Wednesday night’s victory (recap | box score) was particularly gratifying in light of Tuesday’s meltdown. Chris Young? His usual dominant self. Thanks to seven scoreless innings, he now has the best ERA in the big leagues.
Incidentally, you still have time to vote for Young for the All-Star game, and if the fact that he’s systematically destroying opponents doesn’t float your boat, check out what he has to say about fan and team support for his cause:
That almost means more than going itself. You know the guys, the city, the organization, to be so supportive and so outgoing, that means more than even getting to go to the game.
Good man.
Back to Wednesday, Young served up a triple to Alfredo Amezaga to lead off the game. When a guy reaches third base with no out, you pretty much concede the run, but for at least the second time this season, Young left him stranded. In a game that ends 1-0, that’s kind of important.
Young also finished his start with five straight strikeouts. Nice.
Amezaga, for his part, made a ridiculous play on Michael Barrett later in the game. I don’t believe I’ve ever seen a shortstop make a stronger throw. It’ll probably end up in one of those silly award shows at the end of the year.
Amezaga’s circus play notwithstanding, it was Florida’s infield defense that, for the second time in three games, helped propel the Padres to victory. In the bottom of the ninth, after Mike Cameron led off with a double on the sixth pitch of his at-bat, Khalil Greene was issued an intentional pass.
Hiram Bocachica then came up and dropped a beautiful bunt down the third-base line that catcher Miguel Olivo probably should have let roll foul. But Olivo pounced on it and fired to Miguel Cabrera at third, a shade late to catch the speedy Cameron.
With the bases loaded and one out, Kevin Kouzmanoff grounded to Cabrera. It looked like a 5-2-3 double play, but, as he had on Monday with Brian Giles racing home, Cabrera threw wide, allowing Cameron to score the game’s only run and give the Padres a much-needed victory.
by Peter Friberg
Padres Prospect Report
You will not see Pete LaForest hit singles… Oh wait, well maybe one or two from time to time.
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
AAA
Pete LaForest: 3 AB, 0 R, 2 H, 2 RBI; 2B, BB – a single?
Ryan Ketchner: 4.0 IP, 9 H, 8 R, 8 ER, 3 BB, 5 SO, 3 HR
AA
No games scheduled…
High-A
Matt Antonelli: 4 AB, 2 R, 2 H, 0 RBI; BB
Jose Lobaton: 5 AB, 0 R, 0 H, 0 RBI; 2 SO
Low-A
Cedric Hunter: 5 AB, 1 R, 2 H, 0 RBI; 2B
Rayner Contreras: 3 AB, 1 R, 3 H, 3 RBI; BB, CS
Short Season-A
Kellen Kulbacki: 2 AB, 1 R, 0 H, 1 RBI; 3 BB, SF
Mat Latos: 4.0 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 6 SO, 0 HR
Rookie
No game scheduled…
Commentary:
I’ve been pimpin’ Ryan Ketchner for a while… I’m not going to stop now. I’d have to ask someone who was there, but I’m guessing that debacle had more to do with the environment (Coors Light, aka Colorado Springs) than it did Ryan’s pitching.
Pete LaForest now has 39 hits, 21 of those hits are home runs.
Wednesday, July 4, 2007
AAA
Pete LaForest: 4 AB, 0 R, 2 H, 0 RBI; 2 SO – 2 more singles!
Mike Thompson: 8.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 5 SO, 0 HR
AA
Chase Headley: 2 AB, 0 R, 0 H, 0 RBI; 2 BB, 2 SO – .343/.434/.629
Nick Hundley: 2 AB, 0 R, 0 H, 0 RBI; 2 BB – .244/.327/.457
Will Venable: 4 AB, 1 R, 1 H, 1 RBI; HR – .288/.350/.361
Cesar Ramos: 7.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 SO – 3.72 ERA, .249 BAA, 4.76 K/9
High-A
Matt Antonelli: 4 AB, 2 R, 2 H, 5 RBI; 3B, HR, BB, SF – .317/.408/.503
Chad Huffman: 5 AB, 3 R, 4 H, 2 RBI; 2B – .308/.403/.529
Kyle Blanks: 3 AB, 1 R, 2 H, 1 RBI; 2 BB, SO, SB – .323/.404/.566
Jose Lobaton: 2 AB, 1 R, 2 H, 2 RBI; BB, 2 SF – .250/.352/.418
Yordany Ramirez: 5 AB, 2 R, 2 H, 0 RBI; 2B, SO, SB – stole home!
Doug Brocail: 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 SO, 0 HR
Low-A
Rayner Contreras: 4 AB, 1 R, 2 H, 2 RBI; HR – .298/.346/.453
Short Season-A
Luis Durango: 3 AB, 1 R, 2 H, 1 RBI; 3B
Eric Sogard: 2 AB, 0 R, 1 H, 1 RBI; 2 BB – pro debut
Jeremy Hefner: 4.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 5 SO, 0 HR
Rookie
Yefri Carvajal: 4 AB, 3 R, 3 H, 0 RBI; 2B, SO
Commentary:
A few days ago on Mighty XX, Grady Fuson mentioned that there were a few promotions forthcoming. When you combine David’s age (24) and success (.311/.408/.525) he looks like a likely candidate to be one of the Fuson-mentioned promotions. On Wednesday night, David recorded a Did Not Play for his box score entry. We should know more soon.
[Ed note: The North County Times is reporting that Manny Ayala and Wade LeBlanc have been promoted to Double-A San Antonio. No word on Freese.]
When the Padres drafted Eric Sogard, I was less than thrilled. In fact, I think I told Geoff that I didn’t like the pick. However, the more research I did on Sogard, the more I liked… He was one of ASU’s best hitters, going .400/.488/.612 with 12 doubles and 11 home runs to go with a 39/24 BB/SO ratio… We’ll keep close tabs.
Thanks, Peter. Afternoon game on Thursday, no television. We’ll open up the IGD around 11:30 a.m. PT. Go Padres!
I wonder if it is time to move Headly to LF and Freese to 3B in AA, I would also like to see Antonelli move up to AA.
If Headly moves to LF and plays for the Big club next year I figure thier payroll will be about $48 mil without a CF, which will leave plenty of Ichiro money. The only problem is that the pads will still lack a power bat.
I would actually expect Freese to move before Headley…
Why can’t we hit?
2: Me too. Defensive scouting reports are as changeable as the weather, but by and large Headley gets better marks at 3b than Freese.
In exactly half of the Padre wins this season, they’ve allowed one run or less (not that there’s much less than one).
Just to show off, I’ll add that they’re 33-2 when allowing two runs or less.
The reason why I say move Headly to LF is so that he will be able to play it for the Pads in 08.
6.
That’s an amazing stat!!!
Good call Steve… I’ve thought about moving Chase to LF, but for some reason, whenever I think about promoting Freese, I think of moving him to the OF first… Good thinking.
7, 9
Yeah the thought of a LF’er that can hit it nice isn’t it?
I like both Headley and Freese, but realistically you’re looking at 20 HR, 800-850 OPS major leaguers. Not bad, but not a great leap forward beyond what we’ve seen from LF this year. That’s looking at LF as a composite of Sledge and Cruz.
Also remember last night John Smoltz officially pulled out of the All Star Game. He is supposedly leaving LA today to take his break. So there will be an extra pitching spot open.
Re: 11 it will create stability in LF, I also think that Headlys gap power will play better in Petco than crudge.
Re: 12 I dont think they will give it to young at the moment, they will wait to see how the voting goes and if young wins that they will give the extra roster spot to Jimmy Rollins.
13: I don’t know that stability leads to any more production, or that Headley’s gap power is any different than that of Cruz+Sledge or Bradley. Headley would also be the slowest of that group with the least OF experience.
I’d be excited to have another young position player hitting everyday, but we should temper our expectations for any youngster. The chances of him hitting 290/360/500 his rookie year are slim.
Re: 15 I agree with your points, with the excption of the one on gap power.
If the padres re-sign bradley it will be to play CF, I think the Sledge experiment has failed (lost in the OF and can’t hit lefties to save his life), and Cruz is a fourth OF who hits singles at petco .370 Slg this year at home.
Another advantage of putting Headley in LF is if Kouz gets hurt or needs a day off the Padres would not loose that much defensively (I say not much because Headley would not be as sharp at 3B)
16: Looking at their track record, I’d be hard-pressed to see where Headley’s power is going to translate any better to Petco than Cruz’s did. Cruz and Sledge as platoon mates seem like a fair representation of what we’d get from Headley. Cruz is probably a better defender than Headley could ever be, Sledge looks like a bear on ice skates.
It would save a roster spot to have just one LF who could hit like that, as long as it doesn’t convince them they can carry 13 pitchers.
By the power comment im not looking for HR production out of Headley but more the doubles he has 33 in SA. That will play better in Petco where most HR’s turn into loud outs.
For whoever is keeping score, Tom (re: 18) gets +1 for a solid funny …
Re: 18 I also don’t think Sledge will be a Padre after tomorrow as well.
19: Correction, Headley has 22 doubles this year. He had 33 last year in Elsinore.
A lot of those doubles may be caught in Petco, where the air holds everything up, and with major league outfielders tracking them down. You could look at it this way, how many doubles would Cruz or Sledge hit playing in the Texas League? Something tells me Headley’s not going to bang out 75 XBH as a major league rookie, which is his pace for AA, or was before he lost time to the callup
21: I doubt they’d cut him when they could toss him on the DL, but maybe. I’m disappointed they didn’t replace him with McAnulty when his thumb got hurt, between him and the two invisible men in the bullpen we’re playing a short squad everyday.
My first suggestion for Chase’s nickname is LaMar, as in Hedley LaMar from Blazing Saddles.
Re: 22 Bleh your right I forgot that the baseball cube does not have this years stats. I would still be very suprised is Cruz is a Padre next year, I think he is going to look for a place where he can play every day.
Do they still have an option to send sledge to AAA this is his 4th year on a MLB 40 man roster but he has only been sent down once in his career (last year).
#21 the nickname for Chase could be confusing, at least for me.
OT, I was hoping to include a top 10 at each position in next year’s book, but I may have to scale back to top 5. When you reach #10, you get something like this:
C: Fred Kendall
1B: Broderick Perkins
2B: Jody Reed
3B: Mike Pagliarulo
SS: Ricky Gutierrez
LF: Jerald Clark
CF: Darrin Jackson
RF: Eugene Kingsale
#23: As long as he continues to “switch hit,” Cruz will not play every day in the big leagues. His swing from the left side of the plate would make for a beautiful backhand slice in tennis but isn’t well suited to baseball.
Re: 25 I didn’t think that the padres have had 10 LF’s in their entire existence
I like “LaMar” since Blazing Saddles is one of the all-time comedy classics, but I would have to go with the low-hanging fruit and stick with “Chevy” Chase. I am pretty sure someone has already tabbed that one, so I’d be glad to NOT take credit for it.
Re: 26 I would imagine that he would be able to compete for the CF job in Pittsburg, Balt, Seattle (if Ichiro is in SD), DC and Cincy (if they dont re-sign Griffy).
The HORROR! Jody Reed over Fernando Gonzalez for tenth-best Padre 2B ever?
And you call yourself a Padre expert?!
Speaking of long-forgotten Padre 2B, a friend of mine’s sister dated Darrell Thomas (back in the day). Seemed REALLY cool at the time.
I hate when ch4 doesnt air day games, expecially when Peavy is pitching.
26: And yet he does play every day for the Padres. Those swings last night were as bad as anything we endured from Bellhorn last year.
#29: Yes, we are in agreement…
Dunno if anyone’s heard, but La Russa just gave Roy Oswalt John Smoltz’s spot. Talk about a slap in the face.
#32: Not much longer. I like Cruz as a fourth outfielder but I don’t ever want to see him bat from the left side again unless it’s to drop down a bunt.
Is anyone surprised about Oswalt getting the last spot? I mean he is only the least deserving of the 5 guys left in the voting, but I think we should count our blessing that LaRussa didn’t name Carpenter or Isringhausen to the team in that spot.
34: Because CY will get in on the Final Vote
36: Managers dont always look at one season for the All-Star game. You cant deny Oswalt isnt an All-Star pitcher and MLB probably doesnt want him to take Young or Zambrano out of the race today. Thats my guess.
Wow im suprised that they did not give it to the kid from pittsburg, but then again Lerusa is like Boch and he will always go with the vetrain.
He did not give it to young because he will get the honor of getting voted in.
The whole Oswalt thing was because he was next in line according to the player votes. I hate LaRussa more than most people but I can’t lay this one on him. Let’s hope CY gets some respect from the voters.
40: So that means that collectively the players put Chris Young no higher than 7th on their vote lists? I thought they were banning alcoholic beverages from clubhouses; looks like they are allowing the good stuff too.