Triple-A — Portland 6, Sacramento 1
Peter Ciofrone (DH): 1-for-5
Chase Headley: 3-for-5, 2B
Brian Myrow: 2-for-4, 2B, BB, E
Chip Ambres (RF): 3-for-5, 2B
Will Venable (CF): 2-for-3, 2 BB
Nick Hundley: 1-for-5
Matt Antonelli: 0-for-3, BB
Wade LeBlanc: 6 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 0 HR, 3 BB, 8 SO
Dirk Hayhurst: 2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 HR, 0 BB, 3 SO
More of the usual from Headley… Third consecutive strong outing for LeBlanc: 16 IP, 7 H, 1 ER, 7 BB, 21 SO over that stretch. With luck, he’s over his earlier problems.
Double-A — San Antonio 6, Frisco 5
Drew Macias: 1-for-4, BB
Chad Huffman: 1-for-5
Kyle Blanks: 2-for-4
Craig Cooper: 1-for-4
Seth Johnston: 4-for-4, SB, E
Jose Lobaton: 0-for-3, BB
Manny Ayala: 5.2 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 1 HR, 1 BB, 4 SO
Jonathan Ellis: 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 HR, 0 BB, 2 SO
Ayala threw 91 pitches in his second start of the season… The losing pitcher was a guy named “Laughter”…
More coverage at the San Antonio Express-News.
High-A — High Desert 5, Lake Elsinore 4
Javis Diaz: 1-for-5, 2B
Cedric Hunter: 1-for-5
Eric Sogard: 0-for-3, HBP
Mitch Canham: 1-for-4
Kellen Kulbacki: 1-for-2, 2B, 2 BB
Ernesto Frieri: 6 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 HR, 0 BB, 6 SO
Kulbacki stays hot… Aside from one disaster against Rancho Cucamonga on May 21, Frieri has done a terrific job since moving into the rotation.
Low-A — Fort Wayne 6, Lansing 5
Luis Durango (DH): 2-for-5
Lance Zawadzki (SS): 1-for-4, BB
Justin Baum: 2-for-4, 2B, BB
Yefri Carvajal: 3-for-5, 2 2B, E
Jeremy McBryde: 4.1 IP, 6 H, 5 R, 0 HR, 2 BB, 4 SO
Aaron Breit: 3.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 HR, 0 BB, 5 SO
Another fantastic outing from Breit in his second appearance of the year… This game was suspended in the ninth due to rain; it’ll be finished up on Sunday.
With the team playing well and Gerut and Hairston really looking like they’re going to be able to help the club for the remainder of the season, I wonder if now isn’t the time to call up Headley. It’s still painfully obvious the offense needs a shot in the arm, but if you bring Chase up now you can still ease him into some games by working a platoon with those three. Defensively we should be better as well, since Huber and McAnulty collectively look only a shade better than Ryan Klesko out there.
On another note, I don’t know if anyone else has caught this but it seems with having seen LaRussa, Piniella, and Willie Randolph come through here over the past few weeks, that those three managers really love pitching changes and situational matchups, even when there’s not really a high leverage situation at hand. Randolph has run Schoeneweis, Smith, and Feliciano out there in each game this series, and Duaner Sanchez has pitched in two of three. It makes me wonder if these managers are really that uncomfortable when they don’t have a favorable matchup, and if this has lead to them burning through their bullpens faster than the Padres usually do. Also, I wonder if the Padres have made a conscious decision to go after relievers, like Heath Bell, who are equally tough on left and right handed batters.
It’s too bad that Adrian and Brian Giles both swing from the left side, or else I would really like to see Buddy post a lineup that alternates lefty-righty all the way through. It would drive Randolph nuts, and it would also give us a favorable matchup late in the game, like what happened tonight with Hairston.
This letter was in the Sunday San Diego Union-Tribune. I read it to my wife and she thought that I had written it. I hadn’t but it totally expresses my feelings about Bud Black. What do you think of the letter?
BLACK AND BOCHY: Watching the Padres this year is like déjà vu. Bud Black . . . is Bruce Bochy redux. I realize our Padres are limited in what they can do, but Bud’s management has been totally predictable. He is from the same mold as Bochy. There is no fire, no surprises, nothing new, very little bunting or hit-and-runs, nothing unexpected, nothing that the other team is not expecting. The Padres need some new blood with new ideas, but it won’t happen. Bud Black is cheap, and the Padres like cheap.
TOM FERRELL, San Diego
#1@Bryan: I expect to see Headley up within the next couple of weeks.
#2@Frank Barning:
This sentiment should satisfy anyone who seeks simple “answers” to complex issues.
Saying Bruce Bochy had no fire is like saying Trevor Hoffman doesn’t throw a change-up.
#1@Bryan: I really don’t think Giles and Gonzalez should be hitting back-to-back in the lineup anyway. Giles should really be batting second or first.
#2@Frank Barning: Bunting and hit-and-running is a good way to give away outs and lose ball games. It’s bad baseball. That’s why they don’t do that.
#3@Geoff Young: I think he’s supposed to be up before they start interleague. Perhaps they want to let him DH.
#4@Bryan: No kidding. Whoever wrote that letter had no idea what he was talking about on several levels.