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The Year Jake Peavy Turned Hitters into Matt Walbeck

I recently picked up the Bill James Gold Mine 2008. There’s tons of great stuff in here, as you’d expect, but two items in particular have captured my imagination (so far): the “record of opposing batters” James presents for certain pitchers, and the “comps” he offers of team batting records to individual career batting records [...]

Q&A with Tom Krasovic

Tom Krasovic has been covering the Padres for the San Diego Union-Tribune since 1994. Recently he took time out of his busy schedule to discuss baseball, the beat, and life. We exchanged emails over the course of several days, and although it’s difficult to convey certain nuances over the ‘net, Krasovic’s passion for the game [...]

Administrivia: Rules of Conduct

With Opening Day just around the corner, it’s probably time to point folks to the Ducksnorts Comments Policy. Discussion is encouraged around these parts, so if you’d like to participate, please take a moment to familiarize yourself with our policy. Here is the quick-and-dirty version: Ducksnorts is a daily column, not a message board. It’s [...]

OT: Go Toreros!

I generally don’t follow college hoops. Then again, my alma mater generally doesn’t upset UConn in the NCAA tourney. Congrats and good luck against Western Kentucky!

Friday Links (21 Mar 08)

Reminder to folks here in San Diego: I’ll be on “SportsWrap” this Sunday evening at 11:35 p.m. PT. Tune to NBC 7/39 for your chance to see a real-live baseball dork on television. To the links… Bill Center at the U-T takes a look at roster possibilities. According to this, Glendon Rusch will be in [...]

Everybody Loves Tadahito

Says here we’ve been “dot-com” for 6 years now. Cool. Anyway, I’m working on an interview with Tom Krasovic of the San Diego Union-Tribune (it’ll run on Monday), and one topic we discussed was potential surprises among Padres for 2008. The name that came up was new second baseman Tadahito Iguchi: Iguchi had some problems [...]

Marquee Is in the Eye of the Beholder

We already know that the Padres knocked more road extra-base hits than any other team in MLB in 2007 (those of you interested in helping me keep a roof over my head will also find this information on page 37 of the Ducksnorts 2008 Baseball Annual). The other day, in our spirited discussion of the [...]

Random Roster Notes

Brian Giles saw his first action this spring on Monday. He went 0-for-2 against the Diamondbacks in Tucscon, but who cares? The important thing is, he was in the lineup and able to play right field. Quoth Giles: This was a pretty good test. I know it was only three innings, but the conditions weren’t [...]

Why Can’t the Padres Capture Our Imagination (and Money)?

I’m working on my Padres preview for Hardball Times, and one question that confounds me is this: Why won’t San Diego get behind the Padres? I don’t have an answer, but I’d love to hear some theories. While you’re thinking about that, here’s a nice table for your viewing pleasure: Padres Winning Percentage and Home [...]

IGD: Padres vs Dodgers (15 Mar 08)

How ’bout a replay? How ’bout a Fresca? Game starts at 10 p.m. PT. Channel 4SD, XM 178.