first pitch: 7:05 p.m., PT
television: Channel 4SD
matchup: Gil Meche (7-4, 4.10 ERA) vs Jake Peavy (4-8, 4.81 ERA)
previews: Padres.com | SI.com
After a successful, if brief, road trip, the Padres return home for a weekend series against the Mariners. Jake Peavy gets the start tonight. Peavy is 0-3 with a 7.56 ERA in June. He also has a 5.14 ERA at Petco Park, which doesn’t even seem possible. Then again, the entire staff has a better ERA on the road (3.81) than at home (4.04), which goes against everything we think we know about Petco.
Gil Meche, who beat the Padres last month in Seattle, is having a fine season. However, he has been a completely different pitcher at home and on the road: 2.39 ERA, .198 BAA, 49/14 K/BB at home vs 6.38, .322, 20/24 on the road. Also, lefties have had terrific success (.282/.368/.485) against him. Given this and the fact that neither Josh Barfield (.185/.227/.234) nor Vinny Castilla (.151/.198/.215) has done anything at home, you could make a pretty strong case for sticking both Mark Bellhorn and Geoff Blum in the lineup.
We’ll see how it all shakes out. Go Padres!
Wow. Crickets.
This team needs a bat.
I made a few in-game comments under the links entry …
Here’s what Kevin Goldstien of Baseball Prospectus had to say about Padres’ prospects at the mid-point of the minor-league season …
San Diego Padres
Great Leap Forward: There is no obvious giant breakthrough in the Padres system. Catcher George Kottaras is showing unprecedented power and patience (.280/.402/.488) at Double-A Mobile–a tough place to find any sort of success offensively. The two-headed first base/designated hitter combo of Kyle Blanks (.294/.391/.475) and Daryl Jones (.265/.351/.469) have both impressed at Low Class A Fort Wayne.
Not What We Expected: Injury problems have plagued each of San Diego’s last two first-round picks. Cesar Carrillo reached Triple-A before getting shut down with a “loose elbow.” 2004 first-round pick Matt Bush, who couldn’t afford to miss development time after a miserable .221/.279/.276 season last year, sat out the entire first half of the season recovering from a broken leg.
Open Questions: If Bush is a complete offensive zero again this year, do the Padres try him on the mound? Can 2005 second-round pick Cesar Ramos maintain his effectiveness (3.03 ERA at High Class A Lake Elsinore) while averaging less than a strikeout for every two innings?
Who Will Be Number One: It’s between Carrillo and Kottaras, with the final ruling on Carrillo’s elbow playing a significant part in the judgement.
Mike Piazza leads NL catchers in Home Runs, who is tied with him?
former short term padre david ross
I continue to stun’d and bum’d by how few teams play day games … especially on Saturday’s … AZL Padres are playing day baseball … http://tinyurl.com/lj2bs … with a few 2006 draft pics in their lineup.