by Geoff Young on Apr 27, 2011
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). Speaking of which, this is curious:
IP ERA BA OBP SLG HR
Home 136.0 3.31 .233 .305 .355 12
Away 90.2 2.78 .238 .283 .318 5
Small sample, but this isn’t supposed to happen. Petco is known to suppress offense… which, if you are the Padres, it still does:
PA BA OBP SLG HR
Home 536 .200 .280 .296 6
Away 395 .226 .310 .344 8
Then again, it may be more a case of the Padres’ offense suppressing offense. Much as we might like, we can’t pin everything on Brad Hawpe. Don’t get me wrong, he’s been terrible at Petco Park, but so has everyone not named Nick Hundley (.262/.360/.476), Orlando Hudson (.294/.357/.392), and Cameron Maybin (.245/.339/.408). Continue reading ›
by Geoff Young on Apr 26, 2011
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… Continue reading ›
by Geoff Young on Apr 26, 2011
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… if you’re into that sort of thing.
A couple items that I’d wanted to include in the article didn’t have a logical place, so I present them here instead:
- Mat Latos continues to struggle. He has allowed five homers in 16 2/3 innings, including four in 10 1/3 innings at Petco Park.
- Mike Adams recently retired 28 consecutive batters, tying Bruce Hurst’s club record. Since 2008, only the Yankees’ Mariano Rivera has a lower ERA (1.69) than Adams (1.74) among pitchers who have worked at least 180 innings.
On a brighter note, the Padres won Monday night. Hawpe’s 2-for-5 performance lifted his OPS+ all the way up to -6. Woo-hoo, go team!
by Geoff Young on Apr 25, 2011
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 3 1 0 3 11 39 .165 .229 .203
Brad Hawpe? I can’t even pick on the guy anymore; it’s like making fun of someone with a speech impediment. He is hitting .098/.145/.118, has struck out in 40% of his plate appearances, and is testing the cliche that anyone with a bat in his hands is dangerous.
He makes me miss Jim Edmonds. Heck, he makes me miss Donaldo Mendez. Continue reading ›
by Geoff Young on Apr 22, 2011
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 60 64 8-11
The team went through a few stretches like this (worse, actually) last year. The low point came before, during, and after the disastrous 10-game losing streak that kept the Padres out of the post-season. August 28 to September 16 was you-ain’t-got-no-alibi ugly:
PA BA OBP SLG RS W-L
674 .235 .287 .350 50 6-13
Continue reading ›
by Geoff Young on Apr 21, 2011
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 his teammates on this crisp April afternoon in Chicago, not at all. Continue reading ›
by Geoff Young on Apr 20, 2011
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 Friday was a fluke), and their earlier pace was unsustainable. Continue reading ›
by Geoff Young on Apr 19, 2011
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 Cubs on Monday:
Tim: Dude, I totally got Moseleyed out there.
Dustin: Yep.
Awkward silence… and scene.
Or I could just give you some links… Continue reading ›
by Geoff Young on Apr 19, 2011
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 Padres stuff is mostly review material for you. It deals with the Four Bottoms (Brad Hawpe, Jason Bartlett, Ryan Ludwick, and Will Venable), who were hitting a combined .147/.246/.182 in 195 PA through Sunday’s game.
I also note that for as lost as Hawpe looks at the plate, Jim Edmonds was almost as bad for even longer in 2008 and turned it around, albeit for another team. Is this cause for hope? Eh, well…
by Geoff Young on Apr 18, 2011
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 lead.
As for Sunday, let’s be honest; the Astros helped. A lot. Three singles, three walks, and an error in the decisive eighth inning? Not exactly the stuff of legends, but we’ll take it. Continue reading ›
No Offense, but This Is Offensive
by Geoff Young on Apr 22, 2011 (23) Comments
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:
The team went through a few stretches like this (worse, actually) last year. The low point came before, during, and after the disastrous 10-game losing streak that kept the Padres out of the post-season. August 28 to September 16 was you-ain’t-got-no-alibi ugly:
Continue reading ›