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58 Comments
Portland Beavers up 1-0 thru 7 …
http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=milb&t=g_box&gid=2008_07_21_cspaaa_poraaa_1
… on an Antonelli double + Ciofrone single … Ramos with very good outing (6 IPs, 6 H, 1 BB, 8 Ks).
Lineup posted by FJ …
Scott Hairston, LF
Edgar Gonzalez, 2B
Brian Giles, RF
Adrian Gonzalez, 1B
Kevin Kouzmanoff, 3B
Jody Gerut, CF
Khalil Greene, SS
Nick Hundley, C
Josh Banks, P
From the UT about yesterday’s game …
Shortstop Khalil Greene was unavailable because of back stiffness that Black said related to a strain suffered during Saturday’s game.
FJ with a shout-out today …
http://padres.mlblogs.com/archives/2008/07/hot_links_for_monday_july_21.html
#2@LynchMob: Hairston better be in the lineup, even if it is to rest Headley. I heard an interview with his brother Jerry today. He says that Scott has always been a slow starter and then heats up around July and August. If he stays hot, he might pass AGON for the HR lead by season’s end.
#1@LynchMob: Antonelli closing in on .200. Woohoo! Seriously, I think he’s hit in 7 of 8 now and he even stole his 4th base of the season today. At least it’s progress.
Is Headley out for rest or for some other reason?
Odd that Gerut is in CF and Hairston is in LF. By all the easily found defensive stats (BP, Hardball Times Win Shares, Range Factor) Hairston is better then Gerut. Plus I would think that they’d want to find out whether Hairston is capable of being the full-time CF next season — of course I’ve thought that and then he only started against the left-hander yesterday in the four game series against the Cardinals.
For the fifth game in a row, the Padres have taken an early lead. Maybe this will work out better than the previous four.
And as soon as I say that, Encarnacion homers.
10: You jinxed it.
Nah, it’s the pitching.
#8@Schlom: I’m more confused about their spots in the lineup. Gerut’s been getting on base at a good rate, with almost no power. Hairston’s OBP is low but he hits for a ton of power. So you lead off with Hairston and hit Gerut sixth?
12: It’s the genius of Pepe Negro. Confuse the opposing manager into pitching to the wrong players.
#12@Ben B.: It makes sense if they are auditioning Hairston for the everyday leadoff position next season. But if they were doing that, why hasn’t he been playing everyday? I just don’t understand why they aren’t playing him more. He’s been on fire in July as he is far and away the leader in OPS this month (1553 over 200 points ahead of 2nd place) yet he’s only started in 10 of the 16 games they’ve played this month (he’s also pinch hit in 3 and sat out of 3). A good way to ensure that you lose is to not play your best hitter.
Here’s the NL leaders in OPS in July (with a minimum of 25 ABs):
http://tinyurl.com/6×6fsj
The bottom is kind of interesting. Even though Khalil is hitting 111/149/200 in July, he’s not even in last. In fact there are 5 guys below him — 2 catchers in Towles and Coste, Brendan Ryan, Michael Bourn and some guy I’ve never heard of, Roger Bernadina of the Nationals. If they keep throwing him out there the Padres actually might have trouble getting the worst record in baseball.
Have you guys seen Hairston’s Home/Away splits?
Scotty’s a 295/341/584 hitter at Petco and a 204/241/389 hitter on the road. The sample sizes are a bit small, but he does have more than a hundred AB’s both home and road. Maybe Black was trying a home/away platoon with CF?
Edgar Gonzalez is good at baseball.
Hairston: boom.
#14@Schlom: I have been on the play Hairston everyday bandwagon for a while now. After today’s performance against a righthander I would say that we will now get our wish.
#19@JP: It makes you wonder what the overall plan is — if there is one. The only reason I could see to start Gerut over Hairston is that they see Gerut as the CF starter next season and Hairston as the 4th outfielder. However, I don’t think that’s the right decision as I’d do the opposite as Hairston is younger, appears to be a better fielder and has been a better hitter this season.
What a shocker, runner on 3rd, less then 2 out and (again) the Padres can’t get the runner in. Greene’s trade value has to be about zero by now.
That was certainly an impressive inning there. The first two batters get singles, then Gerut and Greene swing at the first pitch and do nothing (Greene’s AB with runners on 1st and 3rd). Then Headley comes up and sees 6 pitches, swinging at just one pitch and fouling it off.
Again, as bad as they have been, they are still a lot better then the 2003 Tigers. How could anyone have watched them?
#20@Schlom: Maybe the Padres want a larger sample size to use to make a better, more informed decision.
#21@Schlom: Well, the Padres are bad and really frustrating.
The Tigers were more of a blooper reel. There was no expectation that you would see real baseball. Depends on your taste.
#22@Ben B.: Well, we pretty much know what Gerut is going to do — probably something like his 2003 but with less power. Getting him more AB’s isn’t going to change that I don’t think. Hairston on the other hand has never been a major league regular. And since he’s been the Padres 3rd best batter this season (only A-Gon and Giles are better) doesn’t it make sense to play him everyday? Especially considering he might be better then Gerut. Seems like a no-brainer to me — unless they are doing the “Stealth Tank.”
Runner on 3rd, less then 2 out for the 3rd time this game. Will we see the same result as the earlier two times?
As much as I loved Wally Joyner and his swing during his playing days — and he seems to be a great guy — from an admittedly distant perspective, it would appear it’s time for the Pads to hire a new batting coach. Not to place the blame on Wally, but Khalil — he of 27HRs, 97 RBI and 85 runs scored last year — is lost at the plate, the Pads are near the bottom in runs scored, and their hitters see too few pitches and walk far too infrequently. Change is good, if for nothing more than to shake things up a little to see what might happen— it couldn’t hurt their record — and its overdue.
Or maybe I’m just frustrated…
I guess that worked. Now can the bullpen hold it?
2nd big hit by Kouzmanoff in 2 days.
The Padres have really battled the last few days.
They have battled— and they still have a 6-game losing streak (which will hopefully become a 1 -game winning streak in about 15 minutes).
Egon kind of reminds me of Phil Garner a little bit. That junkball inside out single he has off of Coco in the 9th was a damn good piece of hitting.
3 outs. lets get it done!
No outs. Bases loaded.. Is Black going to just let him sit out there and cook. This is looking familiar.
32: Yup, and possibly an unlikely hitter is going to hit a grand slam to win it for the other team.
Nice call by Carlin and pitching by Hoffman.
Good win from behind.
Had them all the way.
The Padres have been playing entertaining baseball since the break. Can’t wait for tomorrows game.
The Padres had been 0-53 when trailing after eight innings.
Can’t say it wasn’t exciting.
#36@JP: Its been quite a carnival
RHP Brett Tomko threw in the bullpen on Monday. Tomko has been sidelined all month by a sore elbow. “We’ll see how he is tomorrow and determine his fate, whether he throws another bullpen or a simulated game,” Padres manager Bud Black said. … Padres LHP Shawn Estes expects to have the splint removed from his broken left thumb on Friday. He could begin throwing again a few days later.
Egon should be in the lineup everyday. Iguchi should be traded.
Edgar Gonzalez: .321/.367/.462
Since the All-Star break: .444/.474/.833
He’s a 30-year-old rookie. What a pleasant surprise in a year of not-so-pleasant ones for the Padres.
Scott Hairston: .269/.321/.530
July: .447/.475/1.079
Team OPS leaders
Adrian, 854
Hairston, 851
Edgar, 829
Giles, 820
Kouzmanoff
April: .259/.293/.353
May: 289/.331/.491
June: .269/.333/.487
July: .298/.349/.474
San Antonio gets a decent start from Ayala + 2 hits (incl a double) from Huffman …
http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=milb&t=g_box&gid=2008_07_21_mroaax_sanaax_1
4-3 victory …
5 OK innings for Chris Young at Lake Elsinore tonight …
http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=milb&t=g_box&gid=2008_07_21_rcqafa_lesafa_1
According to a commenter at MadFriars, Baseball Tonight mentioned that they Padres are closed to a deal sending Wolf to the Astros.
#48@LynchMob: The Astros are more out of the race than the Padres.
#48@LynchMob: I don’t know what’s worse: the fact that the Astros are dealing for Wolf when they are out of the race, or the fact that the Astros have no prospects to give, period.
#50@Bruce: JR Towles looks intriguing, and the Astros will start Brad Ausmus behind the plate until his corpse rots back there. Other than that, all I know is their top two prospects are Jason Castro, who just signed and can’t be traded, and Bud Norris, who’s having a solid year in the Texas League at 23.
#51@Ben B.: I’d take those two no doubt, but other than that there isn’t a whole lot to choose from. The question now becomes, how desperate, or stupid, is Ed Wade to deal either one for two months of Randy Wolf when they are 12 games out? Are Oswalt’s injuries looking that bad?
#51@Ben B.: I don’t mean to be insulting, but what looks intriguing about JR Towles? He is a young defensive catcher with absolutely no bat, looks a lot like Luke Carlin, with maybe better hair. Don’t mean to be negative.
I would be really sad if that is what we deal Wolf for. Really I don’t know if this team is as bad as it looks. In many ways it is a lot like last years team (below avg power, no clutch hitting, decent OBP ) without the fantastic bullpen. Just look at the St. Louis series, we had leads in three of the four games that our bullpen gave away. Last year we would have hit just as horribly in late innings, but most likely would have won because the bullpen would have held the lead.
I take back the decent OBP statement… turns out that it isn’t so great this year
Here’s a link to Goldstein’s Top-10 Astro prospects–Free this week!:
http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=7081
Also…there’s no way that we’re getting the Astros top-prospect (Twles) for a rental lefty with mediocre numbers. We’d be thrilled to get Towles–but I think that there is zero chance of that happening
#53@DM: He has a good minor league track record – career .866 minor league OPS.
#56@Paul R: Yeah, I mentioned him because a) the Astros don’t seem like a particularly well run organization, and they might make a decision based on how his 140 terrible major league at bats from this year, and b) there’s no one else in the Houston system that I know.
Ben: I was more responding to DM’s comment about being dissatisfied if that’s what we got for Wolf. I’d be thrilled.