IGD: Padres @ Rockies (30 Jun 08)
Mon, Jun 30, 2008
by Geoff Young
Padres @ Rockies
6:05 p.m. PT
Channel 4SD, DIRECTV 741
AM 1090, FM 105.7, XM 187
MLB, B-R
Picking up where last year's version left off, the Ducksnorts 2008 Baseball Annual provides in-depth analysis of and commentary on the San Diego Padres. Get your copy today.
June 30, 2008 at 12:29 pm
Jaff Decker has already caught Kevin Goldstein’s eye at Baseball Prospectus …
http://www.baseballprospectus......cleid=7738
Jaff Decker, OF, Rookie-Level AZL (Padres)
Decker is comparable to recent high draft picks like Cleveland’s John Drennen and Oakland’s Matt Sulentic. He’s never going to blow anyone away with his athleticism or overall skill set, but the one tool he has is the hit tool, and that’s the most important one. A supplemental first-round pick in June who signed for just under $900,000, Decker isn’t playing very far from his Peoria, Arizona home during his pro debut, and the home cooking seems to be doing wonders. He’s scored five runs and driven in four in a pair of weekend games, and is now 9-for-17 with two doubles, a home run, and eight walks in his first five contests. Already playing left field–the position he’ll likely be limited to as a pro–Decker will try to prove that man can live by bat alone.
June 30, 2008 at 1:11 pm
#1@LynchMob: My goal for Decker is to match what Cedric Hunter did as an 18 year-old in Rookie Ball (.364/.458/.469), but with much more power. And I expect him to be all over the Padres’ top prospect lists by next season. If he is the real deal, we could see an outfield of Decker in LF, Hunter in CF, and Kulbacki in RF in a few years. Of course, it doesn’t make much sense to have two power-hitting lefties in an everyday lineup playing at Petco. Still, I’m excited about seeing how quickly those three ascend to the big leagues.
June 30, 2008 at 1:18 pm
2: As long as they can hit for power, I’d be happy.
BTW, the Padres are 6-4 in the last 10 games started by Maddux. Maddux’s record? He’s 1-3. Yup, this is his lot this season.
I wonder if Hairston is going to start in a game this series given his past success there.
June 30, 2008 at 1:30 pm
#3@Didi: I gotta think Hairston is starting tonight against the lefty.
I was just thinking about this yesterday. Black goes to the same exact lineup everyday, no matter how bad the team is doing. His attitude throughout this whole dismal season has been, “We’ll get it going”. In my opinion, besides Gonzalez, they’re all interchangeable parts. They should all be hitting 7th or 8th so it doesn’t matter what order you put them in, as long as AGON is 3rd or 4th, but my point is this. Why not shuffle this lineup around and see if it helps someone get hot? Draw names out of a hat. Any sort of creativity would be refreshing, really.
June 30, 2008 at 2:07 pm
#2@JMAR: The LHB and RHB HR PF are about equal.
June 30, 2008 at 2:12 pm
#2@JMAR: Not sure if that outfield could hack it defensively but if they can all really hit, I guess it won’t matter.
I have a fun game, guess who is leading the NL in OPS in June?
http://tinyurl.com/4ln255
June 30, 2008 at 2:23 pm
#1@LynchMob: I don’t understand the “limited to LF” part. He was a pitcher in high school and has a great arm, and I thought arm was the difference between left and right.
#6@Schlom: That game’s not very fun.
June 30, 2008 at 2:31 pm
For the last year or so, the SF Giants have basically conducted a trial camp, in which they practically have given everyone from AA and up to AAA up to the big club to see what they have and what future strengths may be and to be frank, I think it just may have worked and allowed from some pieces of their future puzzle as far as position players to be mined from within.
Its important, I believe, that the Pads do the same. Even a guy like Antonelli may get some reps at this level, this year.
June 30, 2008 at 2:42 pm
PMac’s age (27) kind of works against him right now - the he only has 200+ at bats and a OPS of .660 -too many strikeouts with not enough power and below average defense.
I would give him another 100 at bats but does it have to be this year ? It would be a good test right now to see if he can rake AAA pitching again like he did in 2006 along with seeig how he would handle adversity….
He is out of options but I would think he would clear waivers…
June 30, 2008 at 2:47 pm
#5@Richard Wade: Really? That’s interesting. It seems like a ball really needs to get smoked to get out in RF. I’m guessing that’s total HR’s hit in Petco by either team, right? Because the Padres haven’t had any lefties, besides Gonzalez this season, that have had any sort of HR success at Petco. On the other hand, KG and Mike Cameron come to mind as right-handers who have had HR success at Petco.
#6@Schlom: That game makes me want to throw up.
#8@JP: I think we’re all just about ready for them to start the open auditions for 2009. I don’t care if they set a record for players to appear in a game over a full season. It just needs to happen.
June 30, 2008 at 2:48 pm
#8@JP: Now that I think about it, the Padres have done this to some degree this year as well (non-injury related/younger player moves) : Huber, Crabbe, and Morton have been given some work….At the time, I complained about Huber and Crabbe’s (or even Morton’s) performance, but really, when I think back, it was a GOOD decision for the Pads to give two young guys that did well in the minors a crack versus bringing in a Damon Easley or a Shannon Stewart…..This is what the Pads will hopefully continue to do…..
June 30, 2008 at 3:00 pm
Josh Bard will now be out longer than expected as he still feels pain in that ankle. Well, I guess we will now find out about Barrett
I would think that the Pads would want to give Hundley a look right now and then unless he sets the world on fire then send him back when Bard is back in 3 weeks. Do we really need to see Carlin any more at this point ? Carlin may actually hand around awhile at this level (up and down) because of his defensive skills but he will never hit and there is no need to watch him anymore…next !
June 30, 2008 at 3:07 pm
6: That’s not a game! That’s torture. Though, he has been playing in much smaller park. Not sure if his performance in June would have helped the Padres much.
June 30, 2008 at 3:07 pm
#7@Ben B.: Historically, left field is usually where the guys with lesser range are hidden: Dave Kingman, Greg Luzinski, Adam Dunn, Ryan Braun. Players who are really DHs.
June 30, 2008 at 3:12 pm
#6@Schlom: Yo … playing the Jim Edmonds card … now *that* is amazing! I think *everyone* here was very glad when he got cut … he was really hurting the team. So how/why did he turn it around? He’s turned into the player that the Padres thought they had tradded for during the off-season! The only theory I have is that he didn’t fully heal/recover from his leg injury … and even just a few days off after being cut by the Padres and being signed by the Cubs was enough to get him healthy enough to swing the bat. I’m not sure how his defense has been … perhaps that’s still be costly for the Cubs …
June 30, 2008 at 3:17 pm
#8@JP: I wouldn’t call up Antonelli. He’s still doing terrible down there, so why start his arbitration and free agency clock? Although it looks like it won’t matter.
I think the first move I’d do is call up Leblanc from Portland to take Baek’s spot. He’s done awesome in June (3.34 ERA, 43 K’s in 35 IP)and is an extreme flyball pitcher (0.59 ground out per fly out)so Petco is definitely a better pitching environment then the PCL. He turns 24 in early August so it’s not like he’s that young either.
June 30, 2008 at 3:19 pm
#7@Ben B.: I don’t understand the “limited to LF” comment either … he is a big kid … but it’s my understanding he’s got decent speed (he stole a lot bases in HS and he stole a base in each of his first 2 games at AZL …
June 30, 2008 at 3:24 pm
Just realized the Pads are playing the D-Backs Friday thru Sunday. They are definitely holding off on any trades until after that series with the hope that they can sweep and get within 5-6 games. I guess anything could happen in this joke of a division. It looks like they’ll be missing Brandon Webb but will face Haren, Doug Davis, and the Big Unit.
June 30, 2008 at 3:34 pm
#15@LynchMob: Edmonds stopped taking a post-concussion medication soon after joining the Cubs. That might have something to do with it.
#17@LynchMob: Most times a player will lose some agility as he ages, but I don’t see why Decker couldn’t be a RF like OG or Tony Gwynn. He’s a pretty good athlete.
#16@Schlom: Why start the clock on LeBlanc when the team is going nowhere?
#13@Didi: It would have helped plenty, but it’s hard to know if he would have had the incentive to come off his medication here. Small park or not, those are big numbers. Still, there’s the larger question of the Padre process. Was the original decision to trade for him flawed (in which case releasing him makes sense, no matter how bad it smarts now) or was it well-informed (in which case there’s not much justification for cutting him)?
June 30, 2008 at 3:40 pm
#19@Tom Waits: I don’t think it matters as much for pitchers.
June 30, 2008 at 3:54 pm
#20@Schlom: Why is that?
June 30, 2008 at 3:58 pm
#19@Tom Waits: In regards to Edmonds, I’m not sure it matters whether he hits or not for the Cubs. Since they brought him in to fill a hole for a perceived contender, as soon as they fell out of the race, what is the need to keep him? If he was hitting for the Padres like he is now for the Cubs, his offensive numbers still probably wouldn’t be overwhelming. They might have gotten a low-level prospect for him. So the choice was either a low-level prospect or the opportunity to see what Jody Gerut and Scott Hairston (and maybe Wil Venable) can do.
That makes sense, doesn’t it?
June 30, 2008 at 4:01 pm
#21@Richard Wade: Pitchers are a lot more volatile and more susceptible to injuries. Plus pitchers seem to peak earlier as well (I’ve read that before on Baseball Prospectus, not sure if I can find the link for that). As soon as they are ready, you should call them up.
June 30, 2008 at 4:04 pm
#20@Schlom: Service time is service time. If he’s on the roster in July and stays all year he’s getting half a year. That wouldn’t matter if it was valuable to his development, but he only has 115 innings above A ball. He’s only been good this year for one month.
#22@Schlom: They could have seen what Gerut and Hairston could do in LF. It speaks to their decision-making process. Either he wasn’t a good player to trade for, and they need to adjust how they evaluate older guys, or he was a good player to trade for, and they should have tried to find a way to keep him (DL). A good two months from Edmonds and you can trade him for something decent and not pay him 3 million dollars.
June 30, 2008 at 4:14 pm
#24@Tom Waits: My point is that pitching in Petco is probably better for him in the long term then pitching in most of the stadiums in PCL.
I certainly don’t think he’s going to be an ace starter or anything but he could be the kind of pitcher that gets a huge boost from pitching in Petco because he’s a flyball pitcher.
I’m not sure I follow your reasoning on Edmonds. Basically, if he was a good player to trade for, they should be playing him even though he essentially useless for the team’s present and future (even if was hitting 300/400/500 for the Padres they wouldn’t be contenders). Keeping Edmonds and playing Headley means that P-Mac, Gerut and Hairston all don’t play at all from now until they traded Edmonds for some low grade prospect. Not that I think any of those three are really in the teams future, but I can understand why they’d want to play those three the rest of the season. Just because Edmonds made sense for the team in April doesn’t mean that it didn’t make sense to release him.
June 30, 2008 at 4:24 pm
#25@Schlom: After only 34 good innings in Triple A, he doesn’t need a huge boost. He needs another 60-80 good innings in Triple A. Petco may be a boost, but he’s still going to be facing major leaguers, and he’s going to get hit. It could be that it won’t bother him and his learning curve will be accelerated because of the exposure, but…..it’s been one good month.
They shouldn’t have been playing Edmonds regardless of how he was doing. If they thought he was a good player to trade for, they should have tried to keep him in the organization so that whatever was wrong with him could be fixed. That doesn’t necessarily mean playing him. It might have meant a long trip on the DL or a long stint on the bench with extra work or a trip to a bunch of doctors.
He can’t have been a worthwhile trade target in the winter but a good release candidate when there were 126 games left. Both those things can’t be true. Either the original evaluation was wrong (it looks like maybe the original evaluation was right, if he keeps hitting like he is as a Cub) or the Padres were hasty in releasing him.
June 30, 2008 at 4:44 pm
From Baseball Prospectus:
Top 5 Luckiest NL Starters, by LUCK
Player, Team, W, L, E(W), E(L), LUCK
Brandon Webb, ARI, 12, 4, 7.5, 5.3, 5.8
Kyle Kendrick, PHI, 7, 3, 4.7, 6.1, 5.4
Kyle Lohse, SLN, 9, 2, 7.0, 5.0, 5.0
Manny Parra, MIL, 8, 2, 5.7, 4.5, 4.8
Ben Sheets, MIL, 9, 1, 7.4, 3.9, 4.5
June 30, 2008 at 4:46 pm
re: Edmonds
If he was the clubhouse cancer everyone said he was, I’m glad they cut Edmonds, no matter how well he is doing.
June 30, 2008 at 4:50 pm
#18@JMAR: Are you assuming they are thinking about making a number of trades? They are not out of the race right now. They need a good week. But as of last week, the team said they are not sellers.
June 30, 2008 at 5:00 pm
#29@Kevin: I think the current position of the Padres is that if they can get within 6.5 by the break they will consider themselves still in it otherwise they will be looking to next year.
June 30, 2008 at 5:07 pm
Well, since last week, we’ve lost eight straight.
And we were already sellers, the club just wasn’t going to make it public.
Re: LeBlanc v Baek, having seen both multiple times… Baek has better stuff in my opinion. LeBlanc has a nasty change, but Baek has a better fastball and breaking ball. For both of them it’s about location.
LeBlanc should continue working on his fastball location. Baek’s already up and doing his Chan Ho park impersonation. Sometimes he’ll be good, sometimes he’ll implode. But LeBlanc wasn’t even close to ready in Spring; I don’t think he’s there now.
June 30, 2008 at 5:17 pm
#26@Tom Waits: I don’t understand why he can’t be both (worthwhile trade target and release candidate).
Things change during the season. If the Padres were in contention, it would make sense to trade a bunch of good prospects to the Indians for a half-season rental of C.C. Sabathia. But that doesn’t make sense right now.
As a said before, even if Edmonds was hitting for the Padres like he’s hitting right now for the Cubs, what incentive would the Padres have to play him — especially if they didn’t think he could adequately cover centerfield?
June 30, 2008 at 5:17 pm
#28@Kevin: I haven’t heard everyone. There was, IIRC, one unsourced story. But I’d rather have a clubhouse cancer with a 1.000 OPS than a great guy hitting .300 points lower.
#29@Kevin: As of Sunday Alderson said they’re probably sellers.
#30@Richard Wade: That sounds about right to me. If they went 5-1 the next 6 games they might reel in the DBax, but……they’ve still been outscored by 88 runs. This particular front office can’t have that much confidence in the likelihood of turning things around, not without a healthy Young and with Jake seemingly still feeling his way.
June 30, 2008 at 5:19 pm
#29@Kevin: Most people are assuming they are going to be making some trades and listening to KT on the radio today, it sounds like he’s already had discussions with some potential trading partners. While he says he is not quite ready to give up on the season, if they don’t gain ground on the D-Backs this week, I have to think it’s just a matter of time before Maddux and Wolf are gone.
June 30, 2008 at 5:24 pm
re: Edmonds. Let’s not be hasty with the process that got him in here in the first place and then cut him. His great numbers in June are also piled on in the last ten days while playing in Chicago, both parks.
As to his decision to stop taking medication, we don’t know whether that was ever under consideration by the Padres nor can it be something that was foreseeable prior to the move.
June 30, 2008 at 5:26 pm
#32@Schlom: It can’t be both because a player who was worth trading for in the offseason (assuming that’s true) is a player who would have helped the Padres win more games. That’s the goal. They released him long before they should have considered the season over. They’d played 36 games. 2 weeks ago they were only 6.5 out.
There’s a difference between getting a player, not being competitive, and then trading him, and what the Padres did with Edmonds. Their preseason analysis said he was a guy to get, and then after 26 games, 90 at-bats, with 136 games left to play, they decided he was worthless. Those two things do not go together. You don’t take a 7 million hit in order to get Gerut, PMac, and Hairston some more playing time, not when there’s 80% of the season left to play, and not if you have faith in the initial analysis.
It’s looking more like they were hasty in the decision to release him. Maybe there was an issue with sending him to the DL again, I don’t know. Maybe he was such a jerk in the clubhouse that they decided to eat 7m. Doesn’t sound like the Padres I know.
June 30, 2008 at 5:26 pm
#34@JMAR: OK, they are doing it earlier than I would like. But hey, lots of things don’t happen on my timetable.
June 30, 2008 at 5:31 pm
#36@Tom Waits: Perhaps neither was a bad decision. They traded for him thinking they were getting the player he is off his medication. They cut him thinking he was the player he was while on his medication. Assuming the medication is the reason for the difference in performance and allowing that this couldn’t be known beforehand, neither decision is “wrong.”
June 30, 2008 at 5:33 pm
#35@Didi: Let’s also not overstate park effects. Sometimes people act like Babe Ruth would be a 280/350/450 hitter in Petco. Edmonds isn’t just getting lucky. He seems to have his batting eye and some bat speed back. He could fall apart again, of course. I don’t want to overestimate his hot streak either.
The point isn’t how Edmonds does with the Cubs. My concern is the process that the Padres used to identify him in the first place. He’s an expensive data point to tweak that model (if it has been tweaked, and it seems likely that they’re working on it). If I was guessing, I’d say the Padres would say that the initial decision to get him was the wrong one, that they missed a piece or three of information that should have made them more skeptical of his ability to come back. But it’s possible that their initial analysis was right, that Edmonds was a worthwhile player to get (even if he might have had to shift to LF), and that they might have jumped the gun on his release. In the grand scheme of the Padres 2008 season, barring a repeat of the 2005 NL West Stinkfest, it probably doesn’t matter. The Padres are all about process. It’d be interesting to see what they’ve learned, procedurally, from the Edmonds episode.
June 30, 2008 at 5:41 pm
#38@Richard Wade: Supposedly he was on that medication most of the last 2 years, so I’m not sure how big a factor it could have been. But the original trade decision wouldn’t be “bad” so much as possibly highlighting a process that needs improvement. Something like “If we’re targeting a player 35 or older, we need to look at more medical data, particularly his Latin Name for Eyesight Test.”
The decision to release him would tend more towards the “bad” judgment because he was, for all intents and purposes, under their control. I don’t claim to know what options they discussed, whether they suggested another turn on the DL or using him as a 5th outfielder in hopes he could get his game back, but it’s possible (I’m not laying odds on how likely) that Edmonds is an 850-900 OPS hitter the rest of the way. That player was in there somewhere, trapped inside the shell of the Edmonds we had to watch. The Padres thought that player was in there when they traded for him. The question is, could they have freed him, or was his resurgence in Chicago totally unpredictable? I bet the Padres are trying to figure that out themselves.
June 30, 2008 at 5:48 pm
None of this, BTW, means that I’m unhappy with the decision to release Edmonds. He bugged me to no end, and he looked as done as a player could look. I’m more interested in what the whole affair says about the Padres methods of evaluating trade targets and their own personnel. And, from what we know about the team, it seems probable that they suspected a flaw in their initial assessment, too. They committed about 10% of their opening day payroll to a player and didn’t even give him a full month. That suggests to me that they thought “Whoops! We need to change our projection model!”
June 30, 2008 at 5:49 pm
Re: EDMONDS
Most of us fans were excited going into the offseason knowing we had huge holes to fill in CF and LF and anticipating that the team might finally do something big, whether it be bringing in a young, speedy outfielder or trading for an established player closer to his prime than a Jim Edmonds.
When the Edmonds trade went down, I think the reaction was pretty much negative across the board. No one was really that excited about it. Some of us were anxious to see what Hairston could do over a full season so I can’t complain much there.
But it’s hard to replace two players like Mike Cameron and Milton Bradley and expect to be the same team. Those two guys brought so much energy and attitude to this team. The current team lacks leadership, energy, emotion, attitude, etc. I have to believe KT and SA realize that now. In fact, KT mentioned that in his 1090 interview today.
June 30, 2008 at 6:03 pm
#42@JMAR: I actually liked the Edmonds trade.
However, once they fell out of contention, he became a useless player for the team. There was absolutely no performance reason to play — the reason to keep him on the team was to not take a total loss on his salary. Usually that would be enough of reason for the Padres (and most low payroll teams) to keep a player, however I’m glad the Padres decided to get rid of him.
There were three reasons the Padres released him — he wasn’t hitting, didn’t look like he could play CF, and the Padres were terrible. 30 games (or whatever he had) might not have been enough to accurately judge the first two things, but once the 3rd thing happened his perfomance didn’t matter.
June 30, 2008 at 6:05 pm
#42@JMAR: Agree. It’s a painful learning process, but I’m pretty confident the front office is learning. Even great organizations have bad years.
June 30, 2008 at 6:08 pm
#43@Schlom:
1. You can’t fall out of contention after 36 games.
2. You can’t judge a player’s performance potential for 400 at-bats on 90 at-bats.
It will be much better for the future of the Padres if they released him after re-thinking their original decision and seeing where it might have been missing some data than if they released him because he was bad in for 4 weeks.
June 30, 2008 at 6:16 pm
That ball Kouz struck out on was at his shoulders. I’m starting to wonder if it won’t be easier to find a new solution to leftfield, since Chase Headley may be the long term one at third.
June 30, 2008 at 6:26 pm
Speaking of CF, why in the world is Gerut starting again against a left handed pitcher? It takes about 2 seconds to find out that he’s a 210/295/316 batter against LHP. Is he going to learn how to hit them at the age of 30? And even if he does, is he seriously the CF next season? If he is, we are in for another long one.
June 30, 2008 at 6:32 pm
#45@Tom Waits: You can’t fall out of contention after only 36 games? Didn’t the Padres do that this season? Maybe not potentially but certainly realistically.
June 30, 2008 at 6:32 pm
#47@Schlom: We’re in trouble next year if our center fielder has a 107 OPS+? Winning this year is irrelevant; you might as well use the games to evaluate possible assets for next year, and if Gerut can sustain a 107 OPS+ in center field while still facing lefties, he’s definitely an asset for next year.
June 30, 2008 at 6:32 pm
Tom #44 When Darren Smith asked SA, pointedly,with exasperation, last Wednesday,”What have you learned from this season?”, his response “That it’s difficult to lose, oh, I already knew that” doesn’t exactly make one chant “wait ’til next year”.
June 30, 2008 at 6:39 pm
#48@Schlom: No, they didn’t. All you have to do is look at the standings. Two weeks ago they were 6.5 games out with 90+ games to play. That’s a medium-sized hot streak away from first place. It wouldn’t be the most probable goal, but it’s not blind optimism either.
If the Padres decided that at Game 36, all their preseason moves still left them without enough talent to possibly mount a challenge, then we’re in immense trouble.
June 30, 2008 at 6:51 pm
Alright! Finally a BroBI!
June 30, 2008 at 6:52 pm
Koooz.
June 30, 2008 at 6:53 pm
Tie game! Yes!
June 30, 2008 at 7:00 pm
#51@Tom Waits: Shouldn’t the Padres front office make hard calls like that? I’d rather them play for next season then hope that they somehow go on a 2007 Rockies run at the end of the season. With this roster, I just don’t see that happening. Getting swept at home, and never even leading, by the worst team in baseball pretty much shows that the season is over.
#49@Ben B.: He’s hitting .210 in his career against lefthanded pitching. He’s not exactly young either. I highly doubt that he’s going to turn it around and suddenly become average. It’s mainly stupid because why give away outs when you are in Colorado. Plus with Maddux on the mound, it’s not like they need his glove out there.
June 30, 2008 at 7:08 pm
#55@Schlom: Three games does not prove the season is anything.
June 30, 2008 at 7:27 pm
#55@Schlom: Getting swept at home happened the last 3 days. They released Edmonds about 8 weeks ago.
June 30, 2008 at 7:42 pm
39: I see your point. However, what I was pointing to is that he started to slug in the last 10 games like crazy. I’m not saying the current version of Edmonds wouldn’t have been successful in Petco. I’m merely pointing out that he is on a streak (in smaller parks) that’s unforeseen at the time he was released. Honestly, he looked done at the time no matter what park he was playing in. I haven’t seen him play since so i don’t know if his bat is faster or what-not.
However, your point about the analysis that went into the decision to get him in the first place might have been flawed given the current streak by Edmonds is what I’m pointing out as being hasty. I don’t know if there are other reasons that let to his being let go. I do agree that whatever flaw in the reasoning should be evaluated. One that I am still curious about was the decision to play him in the ML level even though he skipped Spring Training if he wasn’t ready and looking back he didn’t look ready.
June 30, 2008 at 7:44 pm
55: I’m with you about Gerut not being platooned against lefty starter. Why not let Hairston start? Given Gerut’s health, it’s probably good for him to get some days off in his first season back if the Padres want him to play the whole season.
June 30, 2008 at 7:48 pm
#59@Didi: He only had 3 at-bats (and only one runner on base) but why throw away three AB’s? With a flyball pitcher I can see why you’d want the superior fielder out there (if Gerut is that much better then Hairston) but why bat him leadoff? Usually you want your worst batter 8th, not first.
June 30, 2008 at 7:48 pm
It’d be nice if the homer is not solo like what the Rockies were doing earlier in this game.
It’s not over yet but it sure is a long way to score 5 runs to get ahead.
June 30, 2008 at 7:50 pm
60: But he got speed, man….like Flash. He’ll beat a groundball to pitcher no problem.
June 30, 2008 at 7:53 pm
60: 3 ABs that end in 3 outs = 1 inning. That makes for an 8-inning game being behind. That’s harder to overcome with this team.
June 30, 2008 at 7:55 pm
Chasing two! I’m really fighting to be optimistic. Been a tough couple of weeks and all signs still point to fire sale. Anybody think the coaching in ready to take a fall the next few weeks?
I was at the game Thurs when they announced the $1 hot dog/soda/off on beer promotion. My first impression was that they’re sweetening us up before the trade dealine slaughter…
A’ight a rally, and a tie game. If we can hold this lead this kinda stuff can turn stuff around.
June 30, 2008 at 7:55 pm
#62@Didi: I think he would have come up in that situation if Hairston started anyway so it’s not like the start really cost them anything plus now they still have Hairston on the bench.
But it’s a strange lineup choice. He can’t hit lefthanders yet he starts in a high run scoring environment and bats leadoff. That doesn’t sound like Moneyball, or Sandyball, more like “Let’s finish last so we can draft Strasburg”-ball (although I’m not sure that’s a philosophy).
June 30, 2008 at 7:55 pm
And I should more crap about this team. Perhaps, they’ll score some more runs.
What a slow footed team this is. There.
June 30, 2008 at 7:56 pm
8-8. Tie game!
June 30, 2008 at 7:56 pm
Damn, my HD Cable box rebooted and I missed all 5 of those runs to tie it while I was trying to get the HD set back up!
June 30, 2008 at 7:56 pm
Hey, the Padres are playing Rocky-ball!!!
June 30, 2008 at 7:58 pm
I’m still praying we’ll only be 5-6 out by the asb. With the NL West the way it’s been this 1/2, it’s still almost anybodies division, but what then?
Guess I’ll make my July playoff payment as a down payment for next seasons seats! Go baseball!
June 30, 2008 at 8:00 pm
#68@Turbine Dude: No worries TD, you wouldn’t have believed it if you had seen it. Esp after our boy Merideth pulling us outta the mire
Matty’s right, havent seen a come back like this all season. Gotta seal the win. A loss here after this 6th inning effort will really take the wind outta pretty limp sails…
June 30, 2008 at 8:01 pm
Of all people, Adrian was the one striking out to end that inning. Strange game this baseball.
June 30, 2008 at 8:04 pm
#72@Didi: ahh, that was Kooze. Gonzo was the lefty that flailed away for the second out…
June 30, 2008 at 8:07 pm
As critical as we are on the Padres, at least it’s easier then being a Rockies fan. At least the Padres are mostly older players, the majority of the Rockies are in their prime (except for Helton).
June 30, 2008 at 8:24 pm
Chase update … well, he’s done something tonight for the first time this season as a Padre … in his 50th AB, he swung and missed at the first pitch … yup, first time! Then, in his next AB, he also swung at the first pitch (getting a single). So now he’s 3-for-6 when he hits the first pitch (he’s yet to foul off a first pitch). In his other 2 ABs, he’s taken ball 1 on the first pitch.
June 30, 2008 at 8:29 pm
Decker with his first 0-for day …
http://web.minorleaguebaseball.....p;did=milb
… 0-for-5 with a K … so I s’pose he’s human
June 30, 2008 at 8:31 pm
#74@Schlom: Hoffman, Clark, Giles, Maddux, …Tomko, who else?
June 30, 2008 at 8:31 pm
It’s my understanding that GY’s at this game …
http://web.minorleaguebaseball.....a_srcaaa_1
… bummer, he gets a Germano start! He’s pitched OK, but Beavers are down 3-1 after 6. No Antonelli in the lineup … double-bummer
June 30, 2008 at 8:33 pm
San Antonio tied up the game with a run in the bottom of 9th …
http://web.minorleaguebaseball.....x_sanaax_1
… but they’ll have to be clutch again as Tulsa has scored a run in top of 11th …
June 30, 2008 at 8:34 pm
Pelzer with another *very* nice outing for Ft Wayne …
http://web.minorleaguebaseball.....x_ftwafx_1
June 30, 2008 at 8:35 pm
The Rocks’ pitcher looked like he was intentionally gunning for Edgar.
June 30, 2008 at 8:40 pm
#77@kjj: Only Headley is young, Kouz, A-Gon, and Khalil are in their primes for the starters. Peavy is the only starting pitcher in his prime. Compare that to the Rockies who have all their starters but Helton and Hawpe 28 and under and all but Cook are under 29.
June 30, 2008 at 8:51 pm
Tied going into the 9th inning in Colorado — where have I seen that before? Oh yeah, this game:
http://www.baseball-reference......0010.shtml
People with high-blood pressure or that are easily excitable probably don’t want to click on that link…..
June 30, 2008 at 9:01 pm
83: I don’t think we have enough pitcher to go the extra innings again. Oh, wait, we do have them and we actually used one to pinch run today. Wow.