Real life rears its ugly head, so we’ll run links a day early this week. It’s crazy party time…

Young Pitchers

• Relievers compared to Strasburg (Hardball Times). Sean Smith notes statistical similarities between Stephen Strasburg and several former closers, including current idiot/broadcaster Rob Dibble. Interestingly, from a stuff standpoint, Dibble is the first pitcher that came to mind when I saw Strasburg at SDSU. I really hope Stras makes a full recovery; the last pitcher I saw dominate with two power pitches like that was — and I hope I’m not jinxing him by saying this — Kerry Wood.
• Matusz Putting Together a Strong Finish (FanGraphs). Meanwhile, here’s some encouraging news about the left-hander from San Diego’s other (read “better”) baseball program.
• The Top 100 K/100P Leaders (Baseball Analysts). In which Rich Lederer asks, among other things, “With Stephen Strasburg sidelined through 2011, is there a better 22-year-old (or younger) pitcher than Mat Latos?” [h/t reader Didi]
• Latos must be part of any Cy Young conversation (U-T). Tim Sullivan joins in the chorus of praise.
• Is Mat Latos better than Jake Peavy? (Sacrifice Bunt). I love these kinds of questions. As I’ve noted elsewhere, Latos is way ahead of Peavy at a similar stage of development. Good stuff from Ray and the gang.
• Davis loses no-hit bid in eighth (MiLB.com). San Antonio right-hander Erik Davis surrendered just one single against Corpus Christi on Sunday. Bonus points for rockin’ the sweet goggles. This came a day after teammate Matt Clark hit for the cycle.
• Mark Prior Agrees to Deal With Rangers (FanHouse). What? He’s still young. Well, he’s still from San Diego. [h/t reader Didi]

Portland Beavers

• Triple-A Beavers say goodbye to Portland (Yahoo!). It’s official. [h/t BBTF]
• The Death of Baseball in Portland (FanGraphs). Maury Brown offers his take on the situation.
• Letter to a 43rd-round draft pick (SweetSpot). Rob Neyer reminisces about his time at PGE Park. He also chats with Rich Burk, the now-former voice of the Beavers. [h/t reader Didi]
• Adios Beaver Baseball (Gaslamp Ball). The Kipper provides a nice pictorial sendoff.

The Streak

• Happy Labor Day (Inside the Padres). Tom Krasovic writes: “It’s often said that the Padres aren’t playing the caliber of baseball they had played in building up a 76-49 record. I agree with the substance of that view, but I think it gets overstated. Several times, probably at least 10, I watched the Padres win a game this year and thought they played a bad game.” Of course, the same can be said of most teams in most seasons.
• Padres challenged to pull it together (Padres.com). In which Matthew Leach asks, “What in the world is going on here? A month ago, the Padres were being handed the National League West in many quarters, including this one. The issue wasn’t whether they’d play in October, but rather how deep they would go.”
• Snap! Padres end 10-game losing streak (Yahoo!) From Tim Brown’s article: “Their habitat is sand and marine layer and doubt.” Say wha’? Is that like saying (and I truly wish I could take credit for this), “The universe is composed mainly of hydrogen and ignorance”? [h/t reader Didi]

Vaguely Padresish

• PETCO keeping hurlers happy, hitters hungry (Padres.com). Quoth GM Jed Hoyer: “I think it’s an extreme pitchers’ park. If there’s any area that surprises me, it plays even bigger in right field than I imagined.”
• Twelve Thoughts: Mat Latos’ Cy Young Case, Dodgers’ Downfall, Philly Surge (FanHouse). Tom Krasovic muses on many things, some interesting. [h/t Gaslamp Ball]
• Why hit Hundley eighth? (Padres Trail). Mike would like to see Nick Hundley bat higher in the lineup, maybe even a lot higher.
• Don’t Count Out the Rockies (FanGraphs). Trust me, we’re not.
• Trevor Hoffman’s 600th Save More Cause to Celebrate His Sterling Career (FanHouse). Kras pays tribute to the former Padres closer. So does the current Padres closer. Neyer hopes Hoffman will retire with exactly 600 saves.
• The 1970 San Diego Padres (Hardball Times). Here’s an oldie-but-goodie from Steve Treder.

Whatever Else

• Wednesday Graph: Major League Chernoff Faces (Bay City Ball). This is one of the coolest things I’ve seen in a while.
• FIELDf/x is going to change everything (SweetSpot). Neyer talks about the Next Big Thing in defensive metrics.
• PITCHf/x Summit 2010 Recap (Baseball Analysts). Dave Allen delivers the goods.
• The proper use of WAR (Improve Conditions). Tim Marchman notes that “it’s a shame that the great baseball reporter Murray Chass is so devoted to being an internet troll, because there are lots of internet trolls and few great baseball reporters” and that “the sad part of the idiot back and forth of which Chass and people like him are half is that both sides miss out on just what makes statistics like WAR so useful, which is that by putting all seasons ever on a single scale, you can answer questions in ways you otherwise couldn’t.” Here’s Chass’ article and Sean Forman’s rebuttal if you’re interested in who’s zooming whom. Or everyone could just talk about baseball. [h/t BBTF]
• The good face, the halo, and projectability (Hardball Times). I forget why I included this… probably the Malcolm Gladwell reference.
• John Lindsey waits for his chance (ESPN). Thanks to Joe Torre, he’ll keep waiting. [h/t reader Didi]

More wins, please. Happy weekend and stuff…