Triple-A — Portland 6, New Orleans 4
Matt Antonelli: 0-for-3, 2 BB
Jody Gerut: 0-for-3, BB, HBP
Chase Headley: 2-for-4, 2B, BB
Brian Myrow: 0-for-3, SF
Chip Ambres (CF): 1-for-4
Edgar Gonzalez (3B): 0-for-4
Will Venable (PH): 1-for-1
Nick Hundley: 0-for-3
Craig Stansberry: 1-for-1, HR (didn’t start)
Josh Geer: 6 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 0 HR, 2 BB, 5 SO (9 GO)
Clay Hensley: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 HR, 0 BB, 0 SO
Jared Wells: 1 IP, 0 H, 1 R, 4 BB, 1 SO
The Padres are being cautious with Venable, who hasn’t played the field since returning from the disabled list earlier this week… Wells gets a save for that performance. Sure, why not.
Double-A — Frisco 14, San Antonio 10
Drew Macias: 2-for-3, 2 BB
Chad Huffman: 3-for-4, BB
Kyle Blanks: 2-for-5, E
Craig Cooper: 1-for-5
Jose Lobaton: 0-for-5, E
Matthew Buschmann: 5 IP, 7 H, 6 R, 3 HR, 1 BB, 6 SO
Ah, I love a pitcher’s duel.
High-A — Lake Elsinore 2, High Desert 1
Javis Diaz: 0-for-4
Cedric Hunter: 0-for-4
Eric Sogard: 1-for-2, 2B, BB
Mitch Canham: 2-for-3, 2B
Kellen Kulbacki (DH): 0-for-3
Rayner Contreras: 0-for-2, E
Drew Miller: 6.1 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 0 HR, 0 BB, 11 SO
Kulbacki made his Elsinore debut… Nice game from Miller.
Off the field, Dr. Seuss is taking a page out of MLB’s book on how to win friends and influence people. I’m down with protecting one’s assets, but it seems to me this could have been handled a little better. Still, I love the Storm’s official statement. I respect anyone who can spoof Dr. Seuss in response to a cease-and-desist letter. That is solid.
Low-A — Fort Wayne 7, Cedar Rapids 5
Luis Durango: 0-for-4, BB
Andrew Cumberland (SS): 1-for-4, BB
Justin Baum: 1-for-4, 2B, BB
Bradley Chalk: 1-for-3, BB
Felix Carrasco: 1-for-3, BB
Yefri Carvajal: 1-for-3, BB
Jeremy Hefner: 2.1 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 1 HR, 2 BB, 2 SO
Carvajal drew his fifth walk of the season (against 25 strikeouts); everybody drink.
Is it time to bring up Greer to replace Germano yet?
It is rather strange to see Bud Black with his roster management.
He has 12 pitchers with the staff and yet refuses to use them effectively.
Germano was clearly getting into trouble and yet the bullpen with all those arms are not being used. I understand the willingness to let a starter getting out of their own trouble and, yet, despite evidence to the contrary in Germano’s last 3 starts, Bud Black wouldn’t put him on a tight leash. Once Germano is getting to the 80 pitches territory, shouldn’t Bud Black be ready to yank him at the first/second sign of trouble? The same MO is being used last season with David Wells that ended up costing the Padres 7 losses, at least half of which probably could have been a fight.
And then, there is the misuse of Colt Morton and Callix Crabbe. Two assets whose asses kept sitting and warming the bench. Not only is Bard being abused by starting everyday (until today’s game), Cold Morton’s development as a catcher and hitter is being impeded by his assignment to the bench. Callix Crabbe best asset of speed and his role as utility player are not being properly utilize. How is he going to avoid getting rusty by sitting on the bench. Yes, Tony Clark is the first option for PH but shouldn’t Callix Crabbe be used as a pinch runner at least as often?
Effectively, the Padres are using a 21-man roster. Two mopped up guy and two benchwarmers are taking up space on the bench. With the way this team is playing, wouldn’t mixing a new kink into the strategy be a wise thing? It is hard enough to win the close games, the Padres shouldn’t let a potential blow-out game like today’s to turn into on before responding to it.
Ahh, crap. I meant Josh Geer not Greer.
Looks like if the Padres go the college arm route again this year, they should consider one of these guys.
From Baseball America.
Hey Aaron, I was just curious which college pitchers you thought had the best sink on their ball in this draft.
Sean
The 2008 draft class is rich with quality righthanded sinkerballers. For the purpose of this exercise, let’s consider just players who throw a sinking fastball, and not those with outstanding sink on a split-finger (like North Carolina State’s Clayton Shunick or Georgia Tech’s David Duncan) or cutter (like Mississippi’s Scott Bittle).
The nation’s premier sinkerballer among starting pitchers is Michigan’s Zach Putnam, who not only throws a heavy 92-93 mph fastball but also has a devastating splitter. Clemson righthander D.J. Mitchell has less velocity on his fastball–he works in the 88-91 range–but even more sink, though he hasn’t been as effective as Putnam this spring.
There are a number of hard-throwing relievers with very good sink. Miami closer Carlos Gutierrez stands out for an 89-90 mph two-seamer that Hurricanes coach Jim Morris says has the best sink of any pitcher he’s coached since Kevin Brown. Gutierrez can reach 92-93 with his four-seamer, but he’s most effective when throwing around 90 with his sinker.
Texas Tech closer Zach Stewart might be even nastier–one area scout said his fastball is “92-96 with serious sink.” Rice reliever Bryan Price works in the same range with a sinking two-seamer. And Purdue closer Zach Lindblom throws a 94-95 mph fastball with heavy life, though not as much movement as those others.
Ok, Aztecs. Better start winning those games.
Per BA:
San Diego State has good wins against San Diego, Oklahoma State, Houston and Southern California, but series losses to Texas Christian, Nevada-Las Vegas and New Mexico have caused them to sink in the Mountain West standings. Barring a run in the MWC tournament, the Aztecs are likely to be left out.
Big weekend series for the Toreros.
Lost one already. Let’s go, Toreros. Sweep the Waves and be done with the conference.
http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/college/weekend-preview/2008/266011.html
5: Crap, I meant sweep the remaining games this weekend.
#1@Didi:
I agree. Mix it up a bit. We have the worst record in the National League. Hello…….wake up and smell the cellar. Something needs to be done.
On the brighter side of losing, comment from Khalil today in the UT:
“Obviously, no one wants to fail,†Greene said. “But who’s to say that failure’s not a good thing masked in the wisdom that you can’t see at that point? I just try to look at the positive.â€
That’s a great way to look at failure. Not often we hear ballplayers talk this way.
Hoipe this team turns it around. I dunno if it’s the fact that I’m moving right now or the Pads stink, but I haven’t watched a game in over a week.
Early game today right? 10AM or something….
Oside Jon, I have heard players make similar comments, but usually they are ripped by talk radio etc for not having a desire to win.
Sundays game is 10Am. Today is 4PM.
Headley starting to pick it up a bit. Another great outing by Josh Geer ! Will Geer get the call to take the 5th spot ?
Since college baseball came up earlier, I see that the Aztecs shut out Air Force, with Stephen Strasburg putting up more crazy numbers. For the season:
1.43 7-1 IP: 75.1 H: 46 BB: 10 K: 110 WHIP: 0.74
Hope they get to the tournament. I’d like to see what he can do against better competition. I’m not sure the starting pitching is deep enough to do much if they do get there, but…
Has Barry Bonds name come up here in the past couple of weeks? It’s way too early to panic, but one more month of this might get us to that point.
#11 Mark, One more month of this and they will be cutting payroll, not increasing it.
ESPN article Padres Cant Blame Petco
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/story?columnist=crasnick_jerry&id=3378892&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab2pos1
#10@JP:
Headley has been hitting well recently, and most encouraging is the return of his plate discipline. If Kouzmanoff continues to hit like a platoon player, the Padres may rue the day they decided to move Chase to LF.
Josh Geer and Justin Germano look like the same pitcher, separated by 10 months. Germano actually has a better K/9 rate (minor league) which is far more predictive than ERA or anything else. They have almost identical BB/9 rates. Maybe he gives us some good starts, but so did Germano early last year. I don’t see much upside there, and wouldn’t mind at all if the Padres cashed in on his minor league ERA and his Texas League Pitcher of the Year title in a trade.
One thing in Geer’s favor is he’s only been pitching professionally for 2 years, and he has had some big K games in the past. Maybe he is the one in a hundred pitcher who can hump up when he needs a K, but players with his profile are not often successful major league starters.
Agree with you Didi on Germano. It may not even be a pitch count issue, but he just doesn’t have the stuff to get a lineup out the third time around. By then they’ve seen him and made any adjustment they need to make. And if you’ve got those arms in the pen, use ‘em.
Anyone know the last time Hunter got a hit? Seems like every time I look at one of these reports he has an 0-fer next to his name. Hope he gets it going.
#11@Mark in Sacramento: Forget Bonds, let’s bring in Roger Clemens. I hear he’s great with kids.
#16@Pat: Hunter is in a mini-slump; he’s 1-for-17 over his past four games. In the previous four, he was 6-for-16, so I’m not too concerned.
#17 Geoff, Too funny !
Thanks for the update Geoff.
18)Agreed, Geoff, that’s at least three great humorous quips in the past 24 hours. Did anyone else hear the 1090 interview with SA yesterday? I found it really positive for the Padres’ future. Sandy expanded upon his “best way to score runs in Petco” comment ie “a walk and a homerun” by stating what we should all know, that the “sucessful teams posses both high obp AND SLUGGING AVERAGE” Shouldn’t we also give equal attention to slg ave in the comments? He disagreed with the comentators, who have been suggesting a speedier lineup (tailored to Petco) and reminded them that half the games are played away from home. When they asked him the inevitable question about whether the Padres will reconfigure the Park so there can be more HR’s, his answer was “WE are not there YET” with clear emphasis on the “yet” – not necessarly a new position, but an answer, undoubtably well thought out ,and indicating movement in that direction. See KG’s comment above.
I hope they don’t ever bring in the fences. Not only have past teams (ie last year’s Padres) shown they can hit there, but it seems incredibly short-sighted to me. We shouldn’t be reconfiguring the ballpark every year to fit the team, and we shouldn’t have to build a team tailored to the ballpark. If we have a good baseball team, it will win anywhere.
#20 Malcolm: I heard the interview. Its actually from about a week ago, they most likely aired it again. Or maybe SA says the same thing in every interview. I understand what he means to a point. If given the choice between David Wright and Jose Reyes, I am taking Wright every time. That might not be the best example because Wright has some speed too, but I think you see my point. Speed alone isnt the cure.
Juan Samuel would not turn the Padres into a good team. He would simply be Khalil Greene with some stolen bases.
#21 Bryan: I agree ! Shea Stadium and Dodger Stadium have always been pitchers parks, but the teams were able to be successful hitting there. I guess its fairly obvious, I am tired of the Petco alibi.
#20@malcolm: Absolutely. The lack of power has hurt far more than the lack of speed, although we have taken lack of speed to its Platonic ideal. It’s made more obvious when every Diamondback seems to run like a gazelle while winning at a .690 clip.
Fast players who don’t get on base and don’t hit for any power just run to their positions faster at the end of the inning.
#17@Geoff Young: He’s only struck out once over those four games (while walking twice) and that was in the game he got the hit, so I wouldn’t worry.
Regardless of the other numbers, if you’ve got a 20 yo in high A only striking out 1 out of 10 ABs and walking more than he Ks, things are looking good