IGD: Padres @ Mariners (16 May 08)

Chris YoungPadres (15-27) @ Mariners (16-26)
Chris Young vs Miguel Batista
7:10 p.m. PT
Channel 4SD
AM 1090, FM 105.7, XM 181
MLB, B-R

Ah, interleague play. The intensity, the intrigue, the irrelevance…

I walked over to Book-Off the other day and found a whole slew of baseball publications. Most are in Japanese, so I couldn’t read them, but I could look at pictures. One of the publications was a commemorative yearbook (or some such) for the 2000 Pacific League champion Daiei Hawks. I flipped through it absent-mindedly, hoping for glimpses of familiar faces. Lo and behold, two of them are playing in this weekend’s series: Mariners catcher Kenji Johjima and Padres second baseman Tadahito Iguchi. The legendary Sadaharu Oh managed the club, and one of his charges was another ex-Padre: Melvin Nieves.

So, now you know…

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110 Responses »

  1. Black’s lineup construction really hurts the team in the later innings. He’s got Giles, Gonzalez, and Clark back to back, so you just bring in a lefty to really neutralize those guys. Then we’ve got Kouz, Greene, Bard, and Hairston, all much better against lefties, so you bring in your righty and mow through them. He’s gotta mix those guys up to force LOOGYs to pitch to Kouz if they want to get Giles and Gonzalez, or righties to pitch to someone left handed instead of just buzzing through a bunch of righties.

  2. #44@Koo: Rikaichan is cool, but if you really learn Japanese you don’t need it. :)
    Speaking of which, let’s do a test.
    パドレスがんばって。

  3. What is with the baserunning?

  4. What? That was disgusting. OG why push Iguchi?

  5. #54@Oside Jon: Can you explain what you mean by the question? Are you implying that Brian Giles had something to do with Iguchi trying to score? I didn’t see the play …

  6. Giles singled, Iguchi went to third, Gile rounded first too far and they threw behind him. Iguchi took the out at home.

  7. #55@LynchMob: Gooch made the right decision. Someone was going to get thrown out and might as well try to score a run while trying to do so.

  8. Chase with his 6th HR tonight for Portland …

    And another good day at the plate for Huffman for San Antonio …

  9. For the 9th inning … Bell or Hoffman? I’m pretty sure I know what it will be … and I’m not saying I’d choose any different … Hoffy hasn’t pitched in a while … just thinkin’ out loud …

    Thanks for recap of OG’s baserunning blunder … bleh …

  10. Thru 8 innings …

    Pitches-strikes – C Young 98-65; C Meredith 13-8; H Bell 15-11; M Batista 105-61; R Rowland-Smith 11-9; M Lowe 26-16.

    Ground balls-fly balls – C Young 6-7; C Meredith 3-0; H Bell 1-0; M Batista 8-7; R Rowland-Smith 2-0; M Lowe 2-2.

    Batters faced – C Young 27; C Meredith 4; H Bell 4; M Batista 29; R Rowland-Smith 3; M Lowe 7.

  11. OT … Branyan with 3 HRs (at AAA) tonight …

  12. By the way, the Weaver clip is not real. It is Weaver. But the interviewer is not really shocked by Weaver’s comments, and the last question and comment are so over the top.

  13. #59@LynchMob: Hoffman has pitched recently, hasn’t he?

  14. Hoffman saved a game three days ago.

  15. SEATTLE — Oft-injured pitcher Mark Prior has another shoulder problem that will delay his debut with the San Diego Padres.

    http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3400318

  16. Re 52: Yes, it’s a very cool tool. By “really learning Japanese” and not needing the tool, I assume you mean that if you learn to read all the Chinese characters, their combinations, the Chinese and Japanese readings and their respective meanings. Yes, then you probably wouldn’t need the tool. Still, for baseball terminology and some proper and place names (which native speakers are often unable to read), it’s still a cool tool.

    パドレス頑張れ!

  17. #64@Kevin: To me, that qualifies as “Hoffy hasn’t pitched in a while” … which I think means he’s got a pretty good chance to be successful in the bottom of the 9th tonight … assuming he hasn’t warmed up 3 times already …

  18. #67@LynchMob: To me, every three days is about right for a closer. More than a week would be awhile, but I guess there is no definition of “awhile.”

  19. Looks like Adrian is the only one who hasn’t done anything tonight.

  20. He didn’t have control or on the plate!!!!!

  21. I think Huber should have been safe.

  22. How can he be out, when he dropped the ball?

  23. M’s caught a break there.

  24. Is Bud arguing the call?

  25. #75@LynchMob: He argued it a little. The catcher never had control of the ball with his foot on the plate at the same time.

  26. #75@LynchMob: He argued for a second, but geez. The ball wound up on the ground.

  27. Cue up the Trevor apologists!

  28. #73@LynchMob: They couldn’t tag 1st because that would take away the force at home. Throwing home, the throw was off and the catcher trapped it in his chest without control of the ball while skimming the plate and fell off to the first base side. It was a clear ‘gimme’ for the M’s.

  29. #55@LynchMob:

    Giles motioned to Iguchi to move home when it looked obvious to me that he wouldn’t make it. I love the “mix it up/anarchy” and hope he scores but it didn’t work. 38 minutes late on my response…..sorry guys. Eating late dinner. Sounds like I’m wrong judging by other posts so I’ll just shut up and watch Trevor stike out Ichiro.

  30. Hope that bad call doesn’t come back and hurt them. That was Sexson’s second terrible throw of the game — unless he always throws like that there is something wrong with his shoulder.

  31. I thought the M’s guys both said Vidro sucked?

  32. #78@Richard D.: There is nothing to apologize for.

  33. K — Beltre

    Hoffman.

  34. Finally, another win. Even though it’s against a team playing as bad as us.

  35. Ok, even I admit that was vintage Trevor tonight.
    Good stuff… keep it up.

  36. Hoffy still 100% in May … now 3-for-3 … wtih 5 outings in a row without giving up a run … and 7-of-last-8 … those are the (recent / small sample) facts …

  37. That was vintage Hoffman.

    He pitched to the top of the lineup and made them all look silly, including Ichiro.

  38. Trevor looked great for the 2nd outing in a row. MLB Pitchcast had both the 3rd pitch and 4th as on the plate so I don’t know what Beltre is complaining about.

    Trevor seems to go through a “dead arm” period at some point during the last few years maybe this year he’s just having it the beginning?

  39. #66@Koo: I personally don’t use it, though I have it installed (I mainly use IE anyway), but I’m by no means fluent. If I remember the problem I had with it is it goes from Japanese to English, and I’d rather use the extra bit of time to use a J-J dictionary at this point. Also I think it could be abused by using it rather than trying to figure out what the word is on my own first if it’s a word I don’t know. However I agree it’s an awesome tool and would be super easy to use for figuring out stuff on the web. Lately I mainly use an electronic dictionary to lookup unknown words, which has a way to draw unknwon kanji too so it’s perfect for both online and offline.

    Anyway, it’s nice to see Hoffman back to looking good.

  40. #91@Schlom: He struggled last April, too. And in 2005.

  41. This is only a morale booster. Seatle sucks. Don’t get your hopes up to high. Let’s see how this series plays out and the upcoming home stand.

  42. #78@Richard D.: Hey, I’ve got an idea; blow me… a kiss, Sweetie.

  43. Hoffman: 8 saves this season in 10 chances. 4.97 ERA. 15 Ks, five walks in 12.2 innings.

    Career: 532 saves in 597 chances.

  44. Sorry to be a glass half empty dude (that’s usually GY’s job).

  45. #93@Kevin: Didn’t he start off the season OK and then struggle at the end of the month?

  46. 6.23 ERA in April last season, 0.00 in May, 0.90 in June, 0.00 in July, 5.54 August, 1.13 September, then those games in October.

  47. It was also nice to see the offense support a start that was OK but not great. If they scored five or six runs every game, they would be a great team.