Yummy links…
- Full palette of skippers up for award (MLB.com). National Manager of the Year? My money is on Bob Melvin because most experts didn’t expect the Diamondbacks to win the NL West. They should have, but they didn’t.
- Hoffman heeds no call for career exit strategy (San Diego Union-Tribune). Fluff piece on everyone’s favorite pitcher with 500+ saves.
- Thatcher making impression (Padres.com). Padres manager Bud Black on rookie left-hander Joe Thatcher:
“His fastball that cuts is effective against right-handed hitters. He’s equally effective against both. He’s doing well for a guy with 20 days in the big leagues, given the small sample size.”
Best part of this? Black’s inclusion of the phrase “small sample size.” Love that.
- Bradley expected to be out vs. Giants (San Diego Union-Tribune). Sigh. Still no Milton Bradley. Also, Brett TomkoBrett Tomko gets the start on Saturday against San Francisco, Justin Germano might not make his next scheduled start due to ineffectiveness, and the Padres had a chance to trade Clay Hensley for Houston infielder Mike Lamb in July.
- Another look at Jake Peavy (Friar Forecast). Oooh, pretty colors. We’re still trying to figure out what it all means, but I love that this stuff is even available and that smart folks are starting to do something with it.
- Center field isn’t fertile area on farm (San Diego Union-Tribune). From the article:
The Padres aren’t sold on Triple-A center fielder Yordanny Ramirez, who can be a free agent in November. Ramirez, 23, reputedly is a terrific defender. Of course, so was Freddy Guzman, the speedster heavily touted by the Padres in 2003-04 who, as a major leaguer, fell well short of Padres descriptions.
For the record, Guzman’s stock plummeted the minute his name changed from Pedro De Los Santos, he aged 2 1/2 years, and he moved off second base. Then he became yet another Tom Goodwin wannabe, which is sort of what Ramirez is, only without the plate discipline or great base-stealing ability. Not to be mean, but it’s hard to get excited about a 22-year-old outfielder with a 654 OPS in about 1400 at-bats compiled mostly at or below Class-A.
- A Helluva Read: BA: The Non-Prospect’s Diary (Baseball Think Factory). We’ve been following Dirk Hayhurst’s diary at Baseball America all season, but he got some love at BBTF, and guess who showed up to the party? Yep, none other than Mr. Hayhurst. That’s almost as cool as the fact that all this exposure has led to his getting a paycheck from BA for his efforts.
- Friar Forecast reviews its top 30 prospects headed into the season: 21-30 | 11-20
- Looking back at the 2005 draft (Baseball Analysts). Justin Upton, Alex Gordon, Ryan Zimmerman, Ryan Braun, Troy Tulowitzki… Not quite ’73 (Robin Yount, Dave Winfield, Eddie Murray, among many others), but pretty darned good.
- Best and Worst MLB Splits, 1957-2006 (Hardball Times). Worst-hitting pitching staff ever: Ladies and gentlemen, say hello to your 1976 Padres.
Whoomp, there it is…
by Peter Friberg
You will not see the Storm go quietly into the night…
AA
No game scheduled…
High-A
Lake Elsinore 7, San Jose 6 (10 innings; Storm lead best-of-five, 1-0)
Sean Kazmar: 4 AB, 2 R, 2 H, 0 RBI; BB
Kyle Blanks: 4 AB, 1 R, 2 H, 1 RBI; BB
Mike Baxter: 4 AB, 1 R, 3 H, 3 RBI; 3 2B, BB – game-winning run
Jose Lobaton: 5 AB. 1 R, 2 H, 1 RBI; SO – game-winning hit
Ernesto Frieri: 1.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 SO, 0 HR
R.J. Rodriguez: 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 SO, 0 HR
Commentary:
Wow, the Storm are a resilient bunch! This is at least the third comeback they’ve had. Steve Garrison, the starting pitcher, gave 1 run in the fourth. Then couldn’t get any of the six batters he faced in the fifth out; five scored. Down 6-0 in the middle of the fifth, the Storm scored three in their half of the fifth, then three more in the seventh to tie.
[Ed note: This was as fun a baseball game as I've attended all year. Garrison, whom I'd not seen before Thursday night, looked terrible, but the bullpen picked him up big time and Baxter did the rest. His bases-clearing double to left-center with two out in the seventh was huge. Incidentally, San Francisco's Fred Lewis is on rehab assignment for San Jose, which became a source of constant amusement for the guys running the PA, who busted out just about every song they could find that included some form of "cheat" in the lyrics. The presence of Lewis, who hit .275/.356/.401 in 142 big-league at-bats this year, in the Cal League playoffs has been met with something less than enthusiasm by league opponents. Lewis, for his part, struck out three times and let the plate umpire know what he thought of his bush-league strike zone. Also, there was a very loud contingent of Giants fans along the third-base line (including a guy dressed like the Pope - say wha'?); I liked the part where they got real quiet at the end.]
There you go. More links are always being added at del.icio.us. Happy Friday!