Seeing Brian Giles reach base three times in the leadoff spot and score two of the Padres’ three runs Monday night (recap | box score) is great. Seeing how he did it is even better.
In the first inning, Marlins right-hander Sergio Mitre retired Giles on three pitches. Call it a mulligan. Next time up, leading off the fourth, Giles smoked a 1-0 fastball out over the plate into left-center field for a double. He took third on a beautiful sacrifice bunt by Marcus Giles (who almost beat it for a single) and scored on an Adrian Gonzalez grounder to second. With the Florida infield drawn in, Giles broke home on contact and ran right past the outstretched glove of catcher Miguel Olivo, who had moved up the third base line to field Dan Uggla’s rushed throw, giving the Padres a 1-0 lead.
Giles had a classic at-bat leading off the sixth. After falling behind in the count, 0-2, he took three balls and fouled off three more en route to a nine-pitch walk. Marcus singled him to second, and both brothers advanced on a grounder back to Mitre off the bat of Gonzalez. The ball was a double play waiting to happen, but Mitre had trouble handling it and could only get the out at first. Then, with the infield again playing in, Mike Cameron hit a slow bouncer toward third. With Miguel Cabrera charging hard, Giles again broke immediately, beating the throw home and giving the Padres their second run of the game.
In his final trip to the plate — this time against lefty Erasmo Ramirez — Giles again worked a nine-pitch walk. He jumped ahead in the count, 2-0, and then started hacking. Giles hit five foul balls in the at-bat, including two that just missed landing fair for possible extra bases. Although he didn’t score, Giles again proved to be a pest.
Chris Young is among the final candidates for the National League All-Star team. You can vote for him at the Padres web site. Not that the opinion of a person who thinks the All-Star game is a waste of time counts for much, but I do believe that Young is the most deserving player on the ballot.
The power is gone. This is no revelation — it’s been on the decline ever since Giles put on a Padres uniform. Instead of focusing on what he cannot do, though, the Padres have chosen to look at what he can do and are giving him the opportunity to contribute in a different way. Giles can work the count, get on base, and — believe it or not — disrupt the defense once he’s there. We usually have in mind an absolute burner when we think of guys who disrupt a defense. Giles obviously doesn’t fit that description, and he won’t necessarily rattle many pitchers. Still, we’ve seen him take out infielders and catchers in recent years, and on Monday night we saw him act swiftly and decisively, putting enormous pressure on two Florida infielders in situations where anything less than perfect execution would result in runs for the home team.
Giles has been playing baseball for a long time. He plays hard, and it’s taken its toll. His skill level simply isn’t what it was when he was putting up monster numbers for Pittsburgh. On the bright side, his instincts for the game — at the plate, on the bases, in the outfield — are fantastic. What he may lack in skill at this stage in his career, he makes up for in guile.
Or should I say, Giles?
by Peter Friberg
You will not see this report from jail. If you partake in the adult beverages this week, designate before you celebrate! Be safe out there, people!
AAA
Craig Stansberry: 3 AB, 1 R, 2 H, 2 RBI; 2B, CS
Pete LaForest: 3 AB, 1 R, 0 H, 0 RBI; 2 BB, SO
Clay Hensley: 5.0 IP, 8 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 4 BB, 2 SO, 1 HR
AA
Nick Hundley: 2 AB, 0 R, 0 H, 1 RBI; 3 BB, SO
Will Venable: 5 AB, 1 R, 3 H, 1 RBI
Manny Ayala: 5.0 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 3 SO, 0 HR – AA debut
High-A
Matt Antonelli: 4 AB, 2 R, 3 H, 0 RBI; 1 BB
David Freese: 5 AB, 1 R, 3 H, 5 RBI; 2B, HR
Low-A
Rayner Contreras: 4 AB, 1 R, 2 H, 2 RBI; 2B, HR, SO, CS
Ernesto Frieri: 1.2 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 3 SO, 0 HR
Short Season-A
Kellen Kulbacki: 4 AB, 1 R, 2 H, 2 RBI; 2B, HR, SO
Rookie
Matt Bush: 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 SO, 0 HR
Commentary:
In 74 games and 295 at-bats, David Freese (.312/.408/.529) now has 22 doubles and 12 home runs. In a radio interview on Mighty XX, Lake Elsinore Storm President Dave Oster said that Freese might be better than Chase Headley, and pointed out that Freese is doing well this year in Lake Elsinore, while Headley struggled last year…
Matt Bush: 3.1 IP with 1 hit, 1 walk, and 8 strikeouts… Not too shabby…
Thanks, Peter. You know the rest. Go Padres!
42 Comments
Granted… Giles is a professional baseball player in every sense of the phrase. And while I am glad we have a veteran presense at the top of the line-up, yada yada yada… still, he is making the money of a power hitting corner outfielder. I would be thrilled to find a team willing to eat his contract for next season.
If you’re going to only hit 1 home run and have a slugging percentage that ranks below Terrmel Sledge, Hiram Bocachica and Pete LaForrest, then you need to do more than take walks. (I know he does more than that, I’m exaggerating)
Damn I was hoping “Brian Guile” was a reference to the striking similarities between the muscle bound, blonde frosted tip having, orange tinted Street Fighter character. You may have accidentally stumbled onto a new Brian Giles nickname Geoff!
Here you go!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guile_(Street_Fighter)
Sonic Boom!
4.
Oh man 2nd day in a row you have me laughing pretty hard at my desk.
Man if Giles could still hit the long ball that would be an awseome HR call
#2: I had no idea. That’s hilarious:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Streetfighter_guile_illust.png
6.
Seriously!!!
Re: 5 I guess we have the same affliction for office comedies and early 90’s super NES games.
I am very happy the Buddy realized this is really the only place in the lineup that Giles can still be effective, and as GY pointed out, so far he has done a pretty good job. Last night Brian did a good job. I disagree that both times he scored required perfect execution by the defense to prevent, (if Uggla gets that throw anywhere near the plate he is out by a mile and Cabrera didnt even have a shot at hime) but it was great to see us manufacture the runs when we cant hit. Buddy realized with the amount that Giles walks he should be used as a run machine not for RBI’s.
In addition to sonic boom homerun calls, it would be even better if Giles could pull off a Flash Kick going into second.
Guile was always the noob character since all of his moves consisted of charging a direction for a couple heartbeats then jamming the joystick 180 degrees and pressing punch or kick.
Re: I thought Chan Ho did the flash kick
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kARUpvRHICA
11.
Haha! I was always a “Ryu” guy myself but stupid “Dhalsim” and his stretchy arms and legs got me every time!
12.
Hahahahaha. I forgot about that!
Marcus, why can’t you be more like your brother?
I went for E Honda and Chun Li since their special moves required only pushing one button really fast.
Last night’s game was great fun to watch, as for once the Padres, though helpless at the plate, managed to plate some runs. Not to discount Giles’ hustle, but special thanks has to go to the Marlins’ defense for its assistance.
Even better was the performance of David “D Dubya” Wells. He kept getting into jams, and every time he pitched his way out of them. It made for a fun, exciting game.
Question: Anyone have a nickname for Heath Bell? Looking at him, I want to call him Moose, but I’m sure someone has a creative idea or 2.
16: I like Hoss
I wonder what the padres record is when they hav under 3 hits in the game? its has to be good.
they have won 4 games with 3 or less hits not sure how many they have lost
16: I’ve heard that a lot of the team refers to him as Taco.
Re: 20 thats lame even braves fans could come up with a more creative nickname than that.
I forgot to ask but did anyone else notice how incredibly FAT Miguel Cabrerra looked last night? Dude packed on some serious weight! It doesn’t look like it’s a guy growing into his body at 23 weight either. I know he is a great player and I would kill to have him on the Padres but dude needs to step away from the pudding. He’s going to get the Jose Lopez contract if he keeps it up. I would be concerned if I was the Marlins!
22: Did you hear what Ozzie was saying about him a few weeks back? (I think he is 24 too)
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/baseball/marlins/sfl-flspmarnotes19nbjun19,0,7980939.story
DodgerSims blog has the Padres with a 60.40% win probability tonight vs the Marlins. The site uses a simulator and runs 2000 games to come up with the win probability.
vr, Xei
23.
Wow. Thanks for the link!
Good article, Geoff.
Nice to see OG gets some new use by the manager.
6: Good one.
#23: Shameless self-promotion:
http://www.knucklecurve.com/hes-not-fat-hes-my-countryman/
#24: Thanks, Frank. Here’s hoping you’re right…
For any of y’all with a BP subscription, here’s an article that’ll warm you up for tonight’s game …
http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=6416
Here’s a highlight …
I started thinking about Maddux last week while writing about Mark Buehrle. Not because the two are similar in type, but because of this: Mark Buehrle’s career is basically Greg Maddux’s decline phase.
… nice perspective
16: How about Heath “Bar” Bell. Get it, get it, Oh never mind!
Kudos to whoever dubbed Milton Bradley, “Jenga.” Brilliant!
24: Interesting to see that the simulation gave us only a 1% edge over the Dodgers last Friday with Chris Young (currently #3 in the NL) on the mound against Hong-Chih Kuo (currently a mediocre AAA pitcher). Confusing, but interesting I guess too.
here is what I have for current Padre players nicknames
B. Giles – OG
M. Giles – NOG
Gonzalez – A-Gon
Cameron – Cammy
Greene – Greenie
Kouzmanoff – The Crushin Russian (or Kouz)
Cruz – Crudge
Barrett – Champ?
Sledge – Crudge
Bocachica – Girly Mouth
Branyan – Manyan (or Paul Bunyan)
Bard – Shakespeare
Blum – Silent L (or B(l)um)
Bradley – Jenga
Peavy – ?
Young – C.Y.
Maddux – Mad dog (or the Professor)
Wells – Boomer
Germano – ?
Hoffman – Hoffy
Linebrink – The Shark
Bell – ?
Meredith – The Claw
Ring – ?
Hampson – HVC
Cameron – K-Cam (what the players call him) (or HVC as well)
Brocail – ?
Let me know of anymore
18, 19 – See Pinto’s blog today:
http://www.baseballmusings.com/archives/021651.php
4 and 2 when they have 3 hits or fewer.
Geoff,
Will there be a monthly roundtable entry for this month?
33: With our offense I would had thought there would be more games with only 3 hits, good to know that at least in those games the hits are being productive.
#32: I prefer “Mashin’ Macedonian” for Kouz since it more accurately describes his ancestry.
#34: Yessir, I’m editing it now. Should be up tomorrow…
Looks like Sean Thompson was picked up by the Kansas City Royals off waivers after Milton Bradley was added to the 40 man roster. Could someone tell me why it was a good idea to expose this Thompson instead of the other Thompson (Mike) or Scott Cassidy or Aaron Rakers? I don’t get this move, but maybe someone with more knowledge of the Padres minor leagues could justify it.
The draft guy at Hardball Times (Carlos Gomez) analyzes Kulbacki and Drew Cumberland and likes both of them more than he liked our previous draft pick (Schmidt). In particular, he raves about Cumberland’s swing and says that he might develop into a Chone Figgins type–that’d be a nice guy to pick up in the second round…
http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/breaking-down-the-draft-10-more-prospects/
Off to the game with da wife and kitcats, lets hope Gregs on (no doubt he will be) and the bats come alive a bit, followed by a little TT. Got to get my $20 worth;)
Go Padres!
37: I don’t have any inside knowledge, but if a starter got injured, I’d bet that despite his struggles this year, Thompson is second or third on the list to make a spot start or to step in. And since the clear #1 guy, Hensley, has an ERA over 6 in AAA I’d bet that we just want to keep our options for this year open instead of worrying about a guy who might be a 5th starter 2 or three years from now.
40: Agree. I don’t think you can put Cassidy on waivers because he’s on the DL anyway. Thompson walks too many for this organization, and he’s usually described as having fringe stuff, getting K’s with a curveball that may not play in the majors. Think Mike Bynum but with a curve instead of a slider, it can overmatch AA and AAA hitters but big-leaguers watch it land in the dirt.
Mike Thompson is, for worse or worse, the next starter on the depth chart. Rakers might be the next RP on that chart, although Rosales might pass him.
If my math is correct, the Padres are entering the mathematical 2nd half tonight. If you just double their win total from the first 81 games, you get a 94 win season. I’m almost positive that 94 wins gets us our division–or at the very least a playoff spot.