| time: | 7:10 p.m. PT |
| tv: | 4SD |
| sp: | Jake Peavy (16-6, 2.43) vs Esteban Loaiza (2-0, 2.49) |
| pre: | Padres.com, B-R.com |
The Padres need Jake Peavy to be a pitcher, not a hero. They need him to come back strong from last week’s debacle in the desert.
A few Dodgers with decent sample sizes — Rafael Furcal (32 PA, .281/.281/.688), Luis Gonzalez (58 PA, .353/.431/.686), and Shea Hillenbrand (24 PA, .368/.500/.737) — have pasted Peavy in the past. Gonzalez, of course, hits everyone well.
Somebody should study Gonzalez’ career. The guy was a line-drive hitter with occasional doubles power through his twenties, comparable to the likes of Mel Hall, ex-Padre Ruppert Jones, and Matt Lawton — useful enough players, but not the sort who could carry a team. Then in his thirties, he turned into an offensive machine, and now his list of similar players is filled with guys at or near the fringe of Cooperstown — Tony Perez, Dave Parker, Harold Baines, Paul O’Neill.
Anyway.
As a team, The Padres are batting .221/.297/.313 against Los Angeles in 15 games this year. Against the world, Josh Bard continues to be ridiculous (.411/.500/.611) with RISP.
Speaking of Bard (not that it’s entirely his fault, but still), baserunners have stolen successfully against the Padres in 69 of 73 attempts since the All-Star break. That’s the sort of number you couldn’t make up because nobody would believe it.
And in the random stat department, the Padres have won more games (45) against teams with winning records than anyone else in the big leagues this year. In fact, one of the key differences between the Padres and Arizona is their respective records against lousy teams: San Diego is 32-22 against sub-.500 teams, while the Snakes are 41-21. Arizona has played eight (and won nine) more games against lousy teams than have the Padres. Yeah, that helps…
D-backs and Gi’nts are in a 1-1 battle thru 7 …
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/boxscore?gid=270911126
6th got a little scary, but I have no bad feelings now. Hope the Storm play at home on a weekend during the Cal League Championship.
93: He’s still the worst hitter in the starting lineup. So he should be batting 8th, not 2nd. He also seems to get lauded much more than he deserves, as a “veteran leader” or “clutch hitter”, despite being a below average hitter. He’s a fine backup middle infielder (except for his poor defense), and he’s played decently enough this year.
Thanks for the link to the Storm game, Geoff. 13-3 Storm thru 7. If they win this series, the championship series begins with Thursday and Friday night games at Lake Elsinore.
#99: I hung the ‘Silent L’ on him. Am I not allowed to remove it? Not sure on the protocol for this.
C’mon K-Cam…
How did Clark not catch that ball?
Batters are 9 for 14 this month against K-Cam….
Bad feeling returning…
At this point “Silent L” is bigger than any one man. All props to you for coming up with it ’cause it’s great. But it belongs to the masses now. And I’m with LM… gotta keep it; he really has to be actually something more than replacement level to undo the poetry that is “Silent L.”
wow, flash of an almost-coulda-been-a-triple-play on that liner to Khalil…
#96 Rick Schroder……ha ha….right on bro. I like the English word play from “silent” to “pronounced” change…….That was sick (good). Sorry so late of a post……working!!!!!!
110 – agreed, it’s too good to get rid of, unless Silent L does something simply transcendent to justify shedding the label.
I gotta admit I was surprised to see him hitting 2nd this evening.
101 … Gi’nts go up 2-1 in bottom of 8th …
Wow. Sorry ’bout the ol’ 3-4-1 putout there.
115 – don’t think I’ve seen one of *those* in a while. Web gem, perhaps.
That was Sweet!!!!!!
‘Silent/Pronounced’ L just made a helluva a play at first. I think I’m done bashing on the guy.
And Ethier hurts himself too. Nice play Pads!
Giants win, 2-1.
115 – please do explain for those of us watching gameday / working….
114 … it’s a final … Gi’nts beat D-backs 2-1 … it’s a good day …
#121: Smash to Adrian at first. He can’t field it cleanly but Blummer grabs it and fires to Bell covering the bag to retire Ethier and end the inning.
Brett Tomko sighting.
What in the name of Abbott and Costello is going on here?
And a Bret Tomko HR allowed. Big surprise.
And we got Brett Tomko back, why? What was KT’s thinking on that?
Hate to see Trevor have to warm up in a 9-4 game.
Storm wins, 14-7.
Tougher than it needed to be, but that’s a win.
129: Pads win, 9-4.
Finally. I can start breathing again. See you tommorow.
Victory! This was obviously one we had to win.
A couple of comments from dodgerthoughts after Silent L’s homer:
“Going by the times I’ve watched him play, Geoff Blum is one of the greatest hitters in baseball history.”
“I promise never to insult Geoff Blum again by saying he’s worse than Juan Pierre.” (following an earlier comment that the Padres are one of the few teams that swapping two hitters with would make the Dodgers worse)
Who do we have pitching tomorrow? Jake Peavy again?