Have you ever noticed how the more you win, the more the little things irritate? Like watching the bullpen implode toward the end of Monday night’s victory against the Cubs. I should be happy with the win, right? I mean, before the season, if you’d told me the Padres would notch their 70th victory on [...]
Author Archives 
The Gap Between Money and Mouth
Jonathan Sanchez: “San Diego has been winning series all year. But we’re going to play San Diego now, and we’re going to beat them three times.” San Diego Padres: “No. No, you’re not.” As conversations go, this had all the subtlety of a spatula to the forehead. Still, there is something to be said for [...]
Friday Links (13 Aug 10)
It’s the most wonderful time of the week… Fangraphs Live: The Numbers Puppets Take Manhattan (OCD Chick). While SABR40 was going on in Atlanta, FanGraphs Live took place in another part of the east coast. Amanda Rykoff offers a nice recap of the proceedings. [h/t Hardball Times] Why Latos is good (it’s not just his [...]
How Not to Bury a Pirate
It’s amazing the sense of entitlement one acquires when one’s team succeeds beyond anyone’s wildest imagination. I don’t mean to sound ungrateful — after all, the Padres did beat the Pirates on Wednesday — but whatever happened to playing a full nine innings? In case you missed it, the Padres held a 6-0 lead headed [...]
LeBlanc and Kennedy
Wade LeBlanc pitched well again in Tuesday night’s victory over the Pirates. He’s done that a lot this year. At the ripe old age of 25, LeBlanc now has roughly a full season’s worth of work under his belt. To this point, he compares well with a more highly touted youngster who happens to pitch [...]
Me, Elsewhere: The Wild, Wild Dominican Summer League
My latest Hardball Times article examines the control of pitchers at various minor-league levels. It actually started out as a blog entry for Ducksnorts but then morphed into something bigger. The inspiration for this piece was a pitcher in the Padres organization named Ivan Marcano. He’s a right-hander for the DSL Padres who has had [...]
Tuesday Links (10 Aug 10)
Snappy intro? We don’t need no stinkin’ snappy intro… A pennant race crystal ball (Yahoo!). Tim Brown likes the Padres’ chances: “The starting rotation is good, the back end of the bullpen is great, and the offense has shown some life in July and August.” Moneyball Before Moneyball Was Cool (Payoff Pitch). Gene Tenace and [...]
What Happened in Phoenix, Stays in Phoenix
Dropping two out of three to the Diamondbacks in Arizona over the weekend wasn’t part of the plan. On the bright side, the Giants did the same in Atlanta (and but for the left side of the Braves infield forgetting how to play defense in the ninth inning on Friday, the Giants would have been [...]
Friday Links (6 Aug 10)
Before we get to the rest of the links, you have to see Chris Denorfia’s inside-the-park home run from Thursday night’s victory over the Dodgers. It’s ridiculous; he actually bounced the ball off the dirt in front of home plate. It went over the head of third baseman Casey Blake, who was playing in to [...]
He Could Have Been the Second Best Pitcher Named ‘Whitson’ in Padres History
by Geoff Young on Aug 18, 2010 (8) Comments
Given further time to reflect on the Karsten Whitson situation, I’d like to expand on my initial thoughts. First off, it still stinks that Whitson isn’t a member of the Padres today. I’m sure all of us, with the possible exception of the player and his agent, would agree on that. According to Corey Brock’s [...]