I don’t have much to say about Wednesday’s loss to the Rockies beyond “Ugh,” but I do have some thoughts about other stuff…
- The Padres are performing well with runners in scoring position. Only two teams in MLB have a higher OPS with RISP:
PA BA OBP SLG Ari 285 .308 .399 .574 TB 301 .319 .403 .524 SD 290 .296 .419 .496 ... MLB 8745 .259 .354 .412 ... Bal 249 .205 .291 .321
Sucks to be the Orioles.
- The top of the order isn’t getting the job done:
PA BA OBP SLG Batting 1st 134 .167 .237 .192 Batting 2nd 132 .242 .282 .315 ... Batting 9th 108 .212 .313 .282
- Roughly a fifth of the way through the home schedule, attendance remains down from 2009. According to Baseball-Reference, only the Indians, Blue Jays, and Mets have experienced a worse drop so far in terms of attendance per game (I’ve thrown in team records for grits and shins):
HG 2009 2010 Diff W-L SD 16 26,293 22,052 -4,241 17-11 Cle 12 19,693 14,154 -5,539 10-17 Tor 17 21,419 15,208 -6,211 16-13 NYN 16 38,223 29,293 -8,930 15-13
- Fans of numerology may enjoy this: Clayton Richard finished his evening with exactly 5 IP, 5 BB, and 5 SO. He became the third player to accomplish the feat, which has happened 120 times since 1920. Richard is the first to do it on 5/5. Also, the game was tied, 5-5, after nine innings. If that doesn’t freak you out… then you have some sense, because it doesn’t mean anything… but it is kind of fun… except for the losing part.
The Padres have an off-day on Thursday, then play three in Houston over the weekend. You know what I like about the Astros? They don’t have Ubaldo Jimenez…
They desperately need some production from the top of the order. I’m not too worried about the younger Gwynn–he’s suffering from a tiny .245 BABIP which should normalize and result in him getting on more. He’s still walking at a 14.6% rate, so he should be fine.
Eckstein on the other hand…man wouldn’t it be nice if we could get some production from the 2B or SS spots?
If we don’t sweep the ‘stros it will officially be time to jump off the bandwagon.
That Clayton’s line for the evening is freaky.
At some point, it’d be better that when LeBlanc and Richard pitch to bat them 8th.
Another idea is to bat Eck/Junior (if they’re in the game) at 3 spot and move up El Hombre (break up the back-to-back out machines). Hey, he’s just going to get walked anyway, why not hit him #2 so even if the leadoff batter make an out, there’ll be a runner (ok, a jogger) on base with #3 hitter coming up and Headley behind that. Now, the only thing is since El Hombre is so slow, the strategy might be a wash but still with runner on base, the pitcher is at least forced to pitch from the stretch and that may be a good thing, not to mention the chance that #3 might beat the throw to first on DP attempts.
Yeah, it’s a pipe dream but it’s a good dream…so far.
Maybe it is the ownership, maybe it was Jed’s call, but a quick scan of affordable SS and 2B FA’s shows a lot of OBP was out there in offseason.
Carroll, Counsell, Johnson and Mora all have career OBP in the 350s and most are currently having OBP’s in the 360s to 390s. Last night just illustrated, as your stats pointed out, just how awful the table setters have been at getting on.
120th person do do that – that’s 5! (5x4x3x2x1)
@Jay Many advocated going out and signing Orlando Hudson or Felipe Lopez. Unfortunately they decided they were good with Eckstein and Jerry Hairston.
Sigh.
This team is built on pitching, speed and defense. We already knew there was going to be an offensive deficit. Russell, LeBlanc and Webb proved last year they were worthy and that Mujica was suspect. Young is a good pitcher but can’t stay healthy. Those who can’t pitch effectively and stay healthy will be traded (Young/Mujica). As long as the defense stays as it is and the speed is there, only a few pitchers are heading out. Hitting matters little in San Diego and I accept this.