first pitch: 7:05 p.m. PT
television: Channel 4SD
matchup: Justin Germano (4-0, 1.74 ERA) vs Miguel Batista (6-4, 5.43 ERA)
previews: Padres.com | SI.com
Not much more to say about this “rivalry” that hasn’t already been said, so I’ll turn instead to something a reader alerted me to the other day. So far under Bud Black’s watch, the Padres have outhomered the opposition. How rare is this? You tell me:
| Year | Diff |
|---|---|
| Stats are through June 7, 2007, and courtesy of Baseball-Reference. | |
| 1998 | +28 |
| 1992 | +24 |
| 1970 | +23 |
| 2007 | +21 |
| 1996 | +9 |
| 1993 | +5 |
| 1971 | +3 |
| 1978 | +1 |
Here’s how it breaks down by manager:
| Manager | Games | Padres | Opp | Diff | Won | Loss | Pct |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stats are through June 7, 2007, and courtesy of Baseball-Reference. | |||||||
| Preston Gomez | 496 | 371 | 364 | +7 | 180 | 316 | .363 |
| Don Zimmer | 304 | 210 | 269 | -59 | 114 | 190 | .375 |
| John McNamara | 534 | 279 | 373 | -94 | 224 | 310 | .419 |
| Bob Skinner | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1.000 |
| Alvin Dark | 113 | 81 | 96 | -15 | 48 | 65 | .425 |
| Roger Craig | 323 | 168 | 182 | -14 | 152 | 171 | .471 |
| Jerry Coleman | 162 | 67 | 97 | -30 | 73 | 89 | .451 |
| Frank Howard | 110 | 32 | 64 | -32 | 41 | 69 | .373 |
| Dick Williams | 649 | 392 | 532 | -140 | 337 | 311 | .520 |
| Steve Boros | 162 | 136 | 150 | -14 | 74 | 88 | .457 |
| Larry Bowa | 208 | 141 | 210 | -69 | 81 | 127 | .389 |
| Jack McKeon | 357 | 254 | 295 | -41 | 193 | 164 | .541 |
| Greg Riddoch | 394 | 307 | 304 | +3 | 200 | 194 | .508 |
| Jim Riggleman | 291 | 249 | 255 | -6 | 112 | 179 | .385 |
| Bruce Bochy | 1926 | 1747 | 2085 | -338 | 951 | 975 | .494 |
| Bud Black | 59 | 51 | 30 | +21 | 36 | 23 | .610 |
Random notes:
- The first time the Padres had a positive differential came in 1970, when they outhomered their opponents, 172-149. The Pads finished the season with a 63-99 record.
- Dave Winfield paced the Padres with 13 homers in 1976, a season in which the Padres hit just 64 long balls, their lowest ever in a non-strike year.
- In 1981, the club hit 32 home runs. Joe Lefebvre led the way with eight; nobody else hit even five.
- The 1984 World Series team was outhomered, 122-109.
- The Padres haven’t outpaced the opposition since the 1998 World Series team did it, 167-139.
- In 2003, the Padres were outhomered, 208-128, their worst ever negative differential.
- Over 6089 games as a big-league franchise, the Friars have surrendered 821 more home runs than they’ve hit.
I don’t know what bearing all this has on anything, but I found it interesting. Go Padres!
Forgot there is no rule against using a catcher to pinch hit…
99 Yes it would, as any normal thinking baseball person would know. If you and I can figure it out. Why can’t Grover? This is the same guy that would bring in extreme flyball pitcher.
Said pitcher blows it, and Grover goes on with “Well I brought Mateo in to the ground ball, but man (insert your favorite opposing player) crushed it.”
Well of course Mike, you don’t bring in a flyballer to get a ground out. Logic dictates you’re not going to get a groundball from said pitcher.
Jeez, what’s with Cla’s gopheritis lately?
Sweet DP. We need that run back + 1 !
Cla seems to be really struggling right now against lefties.
Funny, last year Linebrink was giving up bombs at a pretty alarming rate and Cla was dominant, leading to talk of possibly trading Linebrink for a bat.
The shoe’s on the other foot now, I guess.
#103: I’m collecting contributions towards the cure for Gopheritis.