| time: | 12:55 p.m. PT |
| tv: | FOX |
| sp: | Chris Young (9-8, 3.13) vs Dave Bush (12-10, 5.16) |
| pre: | B-R.com |
Now would be a fantastic time for the good Chris Young to make an appearance. Go Padres!
IGD: Padres @ Brewers (29 Sep 07)
IGD: Padres @ Brewers (28 Sep 07)
| time: | 5:05 p.m. PT |
| tv: | 4SD |
| sp: | Greg Maddux (13-11, 4.10) vs Chris Capuano (5-12, 5.09) |
| pre: | Padres.com, B-R.com |
This talk of tiebreakers makes my head hurt. Win three and the rest will take care of itself.
Here’s the plan: On offense, hit the ball toward Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder. On defense, keep the ball away from those two. Also, say nice things about Chris Capuano; then he can’t hurt you. Go Padres!
Friday Links (28 Sep 07)
Coffee in the bloodstream, jazz in the ears, baseball on the brain. Let’s get busy…
- Trade winds blow true (San Diego Union-Tribune). Tom Krasovic tells us what we already know: Kevin Towers is good at that trading thing. Here’s a passage that helps confirm some things we’ve long suspected:
Padres statistical analysts deserve credit, Towers has said. Research shows that home run suppression can be a predictor of success for a pitcher. [Left-hander Joe] Thatcher excelled in that area. Statistics favored by the Padres showed that [right-hander Heath] Bell had been unlucky with the Mets and that his excellent strikeout-to-walk numbers were better measures of his talent.
Yep, it’s all about the peripherals.
- Player Cards (from small ball to the long ball, via Friar Forecast). If you seriously want to geek out on PITCHf/x stuff, holy shmoly: here’s Jake Peavy’s card and here is Khalil Greene’s.
- Q&A with Brett Tomko (San Diego Union-Tribune). Quoth the veteran right-hander:
I didn’t feel like myself in L.A. I felt like I was trying to be someone that I wasn’t. I tried something with my delivery and it didn’t work out. I got out of whack, and I didn’t know how to fix it.
It’s okay, bud; that happens a lot in LA.
- The Matt Cain Effect (Gaslamp Ball). Dex offers his thoughts on the recent tiff between Giants pitcher Matt Cain and Scott Hairston. Get a room already.
- Rockies in the Discussion (SI.com). Jon Weisman moderates a roundtable discussion about the NL West. Consensus is that the Padres are the team to beat — assuming, of course, they make the playoffs.
- Flyin’ Under the Radar (Baseball Analysts). Rich looks at some of 2007′s biggest bargains. Ex-Padre DH Jack Cust makes the list, while reliever Heath Bell merits an honorable mention.
- Arizona League Top 20 Prospects List (Baseball America). Outfielder Yefri Carvajal ranks #14; shortstop Drew Cumberland checks in at #7.
- Northwest League Top 20 Prospects List (Baseball America). Outfielder Kellen Kulbacki ranks #6, while right-hander Mat Latos leads the pack. When is the last time a Padres pitcher was the #1 prospect in any league?
- Venable, 24, a venerable prospect (San Diego Union-Tribune). Will Venable will get a look in center field at the Arizona Fall League. Will stopped by the TV broadcast booth the other night when the Padres were in San Francisco. Will’s dad, Max (hitting coach at Elsinore this past season), played with Mark Grant, and Matt Vasgersian kept trying to get the younger Venable to call Grant an old man. Good times.
- Non-Prospect Diary (Baseball America). For me, Dirk Hayhurst’s diary was the best read of the summer. This is his final entry, and it’s a dandy:
If I am honest, the closest I come to toeing the rubber of a big league mound may be in my imagination. But in my imagination, it’s a great moment.
Amen, and best of luck…
- Case Study: Sean Burroughs (Minor League Ball, via Didi in the comments). John Sickels tries to figure out where Burroughs went wrong.
Finally, Ducksnorts has been nominated (thanks, Malcolm!) for Best Sports Blog at the Blogger’s Choice Awards. Feel free to vote for me if you’re so inclined. Happy happy joy joy…
Tunes: Delfeayo Marsalis, Mulgrew Miller, Vincent Gardner, Tony Monaco, Cannonball Adderley, Mark Whitfield, Charlie Rouse, McCoy Tyner, Wallace Roney, Pat Martino.
1969: Carty, Braves Too Much for Padres
September 28, 1969, Atlanta: Braves 4, Padres 2 (box score)
The Braves jumped out early in this one and then hung on late to complete their sweep of the Padres. Clay Kirby started for San Diego, while Pat Jarvis got the call for the home team.
With two out in the first inning, Hank Aaron singled. Rico Carty followed with his 16th homer of the year to make the score 2-0.
Atlanta scored again in the third to extend its lead to 3-0. The Padres answered in the fourth when Ollie Brown led off with his 20th home run of the season.
San Diego threatened in the seventh, but with two on and two out, Cecil Upshaw replaced Jarvis and retired Roberto Pena. The Braves then added an insurance run in the eighth on an RBI double by Carty.
The Padres had one last chance in the ninth. Nate Colbert singled, Ivan Murrell struck out, and Walt Hriniak singled, bringing the tying run to the plate in the person of rookie shortstop Frankie Libran, just 1-for-10 in his career.
Manager Preston Gomez pulled Libran in favor of Ed Spiezio, who grounded out to drive home Colbert. Upshaw then retired a second pinch hitter, Cito Gaston, to end the contest.
IGD: Padres @ Brewers (27 Sep 07)
| time: | 5:05 p.m. PT |
| tv: | 4SD |
| sp: | Jack Cassel (1-1, 4.00) vs Yovani Gallardo (9-4, 3.59) |
| pre: | Padres.com, B-R.com |
Is there anything you wouldn’t do to get either Prince Fielder or Ryan Braun in your lineup? On the bright side, Yovani Gallardo is Milwaukee’s only good pitcher. If the Padres can steal one Thursday night…
Jake the Efficient
What to say about Wednesday night’s win (box score)… Huge? Yeah, a little. Fun? You bet.
Jake Peavy struck out just one batter over seven solid innings en route to his 19th win. First time since August 2003 he’s registered fewer than two strikeouts in a game.
Matt and Mud speculated that maybe Peavy had purposely changed his approach to save some bullets for Sunday in Milwaukee if needed. In the post-game interview, Peavy confirmed as much.
Bob Scanlan in the wrap-up show wondered why Peavy worked the seventh with a seven-run lead. He’d thrown 81 pitches through six, and getting him out of there might have made sense if Bud Black was thinking of using him again on short rest.
Then again, with four coming up in Milwaukee, Black probably needs as many fresh arms out of the bullpen as he can get. It is kind of nice to make it through a game burning only Justin Hampson and Wil Ledezma.
On offense, every starter had at least one hit. Kevin Kouzmanoff continues to be ridiculous. With two more knocks, his batting average now stands at .280 and his OPS at 802. Since the All-Star break he’s batting .333/.386/.548.
Meanwhile, Josh Bard is quietly putting together another solid season. Among NL catchers with at least 400 plate appearances, only Russell Martin has an OBP higher than Bard’s .367.
Bard is outperforming bigger name brands such as Ivan Rodriguez and ex-Padre Ramon Hernandez (who is due a minimum of $16.5 million over the next three years). Yeah, it’d be nice if Bard could nab the occasional base stealer, but if you’ve watched anyone other than Brett Tomko try to hold runners at first, you know that’s not going to happen.
Khalil Greene? He’s healthy and putting up the numbers we figured he would one of these years (I thought it would be ’06). Yeah, the OBP stinks; still, I’ll take 71 extra-base hits from a shortstop any day.
There’s more to tell, but I have to stop somewhere. Always more to tell. That’s why we keep watching, eh?
1969: Reed Fans Thirteen En Route to Victory over Padres
September 27, 1969, Atlanta: Braves 4, Padres 2 (box score)
Ron Reed — yes, the former basketball player — dominated the Padres in this one. San Diego’s sole chance to cause major damage came in the sixth, and for a while it looked as though they might.
With one out, Roberto Pena and Ollie Brown singled. Pena advanced to third on the play, with Brown taking second on the throw. In a move that seems baffling in retrospect, Reed intentionally walked Al Ferrara to load the bases for Nate Colbert. The young first baseman delivered, singling home two runs and giving the Padres a 2-1 lead. Reed then retired Ivan Murrell and Chris Cannizzaro to end the frame.
Atlanta tied the contest in the bottom of the sixth on a solo homer by Rico Carty. The Braves pushed across another run the next inning on a two-out single by ex-Padre Tony Gonzalez that ended up being the game winner, and tacked on one more in the eighth to make the final score 4-2.
Reed went the distance for Atlanta, scattering seven hits and striking out thirteen. The Braves had won their eighth straight in front of 14,572 at home, pushing their lead in the NL West to 2 1/2 games over second-place San Francisco and a barely believable 40 1/2 over the Padres.
IGD: Padres @ Giants (26 Sep 07)
| time: | 7:15 p.m. PT |
| tv: | 4SD |
| sp: | Jake Peavy (18-5, 2.36) vs Pat Misch (0-3, 2.75) |
| pre: | Padres.com, B-R.com |
This kid made a lot of Padres hitters schwing and Misch the last time he faced them. Thanks, you’re much too kind; please stop throwing vegetables.
Thank You, Mr. Giles
Analysis is cheap, season-saving home runs are not. Thank you, Brian Giles, for keeping our hope alive (box score). Thanks also to Joe Thatcher for getting out of a bases-loaded jam in the seventh, to Brady Clark for dropping a bloop single down the right-field line in the ninth, to Oscar Robles for drawing a walk after being a strike away from ending the game, and to the entire team for giving us all reason to cheer during the season’s final week.
I don’t know who half these guys are either, but they’re ours. Rock on…
1969: Braves Win Battle of Niekros
September 26, 1969, Atlanta: Braves 10, Padres 4 (box score)
The Padres jumped to an early lead against knuckleballer Phil Niekro in this one. Jose Arcia reached first on an error by shortstop Gil Garrido to start the game. After the next two batters were retired (and Niekro should have been out of the inning), things got interesting.
Al Ferrara and Nate Colbert both walked to load the bases. Ivan Murrell singled them home to put San Diego up, 2-0, with Colbert advancing only to second. A passed ball moved him and Ferrara into scoring position, but Cannizzaro popped to short for the final out.
The Padres added a run the next inning on a leadoff home run by Tommie Dean (!), the second of a big-league career that saw him hit .180/.240/.242 over nearly 600 plate appearances. They threatened to score more, but after Roberto Pena singled with two out and advanced to third on two passed balls, Ollie Brown popped to short to end the threat.
In the third, holding a 3-0 advantage, the younger Niekro saw his game unravel. His older brother led off with a single to center. After two more singles loaded the bases, Hank Aaron popped out to first. Rico Carty then walked, forcing home the elder Niekro. With the bases still loaded, Orlando Cepeda cranked his 22nd homer of the season to give the Braves a 5-3 lead.
Exit Joe Niekro, enter Frank Reberger. The next batter, Clete Boyer, hit a solo home run to make the score 6-3. Eventually (but not before Phil Niekro had collected his second hit of the inning) Reberger retired the side, but the game was over.
Aaron knocked his 44th home run of the year in the fourth off Mike Corkins. Atlanta added two more runs the following inning and another in the seventh. Ferrara homered for the Padres in the eighth to make the final score 10-4. As in, over and out. Done. Goodbye. That’s all folks…
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