| time: | 7:10 p.m. PT |
| tv: | 4SD |
| sp: | Jake Peavy (9-2, 2.14) vs Brad Penny (10-1, 2.04) |
| pre: | Padres.com, SI.com |
Saturday night’s game is being hyped as a battle to see who will start the All-Star game. I don’t know about all that, but I do know that this should be a fun pitching matchup.
A couple things about Brad Penny’s line this year jump out at me. First, he’s been remarkably consistent from month to month:
| IP/GS | H/9 | HR/9 | BB/9 | K/9 | ERA | BA | OBP | SLG | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stats are through games of June 29, 2007, and are courtesy of Baseball-Reference. | |||||||||
| Apr | 6.47 | 8.35 | 0.00 | 3.62 | 3.06 | 1.95 | .256 | .336 | .333 |
| May | 6.28 | 7.17 | 0.00 | 2.39 | 7.65 | 2.15 | .216 | .272 | .266 |
| Jun | 7.13 | 7.82 | 0.50 | 1.26 | 6.81 | 2.02 | .237 | .265 | .351 |
Penny has allowed more than four runs in a game just once (May 18 at Anaheim, his only loss of the season), and both homers he’s allowed came on June 3 against the Pirates (Adam LaRoche and Jason Bay if you’re wondering). This is not the same pitcher that posted a 6.25 ERA in the second half of 2006.
The other facet of Penny’s game this year that I find a bit surprising in light of his reputation as someone who falls apart when trouble rears its head is the way he has shut down batters with runners in scoring position. Opponents are hitting .188/.258/.200 against Penny with RISP in 90 plate appearances. His numbers last year in the same situation: .315/.374/.492 in 206 plate appearances.
Let’s face it: Penny is a stud. He makes me wish that Paul DePodesta had never been GM of the Dodgers.
What about Jake Peavy? After a blistering May (0.79 ERA, 425 OPS), he’s come back to Earth a bit in June (3.69, 674). He also has assumed Chris Young‘s title of Road Warrior (0.88, 405 in six starts away from Petco).
Finally, and apropos of nothing, here’s one more table for you:
| R/G | HR/G | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SD | Opp | SD | Opp | |
| Stats are through games of June 29, 2007, and are courtesy of Baseball-Reference. | ||||
| Apr | 4.42 | 4.08 | 0.96 | 0.58 |
| May | 4.04 | 2.48 | 0.85 | 0.41 |
| Jun | 4.84 | 3.68 | 1.04 | 0.56 |
| tot | 4.42 | 3.40 | 0.95 | 0.51 |
When has this team ever outscored and outhomered the opposition the way it is doing now? Go Padres!
That was a very generous strike.
He got the fastball in and missed it.
That was on Barrett. Martin got a bad jump.
still is kind of funny to watch a catcher run so much, Martin is a heck of an athlete
lol lol lol
Bard doesn’t make that play. Thank you KT for getting Barrett.
Why was Martin running???
Wow…we don’t want to walk Gonzo, do we???
Another instance of the catcher setting up outside but the ball being on the inside corner and called a ball because the catcher has to reach across to catch it.
Guess that’s ONE way to prevent Kemp from stealing second.
Please don’t make Kouzmanoff bunt. Do we really want Cruz and Blum trying to drive in the runner? Apparently we trust in the clutch powers of Geoff Blum.
Yeah Cruz hasn’t looked at all tonight and Blum…..I would think about pinch hitting Maddux instead
Tomko is in…lets take it to him.
Who is left on our bench (pitchers and batters)?
I take it back!!!!!!!!!!!!What the heck was Abreu doing? Stepping on the base?
The clutch powers of Geoff Blum strike again!
Finally a score and Silent L comes through for another. Who’d of thunk it?
All right, get Hoffman up……the bench is empty other then Sledge who probably isn’t available unless someone breaks a leg
Did we score? Sportsline has it at 1-1 still with Khalil on 1B.
Yes, double by Cruz. B(l)um is up.
2B for B(l)um as well
Blummer!
Who knew Blum could come through in the 12th as well as the 14th? Good usage of Blum by Black in this case, holding him out until he could come through with that clutch knock in extra innings.
B(l)um doubles as well. We are up 3-1.
#119: It’s 3-1, Padres going into the bottom.
Awesome!
Trevor Time!
The only thing that I can figure (about Abreu’s play) is that he thought that the ball was caught, and he was doubling off Greene.
Three hits. In the same inning. I’m all atingle. Ya think they play hells bells in LA?
Bong!
129: I saw a suggestion, on a Dodgers’ blog I think, that they should play “TNT” when Hoffman enters just to try and confuse him.
Bong! Bong!
anybody else just hear a “beat LA” chant?
Bong! Bong! Bong!
Get your brooms ready for tomorrow, folks!
Death!
Nice. I hope GY is enjoying himself in LA. It’s always nice to beat the Dodgers.
Yippeee!!!!!!
Sleep!!!! Sweet, glorious, sleep!!!!
That was a good ol’ freakin’ fashioned baseball game, I’ve got to say…
#138: Yeah, it was ‘swell.’
Bummer, Gameday locked up so I didn’t get to add:
Taxes; Hoffman!
True Greatness!
137: Steve, you are hardcore.
I only wish Blum would have struck out……these kind of hits tend to stick out in a managers mind
143: Blum was a great pinch hitter off the bench last year. Sometimes i dont get why he’s Bud’s first choice, but I defeintely think he is more valuable than most of us think.
What should stick in Buds mind is making Marcus bunt after Brians leadoff double in the 8th. Right now Marcus is your worst hitter, you sac bunt him over and give Brian a chance to score multiple ways that late in a 1-1 game.
145: If Marcus Giles were left handed and Adrian Gonzalez right, then I might agree. But Beimel is a crappy lefty pitcher who is much, much, much better against lefties. He actually strikes out 20% of the lefties he faces, and Adrian strikes out frequently. Plus the defense would be playing in expecting a bunt, opening up more holes for singles and increasing the probability of a go-ahead single through the infield. Marcus had a good approach and did a good job taking the outside pitch and driving it to right. The sacrifice bunt is not a foolproof play either, since the lead runner does get thrown out or the batter does pop out. And even if Giles had bunted, Adrian struck out, so you actually voluntarily gave up an out for little gain.
I also still don’t think it was a good decision to make Kouz bunt (although props to him for getting it down professionally).
Apparently KT has classified Bradley as “doubtful” (using football lingo) for Sunday’s game. That is very disappointing, and hopefully he stays healthy enough to have a chance to be booed in the future by Dodgers’ fans.
RE: 144 Geoff Blum is becoming sort of a negative mascot for this board and gets far more smackdown then he deserves. I’m not always happy to see him come off the bench either, but I’m not as dismayed as many here.
I predict Geoff finishes the year with a BA in the mid-.200′s. True, I’d much rather see Branyan strolling to the plate, but Russell can’t play SS or 2nd.
He’s outhitting Hiram… but that will be a mute point soon.
147: The problem has never really been Blum, although he does take a terrible approach during some at-bats. The problem was Black falling in love with him. You don’t use the worst-hitting position player on the team as your primary pinch-hitter.
A man’s got to know his limitations. Blum isn’t the worst utility infielder pulling down a major league paycheck right now. But he should be the last PH to appear in almost any situation.
Ah, sweetness of a tight win. The pitching match up favors LA today, IMOH, so nice to nail down the series win ahead of time, go in loose, and maybe add Billingsley’s HR allowed this year (5 in 50 IP), which seems to be the driver of his 4.01 ERA (very good K rate, decent BB rate).