer …
May 15, 2007 at 9:32 pm
Headley still doing very well at AA … http://www.minorleaguebaseball.....p;did=milb
May 15, 2007 at 9:39 pm
Whoa, did we just throw out a guy trying to steal?
May 15, 2007 at 9:39 pm
Bad throw by Bard, lucky call for us.
May 15, 2007 at 9:40 pm
St. Louis is making a comeback, interesting to see what happens.
May 15, 2007 at 9:47 pm
When did Weathers learn how to pitch? He used to lug a big ol’ can of gasoline around with him.
May 15, 2007 at 9:49 pm
Maybe throwing that many fastballs in a row to Griffey wasn’t the best idea.
May 15, 2007 at 9:50 pm
Why couldn’t that ball be Petco-ized? Grumble.
May 15, 2007 at 9:50 pm
I wasn’t even looking and I could tell it was gone by the sound. It must be nice to have some power hitters on your team.