IGD: Padres vs Dodgers (4 Apr 08)
Fri, Apr 4, 2008
by Geoff Young
Padres (3-1) vs Dodgers (2-1)
Justin Germano vs Hideki Kuroda
7:05 p.m. PT
Channel 4SD
AM 1090, FM 105.7, XM 184
MLB, B-R
Battlestar Galactica finally returns tonight. I’m told that Jeff Kent is not the 12th Cylon, but with that show, you never know.
Japanese import Hideki Kuroda makes his North American debut for the Dodgers. I sat next to some guys the other day who kept repeating Tadahito Iguchi’s name and laughing hysterically — first time they’d been able to cut loose since the lobotomies. With Kuroda on the mound, no doubt they’ll be twice as hilarious.
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April 4, 2008 at 7:00 pm
Wooo Hooo…I finally bought MLB.tv for 2008. Have the Pads game on. Life is good.
April 4, 2008 at 7:07 pm
Ok…I’m watching the game and I’m stuck with the Dodgers broadcast because I live in Orange County and am I the only one who just doesn’t get the appeal of Vin Scully? I just spend the last 5 minutes listenting to him give a description (IN DETAIL) of the tattoos that Justin Germano has on his body? WTF is that about…who cares..
April 4, 2008 at 7:11 pm
Ugh, falling behind hitters!
Throw strikes, Justin!
April 4, 2008 at 7:16 pm
Hang me a curveball…lucky that we are playing a game a night when it is wet downtown…
April 4, 2008 at 7:24 pm
Very nice play by LA’s 3 bagger Dewitt…charging hard, throwig off balance to get kouz…nice.
April 4, 2008 at 7:25 pm
Kuroda’s got some nasty stuff
April 4, 2008 at 7:32 pm
Germano’s breaking ball bites! (in the good way)
April 4, 2008 at 7:33 pm
That curve to end the inning looked a lot nicer than the last one to Kent…It had bite/late movement.
April 4, 2008 at 7:41 pm
Keep in mind, Kuroda’s stuff is new to Padres hitters…
I mean he looks good, but let’s see what happens after they see him a few times.
April 4, 2008 at 7:44 pm
Germano is getting the job done thru 3, now it would be nice if we could get a hit (I’ll take a walk, even a HBP).
Sweet Greeney!
April 4, 2008 at 7:45 pm
props to KG for a very nice play. Hoping his D advances from last year continue into 08!
April 4, 2008 at 7:52 pm
Germano! 100% of the Pads Offense.
April 4, 2008 at 7:52 pm
Ha. Justin Germano just had by far the best at bat in the lineup thus far. Wow. Beautiful approach.
April 4, 2008 at 7:56 pm
Kuroda seems to be throwing lots of very hittable fastballs early in the count. Padre hitters are either taking them for strikes (Barrett, Hairston, Iguchi) or just missing them (Gonzalez, Greene, McAnulty, Giles).
April 4, 2008 at 8:05 pm
14: Those aren’t as hittable as you think. When he’s been over the plate, he’s had tremendous sinking action. He’s also throwing what looks like a four-seam on the inner half at about 94 (it could be that as he approaches the mid-90’s he loses the sink, making me mistake it for a four-seam). His slider bores in on RHBs so much that the possibility that he might throw one makes the fastball very difficult to put a good swing on. His command of all of his pitches has been outstanding. I don’t think I’d want to try and hit him today, and I suspect Padre hitters are feeling the same way.
April 4, 2008 at 8:11 pm
Kouzmanoff’s ERA just went up. He should have gotten 2 errors on that play. Poor.
April 4, 2008 at 8:14 pm
Kuroda is throwing 90-92 on CH 4’s gun…..which is consistent with the scouting report.
Padres look like they are sleep walking
April 4, 2008 at 8:16 pm
Yeah, it’s pretty sad when your pitcher has the only good at bat of the night.
April 4, 2008 at 8:18 pm
18. Agreed. It’s not just the outs they’re making.. it’s how their making them.
April 4, 2008 at 8:24 pm
Ugh, I know, bad english…
“it’s how THEY’RE making them.”
April 4, 2008 at 8:24 pm
Greene is having a great nite defensively. Let’s get some hits!
April 4, 2008 at 8:31 pm
This is like the game against Aaron Cook last year. Just embarrassing.
April 4, 2008 at 8:41 pm
I’ll take 6 innings of 1 run ball from Germano every time…
April 4, 2008 at 8:42 pm
Germano did his job. 6 IP and only the one unearned run. Let’s see if we can get some baserunners now!
April 4, 2008 at 8:42 pm
Tip o’ the cap to Germano - that’s six solid innings. Now let’s see if they can get a couple of runs for him.
April 4, 2008 at 8:43 pm
#23 you’re right… it was a bit of a tight rope walk..but 6 innings and 1 run is pretty solid…
Now lets get some damn hits boys…
April 4, 2008 at 8:44 pm
Assuming that’s the last we’ll see of Germano, he certainly gave us all we could hope for. at some point we’ve got to force kuroda to throw more than 9 pitches an inning.
April 4, 2008 at 8:45 pm
Maybe we should have left Germano in to hit.
April 4, 2008 at 8:45 pm
OG!
April 4, 2008 at 8:46 pm
ORANGE CRUSH!!!
April 4, 2008 at 8:46 pm
OG!!!!!!!!!
April 4, 2008 at 8:46 pm
We can still call him OG if there’s no more NOG, right???? OG porch job!!!
April 4, 2008 at 8:46 pm
Good thing the ball doesn’t carry at Petco
April 4, 2008 at 8:47 pm
32: The O could stand for only now.
April 4, 2008 at 8:48 pm
The Killer Gs tonite: Germano, Greene, Giles! I guess Gonzalez is waiting to participate until later.
April 4, 2008 at 8:49 pm
A bit late…
DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!DONG!!!
April 4, 2008 at 8:49 pm
#35 Gonzalez with the game winner?
April 4, 2008 at 8:51 pm
35, 37: Maybe Enrique Gonzalez can get the win.
April 4, 2008 at 8:55 pm
Throw a strike!
April 4, 2008 at 8:56 pm
That’s just freaking riddiculous… walking the pitcher who was trying to give himself up.
April 4, 2008 at 8:56 pm
You have to be kidding me Thatcher!! That’s 3 BB in 2/3 of an inning so far this year!
April 4, 2008 at 8:56 pm
Kuroda had one really good season in Japan, which is like AA-AAA level. I am not a scout or anything but I was shocked that there was the interest in him that there was. How the Padres aren’t killing this guy is beyond me.
How Thatcher walks a guy that is trying to give you an out is also beyond me.
April 4, 2008 at 8:58 pm
If he doesn’t retire Furcal, he’s gotta get yanked
April 4, 2008 at 8:58 pm
Why is Thatcher still in there?
April 4, 2008 at 8:59 pm
38: How ’bout Glendon?
April 4, 2008 at 9:00 pm
OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG!
April 4, 2008 at 9:00 pm
Unbelievable.
Go get him, Buddy, for crying out loud!!
April 4, 2008 at 9:01 pm
I can’t beleive he staying in there. That’s 4 BB this year in 2/3 IP
April 4, 2008 at 9:02 pm
We have two other lefties in the bullpen. One of them can even throw strikes. There’s no reason to leave Thatcher in to face Martin just so he can get the lefty Loney afterward.
April 4, 2008 at 9:02 pm
You can’t be this wild at the major league level.
April 4, 2008 at 9:02 pm
geez
April 4, 2008 at 9:02 pm
can’t walk the bases loaded and expect to get out of it…
April 4, 2008 at 9:03 pm
First manager mistake of the year… Buddy stayed with Thatcher too long there.
I HATE WALKS!
April 4, 2008 at 9:03 pm
I don’t think we’ll see Thatcher on the mound for a couple of weeks…at least I hope not
April 4, 2008 at 9:04 pm
I would be happy never to see Russell Martin again.
April 4, 2008 at 9:04 pm
Bud just sacraficed the game, trying to give Thatcher some confidence.
April 4, 2008 at 9:04 pm
Also notable about the walks: they were to the Dodgers’ three worst hitters!
April 4, 2008 at 9:06 pm
Come on Rusch, hold the score
April 4, 2008 at 9:10 pm
unbelievable
April 4, 2008 at 9:12 pm
Hey, another run that scores as a direct result of a walk.
April 4, 2008 at 9:13 pm
well..this sucks..
April 4, 2008 at 9:14 pm
It’s getting comical. Giving away free runs at PetCo
April 4, 2008 at 9:15 pm
Love those southpaws in the bullpen.
April 4, 2008 at 9:15 pm
it’s free run night in San Diego
April 4, 2008 at 9:17 pm
WOOOOHOOOO!!! RUSCH WITH THE HUGE STRIKEOUT!!!!
April 4, 2008 at 9:17 pm
sarcasm off…
April 4, 2008 at 9:18 pm
That inning sucked, but the Padres shouldn’t even have been in the position of using guys like Thatcher and Rusch. Kuroda is going to be an Irabu type bust and the fact they only have two hits off him is the real problem. This guy wasn’t an elite pitcher in Japan, he shouldn’t be shutting down major league batters.
April 4, 2008 at 9:27 pm
Well this is depressing to come home to… Almost makes me glad that my internet (that I signed up for specifically so that it would start working once the baseball season started up again) still isn’t working thanks to AT&T’s crummy tech support.
April 4, 2008 at 9:33 pm
I approve of allowing a hit to Juan Pierre. If we’re going to lose, in doing so we might as well promote poor roster usage by the Dodgers.
April 4, 2008 at 9:42 pm
Hey, over the course of the year… the bullpen will totally collapse a handful of times.. whaddya gonna do..
To quote mark Grant, “Hang With ‘em” and go get ‘em tomorrow.
April 4, 2008 at 9:52 pm
Our ‘pen doesnt look too great this year. Pretty much everyone who has come out of the pen has had a POOR performance.
April 4, 2008 at 10:01 pm
Just got home from the game. I hope we can do better tommorow. We still had a lot fun tonight.
April 4, 2008 at 10:09 pm
Not just the pen looking poor tonite. Only 4 hits on the offensive side too. Germano had a good outing. Otherwise…piss poor.
April 4, 2008 at 10:14 pm
Estes threw six innings of shut out ball in Portland tonight.
April 4, 2008 at 10:16 pm
Middle reliefe is lacking.
April 4, 2008 at 10:17 pm
I liked Justin’s outing. Looking forward to tommorow’s game.
April 4, 2008 at 10:26 pm
42: I charted Kuroda’s pithes from the third inning on, and he unquestionably has three major-league calibre out-pitches (sinker, slider, splitter). He had tremendous command of all three tonight, in addition to throwing what looked like a four-seam on occasion, as well as something that resembled a change or a curve, if only as a show-me.
Mostly, he threw the FB-splitty-slider combo from 82 to 94 MPH (mostly sitting from 86-91), and generally threw with excellent location and good movement. the splitter had outstanding downward movement, and his slider rides in on righties more than all but a few sliders I’ve seen.
I’ve only seen him once, but if he can throw like this on a regular basis he’s gonna be a front-of-the-rotation guy.