| time: | 12:35 p.m. PT |
| tv: | 4SD |
| sp: | Brett Tomko (3-11, 5.40) vs Matt Morris (9-10, 4.84) |
| pre: | Padres.com, B-R.com |
Dear Diamondbacks,
Thanks much for Scott Hairston. He’s pretty good.
Regards,
The Padres
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- 5663 Balboa Ave., #267
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177 Comments
Doubt it will happen, but could be a little rain today, very unusual for SD, pretty sure they’ll get the game it. Tomko, well, maybe Petco is to his liking. Az doesn’t play, but the phils play at DC. Love to get a little more lead in WC and get just 1/2 game for the Div.
To shrink it to a half game would be pretty sweet… It’s hard not to go to the ballpark expecting a victory with all that’s happened this homestand. That said, it is always a tough thing to get a four game sweep… no matter who the opponent is.
Its hard to sweep your whole homestand aswell. But i have faith, this team has played great
agree, you can’t always win in baseball. But Col is coming and they play us real tough.
Thought: Angels Padres in the WS. Sort of a private, SoCal WS, and the East Coast and its bias can kiss my warm sunshine.
Chicken’s I know, hatching, right, but it could happen.
4: i would especially enjoy that if we swept the Angels
From AZ’s side, Scott Hairston has to be case-in-point of why you never, ever, trade someone to a division rival! No matter how innocuous the player, it will always come back to bite you in the arse. Un-be-lievable last night. This team, which seemed to be steady-Eddie all year, has in successive weeks gone 2-4 against chief division rivals AZ and LA and then ripped off 6 straight W’s.
Note to self: increase treadmill usage, decrease fatty salty foods. The ‘ol ticker might not hold up the next 10 days otherwise.
Absolutely fantastic victory last nite. My fiance and I were bouncing off the walls in our house all the way in Beaumont. I’m sure our neighbors thought we had just won the lottery. Our dogs were sure confused.
Obviously it’s tough to sweep a 4 game series or a 10-game homestand, but we’ve played so well this series. We’ve had 2 of each kind of game this series: Shutouts, Regular W’s, and Walk-off HR victories. Love that. Love to see Cla really step it up this week, and Thatcher is really making KT look like a genius.
I was telling my fiance last nite that these are the kinds of games that make you love baseball. These are the games that get you hooked, that make you believe that the Padres could cure cancer. These are the games that make all of the angst, nervousness, disappointment, depression, time, and money spent during a season worth it.
Yes it has rained some downtown this morning, it is suppose to clear up by game time though. More problems may be coming with weather for the weekend and if I were a betting man I’d take the under on every game game in the Colorado series as the Marine layer is going to be fierce.
Great game last night
When Bradley comes back, should the Pads roll the dice and put Hairston at second base ?
I am a Tivo guy, so my profound wisdom on games always comes a bit late.
Some “lesser” performances that really helped:
KK’s AB ahead of Scott. Commented upon on IGD, but did not try to do too much.
Thatcher: last 7 appearances: 7 IP, 2H, 0BB, 5K, 0HR
Cla: last 4 appearances: 4 IP, 1H, 0BB, 7K;
(small sample sizes, but encouraging trends)
Wow, did we need that one. Couple that with the come from behind in the first game of this homestand, we are living a charmed life right now.
We need every win. Schedules:
AZD: LA (3), at Pit (3), at Col (3)
SDP: Pit (1), Col (3), at SF (3), at Mil (4)
PHL: at WDC (4), Atl (3), WDC (3)
Of that remaining schedule, Arizona is a bit tougher, but it does get two days of rest while we keep playing. All three teams have nearly identical road records, though the Padres have had by far the best statistical performance on the road (measured in net OPS: OPS hit – OPS allowed):
SDP: 035
PHL: 005
AZD: (042)
So what? Just calming myself down by doing analysis. We got a shot, and so glad to be fattening up when we had the chance.
Matt Morris vs Tomko is not in our favor. Morris has generally been tough against us, though not so much this year.
Go Padres!
I was at the game last night. The 9th inning was great. Fans were really into it. It was almost like you knew they’d find a way. There have been times this season that I didn’t feel that way, but last night — you knew they were going to pull it out somehow.
My seats are on the first base side. When Adrian hit the drive down the 3rd base line, I thought it was out. Then Khalil hits it on the button, but right at the centerfielder. Then the Kooz chant started and continued, all the way through his at bat.
When Hairston came up, my son and I looked at each other and simultaneously talked about Hairston’s previous heroics.
Great night.
Pretty fun reading AZ Snakepit’s IGD leading up to and including Hairston’s AB.
12.
Work has the Snakepit site blocked. What were they saying?
This is just some of it. …
Padres game
Two on, two out in the 9th, and guess who’s up? Our very own Hairston.
by snakecharmer on Thu Sep 20, 2007 at 12:40:19 AM EDT
Oh, the humanity…
And the irony. Remember who gave you your break, Scotty. You owe us. Remember the T-shirts…
by Jim McLennan on Thu Sep 20, 2007 at 12:41:21 AM EDT
T-shirts?
by snakecharmer on Thu Sep 20, 2007 at 12:44:29 AM EDT
We’ll be okay
He was actually a sleeper agent we sent to the Padres so he could be in position to sabotage them in just a crucial moment like this…
…right?
by Devin on Thu Sep 20, 2007 at 12:41:32 AM EDT
Too late. Come on, Sandy Baby, loosen up. You’re too tight.
by DbacksSkins on Thu Sep 20, 2007 at 12:42:47 AM EDT
Screw Hairston.
5-3 walkoff homer.
Come on, Sandy Baby, loosen up. You’re too tight.
by DbacksSkins on Thu Sep 20, 2007 at 12:42:19 AM EDT
S—!
by seton hall snake pit on Thu Sep 20, 2007 at 12:42:20 AM EDT
Damnit
I love Hairston, but did NOT need to see that walk-off…
by snakecharmer on Thu Sep 20, 2007 at 12:42:26 AM EDT
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!
Curses.
by Devin on Thu Sep 20, 2007 at 12:42:54 AM EDT
this was my favorite Snakepit comment:
Dear San Diego. Can we have Hairston back? We still have the receipt. Love, the Arizona Diamondbacks.
That was one of my faves but I didn’t want to go overboard with c&p. Maybe we could get a couple of those “Free Hairston” T-shirts.
14, 15
Thanks guys! Love to see that stuff.
Looks like Hairston is throwing his name in the mix for LF next year. I would be interested to see what happens to him with regular at bats. Then again before this season I said the same about Sledge.
I think Hairston is one of the main reasons why they are going to be ok bringing Bradley back next year. If Bradley only plays 90 games that is going to be fine because Hairston can handle LF for a couple of weeks at a time.
In fact I wouldn’t be surprised to see them try and trade for a young CF and then bring back Bradley on a 1 year deal. Bring back Adam Jones, save him from Carl Everett!
I dont see the mariners giving up Jones for cheap, I think the Pads would have to overpay to get him.
Cheap-no…..overpay like what? I’d trade Headley and Geer for him without thinking twice about it.
Headly+LeBlanc+Huffman, Jones is a top 10 prospect
I think you may give Bavasi too much credit……even though I’d make that deal
So what kinda Padres blasts are we going to see from KLaw today? He’s 35 minutes into his chat.
9 – I’d love to see Hairston get a chance at 2B somehow, but I doubt they’ll shake things up considering the meaning of the games.
Hairston at 2B solves a ton of offensive problems, but I wouldn’t count on it until next season
Re: 22 The main issue is that both Ibanez and Guillen are only signined through next year, it would be hard to trade away your best OF prospect which you have controll of for the next 5 years if you are loosing two of your starting OF’s.
23: Can you view the chat?
Well the Dodgers would have made the playoffs if they would have made better decisions with 25% of their roster…..that’s kind of obvious don’t you think Keith?
Jason: st louis MO: love your chats–just picking your brain on some young pitchers……any potential #1s or 2s out of guerra, cueto, leblanc, henry sosa??
Keith Law: (1:12 PM ET ) Cueto looks like a solid 2 to me. Leblanc is the one who really doesn’t fit – 5th starter, fringy stuff, good feel.
Our first real blast on a Padres prospect:
Jason: st louis MO: love your chats–just picking your brain on some young pitchers……any potential #1s or 2s out of guerra, cueto, leblanc, henry sosa??
SportsNation Keith Law: (1:12 PM ET ) Cueto looks like a solid 2 to me. Leblanc is the one who really doesn’t fit – 5th starter, fringy stuff, good feel.
25: I wouldn’t count on it ever. He can probably play 2b anymore the way Bobby Bonilla played 3b for the Marlins in the 97 Series. You don’t have to tell him which glove to use or where to stand, but you don’t want any balls hit there.
Adam Jones K-rate scares me badly. Not sure that I’d give up Headley-LeBlanc-Huffman for him.
Robb (Colorado): Keith, Shouldn’t Francis get some considerationf or the CY? If Coors Field can count against the hitters, then shouldn’t it count in favor of the pitchers? Francis with 17-18 wins would be as good as Peavy with 18-20 at Petco.
Keith Law: (1:36 PM ET ) Win totals for pitchers are useless. Francis has been among the top 10-12 starters in the NL this year, but he’s not in Peavy’s class.
Jon (Phoenix, AZ): How many more times will Black run Peavy out on short rest and pay the consequences?
Keith Law: (1:41 PM ET ) None. I don’t think that happens again.
Re: 31 I would not give them up as well, but thats what I think it would take for the mariners to give him up.
re 31: Sounds pretty much like Barfield…just sayin’
Law acknowledges that Peavy should be the front-runner for the Cy Young, so that’s a good start. “… neither guy is close to Peavy, who has really pulled away from the pack,” talking about Aaron Harang and Roy Oswalt.
The following is unrelated to last night’s kick-ass win or the Keith Law chat, in which he used the murdered Natalee Holloway to illuminate Manny Ramirez’s propensity to disappear. You stay classy, Keith.
Michael Burgess, one of my preferred targets in the draft, had a 336/442/617 line in the Gulf Coast League.
35: The knock on Barfield, I thought, was his throwing, especially on DPs. The knock on Hairston is ever getting to the ball or the bag in the first place. He’s a lot thicker than he was in the minors, too. Not saying he couldn’t do it, but they’re going to need a 4th OF a lot and they have some 2b options. Antonelli, sign Loretta to back him up.
I think Hairston is enough of an offensive upgrade over NOG and Blum against a lefty starter to be worth the defensive hit. Not sure if I’d start him with Maddux pitching, but with Peavy or Young (especially) on the mound I would go for it.
37.
That’s the guy I was pimping for the Padres 1st or 2nd pick too. Nice start!
35: Thats a little harsh. Barf was a good defender, it was his arm that was a bit weak.
Navin (San Diego): Hey Keith, what do you think the Indians can get in return for Josh Barfield? Top 50 prospect? Decent AA prospect? A new lawnmower?
Keith Law: (2:12 PM ET ) Maybe a riding lawnmower, if they negotiate hard. That might be the biggest unexplained collapse of the year. I never loved Barfield, but he was productive for San Diego.
Geez…if I hear Loretta’s name again it is going to drive me crazy .700OPS players do not help you win the division…I’d rather have Blum back because at least he can play ss and over 150AB’s the offensive difference is negligible.
KT/Alderson have a ton of choices this off season, Hairston at least gives them some flexibility.
Re: 43 Loretta played 68 at SS this year for Houston
39: Yeah, with the strikeout/flyball guys it could work. But I’m assuming Antonelli gets the starting gig. It’s been a while since Hairston played the infield. Looks like one game since 2004.
http://www.thebaseballcube.com/players/H/Scott-Hairston.shtml
43: As a backup, Loretta’s a fine player. He plays short as well as Blum does, which is totally anecdotal.
Looks like the SD FO is short one former GM. Jayson Stark says Houston has tapped Ed Wade as its new GM.
Another Keith Law San Diego burn…
Charles (Oklahoma City): What do you foresee on Kevin Kouzmanoff’s career? And also, I know it’s a long shot, but what about Oklahoma City for an MLB franchise if the NBA does not return?
Keith Law: (2:37 PM ET ) Too small. And I think Kouzmanoff’s a low-average, moderate-power guy who can’t handle 3b.
It’s weird that Law singled out average for Kouz. Kouz’s average has been pretty decent sub 1 month of the season and coming into the season was that he was a high average all fields type of minor league hitter right? Kouz has not been A-Rod at 3rd but after a rough start it’s really hard to kill the rookie year that he has had offensively.
47: I think that assessment’s skeptical but defensible.
KLaw is just an overly negitive guy. He never really sees positive in anything
He did say that he thinks CY’s struggles are probably due to his back and not the league figuring him out after nearly two full seasons.
51: I sure hope he is right because CY has the straightest fastball i have ever seen.
45: Yeah, I was really only focusing on this weekend when Bradley’s starting in left against the lefties we face, and maybe for the rest of this year. For next year I would hope we would have some better options.
49: Certainly, Kouz has real power – see his recent Petco HR – but can he display it consistently?
53: I should have seen that you were only talking about now.
I’m finding it very difficult to get the emotions right following the Dodgers’ game; there I was feeling a warm pleasure as the first two batters were quickly out, and then I had suddenly to remember that this was one game I was keen for the Dodgers to win. (Still no score in the top of the second, by the way.) Things will be a bit more clear cut in half an hour’s time…
Great… Steve Quis and Micheal Barrett
mlb.com has He Who Should Never Play listed as catching and batting eighth.
re: Law on Kouz
perhaps by “low average” he meant low OBP? cuz Kouz’s walk rate was never great. He’s been historically batting average-heavy, I don’t see how Law could say that.
Hey, the Padres have won Barrett’s last two starts!
60: In spite of Barrett
Lead-off triple for Morgan, again
3 triples in 17 career at-bats for Morgan, who is kind of an interesting guy. Grew up in San Francisco and left to play junior hockey in Canada for several years. Just by looking at him, you wouldn’t think he’d be a hockey player (not only because he’s black but also since he’s not very big).
Freakin Blum blows what should have been a run-saving play.
64: He didnt blow it, the infield was playing way back
nyjer hit another leadoff triple! is anyone watching? did OG misplay?
64: According to Leitner on the radio, Morgan hesitated from third and he would have been dead to rights.
at least Tomko got the next three pirates out.
On TV it seemed he had no chance, hesitation on not. Morgan is fast and it was a long throw. Blum checked to home but went to first. It was the right play for how we always align our defense.
C’mon Pads, 3 pitches, 2 outs? Take some pitches…
Wow, we sure made Morris work
5 pitch inning. Way to make him work guys.
make that 5 pitches, 3 outs…
It’s hacktastic
mlb.com has Tomko hitting 96.
6-0 Colorado
does matt kata have a brother jim?
Can’t AGon learn to be fast?
Nice work Hairy!! Keep it up boys!
*trying to ignore Michael Barrett*
Hairston comes through again
Hey, Padres, ignore AZ’s request for a refund!
It’s got to be fate when Barrett is getting hits!
Barrett is sick of getting trashed.
WOW barrett finally comes through!
Nice to see Barrett contribute.
84: Only to screw up again.
And Barrett still finds a way to mess up
Of course, that baserunning blunder makes him look like the same old bad Barrett…..
(that was a lot of B’s)
That McCloud guy is quickly becoming my favorite Pirate…misplaying balls left and right
Do you think the fans at the stadium were like the Jets fans when they saw Barrett limp off the field?
Eh, that was a tough baserunning play. He should probably have broken for third, but he’s still going to get thrown out there.
He’s a catcher….they’re big and slow usually…..bad things happen when they have to run the bases.
Who wins a foot race between Adrian and Barrett?
90: What he should had done was stayed on the bag. He made his move back to the bag wayyy to late
91: Dont forget to throw Bard into that race
Bard is the slowest man I’ve ever seen.
94: Have you seen Bengie Molina? Or any of the Molina brothers… easily the slowest people in baseball.
I’ll rephrase. Bard is the slowest man I’ve ever seen run. He looks like he’s running in place.
How are all you guys watching the game? I;m at work and can’t see anything. GD is useless. Anywho, 3-1, cool. Barrett actually got a hit? Crazy, next thing you’ll be saying is rain in Sept. Ha ha ha ha. Dogs, can we start to feel sorry for them yet?
Tomko is running into some trouble here in the day game
Its on Ch. 4 and mlb.tv. Game is tied 3-3 now
I’m using CBS Sportsline gameday and it sucks! It’s still in the 2nd inning!!!
Is there a better gameday to use?
mlb.com seems to be the fastest of sportsline, espn, and mlb
chan 4, day weekday day game? Cool, looks like a pretty day downtown.
Looks like its doubles day. Way to go KG and Kooooouuuuuuuuz.
Yahoo GameChannel is working for me.
from gameday, it looks like tomko’s fastball doesn’t have much movement – it’s fast, but not much movement.
nice 1 2 3 inning by tomko after the Pads retook the lead.
take a pitch OG!! i was going to post that only you and tomko didn’t have a hit yet, but I didn’t get a chance.
nice another 1 2 3 inning
Tomko isn’t doing that badly it seems.
Haven’t checked in much lately, so you guys are probably all over this already, but I just looked it up and thought I would share it:
Thru Aug 9:
Greene 228/264/437 for an OPS of 701
Kouzmanoff 229/287/397 OPS=683
Aug 10-Sept 19:
Greene 345/394/561 OPS=955
Kouzmanoff 363/407/589 OPS=996
111 – that’s right after Joyner was named hitting coach.
Just sayin’…
another 1 2 3 inning. with 91 pitches i think we can thank tomko for another quality game.
I’ve talked about this before but it’s interesting to see how awful Brian Giles has been at home. Now granted, these numbers are skewed since Petco is such a pitchers park but they still mean something. At home, OG has the 4th worst SLG (225 PA) at .335. He’s ahead of Ray Durham, Omar Vizquel and his brother. His average isn’t great at .251 (but that’s respectable here) and his .359 OBP is good so he’s not completely useless but he’s not exactly worth what they are paying him. However, on the road he’s a completely different hitter. He’s 18th overall in OPS (.869) with a 302/380/489 line (20th in Avg, 12th in OBP, 26th in SLG). I’ve been critical of his approach at home as it certainly appears that he changes his hitting style at home.
With who the Pirates are sending up in the 7th, I’d run Tomko out there again, on a very short leash.
115: Agreed, especially with his spot leading off the next inning. he has pitched fine and today and deserves the 7th.
Why bother. I say be happy with what Tomko gave and move on before the time bomb explodes.
Because we’ve got 3 critical games coming up. Pittsburgh is 90% beaten today. They don’t have a strong lineup. Tomko had 6 K’s, no walks, a WHIP of 1.00 for the game. Would have been sensible to rest the pen. I assume we’ll still win, but if we do, we won’t be as prepared for Colorado.
The Padres certainly have odd home and road stats. Of course, they are going to look really weird since Petco so depresses offense and they get to play a sizeable percentage of their road games in Denver. Here are the team stats on the road:
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/Statistics/Team/playerstats?sortField=atBats&team=sdg&seasonYear=2007&split=34&seasonType=2&type=reg&pagetype=batting&stub=/mlb/Statistics/HTML/Table
And at home:
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/Statistics/Team/playerstats?sortField=atBats&team=sdg&seasonYear=2007&split=33&seasonType=2&type=reg&pagetype=batting&stub=/mlb/Statistics/HTML/Table
Everybody but Blum, Marcus Giles and Cameron somewhat hit on the road, while only Gonzalez and Blum hit at all at home.
118: In the end its just an extra inning for Brocail so I guess it doesnt matter with the way Cla and Thatcher have been pitching recently.
I see what you’re saying. I just think we’re tempting fate by throwing Tomko out there again.
and brocail continues the streak, 1 2 3
Plus I’d think it helps Tomko in the long run to escape before any damage happens. He’s pitched two good games since coming over and hopefully he can keep rolling the next time around.
Nice inning by Brocail BTW.
Who do you think pitches the 8th? Bell?
119: Silent L for MVUP: most valuable utility player.
121: We have been tempting fate using Brocail all season
Ensberg’s beard reminds me of Grover from Sesame St.
125 – agreed, but admittedly Brocail has pitched better than anyone could have expected. Probably himself included.
Dodger scored 4 to make it closer. 7-4 Rox bottom of 7th.
127: True, but doesnt that make him a ticking time bomb?
Now would be a good time to PH for Blum so we can get a defensive replacement for the 8th and 9th.
OG might need a day off.
#125 Keep the anti-Brocail posts coming. The more you put out there the better he seems to get.
130: One would hope but Pepe Negro hasn’t done that all season. NOG needs the rep too. An AB here and there can only help NOG’s confidence, can’t they?
#129 Deep down, I know your right but like Masticore I want to be careful not to take anything away from Brocail this year –he has had a good year and it’s been fairly unexpected.
132: Great for him. Its good he is ending his career on a good note.
133: What do we need to help his confidence for? Blum hasnt been that bad to where you need to replace him late in the game every game.
133 – I think it can’t hurt. Plus, if you have the better defender you might as well use him.
Bell looks solid right now. Good to see all the extra work this year isnt taking a major toll on him.
134: True, and it’s great to see. I hope Brocail keeps doing it all the way. Just don’t get comfortable with the thought.
If Black isn’t going to use NOG as a late game replacement we shouldn’t even waste the roster spot if we make the postseason. Carry Stansberry, at least he can play 3B, and SS in an emergency.
Rox add a pair on a Tulo HR … now up 9-4 …
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/boxscore?gid=270920127
I don’t care if Giles needs/gets plate appearances to stay fresh but I am sort of perplexed as to why he isn’t given late inning defensive replacement assignments. Giles can win us a big game with his glove late, Blum has been better lately defensively but NOG is markedly better
141 – absolutely. It’s not like we have to worry about burning up too many guys. We have Stansberry and Robles on the bench in case of further emergency.
139: I wish that is how it would work out. But Marcus will be on the postseason roster because he is a “veteran”. Though its been very limited, Stansberry has looked good and I’d love to see him on the roster especially since he is much more versitile.
Hard to take NOG off the roster when he is most likely going to start against LHP. Should be interesting to see how the next 4 games against lefties as a number of Padres fair better against them:
-Will they sit OG in favor of Hairston(assuming reports of bradley playing are accurate)?
-Does NOG start 2/3 times?
-Do they continue to split catcher innings? Barrett is looking better and better hitting the ball.
144: Where do you get the feeling Barrett has been hitting the ball better?
144 – re: Barrett. Were his at-bats that good looking yesterday, because the results sure weren’t?
144 – I think OG gets one of the two games off, but not both.
to quote “death”
mlb com said hoffman’s first pitch to bay was 89. ok…
147: What do you mean 1 of the 2? Arent they playing 4 straight games against lefties?
“taxes”
150: Right now Dessens is listed on Saturday.
mlb is on dope. said hoffy’s first pitch to LaRoche was 91mph.
mlb is on dope. said hoffy’s first pitch to LaRoche was 91mph. sorry to mclouth.
152: I see Mark Redman
Where was that last pitch to McClouth?
Wow, Kata doesn’t get PH for???
154: I think it just said 88 on ch 4
Not that I’m comlaining.
Put it in the books. Way to put together a run Padres!!!
HOFFMAN Padres in 7th Heaven…
Nice win today. Its nice to see us put up runs for the back end at home
155: I’m looking at the schedule on ESPN.com. Redman pitched on the 18th. I don’t see him going again on the 22nd.
Not that the Pirates and Giants are good teams but it’s freaking phenominal to see the Padres take care of business and win games the absolutely should win when it matters most. This is freaking sweet. Best way to go into a series against the Rockies (team that scares me the most against us). Now if we can get some D-Backs losses racked up!
162: “Redman will be pitching on three days’ rest, but manager Clint Hurdle felt confident because of his experience and the fact he kept the pitch count low against the Dodgers.”
Ahhhh, -0.5 and +3.0 and we aren’t talkin software here. That was fun.
164: So he is. Between Dessens and Redman, it’s not like there’s a lot for Hurdle to like.
Bring on the lefties. We’ve hit them a lot better this year than righties.
vs. lefties:
.266/.345/.436
vs. righties:
.244/.313/.398
Here’s a bad note from the AP article on today’s game …
Greg Maddux has a sore lower back but Padres manager Bud Black said the team hopes the right-hander can make his scheduled start Sunday against the Colorado Rockies. Black said Maddux caught his cleat on the mound in the third inning Tuesday night and tweaked his back. He lasted two more innings, enough to get the decision in a 5-3 win. Maddux had an MRI exam Wednesday. “I see him playing catch, so that’s a good sign,” Black said before Thursday’s game.
re: Tomko … after seeing the results of 2 starts now, I’m inclined to put stock in comments made on Sept 8th …
http://www.signonsandiego.com/sports/padres/20070908-9999-1s8padnotes.html
Tomko said part of his problem with the Dodgers was a decision by team brass to change his delivery.
“They wanted me to throw across my body like Derek Lowe,†Tomko said. “I’d never done that before. I’m a power guy.â€
With the Padres, Tomko has reverted to throwing hard. His fastball in Arizona peaked at 96 mph.
… hmmm … personally, I think we got the better end of the Wells/Tomko trade!
169: Eh, I’m still very skeptical of Tomko. So far he’s proven he can pitch decently against two really bad hitting teams in Petco. Good news is, his next start would be against the Giants in San Francisco, another pitchers’ park. Bad news is, the schedule works out currently so he’ll be pitching the last day of the season against the Brewers in Milwaukee. So let’s work very hard to make sure that start is irrelevant.
170: Pirates arent that bad of an offensive club are they?
Tomko is what he is….just a little below league average(career ERA+ 93)
I wouldn’t be surprised to see him post another year similiar to the one he had in San Dieog last time, but I’d rather try him in the pen where that fastball should gain a couple of extra MPH and let one of the kids have the 5th spot in the rotation.
I’d also talk to Philly, to see if they’d trade Eaton back to us. I’d be willing to pay about 8-10M of what he’s owed…so they’d have to eat a chunk of money, but they might be willing to just move on.
172: You like Adam Eaton that much?
171: 5 of their 8 position players today had 315 or less ABS vs 530 for full time regulars like LaRoache and Bay.
Blown Save Alert …
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/boxscore?gid=270920128
… this game featured 2 blown saves … and resulted in YAL (Yet Another Loss) for the Mets … who are now a full game behind the Padres … this is lookin’ good folks … this is lookin’ good …
Also, I’m a Cub fan now … Brewer’s loss tonight pushes them 1.5 behind Cubs … I don’t care between Cubs/Brewers, I just want it over ASAP (ie. before Padres go to Milw) … and that’s most likely if Cubs win and/or Brewers lose … so … Go Cubs!
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I’m with you there — the thought of playing the last series in Milwaukee does not excite me.
The Padres have to take care of the Rockies at home this weekend. They scare me since they’ve had plenty of success at Petco Park and coming in from a 4-game sweep of the Dodgers.
Let’s go Padres!