Twelve Things I Hate

by Geoff Young on Sep 10, 2007 (44) Comments

  1. Eggplant
  2. Sewage spills
  3. Gratuitous guitar solos
  4. Weak coffee
  5. Insomnia
  6. Apathy
  7. Steve Urkel
  8. Getting hit by a truck
  9. Indecision
  10. Patchouli
  11. Mowing the lawn
  12. The way the Padres are playing right now
Padres Prospect Report

by Peter Friberg

You will not see the Frisco Roughriders or the Inland Empire 66ers play again in 2007.

Friday, September 7, 2007

AA

San Antonio 5, Frisco 0 (San Antonio wins series, 3-0)

Matt Antonelli: 4 AB, 3 R, 2 H, 0 RBI; 2B, BB, SO
Will Venable: 4 AB, 0 R, 2 H, 2 RBI; SO
Chase Headley: 4 AB, 0 R, 2 H, 2 RBI; 2 SO
Wade LeBlanc: 6.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 10 SO, 0 HR

High-A

Lake Elsinore 8, Inland Empire 2 (Lake Elsinore wins series, 2-1)

Kyle Blanks: 2 AB, 2 R, 0 H, 0 RBI; 2 BB
Steve Garrison: 7.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 8 SO, 0 HR

Commentary:

Both San Diego affiliates advance!

Saturday, September 8, 2007

No games…

Sunday, September 9, 2007

AA

No game…

High-A

Lake Elsinore 14, Lancaster 9

Sean Kazmar: 5 AB, 2 R, 3 H, 1 RBI; 2 2B, BB
Kyle Blanks: 4 AB, 2 R, 2 H, 3 RBI; HR, BB, SO

Commentary:

Down 6-0 after four innings, the Storm did not give up. They scored four in the fifth, then gave one back to make it 7-4 after five innings. Then, in the top of the sixth, the Storm struck for nine runs (both of Blanks’ hits came in the sixth).

[Ed note: Sounds like a fun game -- even some ejections...]

Thanks, Peter. Remember that the Storm play host to Lancaster Monday night. First pitch is at 7:07 p.m. PT. With the Padres idle, this might be a good opportunity to cruise up I-15 and catch a game at Elsinore. In fact, I do believe I will. :-)

1969: Kirby Sucks Up Reds

by Geoff Young on Sep 10, 2007 (0) Comments

September 10, 1969, Cincinnati: Padres 2, Reds 1 (box score)

This Wednesday affair at Crosley Field turned out to be quite the pitchers duel. Through the first three innings, there were a total of three baserunners: all walks by the Padres against Cincinnati starter Tony Cloninger.

In the fourth, San Diego scored the game’s first run. Rookie Jerry Morales, getting the start in left field, led off the inning with his first big-league home run.

The score remained 1-0 until the sixth, when the Reds tied the contest. Clay Kirby, who had allowed just one hit entering the inning, served up a two-out triple to Jimmy Stewart that brought home Woody Woodward.

The Padres nudged back ahead in the eighth thanks to some shoddy defense by the home team. With two out, Roberto Pena tripled to center. Morales followed with a grounder that shortstop Woodward booted, allowing Pena to score.

San Diego threatened to add an insurance run in the ninth, but Chris Cannizzaro rapped into a 5-4-3 double play to quell the threat. It didn’t matter, as Kirby sealed the deal on his own in the bottom half. The young right-hander limited a potent Cincinnati offense to just three hits and a walk en route to a Padres 2-1 victory.

IGD: Padres @ Rockies (9 Sep 07)

by Geoff Young on Sep 09, 2007 (36) Comments

Game #142
time: 12:05 p.m. PT
tv: 4SD
sp: Chris Young (9-6, 2.63) vs Josh Fogg (8-9, 5.01)
pre: Padres.com, B-R.com

I liked this pitching matchup a lot better in July. Now would be a good time for Chris Young to remember that he’s a dominant big-league pitcher and not some guy who can’t find his command.

In other news, according to the U-T, “there is no timetable” for Milton Bradley‘s return. Has there ever been a more appropriate nickname for a ballplayer than Jenga is for Bradley? We admire the skill required to build the tower, but live in constant fear that it will collapse.

Go Padres!

1969: Wynn, Dierker Dominate Padres

by Geoff Young on Sep 09, 2007 (0) Comments

September 9, 1969, Houston: Astros 9, Padres 2 (box score)

First, the good news: Ivan Murrell hit his third home run of the season with two out in the ninth to avoid the shutout. The bad news? Pretty much everything else.

Joe Niekro started for San Diego and coughed up six runs in 4+ innings. The final batter he faced, Jimmy Wynn, launched a three-run homer to give the Astros a 6-0 lead.

The Padres managed just two singles off Houston starter Larry Dierker through 8 2/3 innings. Then Jerry Morales knocked a single of his own (the first hit of what would become a 14-year career in the big leagues) and Murrell homered before Dierker retired Nate Colbert to end the suffering.

I have to be honest. As someone who missed the inaugural season when it happened, I find writing about it almost unbearable at times. This team was unbelievably bad. Kudos to the fans who’ve stuck with the Padres from the beginning. I hope they give you (and the rest of us) a real good reason to cheer before long.

IGD: Padres @ Rockies (8 Sep 07)

by Geoff Young on Sep 08, 2007 (44) Comments

Game #141
time: 5:05 p.m. PT
tv: 4SD
sp: Greg Maddux (11-9, 3.75) vs Jeff Francis (15-6, 4.12)
pre: Padres.com, B-R.com

Jeff Francis has been terrific again this year, proving that his 2006 breakout season was no fluke. On the bright side, he’s been terrible against the Padres of late. Francis has allowed at least five runs in each of his last five starts against San Diego. He’s 1-3 with a 9.91 ERA during that stretch, which dates back to August 2006.

The bad news, of course, is that past performance is no guarantee of future performance. Here’s hoping that in this case, the trend continues…

Missions, Storm Advance

by Geoff Young on Sep 08, 2007 (3) Comments

Congrats to the San Antonio Missions and Lake Elsinore Storm for advancing in their league playoffs. The Missions beat the Frisco Rough Riders, 5-0, on Friday at home (recap | box) to sweep their three-game series, while the Storm topped the Inland Empire 66ers, 8-2, at The Diamond in Elsinore (recap | box).

Matt AntonelliOne of the fun things if you’re a Padres fan (especially one who got to see a few Storm games earlier in the season) is that many of the kids leading the charge for San Antonio started the year in the Cal League. Among them were left-hander Wade LeBlanc, who allowed just two hits over six innings in the clincher, while striking out 10. Four Missions players collected two hits, including top prospects Matt Antonelli (who also walked), Will Venable, and Chase Headley. Left fielder Brett Dowdy, who hit five home runs during the regular season, knocked his second of the series in support of the effort.

With the victory, San Antonio advances to the Texas League Championship Series for the first time since 2003. Not bad for a team that’s enjoying its inaugural season as a Padres affiliate. The Missions will play a best-of-five series against the Springfield Cardinals, who swept their series against the Tulsa Drillers. The championship series begins in San Antonio on Tuesday night. Listen to the games live at the Missions web site.

Meanwhile, back here in SoCal, another left-hander dominated on Friday. Steve Garrison, the least heralded of the minor leaguers that came over from Milwaukee in the Scott Linebrink trade, spun seven shutout innings, and the offense did what it’s done pretty much all season. Mike Baxter collected three hits, while Josh Alley and Juan Ciriaco each added a pair. Garrison’s strong performance was much needed, as the Storm bullpen had worked a total of 13 2/3 innings over the first two games of the series.

Next up for Elsinore: a best-of-five series against the Lancaster JetHawks starting Saturday (ah, the joys of the Cal League — no rest for the winners). The first two games are at the windy confines in Lancaster, with Elsinore playing host on Monday night (and Tuesday, if needed). Of course, thanks to the magic of the Internet, you can listen to those games as well. Better yet, head out to The Diamond on Monday — the Padres are off that night, so you have no excuse.

Go Missions! Go Storm!

1969: Corkins Corked in Big-League Debut at Houston

by Geoff Young on Sep 08, 2007 (0) Comments

September 8, 1969, Houston: Astros 9, Padres 2 (box score)

Mike Corkins made his first big-league start on a Monday in the Astrodome. It could have gone better.

Corkins, whom the Padres selected from the Giants with the 31st pick in the expansion draft, didn’t make it out of the second inning. Heck, he barely made it out of the first, allowing four runs on four hits (all for extra bases, including two triples to lead off the game) and a walk.

The Padres scored in the second on a one-out solo home run off the bat of Nate Colbert to make the score 4-1, but Houston answered with a run of its own. After striking out the first two batters he faced, Corkins gave up a single to Jesus Alou and walked Jimmy Wynn. After a Tommy Davis single brought home Alou, Corkins was done, replaced by Dave Roberts, who retired Curt Blefary to stop the bleeding.

It was too late, of course. Colbert knocked his second homer of the game in the fourth, another solo shot that made the score 5-2, but the Astros kept coming, adding two in the fifth and two more in the seventh. Houston starter Tom Griffin took care of the rest, going the distance and striking out 11 en route to his 10th victory of the season.

Trivia: In addition to Corkins, whose career bears a strong resemblance to that of Mark Grant, two other Padres made their big-league debuts in this game. Jim Williams struck out batting for pitcher Tom Dukes to lead off the eighth, while Ron Slocum pinch ran for Al Ferrara the following inning. Between the two of them, Williams and Slocum would collect 28 hits in the major leagues over the next three years.

IGD: Padres @ Rockies (7 Sep 07)

by Geoff Young on Sep 07, 2007 (55) Comments

Game #140
time: 6:05 p.m. PT
tv: 4SD
sp: Justin Germano (7-8, 4.11) vs Elmer Dessens (2-2, 7.39)
pre: Padres.com, B-R.com

While rummaging through the MLB press notes for Friday night’s game I found this little nugget at the bottom of page 9: the Padres have lost a total of 241 games to the disabled list in 2007. Compare that with 600+ each of the past two seasons. Of players that were expected to contribute in a material role this season, only two — Brian Giles (34) and Clay Hensley (25) — have missed as many as 20 games. That’s pretty impressive, especially when you consider how many old guys there are on this team. Props to trainer Todd Hutcheson and his staff for a job well done.

Friday Links (7 Sep 07)

by Geoff Young on Sep 07, 2007 (31) Comments

Thanks for all the kind words on Thursday. I try not to get too sentimental around here, but sometimes I just can’t help myself.

That reminds me, as promised, I’ve got an article on the ’93 Fire Sale up at Hardball Times. Those of you who suffered through Tom Werner’s dismantling of the team might enjoy remembering just how well then-GM Randy Smith did despite having no leverage. Those who “missed” the Werner era Padres should give it a read also; it will help provide context for the occasional mistrust of subsequent ownership/front office groups.

Enough about me; onto the links:

That’s it. I’m all out of links…

Padres Prospect Report

by Peter Friberg

Wednesday, September 5, 2007

AA

San Antonio 5, Frisco 3 (San Antonio leads series, 1-0)

Chase Headley: 4 AB, 1 R, 1 H, 1 RBI; HR, 2 SO
Chad Huffman: 1 AB, 1 R, 0 H, 0 RBI; 2 BB, HBP
Joshua Geer: 7.0 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 7 SO, 3 HR – 3 solo HR in 7th

High-A

Inland Empire 4, Lake Elsinore 3 (14 innings; Inland Empire leads series, 1-0)

Josh Alley: 6 AB, 0 R, 4 H, 0 RBI; BB – on base 5X & 0 runs!?!
David Freese: 6 AB, 1 R, 1 H, 1 RBI; HR, BB, 2 SO

Short Season-A

Salem-Keizer 10, Eugene 8

Luis Durango: 6 AB, 0 R, 3 H, 0 RBI; SO
Yefri Carvajal: 5 AB, 1 R, 2 H, 0 RBI

Commentary:

Pitching Jake on 3 days rest didn’t go as planned. Dang. I am always hesitant to go off plan…

Thursday, September 6, 2007

AA

San Antonio 6, Frisco 1 (San Antonio leads series, 2-0)

Matt Antonelli: 4 AB, 1 R, 1 H, 0 RBI; BB, SO
Will Venable: 5 AB, 1 R, 3 H, 0 RBI; SO
Chase Headley: 5 AB, 0 R, 0 H, 0 RBI; 3 SO
Cesar Ramos: 6.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 8 SO, 1 HR

High-A

Lake Elsinore 10, Inland Empire 7 (Series tied, 1-1)

David Freese: 4 AB, 1 R, 1 H, 0 RBI; BB, 2 SO
Craig Cooper: 5 AB, 3 R, 3 H, 2 RBI; 2B
Kyle Blanks: 2 AB, 3 R, 2 H, 3 RBI; HR, 2 BB – stud!
Corey Luebke: 2.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 SO, 0 HR
R.J. Rodriguez: 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 SO, 0 HR

Commentary:

It’s encouraging when you can convincingly beat your opponent when your best hitter (Chase Headley) has a bad night.

In the middle of the fifth the Storm trailed 5-3. Josh Alley singled. Sean Kazmir and David Freese unfortunately followed the single up with a fly out and a strikeout… Craig Cooper then singled to keep the inning alive. Inland Empire then countered with a pitching change. Kyle Blanks greeted the new Inland Empire pitcher with a three-run tater. The Storm led the rest of the way…

Each Padre affiliate can advance in their league’s playoff with a win on Friday.

Three in Coors Field starting Friday evening. Be here for the IGD, ’cause, you know, it’s what we do. Go Padres!

1969: Padres Complete Four-Game Sweep of Dodgers

by Geoff Young on Sep 07, 2007 (2) Comments

September 7, 1969, San Diego: Padres 4, Dodgers 2 (box score)

When the Dodgers arrived in San Diego on Thursday, they were 74-59, 1 game out of first place in the National League West. When they left, their record had fallen to 74-63 and the team from Los Angeles found itself in fourth place, 2 1/2 back of the front-running Giants. The Padres, meanwhile, had pushed themselves ahead of the Expos, who took over as the team with the worst record in baseball.

“How did it all go down?” you may ask. Go ahead, ask. Okay, if you insist, I will tell you.

The Dodgers jumped out to an early lead against Al Santorini. In the second inning, with Andy Kosco on first base and two out, Ted Sizemore lined a double to right, scoring Kosco and putting the visitors on top, 1-0.

The Padres, though, didn’t stay down for long. In the bottom of the second, Nate Colbert and Ed Spiezio singled off Claude Osteen to get things started. One out later, Chris Cannizzaro singled to center, tying the score at 1-1.

San Diego threatened again in the third but couldn’t score, and the game remained tied into the seventh. Then, in the Dodgers half, Bill Sudakis homered to right, putting Los Angeles up, 2-1.

As had been the case in the second, the Padres came right back. Leadoff hitter Jose Arcia started the seventh with a walk. Roberto Pena then doubled to center, scoring Arcia and retying the game.

After Ollie Brown popped to short for the first out, Al Ferrara was intentionally walked. Nate Colbert then struck out, and the situation was looking brighter for Osteen.

But even the best laid plans often go awry, and Spiezio followed with a single that scored Tommy Dean (who was running for Pena). The next batter, Cito Gaston, also singled to bring home Jerry Morales (running for Ferrara) and make the score 4-2. Joe Moeller finally came in to relieve Osteen and retired Cannizzaro to end the inning, but the damage had been done.

The Dodgers put two runners on in the eighth, and two more on in the ninth, but relievers Gary Ross and Billy McCool extinguished both fires to preserve the victory. In a most unlikely scenario, the Padres had completed a four-game sweep of their neighbors to the north and provided the hometown fans with a rare opportunity to cheer.