Baseball is a funny game. Some days, you beat up Johan Santana and are dominated by Jonathon Niese. Other days, you get links…
- John Wooden, 1910-2010 (Baseball Analysts). Rich shares his thoughts on the passing of the legendary basketball coach: “Wooden’s favorite sport? Baseball. He coached baseball in college and was offered the job to manage the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 1960s.”
- Seven things you may be presently aware of about John Wooden (Out Of Left Field). Neate Sager chimes in with a few thoughts of his own.
- This Week in Minor League History: June 7 – June 13 (Baseball Prospectus). There isn’t much of a Padres angle in my latest installment. Randy Bass gets a mention, and I think that’s it.
- Best of the aughts (2000-09) (Hardball Times). Chris Jaffe is surprised at how well the 2007 Padres fared in this list; those of us who watched them, not so much. That was a terrific team.
- Unbunch your Herzogs (Watson Files). Dan offers encouraging words on one of the Padres’ more promising young players: “Jonathan Galvez is getting better at shortstop. About a month ago, he looked like an infant giraffe trying to make a field-spin-throw play ranging up the middle. About a week ago he had the same chance and, while it wasn’t perfect, he got the runner.”
- Top 10s Revisited: NL West (FanGraphs). Marc Hulet likes what he sees from Simon Castro and Cory Luebke (who is pitching well since returning from an oblique strain), but wonders about Jaff Decker.
- Baxter cycles into Beavers’ history (MiLB.com). The triple came when Mike Baxter was thrown out at the plate trying for an inside-the-park grand slam.
- Cardboard Gods comes to town: Interview with Josh Wilker (Dodger Thoughts). Jon chats with Josh about his book, Cardboard Gods. [h/t Hardball Times]
- Simmons appreciates low-scoring games (Padres.com). Quoth Padres bench coach Ted Simmons: “If a pitcher with talent can interpret all we can give him now and apply it, he can come real quick. And I think that’s what we have now. Everyone needs pitching, and we have kids meeting that demand.”
- Peavy rips Padres over firing GM (FOX Sports). Beyond the fact that Jake Peavy probably should be more focused on trying to help his current team win and less on offering opinions about his old team, he makes a good point in noting that “Kevin Towers is a heck of a general manager.” For example, Towers once traded an injured Peavy and all of his contract to the White Sox for four young arms. Even Peavy’s agent, Barry Axelrod, couldn’t believe that one. Peavy also has opinions about his current team, although they aren’t terribly flattering. On a brighter note, his transformation into Phil Nevin is almost complete. [h/t Gaslamp Ball]
- A Pitcher for the Padres Is Proving Unhittable (New York Times). Seems someone’s noticed Luke Gregerson: “Among relievers who have pitched at least 20 innings, Gregerson’s ratio of strikeouts to walks is best in the major leagues, as is his average number of walks and hits surrendered per inning pitched. Opponents have a .130 on-base percentage when Gregerson is in the game, 65 points lower than the second-best pitcher in that category, the Cincinnati Reds’ Arthur Rhodes.” [h/t reader Parlo]
- Latos Shines Again (FanGraphs). Jack Moore likes Mat Latos, and so do I.
- Padres turn triple play against Mets (Padres.com). Pure awesome.
- How Jim Joyce went from Toledo to the bigs to national scrutiny (Detroit Free Press). From the article: “My mom didn’t understand why it was so important or why it was so bad,” [Joyce] said. “Mom,” he told her, “it was the last out of a perfect game. She said, ‘I don’t see the difference.’ And I said, ‘Mom, baseball is life to a lot of people.’ ” [h/t Big League Stew]
And the draft, bless its little heart, gets a special section:
Draft
- Righty Whitson happy to go to Padres (Padres.com). Padres first-round pick Karsten Whitson came to San Diego last summer to play in the AFLAC All-American Game and fell in love with the city: “It was great. The city was beautiful. Just being in that park was surreal.” He also struck out Bryce Harper in the game.
- Evaluating the draft: Ask me in August (or 2015) (Friar Forecast). Myron, who did a terrific job covering the draft this year, offers his final thoughts on the Padres haul.
- Bingham brings underdog mentality (Padres.com). Paul Bingham, the Padres 20th-round pick, sounds intriguing.
- Gyorko leads Padres’ Day 2 prizes (Padres.com). More draft stuff.
Happy Friday. Let’s get some wins this weekend, eh?
Let me see if I have this straight. When Heath Bell speaks with a grudge against his old team, he is applauded. When Peavy does it, he is criticized. I’m a little tired of Peavy’s comments, too, but I think Gaslamp (and several other blogs) need to be more consistent if they want to salvage any credibility.
Has Bell made comments about the Mets beyond his dissatisfaction with their treatment of him? I’m not aware of any, but if he has, then that’s not appropriate either.
Also, Peavy needs to be more consistent if he wants to salvage any credibility or at least have trade value to a contender.
Coming back from the latest 3-4 road trip, the Padres still have the best road record in the NL, the only one above .500 (Phillies are at .500). Wow.
So far the last team in the NL to give up 200 runs. Crazy-magic-like.
Go Padres! Good job hitting by Junior in game 1 v. Mariners.
Oh sure, Bell has made comments far beyond his treatment. If you google HEATH BELL METS you’ll find several of them. This is from the Star Ledger:
http://blog.nj.com/mets/2009/04/every_time_a_bell_speaks_my_he.html
And I agree with your Peavy comment. What I don’t buy is the idea that it is noble when Bell speaks out, but evil when Peavy does it. Whether someone approves or dislikes these types of comments is fully understandable. Its the disparity and double standard that sticks in my craw.
Sort of like the steroid views many fans have: It’s only bad when players on other teams use them.
@Parlo: Thanks for the link to Bell’s comments; I wasn’t aware of those. I love Bell, but would just as soon not hear him say stuff like that for the same reason I don’t care to hear it from Peavy.
And I agree about the double standard. When I found out that Caminiti used steroids in ’98, it altered my perception of that season. I loved Cammy (still do, in spite of his flaws), but how do you defend his usage while attacking, say, McGwire for doing the exact same thing?