Archive for March 2008

IGD: Padres vs Astros (31 Mar 08)

Monday, March 31, 2008
by Geoff Young
Padres (0-0) vs Astros (0-0) Jake Peavy vs Roy Oswalt 7:05 p.m. PT Channel 4SD AM 1090, FM 105.7, XM 184 MLB, B-R It's beginning to look a lot like Opening Day. What better time to bust out an esoteric table: Jake Peavy: 2007 Starts by Percentage of Pitches for Strikes Str/PitGSIP/GSH/9HR/9BB/9K/9ERAW-LRS/GRA/G Statistics are courtesy of Baseball-Reference. >.66106.805.160.402.5111.251.728-16.702.60 .63-.66156.607.640.452.369.002.366-43.732.87

Series Preview: Lisa Gray Talks Astros

Monday, March 31, 2008
by Geoff Young
I'm making a concerted effort to do more interviews this year and get more voices talking here at Ducksnorts. With that in mind, it's my great pleasure to bring you Lisa Gray, of the excellent Astros Dugout, who will tell us a little more about the Padres' first opponent of 2008. Ducksnorts: The Astros and Padres are similar in many respects. Both teams entered the league during the '60s and still are largely ignored by the national media. With the retirement of Jeff Bagwell and now Craig Biggio, how does the franchise go about re-establishing itself in an environment where so much emphasis is placed on individual players, particularly those in large media markets? Gray: That ...
Padres tickets  Chargers tickets  Sports tickets

Your Predictions for 2008?

Sunday, March 30, 2008
by Geoff Young
From esteemed reader LynchMob comes this excellent idea for a post on the eve of Opening Day: "provide us with a list of questions which you want us, the commenters, to go 'on the record' with"; he then poses several questions, which you will find below. This might be fun to peek back at throughout the season. I'll lead off with my responses; feel free to follow... How many wins for the Padres in 2008? They'll go 86-76. Is this 2008 team better or worse than the 2007 team? Why? About the same. Randy Wolf and Tadahito Iguchi should represent upgrades over David Wells and Marcus Giles, while Jim Edmonds won't produce like Mike Cameron. Where will they finish in the NL West? Second place. What are ...

2008 Roster Contest Winner

Sunday, March 30, 2008
by Geoff Young
At the end of February we held a "Guess the Opening Day roster" contest. Many participated, and one emerged victorious: long-time reader Bruce K. nailed 22 of the 25 roster spots, missing only on Justin Huber (which all 20 of us missed for obvious reasons -- the contest closed on March 9, and Huber didn't join the Padres until March 26), Wil Ledezma (only one person had him on their list), and Paul McAnulty (four people had him listed). Congratulations to Bruce! For his efforts, he will receive a copy of the Ducksnorts 2008 Baseball Annual. Thanks to all who participated, and special thanks to reader Colin, who sponsored this contest. Go Padres!

Eats and Drinks Near Petco Park

Saturday, March 29, 2008
by Geoff Young
As regular readers know, because there are so many great food options within walking distance of Petco Park, I don't do ballpark concessions. With Opening Day just around the metaphorical corner, I figure now is as good a time as any to revisit the ol' Restaurant Guide. One place I recently was turned onto is The Fleetwood. It opened in September 2007 and is just a few stumbles away from the park. Aaron, Brendan, and the rest of the gang serve up excellent steaks, chops, and beers. They also take good care of Padres fans, so, yeah, I think we'll be paying them a visit at ...

IGD: Padres vs Angels (28 Mar 08)

Friday, March 28, 2008
by Geoff Young
That's where they're playing tonight. Believe it.

Friday Links (28 Mar 08)

Friday, March 28, 2008
by Geoff Young
Is it my imagination, or are these weekly link roundups becoming a tad unwieldy? Would it be better to do a link post every day or two (not as a substitute for my normal daily thing, but in addition to it)? Let me know what you think... Mike Bauman at Padres.com notes that Jake Peavy is working on his changeup (h/t LynchMob), which could make him an even better pitcher. Better? Well, he just won the Cy Young Award unanimously, so that might be stretching it. Still, it's good that Peavy is making an effort to refine his game. That gives him a better chance to maintain his current level of ...