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Where’s Tim Hyers When You Need Him?

After Tuesday night’s thrashing at the hands of the Atlanta Braves, the Padres are proud owners of a 9-15 record, tied with “natural rival” Seattle for worst in MLB. They are 4-10 at Petco Park… so much for home field advantage (nothing new for the Padres, in fact, but that’s a story for another day). [...]

Quick Hits: Checking in on the Prospects

Now is as good a time as any to revisit our preseason Top 20 prospect list. If you’ve been following along at all, it will come as no surprise that the hitters are way ahead of the pitchers. Given the current state of the Padres offense, that’s not necessarily a bad thing…

Me, Elsewhere: Lefties Who Left Too Many Men on Base and the Men They Left

My latest at Baseball Prospectus ($) touches on the Dodgers ownership mess, Ryan Roberts’ hot start in Arizona, and a bevy of struggling left-handed hitters in the NL West (James Loney, Brandon Belt, Brad Hawpe, Ian Stewart). It also includes references to Greg Laswell, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, William Makepeace Thackeray, Ayn Rand, and Samuel Taylor Coleridge… [...]

Less Is Less

I’ve run out of words to describe the ineptitude of the Padres offense. Well, words that I care to use in decent company. Here’s how they fared while being swept at Petco Park by the Phillies: G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO BA OBP SLG 4 145 133 3 22 [...]

No Offense, but This Is Offensive

Q: How do you keep the Padres from scoring? A: Put them on the field. The Padres got shut out again on Thursday. Through 19 games: Year PA BA OBP SLG RS RA W-L 2009 728 .260 .333 .421 82 97 10-9 2010 726 .240 .317 .392 84 72 11-8 2011 735 .217 .306 .326 [...]

Bartlett Blows Moseley’s Shot at Immortality, Hawpe Just Blows

Jason Bartlett gave his best effort, but sometimes effort alone isn’t enough. Had he realized his ninth-inning fly ball to center field off Cubs closer Carlos Marmol would drive home the game’s tying run, Bartlett might have taken a different approach. He could have hit the ball a little shallower or, like so many of [...]

Missions on a Mission

This isn’t becoming a San Antonio Missions blog, but you follow the story, and right now, the story is in south central Texas. After scoring 87 runs in their first nine games, the Missions have scored just four in their last three. They’re at home, in a tough park for hitters (the 26-run outburst last [...]

Tuesday Links (19 Apr 11)

When the Padres are back east (yeah, Houston and Chicago count as “back east” in my book — right there with Santee), it’s difficult for me to watch games so I can’t offer any real analysis. I can imagine Tim Stauffer and Dustin Moseley having a brief conversation after the Padres’ 1-0 loss to the [...]

Me, Elsewhere: Things to Fear in the West

My latest at Baseball Prospectus ($) looks at the crazy hot starts of Jonathan Herrera and Troy Tulowitzki in Colorado, and Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier in Los Angeles. Kemp and Arizona’s Justin Upton are of particular concern because both are young and talented, and both seem to have figured out the strike zone. The [...]

That Was the Weekend, This Is the Title

Did you expect a big finish on Sunday? I didn’t, although after Saturday’s near miss, maybe I should have. If Hunter Pence doesn’t make that sprawling catch of pinch-hitter Nick Hundley’s drive to lead off the ninth, maybe the Padres come back against a shaky Brandon Lyon, who tried his best to cough up the [...]