If you thought Wednesday night’s loss (box score) was dreadful, here’s something even verse:
Once was a boy, age fifteen years,
Hiram Helsel was his name,
And he was sick two years or so;
He has left this world of pain;
His friends they miss this lovely boy,
That was patient, kind and brave.
He left them all for him to mourn –
He is sleeping in his grave.
— From “Hiram Helsel” by the inimitable Julia A. Moore.
On the bright side, Kevin Kouzmanoff finally got his OPS+ over 100 for the season — no small feat after he dug himself into a giant (.113/.171/.183) hole back in April. Although Kouz could stand to improve his strike-zone judgment and hang in a little better against right-handers, it’s hard not to like his .307/.353/.523 line since the All-Star break.
By way of comparison, David Wright hit .292/.373/.506 over the first half of the season. No, Kouzmanoff isn’t Wright — not even close (don’t be daft) — but there’s reason to be encouraged.
by Peter Friberg
You will not see a Texas League sweep…
AA
Springfield 6, San Antonio 2 (series tied, 1-1)
Nick Hundley: 3 AB, 0 R, 0 H, 0 RBI; BB, 2 SO
Cesar Ramos: 5 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 2 SO, 0 HR
High-A
No game…
Commentary:
Nick Hundley has not had a good post-season… He’s hitting .125.
Laurel and Hardy, er, I mean, Greg Maddux and David Wells, Thursday night at Dodger Stadium. We’ll do that IGD thing that we do…
Ultimately, yeah, I probably want Hairston in there over Sledge. Better defense, a little more upside long term. But my main argument is, let’s not crucify Sledge (especially not over one game where he wasn’t even the biggest problem) and glorify Hairston when Hairston has sucked this year too and the difference between them isn’t all that large.
51: Agree. Sledge is kind of in the Branyan boat. Together they hit 14 HR in a little over 300 at-bats, which is really pretty good for two bench players in our home park, and they’ve been treated worse than Blum.
Regarding the whole Sledge/Hairston (Clark doesn’t really figure in unless as a defensive replacement as he can’t hit) the main hope is that we are only looking at a few more games. Personally, I’d rather play Hairston out there and hope that he gets hot. Sledge just isn’t a realistic option anymore. He has just stopped hitting (he has 1 hit since August 26, 1-19 and is 7-46 .146 since the ASB). Hairston may not be any better, but he certainly can’t be any worse.
Both Hairston and Sledge have good minor league numbers but Hairston’s are better (not taking into park effects): 322/396/571 for Hairston and 309/393/490 for Sledge.
#41: Like Ruben Rivera’s baserunning, Kerry’s defense is not the sort of thing one forgets. The best part is that he was laughing after the play.
#42: See comments 41 and 49 in below thread:
http://ducksnorts.com/blog/2007/08/friday-links-31-aug-07.html
To be honest, I’d rather see Ruben Rivera in LF over Sledge.
Take that for what it is.
Awesome thanks G.Y!
wow T.W. you did a great job with him, that really does not help my opinion of Law, although for some reason I continue to read his chats every week. He came off sounding so defensive against a couple of every day Padres fans. I’m really surprised he cares what a couple of guys (gals?) from SD care about him.
Supposedly in the UT today they were saying they were reassessing the Germano situation to see IF they’d give him another start.
I mean, with only 3 starters what else can we do? I wouldn’t mind seeing Geer or Leblanc once their playoff season ends for a start or two but I doubt there’s a chance of that.
Re: 57 why start thier MLB clock? I really dont think at this point in the year they are a better option than Germanno Cassel or Tomko.
#56: Not a problem! This is why ESPN lives only at the very edge of my consciousness, BTW. San Diego baseball fans are not their target — not even close — and we should stop wishing otherwise. IMHO, it cheapens us in the same way that chanting “Beat LA” does.
Re: 59 well its hard not to wsh for it, better ESPN coverage would probably lead to more revenue for the club (ie caoturing more fans who are not in an MLB market) which we have all discussed to no end.
Sorry that is suppose to say
(ie capturing more fans who are not in an MLB market)
I really need to re read these posts before I hit send.
Re: 59 doing the wave and having those stupid boat races every game cheapens SD a lot more than chanting Beat LA
#62: The wave is lame. Still, that and those boat races (or some variation) go on everywhere. OTOH, we seem to be one of the few cities that actively cheer against another city (well, except for Boston and New York, which have a rivalry that both sides acknowledge). It makes us seem very provincial, IMO.
Re: 63 Meh maybe its my pure hatred of the dodgers that obscures my views on the beat LA chant but if nothing else it brings SD fans together.
64: Agreed, I think the Beat LA chant really fires up a crowd. It’s nice to see Padres fans have some swagger from time to time. Plus, as a transplanted San Diegan that (unfortunately) lives closer to LA than SD, any way I can manifest my distaste for all things Southland makes me happy.
64: I love my dad’s story of telling the local little league that he wouldn’t accept coaching a team with a Dodgers uni. And he’s a “it’s just a game” kinda guy.
There is no way I would let my kid (I dont have one so this is hypothetical) play on a little league team named the dodgers or a pop warner team named the Raiders.
58 – I guess when something sucks I’m willing to take a chance on the unkown rather than what we already know sucks.
How’s this……….my two year old is chanting “Beat LA” all the time now ever since I took him to the game two weeks ago when Boomer pitched for the doggers at Petco.
I love it. He is so enthusiastic about it. It makes me proud and bring a tear to my eyes.
Re 69: makes me feel warm inside that there is another generation already being trained to dislike the dodgers!
69/70 … i’m gettin’ teary eyed just readin’ about it … well done PF4L!!!
Has anyone seen a statistical analysis of the additional RP9 generated by having the pitcher make the last out vs. starting off the next inning? It’s hard to imagine that the incremental gain would negate the motivation to walk a #8 with runners on base and 2 out.
63 … the next best thing to a two-way-rivalry is a one-way-rivalry … in fact, it just proves how little I care about Dog fans …
#65 If you’re doing that tonight, you’re “braver” than me, but Storm shirt’s dirty so Padres it will be.