Random thoughts from Friday night’s victory over the Reds…
- Kevin Correia did a nice Adam Eaton impression, dominating and then unraveling. Correia had a no-no through five but couldn’t make it out of the sixth. The Padres have scored 35 runs in his four starts. Or, to put it another way, 47.3% of all runs they’ve scored so far in 2010 have come in 25% of their games.
- The Padres enjoyed a six-run fourth inning, which is their second-best fourth inning of the young season. They plated 10 in the home opener and have scored 23 runs in fourth innings of games so far. Or, to put it another way, 31.1% of their runs have come in 11% of their innings. It’s a dramatic difference from what they’re doing in the third inning:
Inn PA BA OBP SLG R 3rd 67 .196 .318 .250 0 4th 85 .343 .440 .614 23
- Bases loaded, nobody out for Adrian Gonzalez? In that ballpark? Yummy.
- Tony Gwynn Jr. knocked a two-run homer to chase Cincinnati starter Bronson Arroyo in the fourth. Next inning, reliever Micah Owings plunked Gwynn on what looked like a purpose pitch. Owings probably should have plunked Arroyo for allowing a homer to Gwynn. Big power hitter there… he once hit four home runs in a season at Triple-A Nashville, way back in 2006.
- Matt Stairs got his first start of the season and rewarded manager Bud Black by whacking a two-run double in the second to give the Padres an early 2-0 lead.
- Tim Stauffer did a terrific job in relief of Correia, allowing two singles and fanning three of the 10 batters he faced. What else is new? Microscopic sample (39 PA), but opponents are hitting .189/.231/.216 against him so far. I hope Stauffer can keep this going. After all he’s been through, it’d be good to see him have a career.
- It seems like every year the Padres stash someone on their pitching staff that they’re afraid to use or lose. In 2009 it was Rule V draftee Luis Perdomo; in 2010 it’s Sean Gallagher. You’d like to see a guy shut the door when handed an eight-run lead. Granted, Gallagher hadn’t pitched in more than a week, but the Padres have been playing a lot of close games and why would you bring him into a close game?
Morning game (10:10 a.m. PT) on Saturday. Wade LeBlanc faces Johnny Cueto. I have concerns about LeBlanc pitching in a bandbox, but the way the offense is going, maybe it won’t matter. I’ll be commenting on the game via Twitter if anyone is interested in joining me.
“Or, to put it another way, 31.1% of their runs have come in 11% of their innings. It’s a dramatic difference from what they’re doing in the third inning”
The young guys need to get an at-bat in (1-3) before they make the necessary adjustments which occur in the 4th. I’d guess that the bulk of their runs come middle innings (4-6) and a bit less for the final third (fresh relievers in the game)… I have nothing to substantiate such a claim (other than your 3rd/4th inning data) nor am I willing to do the necessary research.
Man I’d like to hold on to Gallagher but he sure is making it tough.
Why hold on to Gallagher? What’s the appeal? I’ve not seen him pitch, so I just don’t know … just see the results …
And now that he’s pitched in a game the Padres have won, isn’t that enough of a look-see? And to my way of thinking, perhaps now’s a great time to sneak him thru waivers
NEWS FLASH: Padres win … AGAIN!!!
Whoo Hoo, LeBlanc addresses your concerns, Geoff! Winning sure is fun.
From http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/jon_heyman/04/23/observations.ortiz/1.html :
Outgoing Padres owner John Moores is seen by some as a potential buyer of the Houston Astros, whose owner, Drayton McLane, is willing to at least field offers to sell the team. Moores has moved to Houston after the divorce that caused him to sell San Diego.
He better not pull a Tom Werner (trash the franchise and then bail)…
I think a sign of a good player is that when you think he’s hitting REALLY, REALLY bad and then you look him up and find out his OPS+ is 103 … that’s Kyle Blanks …
http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/SDP/2010.shtml
LM: good call on Gallagher…sneak him now.
This is sad. I wish him to be better:
http://espndb.go.com/mlb/players/profile?playerId=5019
I saw Gallagher back when he first came up with the Cubs and he showed a lot of talent but was inconsistent in his short time up in the big leagues. He has good velocity, which is something the Padres never seem to emphasize in their relief corps. Plus since he has been a starter for most of his short career I think he’d be a candidate to eat up innings in the middle of a game like Kevin Cameron did a few years ago or even make a spot start if there are more injuries to the pitching staff. He’s got potential, and Darren Balsley is one of the best pitching coaches out there so my vote is to stick with him for a little while longer and see if he shows some improvement.
@Pat: Indeed, on both counts.
@Sean Callahan: It is a good thing he left the franchise in pretty good shape.
@Michael: Thanks for the additional info. The Kevin Cameron treatment might work, although I wonder if time spent trying to develop Gallagher couldn’t be better used on LeBlanc and Russell. I hope you’re right and Balsley can turn him into something.
No easy answer with Gallagher. Like with so many other decisions, the front office has to balance winning this year with doing what’s right for the franchise in the future. A healthy Gallagher could easily be a cheap, above-average pitcher for us from 2011 to 2014. But the Gallagher who is relearning his control and adjusting to full-time life as a reliever is hurting us badly now, not just when he pitches, but because he’s keeping a better reliever in Portland.
Bill Center was convinced that neither Carrillo nor Gallagher would make it through waivers. Obviously the interest in Carrillo wasn’t there. I’d take the chance with Gallagher now, especially if there’s no plan to get him back to starting.