I don’t mean to sound like a sore winner, but when you put 17 guys on base, you really need to score more than four runs. We’ll take the victory, of course, it’s just that this game shouldn’t have been close (recap | box score).
Chris Young looked terrific, allowing just two runs over six innings. Both came in a bizarre fifth that featured a walk, hit batsman, and balk.
The bullpen did its thing over the final three innings. The only blemish there came on a ground ball back to the box that Scott Linebrink couldn’t handle, but no harm done.
On the offensive side, Adrian Gonzalez provided the early spark, launching a solo homer to left in the second. He also doubled and walked twice.
As a team, the Padres drew eight walks. They also fouled off a ton of pitches — 23 off starter Chuck James alone, which helped contribute to his early departure.
Young helped his own cause, walking twice and scoring after being hit in the left knee by a Chad Paronto fastball in the sixth. It’s impossible to know what’s going on in another person’s head, but it’s also difficult to imagine that Paronto’s pitch was anything other than retaliation for Young’s earlier plunking of Jeff Francouer.
Regardless, Paronto gave the Padres a free two-out baserunner that later turned into an insurance run (courtesy of a bases-loaded walk to Jose Cruz Jr.). As with Chris Woodward’s errant throw in the fifth on a Josh Bard grounder that allowed Brian Giles to score, the Padres gratefully accepted the home team’s gift.
Other positives? Mike Cameron notched two singles and a walk, while Kevin Kouzmanoff continued to look more comfortable at the plate, driving the ball hard to right field twice. I know it seems silly to sing the praises of a guy hitting .108/.172/.193, but a good approach is the first step toward good results.
I also like that the Padres forced Atlanta to use four relievers, who combined to throw a total of 97 pitches. Getting deep into a team’s bullpen in the first of a four-game series is a good thing.
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
Craig Stansberry: 4 AB, 0 R, 2 H, 1 RBI; 2B, BB, SO
Mike Thompson: 4.2 IP, 9 H, 7 R, 7 ER, 2 BB, 3 SO, 2 HR – Yikes!
AA
Will Venable: 4 AB, 0 R, 0 H, 0 RBI; SO
Nick Hundley: 4 AB, 1 R, 3 H, 2 RBI; HR
Jonathan Ellis: 0.1 IP, 1 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 3 BB, 1 SO, 0 HR
High-A
No games scheduled
Low-A
Cedric Hunter: 3 AB, 1 R, 1 H, 0 RBI; BB
Rayner Contreras: 4 AB, 1 R, 4 H, 1 RBI; HR
Aaron Breit: 4.1 IP, 7 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 1 BB, 1 SO, 1 HR
Commentary:
Stansberry is hitting .354/.420/.531 with 15 doubles and a 13/22 BB/SO ratio. He has played second, short, and third. It’s been discussed in the comments section, but Stansberry is playing himself into a nice utility role.
I go out and sing the praises of Ellis and two of his last three appearances have been disasters.
Thanks, Peter, for delivering the goods. Last year’s .205/.292/.339 MLE notwithstanding, the 25-year-old Stansberry remains an intriguing option.
Justin Germano and Anthony Lerew square off tonight. Another early start time, so the IGD will be up and running by 3 p.m. PT.
Tonight’s pitching matchup should be an interesting one. Germano is a guy that has piqued the curiosity of a lot of Friar watchers (his trip to the Reds notwithstanding), and the same with Lerew on the Braves’ side.
Both of these guys have had more discussion than results at this level, so to see them match up tonight may be just as interesting as a Smoltz-Maddux matchup, for different reasons.
Just a shame I happen to live in the Braves’ TV area (despite being 4+ hours away), and can’t get Matty and Mud OR the Braves’ telecast on MLBEI.
So call me crazy but it sounds like we could really use some quality young arms in our minor league system huh? I know Ramos and Culp have had some nice outing lately and Germano has pitched well but other than that it seems like our boys are getting killed constantly. I don’t have a subscription to BA so I have not been able to do a whole lot of research on some of the better pitching prospects in the draft but I’m hoping over the next month we can start talking about some of the potential draft day targets the Padres might have or we think they should have on their radar.
Anyways good win last night and looking forward to todays game. I personally love the 4pm start times they work out great for me. Too bad we have to listen to that freaking waste of space Steve Quiss. I would almost rather watch the game on mute than listen to his horrible analysis or hear him go on and on about a sport that he really seems to know nothing about. He’s like the Geoff Blum of San Diego sportscasters. It’s like channel 4 is paying him to steal perfectly good oxygen from us. How, how, how, can somebody be so bad at their job and continue to recieve paychecks? Okay sorry. I’m probably just jealous! I miss Matty V.
That game was way closer than it should have been.
The Padres sound pretty angry about the Young plunking. The Braves announcers said “Now we’re even,” as if either of Young’s pitches were intentional. Wouldn’t surprise me at all to see the Padres put one in somebody’s ribs if one of the next 3 games gets out of hand. Otherwise wait until we get to SD.
2: We could start by signing Latos. The draft is deep in HS arms and college LHP. Not many good college righties, but I’d take a chance on Brackman if he happened to slip all the way to us.
The only good part about having Quiss in the booth is when he says something so wrong from a baseball since, or just lame from a since of humor standpoint that it leave mudd speechless because he has no idea how to help him recover.
I still have not forgiven Quiss for trying to count down the outs in young’s no-no last year, im not superstitious but come on its a well known tradition that you don’t talk about it.
I like Quest better then Matty V. Quist calls a better HR, and anything beats Matty’s screaming. Also Quist has a better voice. I think he works better with Muddy as well. Matty and Mud seem to clash a bit on the humor and Matty certainly seems chippy. Matty doesn’t want to do Padre TV anyway. He just waiting to jump ship for the “big time” of Chitown or some other East Coast market. And his “Good Night, [insert team name] when the padres when is pathetic. Besides, he’s an SC boy.
And maybe someday, I’ll spell the guys last name correctly.
Re: 5 matty had a shot to go to chitown a few years ago and he turned it down to stay with the pads.
Nice summary; 12 LOB is not easy to do. Some of it was bad luck: AGon has a jack bases empty, but flies out bases loaded. NOG does not come through with the bases loaded but hits a double later.
I disagree with assessment of Cameron. He did get a walk, but I am watching how he is handling outside pitches. He is a good hitter if he goes with them, he flails when he tries to pull them. One of his hits he pulled an outside pitched that squibbed between 3B and SS; he also hit a flair for to LC off the end of the bat, again outside pitch.
KK looked good against James; patient, two deep drives. He did not look so good against the relievers.
Glad we won, but as GY pointed out, we should have won this 7-1 or something like that.
oops after a little research Matty V was their 2nd choice.
5: Um, what “Good Night, [team name]” schtick? I’ve seen a bunch of Matty’s work, and I’ve literally never heard that.
I may be a bit biased, but I personally would take Matty 162 games a season over just about anybody in the game. So many of today’s broadcasters are these cookie-cutter broadcast school guys that you could drop in any city covering any team, and you’d never know the difference. I like humor. I like enthusiasm. If you want some boring guy to just call the game and drop tired SportsCenter cliches on home run calls, maybe you should start watching other teams.
Re: 8 I wonder is Cameron is pull happy this year because he’ll make more next year if he hits 30-35 HR’s this year then he if he hits 15-20.
Matty V is great…Quiss, not so much.
As far as the plunked batters, I would have done the same as ATL…You knock down our best hitter with a FB around the eyes and then another of our hitters actually gets hit…If I am pitching, CY or AGon gets one on the thigh or middle back. Chirp all you want Pads, but that is what is “SUPPOSED” to happen…one pitch gets away from you that is one thing, but you hit another and one of yours will feel it.