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Padres Farm Report (21 Jun 08)

Saturday, June 21, 2008
by Geoff Young

Fun win Friday night. A buddy of mine scored us some sweet seats in the Toyota Terrace for the excellent price of free. Among other things we got to see Greg Maddux pitch a gem and Chase Headley knock his first homer in San Diego. My wife and I particularly enjoyed watching Headley and Khalil Greene homer, as well as watching Paul McAnulty battle in the eighth to work a walk against Detroit's Joel Zumaya and then fall over the fence along the right-field foul line to make a game-ending catch. We saw all three of those players when they were at Lake Elsinore (not at the same time), and it's cool to see them now contributing at the big-league level. The only ...

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Posted in Game Recaps, Minors | 4 Comments »

Here’s to Humble Foundations

Friday, June 13, 2008
by Geoff Young

That was satisfying. We took the in-laws out to the ballgame -- sprung for Toyota Terrace seats, first time this year. They picked a good time to visit. Mom is from the old country, but I was heartened to see that she chose to root for the home team rather than Hiroki Kuroda. She digs the long ball. Jake Peavy looked sharp. He was efficient with his pitches (12 per inning) and made a few terrific defensive plays. Maybe he paid extra close attention to Greg Maddux while he was on the disabled list. Fun with Small Numbers In about 3 1/2 weeks, the Padres have ...

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Posted in Game Recaps | 15 Comments »

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Hit or Be Hit

Friday, June 6, 2008
by Geoff Young

I had some computer issues this morning, and I'm still wading through draft material, so I'll save my thoughts on how the Padres did until Saturday or Monday -- then we'll have the entire draft to look at anyway. Based on the information at my disposal (which obviously is much, much less detailed than what the Padres have), I've upgraded my initial assessment of the Allan Dykstra pick ("Man, that stinks" were my exact words) to "Not what I would have done, but I'm beginning to understand the thought process behind it." John Sickels had the Padres taking Dykstra at #42. I'd targeted Dykstra at #42 or #46 in the mock draft I participated in, but the Diamondbacks ...

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Posted in Draft, Game Recaps | 131 Comments »

Peace, Love, and Delusion

Tuesday, June 3, 2008
by Geoff Young

Sometimes you can get away with making stupid mistakes against lousy teams. Unfortunately the Cubs aren't a lousy team, and they saw to it that the Padres paid for their transgressions. Carlos Zambrano is a terrific pitcher when he's on his game. He wasn't at his best Monday night, but the Padres let him off the hook just the same. Despite having trouble controlling his pitches and his emotions (he needed separate conferences with the catcher, third baseman, and manager at various points during the first two innings), Zambrano limited the early damage and then settled into a groove. And he couldn't have done it without the Padres ...

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Posted in Game Recaps | 74 Comments »

Unraveling

Monday, June 2, 2008
by Geoff Young

That sucked. In case you'd forgotten how 2007 ended, the Padres gave a nice little encore Sunday afternoon in San Francisco. They battled back from a deficit, took the lead in extra innings on a two-run homer, then watched Trevor Hoffman give it back, with the game ending on a bizarre defensive play. As was the case with Scott Hairston last October, Adrian Gonzalez' dramatic home run is now just a footnote, not the story. Nobody cares that he pounded the first pitch he saw from rookie left-hander Alex Hinshaw over the center field fence at PhoneCo Park. Nobody cares that he sat on ...

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Posted in Game Recaps | 32 Comments »

Notes on a Victory

Wednesday, May 28, 2008
by Geoff Young

Satisfying win on Tuesday night. The last two games I've attended have followed the exact same pattern: Randy Wolf serves up a two-run homer in the first, settles down, and watches his teammates play long ball late. To the bullet points: Hard to complain about a victory, but I'll do it anyway. The Pads really should have put Shawn Hill away early. He had zero command. I love watching Adrian Gonzalez play first base. Aaron Boone hit a grounder down the line at third to start the sixth. Kevin Kouzmanoff made a nice backhanded grab, then fired across the diamond well ahead of Boone. The throw came ...

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Posted in Game Recaps | 63 Comments »

Those Who Snooze Don’t Always Lose

Wednesday, May 21, 2008
by Geoff Young

We were walking west along J Street, just past Fire Station 4, when the crowd erupted. Cardinals fans seem to travel with their team, so we assumed that the visiting team had extended its seemingly insurmountable 2-0 lead. I was in a lousy mood before we even got to the ballpark -- I forget why, but it seemed important at the time. The game wasn't helping any. In the bottom of the first, after Jody Gerut drew an eight-pitch walk to lead off the inning, Tadahito Iguchi rapped into an easy 6-4-3 double play and I just smiled. It wasn't the smile of a happy man, mind you, more like the thing Jeff Kent does right ...

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Posted in Game Recaps | 130 Comments »