That sucked. Still, it was a great season… far greater than I could have imagined.
I don’t have much to say right now, but maybe you’d like to get something off your chest? Now would be a good time.
I’m also going to use this as an excuse to link to a better Paul Carrack song:
Don’t shed a tear for me,
My life won’t end…
He wasn’t singing about baseball, but he should have been. It will break your heart.
Rats … that was as memorable of a non-playoff season as could be possible … it hurts … there’s reason for hope for 2011 … but the Padres sure need a hitter (or 2 or 3) to along with Adrian …
A few weeks ago I predicted the Padres would need to win 90 games to win the West… like our boys, I’m afraid I was off by one. *sigh* Still a great season and a wonderful ride though.
Are you saying to the Padres…
Cab fare to nowhere is what you are? If so, where can Ludwick get let out?
Well, back to the more important things in life… 7 months is long enough to be away from them.
Thank you, Padres, for a great season.
“slim chance in tight pants is what you are. ..”
I feel very toyed with today. Yes, yes, I know it was a great season. It’s just a little disappointing.
That was extremely disappointing. I have to admit, though, I was surprised the Pads took it to the last day. They were built on such a thin margin that I suspected they couldn’t sustain this all year. I thought they would probably fade in early August.
The difference in September was obviously the hitting. The batting avg. was about 15 to 20 points lower and they scored about 1 1/2 runs fewer per game in Sept. When the team ERA went up a quarter of a run and the defense made a handful more misplays, the combination was unsustainable and their positive margin for winning games turned into a slightly negative margin and they lost more frequently.
I guess this is all pretty obvious and not much worth mentioning. I guess the main thing is what to do about next year. The Friday link on this blog highlighted the Pads potential free agents. I would suggest cutting loose Ryan Ludwick. He has been worse than useless. Other than two or three big hits and fielding plays he has done absolutely nothing (as other commenters on this blog have called him, “The place where rallies go to die”). Also, Correia was consistently ineffective; his ERA at the time of his demotion to the ‘pen was the worst among qualifiers for the NL ERA title.
Probably want to sign Eckstein, Garland, J. Hairston, Denorfia, Young & T. Gwynn (if he promises to stop hitting fly balls). Tejada was great but they need to decide if he is the answer at short or if combo of E. Cabrera and J. Hairston can more than adequately man the post.
Definitely need to acquire more speed and hitting with line drive power and finally stop going for the guys with fly ball power in other parks.
Possible rotation? Latos, Luebke, Richard, Stauffer, LeBlanc (or C. Young or Garland)
Hopefully Webb and Frieri can continue their emergence into important bullpen roles.
The pity of it is that this team is about to be broken up — the offense, anyhow. The bullpen is championship quality and the rotation took a huge step towards respectability this year. But aside from Adrian, nobody on the offense looks capable — today — of being of any help in two or three years, and by that time Adrian will be gone to free agency. No doubt one or two of them might surprise us, but most are career role players, who somehow managed to combine their contributions into 90 wins.
The team this group has reminded me of all season is the ’69 Mets. Not because they came from nowhere, but because they won games in the same fashion — terrific pitching and an offense that scored rarely but didn’t have to. The ’69 Mets, for those too young to recall them, had exactly two regulars — Cleon Jones in left and Tommie Agee in center. You could make a case for Bud Harrelson at short being a regular, though between Army duty and injuries, he got less than 400 ABs and didn’t hit much anyhow. Jerry Grote was slightly more than a platoon catcher — he didn’t hit much either. They platooned at the other four positions. And won 100 games.
And while they never fell back into the depths from which they had emerged, their records for the next three years were 83-79, 83-79, and 82-79. That last was good enough to win a pennant, but only because the rest of the division stank.
All of which is my way of saying that this was a wonderful, wonderful year — one we should always treasure. But there is a lot of work to be done, starting now, if the Padres are to remain contenders. And in 2-3 years we won’t be seeing much of the boys who gave us this marvelous summer.
It’s definitely disappointing. To come this far and still fall short will smart for some time. There are enough questions about the roster that need to be answered this off-season that this feels like a lost opportunity. It was a great, yet unexpected season. Hopefully there’s enough pitching to build on, and I can’t wait to see how Hoyer goes about his business this winter.
Poop.
Black made some curious choices yesterday. I don’t fault him for sticking with Latos in the 3rd, at least not for the first run, but why was he allowed to hit for himself in the top of the 4th? The season was 13 outs long at that time. I’d have gone to Stairs for Torrealba in the 6th with two on. Summed up, I’d say Black managed without much sense of urgency, but who knows what would have happened?
The payroll probably mandates more late signings for next season. Like to have Garland back and Young at a serious discount. See no further reason for Eckstein. His offense is still subpar, although his defense improved, and whatever his leadership skills might be, they didn’t stop the kind of collapse that gets written about in baseball history books. Our major league roster is thin and the farm did not impress this year, which will make trades hard.
Heartbreaking indeed, although I am kinda used to it after so many years. Hurts like hell, but it surely was better than looking for something else to watch in July. And I remain hopeful for 2011. Keep the pitching staff, keep building with speed and average, and who’s to say we can’t do it again next year!? Thanks for all the blogs, Geoff; I have enjoyed reading them all season.
Time to enjoy Fall Baseball despite the hometown team not being involved. Then on to the winter and reshaping the roster. For now, without much thought or research, I’d say let’s not be too hasty to dismiss Ludwick. Yes, he killed us and was extremely disappointing; however, he’ll only be 32 next year, relatively affordable and was worth 2.1 WAR with the Cards this season in only 308 PA’s. I think it’s more likely he’s still a decent player and would be an able LF for us than it is he’s a below replacement level player as he was for us in the second half of the season.
Wow, its just over, like that. A whole season of ups and downs, and done. Guess I will jump on the Giants BW since they are the only West Coast team and my sister lives there. Not ready to be a Chargers fan, not for a coupla weeks. Watched some of the game at Petco yesterday; when Migs struck out in the eighth, we all groaned and went our way. They did take the series, like they have done most of the year. The Phils almost came back.
I’m mainly wondering on why Black not only stuck with Ludwick (I probably would have benched him for Cunningham yesterday) but stuck with him in the five hole. He was almost entirely useless the last two weeks of the season (last 14 games he “hit” 102/200/184), which made it too easy to pitch around Gonzalez. Also I wonder exactly why Scott Hairston was playing; he has had 3 hits since August 1st (3-48). If you are going to put someone out there who can’t hit, at least make it Gwynn because of his great defense.
All in all this had to be one of the most surprising seasons in baseball history (certainly they would have been the unlikeliest division winner in the modern era). To win with the lowest payroll of a real team and not even be particularly home-grown was amazing.
Going to be a busy off-season for the Padres, as they have huge holes in the outfield (if Ludwick is non-tendered) and the middle infield. I don’t see how they could possibly trade Gonzalez this off-season, as their offense would be worse than the Mariners.
I once again was reminded of how terribly disappointing it is to be a San Diego fan. Yes, we came out of nowhere, but once we had a 6 game lead with a month left in the season, there are no excuses. It is such a shame that completely incompetent hitting took what could have been the most accomplished Padres season ever away from this team. Hopefully we go out and get some good players for next year and our pitching continues to improve. Better luck next year and go Chargers!
It certainly wasn’t the season any of us had anticipated. For that, I am thankful. I hope the 2010 Padres aren’t simply the latest version of the 2003 Royals, though.
I would anticipate some regression with the pitching staff, but it’s hard to believe that we won’t see a huge leap in offensive production from the outfield, as well as shortstop. To have won 90 games while getting essentially nothing from the outfield is remarkable.
Oy, Lance, let’s hope not = 2003 Royals.
Yup, 90 wins is awesome with plenty of holes at offense; just goes to show how impressive the pitching had been and how far regression is going to hit next season.