IGD: Padres vs Marlins (2 Jul 07)
Mon, Jul 2, 2007
by Geoff Young
| time: | 7:05 p.m. PT |
| tv: | 4SD |
| sp: | David Wells (3-5, 4.48) vs Sergio Mitre (2-3, 2.75) |
| pre: | Padres.com, SI.com |
Welcome to the midway point of the season. After Monday’s night’s contest against the Marlins, the Padres will have played exactly half of their regular-season schedule. They are assured of at least a share of first place in the National League West and will be on pace for no fewer than 92 wins.
After several less-than-stellar false starts with the Cubs and Marlins, right-hander Sergio Mitre is putting up solid numbers in Florida so far this season. He gets the start in the opener against David Wells.
The formula for Wells is always the same: let him throw about 75 pitches, hope he has a lead, and then get him the heck out of the game. On the bright side, Wells appears to be much more comfortable at home (.271/.309/.376) than on the road (.349/.396/.576) in ‘07. Here’s hoping that trend continues.
Go Padres!
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July 2, 2007 at 7:11 pm
Whew, glad that error didn’t hurt anyone.
July 2, 2007 at 7:13 pm
Good start for Wells, it seems.
Mike Jacobs normally is completely helpless against left handed pitching. But this year he’s OPS-ing over 1.000 against them, albeit in only 28 at bats. Still weird.
July 2, 2007 at 7:18 pm
Equally good start for Mitre, unfortunately.
July 2, 2007 at 7:19 pm
Bush throws another scoreless inning today with 2 K’s
July 2, 2007 at 7:22 pm
Miguel Olivo’s gameday picture looks like Cuba Gooding, Jr.
July 2, 2007 at 7:27 pm
Khalil’s going the opposite way a bunch this year. It’s nice to see.
July 2, 2007 at 7:31 pm
Bard single-handedly disproving the “Put it in play and good things can happen” theory.
July 2, 2007 at 7:34 pm
7: Oh it’s been disproved many times before. The bean ball game against the Cubs and Zambrano did a good job disproving it.
July 2, 2007 at 7:36 pm
8: Oh, I know it’s been disproved. But there are many who still have scales on their eyes.
July 2, 2007 at 7:37 pm
At least the teams involved in tonight’s game have generally not taken it to heart. The Marlins and Padres are one-two in the league in strikeouts.
July 2, 2007 at 7:40 pm
Without taking sides on that 3-1 pitch to Cabrera, does it seem like Boomer barks at the home plate umpire at least once a game?
July 2, 2007 at 7:41 pm
11: Sometimes I think the umpires need a good barking to.
July 2, 2007 at 7:41 pm
11: At least. I just assumed that all umpires hated him.
What happened to Hanley Ramirez?
July 2, 2007 at 7:43 pm
13: He apparently pulled up lame coming into second. I thought when it hit Cox alley it would be good for a triple.
Glad to see Boomer work out of a brief mini jam.
July 2, 2007 at 7:46 pm
#13: I’m surprised they listen to him at all.
July 2, 2007 at 7:46 pm
14: That really sucks for the Marlins but it’s great news for us. Maybe Boomer can give up a shot to the alley to Miguel Cabrera next.
July 2, 2007 at 7:48 pm
Why is Wells swinging at the first pitch? Or if that was a bunt, why is he offering at the first pitch?
July 2, 2007 at 8:05 pm
Boomer is working hard, but effectively tonite.
July 2, 2007 at 8:06 pm
Oh, Buddy, and I was so proud of you for not bunting in that same situation Saturday night.
July 2, 2007 at 8:15 pm
19: Bud did the right thing. Marcus is struggling, make him a productive out. It worked too.
July 2, 2007 at 8:17 pm
Anybody know Boomer’s pitch count?
July 2, 2007 at 8:18 pm
The run expectancy is higher with a runner on second and no outs than with a runner on third and one out. Additionally, with someone like Wells on the mound, you’re likely to need more than one run to win, so it’s not as good to play for the one run.
July 2, 2007 at 8:18 pm
As GY pointerd out the other day, he’s only good for about 57.
July 2, 2007 at 8:19 pm
21: 83 pitches. Let’s get a couple of guys on base so we can pinch hit for Boomer.
July 2, 2007 at 8:21 pm
#24: Thanks and ditto!
July 2, 2007 at 8:24 pm
22: We need every run we can get, it seems like the right play to me. Sometimes you have to shake things up to get an offense going. Bunt for a hit, steal a base, try to manufacture the runs when your not hitting well.
July 2, 2007 at 8:24 pm
Our pleas go unheeded by Black.
July 2, 2007 at 8:25 pm
Um, why is Boomer still pitching?
July 2, 2007 at 8:25 pm
25: I guess we’re not pinch hitting? Lets hope Buddy realizes this has to be Boomers last inning and to have someone warming.
July 2, 2007 at 8:26 pm
How come Adrian doesnt wear the high socks ever anymore?
July 2, 2007 at 8:28 pm
So put me on record that bunting so early in the game is dumb….glad to see a very small number of posts on this board….people are voting for Young and for Escobar. Those east coast and midwest pitchers play way too early for me to have ever heard of any of them.
July 2, 2007 at 8:29 pm
My fingers are getting tired from voting for CY. But, I’m gonna keep plugging away.
July 2, 2007 at 8:36 pm
Wow, what an AB by OG. Good to have him back.
July 2, 2007 at 8:38 pm
Thanks Mitre. C’mon Cameron, make ‘em pay!
July 2, 2007 at 8:39 pm
Wow, you dont throw home there…
July 2, 2007 at 8:46 pm
Good AB there for Khalil to stay alive long enough for the sac fly.
July 2, 2007 at 8:46 pm
Well, not the most exciting way to score runs, but we are scoring them and often times in those situations the Pads strike out and dont score those 2 runs. Good job boys.
July 2, 2007 at 8:47 pm
Some terrible infield defense by Florida tonight. Glad to see we’ve been able to take advantage. I love watching OG run the bases.
July 2, 2007 at 8:53 pm
Good job Buddy! For the first time he’s yanked at the first sign of trouble
July 2, 2007 at 8:54 pm
I cannot believe Black is actually letting Wells stay out there to throw over 100 pitches. Since he hasn’t gotten lit up yet, my mood is incredulous but amused, instead of incredulous and furious. At least he didn’t leave him in to give up a homer to Cabrera.
July 2, 2007 at 8:54 pm
What a great start by Wells tonight. Lets the bullpen rest after a pretty rough weekend in LA. I’ll still take his performance as our 5th starter this year and not complain at all.
July 2, 2007 at 8:57 pm
Man, Cabrera is scary. 97 up in the zone and my heart was pounding on that 1-2 pitch…Yikes, that’s a scary fast bat.
July 2, 2007 at 8:58 pm
At least Black isn’t as bad with the bunt as Bobby Cox. Cox had Brian McCann bunt with runners on first and second to set up the bottom of his lineup to drive them in. Shockingly, they didn’t, and the Braves remained tied with the Dodgers 1-1, through 5 and a half.
July 2, 2007 at 8:58 pm
It’s too bad that we have nothing that would entice the Marlins to move Cabrera. He’s a guy that you’d be willing to trade almost–well, maybe we don’t need the almost– anything for
July 2, 2007 at 9:00 pm
According to Gameday, pitch 4 was 100 mph. Anybody see it for real?
July 2, 2007 at 9:00 pm
43: Pure foolishness to have someone like McCann bat there. It’s not like McCann couldn’t blow the game apart with one swing of the bat or anything.
Great performance by Wells tonite. Even though the boys weren’t killing the ball tonite, they got him some support.
July 2, 2007 at 9:01 pm
LOL! I love that commercial: “Find the one thing in life that you don’t do well, and then don’t do that thing.” Words to live by.
July 2, 2007 at 9:01 pm
45: Gameday is consistently 2-3 mph fast since it measures the speed of the pitch out of the hand. It had Wells hitting 90 early in the game.
July 2, 2007 at 9:02 pm
Um, why was Cruz bunting with no one on and one out?
July 2, 2007 at 9:05 pm
44: I’m not a big fan of Cabrera. I know he can hit, but he seems so lazy on defense. I’d like to get Brendan Harris here. If we could afford him, I’d love Aramis Ramierez too
July 2, 2007 at 9:05 pm
#44
The Marlins want young pitching and, mainly, young outfielders. We got neither to deal…unless you’re talking Young or Peavy, which I certainly hope we aren’t. Our best young outfield prospect is probably Mcanulty, and he’s not enough to deal for much of anything useful right now.
July 2, 2007 at 9:06 pm
Why only pitch Bell for 1 batter?
July 2, 2007 at 9:08 pm
52: Because his spot came up last inning and Branyan pinch hit for him.
July 2, 2007 at 9:08 pm
#52: Yeah, I haven’t been too impressed with Linebroke this season.
July 2, 2007 at 9:09 pm
The last time Linebrink pitched he was awesome (in the huge sample size of three hitters).
July 2, 2007 at 9:11 pm
53: Gotcha, I missed last 1/2 inning. Damn Linebrink…
July 2, 2007 at 9:11 pm
#55: You were saying…
July 2, 2007 at 9:11 pm
From Gameday it looks like Linebrink has no idea where each pitch is going. The pitches are pretty much scattered randomly throughout and outside of the strike zone.
July 2, 2007 at 9:11 pm
Ooops…goof thing we got two fielder’s choices tonight
July 2, 2007 at 9:12 pm
Linebrink looked good on saturday, he looks bad tonight his release point is way off
July 2, 2007 at 9:12 pm
Seems Bell is only good for one out these days. Scotty is back in his familiar “eighth inning specialist” (to borrow the phrase from Krasovic) role again. What is it going to take for him to get “demoted?”
July 2, 2007 at 9:14 pm
61: The front office realizing there is no such thing
July 2, 2007 at 9:14 pm
Yikes. Merideth is warming up.
July 2, 2007 at 9:15 pm
61: Bell’s situation was much more important than Linebrink’s. He had to get one of the best hitters in the league with a runner already on base. Linebrink got to start the inning with a three run lead. That’s not a particularly high leverage situation at all.
July 2, 2007 at 9:15 pm
His offspeed stuff looks great tonight.
July 2, 2007 at 9:15 pm
63: Yikes?
July 2, 2007 at 9:15 pm
Can of corn and Scotty lucks out.
July 2, 2007 at 9:16 pm
64. I agree with you completely on the relative leverage of the situations, but I don’t think that is playing into Pepe’s calculations right now.
July 2, 2007 at 9:17 pm
#66: Gives me the heebie geebies to watch a side arm.
July 2, 2007 at 9:17 pm
How did those last two changeups look?
July 2, 2007 at 9:17 pm
Are we going to get another win with 3 or less hits? Thats rad
July 2, 2007 at 9:19 pm
69: Ha ha why? Isnt the sidearm a more natural movement for the arm?
July 2, 2007 at 9:19 pm
71: Who cares where our offense ranks as long as we win the games, eh?
I can’t believe how ineffective our offense can be (although tonite we did a lot of the little things right).
July 2, 2007 at 9:20 pm
re 50: You’d want Harris or Aramis Ramirez but not Cabrera? If I put those 3 guys together I know which one is not like the others
July 2, 2007 at 9:20 pm
68: Ah, true. But at least we can count on him continuing to make that decision correctly, even if he does get there the wrong way.
July 2, 2007 at 9:20 pm
73: Yeah we took advantage of opportunites tonight, thats a very good thing
July 2, 2007 at 9:21 pm
Brian’s been a machine over these last few days. If he can keep getting on base as a leadoff guy, our offense improves dramatically
July 2, 2007 at 9:22 pm
It’s nice to have OG and his nine pitch walks back.
July 2, 2007 at 9:23 pm
#72: It wasn’t for me when I pitched in HS. Side arm was harder to control and is almost impossible to throw a decent slider.
July 2, 2007 at 9:23 pm
I think they did good rehabbing B. Giles like they did. He looks good.
July 2, 2007 at 9:25 pm
OG has done a terrific job in the leadoff spot tonight, working pitches and putting pressure on the defense with very aggressive baserunning.
July 2, 2007 at 9:25 pm
79: Ya, i just remember hearing it was better for your arm. I could be wrong. Cla seems to control it pretty well and throw a decent slider though.
July 2, 2007 at 9:26 pm
Wow. Adrian is down to a .269 batting average. Mike Cameron is at .264. In the next day or two, Cameron could have a higher batting average than Adrian.
July 2, 2007 at 9:26 pm
#80: He’s taking some really good swings on the ball. In fact, I think he looks better now than he did before he was on the DL. I also think he’s a little more amped up right now.
July 2, 2007 at 9:29 pm
84: I agree. He looks good, and I like him in the leadoff spot because he walks and gives us a chance to manufacture a run. Hopefully he stays “amped up”
July 2, 2007 at 9:30 pm
83: Hopefully the All-Star break is his cure, or we could be in some trouble down the stretch.
July 2, 2007 at 9:30 pm
#82: Definately better for the arm. Just limits the types of pitches you can throw. I threw a lot of heat and junk and found that coming over the top I had more control with that. The thing that works for side-arms is that the batter gets weirded out from the angle.
July 2, 2007 at 9:32 pm
Alright Kouz.
July 2, 2007 at 9:35 pm
Man, you really don’t want to walk Linden here…
and he DIDN’T–nice pitch!
July 2, 2007 at 9:35 pm
The command Trevor has from the stretch is impecable. It’s almost like he is throwing the ball with his eyes instead of his arm.
July 2, 2007 at 9:36 pm
I love not having to see Cabrera here. Great job Trev.
July 2, 2007 at 9:36 pm
Bada Bing, Bada Boom, Betty Boop!!!
July 2, 2007 at 9:36 pm
Good overall game from the boys. They played well and took advantage of every opportunity.
July 2, 2007 at 9:37 pm
Its amazing how effective Hoff still is. The guy is a machine and has mastered his craft. We are lucky to have him here, the Marlins dont even have a “closer” we have the greatest of all time. 506
July 2, 2007 at 9:37 pm
STAY AWAY FROM LOU & MICKEY’S
July 2, 2007 at 9:38 pm
I like how they say they built the ballpark next to it and then they pan 3 blocks away
July 2, 2007 at 9:42 pm
#94
Ironically enough, Hoffman was once the property of the Marlins, acquired in the expansion draft (from the Reds, where he was a converted shortstop) and then traded to SD for gary sheffield and rich rodriguez (the Pads also got a couple other guys who never panned out, berumen and I can’t remember who else.) A fire-sale acquisition. Funny, huh? I believe that the first 2 or 3 of Hoffman’s saves are with the Marlins.
July 2, 2007 at 9:44 pm
93: I tend to see this is as a bad game we just got lucky in. Wells stranded a lot of baserunners, and Linebrink was lucky the homer he gave up came before there was a runner on base. The offense was really bad, with too many groundouts while ahead in the count. The bright spots were Brian Giles and Wells striking out 6.
July 2, 2007 at 9:46 pm
97: Yup and San Diego booed him at first, they had no idea what they were getting. Maybe another converted shortstop will take is place… (3.1 IP 8 K’s 0 ER)
July 2, 2007 at 9:47 pm
98: Seeing Hoff is always a bright spot aswell
July 2, 2007 at 9:49 pm
#98..
Any Wells start that we win is a good game. He’s such a crap shoot. He pitched well tonight and we got the win despite a poor offensive display against a pitcher who pitched really, really well (Mitre threw just 51 pitches thru 5 innings and was trailing.) I think good teams win without playing their best, and I think this is a darn good team.
Sorry to be such a homer…
July 2, 2007 at 9:51 pm
100: Oh yeah, but that’s just taken for granted at this point.
I guess I didn’t really mean this was a lucky win, since the Marlins probably played worse, just that the team has to play better than this to return to the playoffs.
Also, don’t look now, but Wells’ ERA is down to 4.16.
July 2, 2007 at 9:58 pm
102: I dunno about to return to the playoffs, but if we want to win in the playoffs we gotta hit to go along with this pitching. That low ERA will make Buddy pitch him into the 7th every start now…
July 2, 2007 at 10:02 pm
74: Well he is the fattest one….
July 2, 2007 at 10:06 pm
Man, it’s nice to see Giles succeed as a leadoff man. I know that it’s a super-small sample size, but this was sort of the plan out of spring training (I can’t remember why we messed with this plan…). If Giles can be a successful leadoff hitter (.400+ OBP) he’s actually going to end up being close to worth his contract this year and next. I was a little nervous that he’d be an albatross…
July 2, 2007 at 10:12 pm
B(l)um: I was promised a[inch-hitting appearance tonight…(mumbling) burn down the stadium…
July 2, 2007 at 10:40 pm
http://mlb.mlb.com/news/articl.....;fext=.jsp
Young has the early lead in the voting and Zambrano has said that Young is the most deserving NL candidate. That’s because even Zambrano was scared to mix it up with D. Lee
July 2, 2007 at 11:13 pm
106: LOL. Did we ever settle whether it was a fax machine or a printer?
July 3, 2007 at 10:06 am
Missed it, but I feel a bit like 102; but, take what lady luck gives us but don’t confuse it with playing well. At least from the description and box, not seeing that game.
Glad to have OG leading off. Not to be a nag, but I have been asking for that since the start of the season. The expectation of a power surge for an aging slugger that does not cheat is kind of just praying. OG’s plate discipline is beautiful, and I like him not over-swinging trying to compensate for the decline in power. Get on base, give us an occasional extra base hit, run the bases smart, and I am happy, even if that translates to a 270/370/365 line. That is an OPS of 735, not very good, but the OBP is really nice.
I hope his new focus on just being his new self gets his OBP back up, so maybe we can get a 280/410/365 line.