Coffee in the bloodstream, jazz in the ears, baseball on the brain. Let’s get busy…

• Trade winds blow true (San Diego Union-Tribune). Tom Krasovic tells us what we already know: Kevin Towers is good at that trading thing. Here’s a passage that helps confirm some things we’ve long suspected:
  

  Padres statistical analysts deserve credit, Towers has said. Research shows that home run suppression can be a predictor of success for a pitcher. [Left-hander Joe] Thatcher excelled in that area. Statistics favored by the Padres showed that [right-hander Heath] Bell had been unlucky with the Mets and that his excellent strikeout-to-walk numbers were better measures of his talent.

  Yep, it’s all about the peripherals.

• Player Cards (from small ball to the long ball, via Friar Forecast). If you seriously want to geek out on PITCHf/x stuff, holy shmoly: here’s Jake Peavy’s card and here is Khalil Greene’s.
• Q&A with Brett Tomko (San Diego Union-Tribune). Quoth the veteran right-hander:
  

  I didn’t feel like myself in L.A. I felt like I was trying to be someone that I wasn’t. I tried something with my delivery and it didn’t work out. I got out of whack, and I didn’t know how to fix it.

  It’s okay, bud; that happens a lot in LA.

• The Matt Cain Effect (Gaslamp Ball). Dex offers his thoughts on the recent tiff between Giants pitcher Matt Cain and Scott Hairston. Get a room already.
• Rockies in the Discussion (SI.com). Jon Weisman moderates a roundtable discussion about the NL West. Consensus is that the Padres are the team to beat — assuming, of course, they make the playoffs.
• Flyin’ Under the Radar (Baseball Analysts). Rich looks at some of 2007′s biggest bargains. Ex-Padre DH Jack Cust makes the list, while reliever Heath Bell merits an honorable mention.
• Arizona League Top 20 Prospects List (Baseball America). Outfielder Yefri Carvajal ranks #14; shortstop Drew Cumberland checks in at #7.
• Northwest League Top 20 Prospects List (Baseball America). Outfielder Kellen Kulbacki ranks #6, while right-hander Mat Latos leads the pack. When is the last time a Padres pitcher was the #1 prospect in any league?
• Venable, 24, a venerable prospect (San Diego Union-Tribune). Will Venable will get a look in center field at the Arizona Fall League. Will stopped by the TV broadcast booth the other night when the Padres were in San Francisco. Will’s dad, Max (hitting coach at Elsinore this past season), played with Mark Grant, and Matt Vasgersian kept trying to get the younger Venable to call Grant an old man. Good times.
• Non-Prospect Diary (Baseball America). For me, Dirk Hayhurst’s diary was the best read of the summer. This is his final entry, and it’s a dandy:
  

  If I am honest, the closest I come to toeing the rubber of a big league mound may be in my imagination. But in my imagination, it’s a great moment.

  Amen, and best of luck…

• Case Study: Sean Burroughs (Minor League Ball, via Didi in the comments). John Sickels tries to figure out where Burroughs went wrong.

Finally, Ducksnorts has been nominated (thanks, Malcolm!) for Best Sports Blog at the Blogger’s Choice Awards. Feel free to vote for me if you’re so inclined. Happy happy joy joy…

Tunes: Delfeayo Marsalis, Mulgrew Miller, Vincent Gardner, Tony Monaco, Cannonball Adderley, Mark Whitfield, Charlie Rouse, McCoy Tyner, Wallace Roney, Pat Martino.

Tagged as: Baseball, coffee, geek_out, heath_bell, jake_peavy, jazz, khalil_greene, mlb, padres, san_diego_padres, statistical_analysts