IGD: Padres vs Dodgers (2 Sep 07)

by Geoff Young on Sep 02, 2007 (40) Comments

Game #136
time: 1:05 p.m. PT
tv: 4SD
sp: Justin Germano (7-7, 4.25) vs Chad Billingsley (9-4, 3.50)
pre: Padres.com, B-R.com

Offense in the National League has been steadily climbing throughout the season, from 4.42 runs per game in April and May, to a high of 4.98 in August. The Padres, meanwhile, have been all over the place, hitting rock bottom in July, when they scored only 3.69 runs per game (while everyone else was scoring 4.84), before coming back with their strongest month yet in August.

Is the team peaking at the right time, or was last month an aberration? Whatever the case, the club’s recent performance, if not cause for crazed enthusiasm, at least gives us reason to remain cautiously optimistic as the finish line approaches…

Runs scored per game, 2007, by month

1969: Champion, Phillies Shut Out Padres

by Geoff Young on Sep 02, 2007 (0) Comments

September 2, 1969, San Diego: Phillies 2, Padres 0 (box score)

In the second of a three-game series, the Padres and Phillies hooked up in serious a pitchers duel. Tommie Sisk, who entered with an 0-9 record and a 5.83 ERA, started for San Diego; the visitors countered with rookie right-hander Bill Champion.

Through five innings, neither team had scored. In fact, there had been only three hits total to that point.

Johnny Briggs led off the sixth for Philadelphia with a bunt single to third. After another bunt advanced Briggs to second base, Dick Allen singled him home to make the score 1-0.

The Phillies added another run in the eighth. Briggs tripled to right-center with one out, and Cookie Rojas drove him home with a sac fly to right.

The Padres, meanwhile, couldn’t solve Champion. They put two runners on in the eighth and left both stranded. In the ninth, Ivan Murrell singled and Al Ferrara walked to start the inning, but Champion retired the next three batters to complete the 2-0 shutout victory and improve his record to 5-7. Sisk, the tough-luck loser, fell to 0-10 on the season.

IGD: Padres vs Dodgers (1 Sep 07)

by Geoff Young on Sep 01, 2007 (131) Comments

Game #135
time: 7:05 p.m. PT
tv: 4SD
sp: Jake Peavy (15-5, 2.18) vs Derek Lowe (11-11, 3.56)
pre: Padres.com

After winning with David Wells on the mound for the first time since July 16, the Padres look to make it two in a row against Los Angeles. Meanwhile, roster expansion has started. Catcher Michael Barrett is due off the disabled list on Saturday, while outfielder Brady Clark (USD) and first baseman Brian Myrow are expected to join the big club from Triple-A Portland. More reinforcements will arrive after Portland’s season ends on Tuesday. The org tree has been updated to reflect these latest changes. Go Padres!

1969: Padres Start September with a Win

by Geoff Young on Sep 01, 2007 (6) Comments

September 1, 1969, San Diego: Padres 5, Phillies 2 (box score)

After suffering through a miserable 5-22 August, the Padres opened September at home against Philadelphia. Left-hander Grant Jackson started for the visitors and failed to record a single out.

Jose Arcia led off the first inning with an infield single. Roberto Pena singled to center, and Ivan Murrell tripled both of them home. A balk by Jackson plated Murrell, making the score 3-0. After Nate Colbert walked, right-hander John Boozer replaced Jackson and retired the Padres without further incident.

San Diego added two runs in the fourth. Colbert drew his second walk of the game, and Ed Spiezio followed with his 13th home run of the season to extend the Padres’ lead to 5-0.

Clay Kirby, meanwhile, took a shutout into the ninth before faltering. That inning, Mike Ryan led off with a homer to left, Don Money singled, and pinch-hitter Rick Joseph drew a walk, chasing Kirby. The Phillies scored a second run off reliever Billy McCool, but Gary Ross eventually came on and retired Dick Allen and Johnny Callison to seal San Diego’s 5-2 victory.

IGD: Padres vs Dodgers (31 Aug 07)

by Geoff Young on Aug 31, 2007 (110) Comments

Game #134
time: 7:05 p.m. PT
tv: 4SD
sp: Jack Cassel (0-0, 6.00) vs David Wells (6-8, 5.46)
pre: Padres.com, B-R.com

Jack Cassel makes his first big-league start. Cassel’s brother is an NFL quarterback — he backs up the dreamy Tom Brady in New England. Who knew…

[Tip o' the Ducksnorts cap to Gaslamp Ball.]

Friday Links (31 Aug 07)

by Geoff Young on Aug 31, 2007 (54) Comments

My wife and I went to Del Mar on Thursday. First time I’d been to the track in years. I studied the horses, jockeys, and trainers to the best of my limited ability and proceeded to lose every race I bet on.

My wife hit a 30-1 longshot in the third race. She liked the name of the horse, Peachy Canyon. Suffice to say, her method is way better than mine.

Also, you really can’t determine the winner until after the race has been run. Funny how that works…

Meanwhile, down in the minors (thanks to LynchMob for these!)…

  • Prospect Hot Sheet (Baseball America). Eugene outfielder Kellen Kulbacki shows up at #8 this week. He’s hitting .349/.424/.651 in August. That’s not too shabby. Neither is .327/.424/.525 against southpaws (Kulbacki bats left-handed).
  • Downs, Durango named co-MVPs (MiLB.com) Another Eugene outfielder, Luis Durango, has been named Northwest League co-MVP on the strength of a .368/.414/.471 performance.
  • Headley, Geer headline Texas League’s best (MiLB.com). San Antonio third baseman Chase Headley has been named Texas League Player of the Year, while teammate, right-hander Josh Geer, took home Pitcher of the Year honors. Congrats to both of them!

For the football fans in the crowd, here are a few blogs I’m happy to recommend. My interest in the sport kind of died with the firing of Bobby Ross some years ago, but I still like to see the Chargers do well. Anyway, give these a spin and tell ‘em I sent you:

Also, two of my colleagues at b5media have general football blogs that you might enjoy:

These guys both do fantastic work.

Okay, that was a lot. Now over to Peter for the PPR…

Padres Prospect Report

by Peter Friberg

You will not see a frown on my face… (read with the appropriate background music:) It’s the most wonderful time… of the year.

  • Baseball at the height of its pennant races…
  • College football kicking off…
  • And NFL about to get started.

I love late summer/early fall!

Thursday, August 30, 2007

AAA

Tucson 6, Portland 4

Yordany Ramirez: 5 AB, 0 R, 1 H, 0 RBI; SO – off the DL
Michael Barrett: 4 AB, 1 R, 1 H, 0 RBI; 2B, SO

AA

San Antonio 4, Midland 1

Matt Antonelli: 4 AB, 0 R, 0 H, 0 RBI; 2 SO
Nick Hundley: 4 AB, 1 R, 2 H, 0 RBI; 2B, CS
Cesar Ramos: 5.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 2 SO, 0 HR

High-A

Visalia 4, Lake Elsinore 3

Ernesto Frieri: 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 3 SO, 0 HR

Low-A

South Bend 9, Fort Wayne 6

Geoff Vandel: 0.2 IP, 2 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 6 BB, 0 SO, 0 HR – yikes!

Short Season-A

Everett 4, Eugene 1

Yefri Carvajal: 4 AB, 0 R, 2 H, 1 RBI; 2 SO

Rookie

AZL Padres 4, AZL Angels 3

Drew Cumberland: 5 AB, 1 R, 2 H, 0 RBI; SB
Euclides Viloria: 5.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 8 SO, 1 HR – no idea…

[Ed note: Wow, the Padres have a pitcher named after a Pixies song?]

Commentary:

Not a minor league-topic…

You never want to back-door your way to the top of a leaderboard — especially past your own teammate — however, with Chris Young’s 5 earned runs in 4.1 innings last night, Jake is leading or tied in each of the triple crown categories:

  • Tied with Tim Hudson with 15 wins
  • Leading the NL with 2.18 ERA
  • Pacing the NL with 197 SO (23 better than second place)

Thanks, Peter. But is Jake any good?

The Dodgers are in town for the weekend. I still think we should replace “Beat LA” with “Beat Everyone” but that’s me. Jack Cassel apparently will start for the Padres against Wells in the opener Friday night.

Here’s hoping for a few questionable calls from the plate umpire early to take Boomer’s mind off the task at hand. If recent games are any indication, that shouldn’t be a problem.

Go Padres!

1969: Padres, Expos Split Doubleheader

by Geoff Young on Aug 31, 2007 (0) Comments

August 31, 1969, San Diego: Padres 5, Expos 2 (box score); Expos 6, Padres 1 (box score)

The Rolling Stones’ “Honky Tonk Women” had ascended to the top of the pop charts and was enjoying its second week in the #1 spot. The expansion Padres and Expos, meanwhile, continued their descent into realms best left unexplored by professional baseball teams.

On a Sunday in San Diego, the two clubs hooked up for a doubleheader in front of 4,782 fans. Dave Roberts faced right-hander Jerry Robertson in the opener. Robertson was a rookie out of Washburn University (which later produced future Padres coach Davey Lopes) and, like most of his teammates, was suffering through a miserable season.

The Expos jumped out to an early lead against Roberts, courtesy of a two-run homer off the bat of Rusty Staub in the third. They had a chance to do further damage the next inning, but with runners at the corners and one out were unable to score.

The Padres, meanwhile, broke through against Robertson in the sixth. With two out and nobody on, Roberto Pena singled left. Ollie Brown did the same. Al Ferrara then singled home Pena to make the score 2-1. Nate Colbert followed with a three-run homer that gave San Diego a lead it would not relinquish.

Montreal loaded the bases in the top of the eighth, but Billy McCool came on to strike out pinch-hitter John Boccabella and end the threat. The Padres added an insurance run in the bottom half on a leadoff home run by Brown, and held on to win, 5-2.

The second game featured Joe Niekro and Steve Renko. The Expos scored once each in the first and second innings to take a 2-0 lead. Chris Cannizzaro knocked a solo homer in the second to cut Montreal’s lead in half, but that was all the Padres would get against Renko, who tossed a five-hit complete game.

Niekro, for his part, worked seven strong innings before yielding to Jack Baldschun, who coughed up four runs in the final two innings. The big blow was a three-run home run by Mack Jones. The Padres dropped the game, 6-1, and finished the day with a 39-93 record. The Expos found themselves at 41-93. Both teams had a serious case of the honky tonk blues.

IGD: Padres vs Diamondbacks (30 Aug 07)

by Geoff Young on Aug 30, 2007 (216) Comments

Game #132
time: 7:05 p.m. PT
tv: 4SD
sp: Chris Young (9-4, 2.12) vs Doug Davis (11-11, 4.09)
pre: Padres.com, B-R.com

How sweet would a sweep be? Pretty sweet.

Also, is it just me or is anyone else offended by the fact that the pitcher with the best ERA in the league (Chris Young) has the same number of wins as the pitcher with the worst ERA in the league (Adam Eaton, 9-8, 6.23)?

Tied for First

by Geoff Young on Aug 30, 2007 (81) Comments

The Padres are tied for first again after Wednesday night’s 3-1 victory over Arizona at Petco Park (box score). That’s nice, but let’s not get carried away just yet. Not to bring everyone down, but being in first place on August 30 isn’t the goal, it’s just a signpost along the highway. The Padres have 30 games remaining on the schedule, and if the fact that they’ve picked up 5 games in the standings over the past 11 games doesn’t convince you that anything can happen, then I don’t know what will.

Back to Wednesday, Greg Maddux gave another solid performance. He got himself into trouble a few times, but mostly got himself out of it as well. The play he made on Orlando Hudson’s grounder in the third was a game saver. With runners at second and third, and one out, Hudson hit a chopper between the pitcher’s mound and the third-base line. Maddux bolted off the mound, did a quick jump to grab the ball, and fired home to nail an onrushing Justin Upton at the plate.

Meawhile, Chris Young will make his scheduled start Thursday, which is good news because… well, because he’s got the best ERA in the league and why wouldn’t you want him starting against a chief competitor down the stretch? It’s also good because who knows who will start on Friday when the Dodgers come to town. Here’s hoping Young is healthy and back to his dominant self.

Of course, we all want to see the Padres complete the sweep on Thursday, but what’s really cool is that the worst-case scenario has Arizona leaving town tied with San Diego in the loss column. With a month left in the season, I can live with that.

Padres Prospect Report

by Peter Friberg

You will not see…

AAA

Portland 9, Tucson 7 (10 innings)

Paul McAnulty: 5 AB, 2 R, 2 H, 0 RBI; 2B, SO
Brian Myrow: 5 AB, 2 R, 3 H, 0 RBI
Shawn Estes: 1.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 SO, 0 HR
Jared Wells: 1.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 SO, 0 HR

AA

Game 1: San Antonio 5, Midland 2

Chase Headley: 2 AB, 1 R, 1 H, 1 RBI; 2B, BB
Nick Hundley: 2 AB, 1 R, 1 H, 0 RBI; 2B, BB

Game 2: San Antonio 2, Midland 1

Chase Headley: 1 AB, 0 R, 0 H, 0 RBI; 2 BB
Luis Cruz: 2 AB, 1 R, 2 H, 2 RBI; HR, SB

High-A

Lake Elsinore 7, Visalia 1

Mike Baxter: 4 AB, 1 R, 2 H, 1 RBI; 2B, BB
David Freese: 3 AB, 1 R, 1 H, 1 RBI; 2 BB
Nathaniel Culp: 7.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 8 SO, 0 HR

Low-A

West Michigan 6, Fort Wayne 1

Eric Sogard: 4 AB, 0 R, 2 H, 0 RBI
Cedric Hunter: 3 AB, 0 R, 2 H, 0 RBI; 2 2B, BB, SO, CS

Short Season-A

Eugene 10, Everett 2

Danny Payne: 3 AB, 1 R, 1 H, 0 RBI; 3 BB, SO
Kellen Kulbacki: 5 AB, 2 R, 2 H, 2 RBI; 2B, HR, 2 SO
Yefri Carvajal: 5 AB, 2 R, 3 H, 3 RBI; 2 2B, HR, SO – wow!
Mat Latos: 5.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 10 SO, 0 HR – sick!

Rookie

AZL Giants 6, AZL Padres 1

No significant performances…

Commentary:

I might be Kellen Kulbacki’s biggest fan (other than his family) and he might not make my Padres Top 10… This system has some serious depth.

How about the Yefri and Latos show?

Thanks, Peter. First pitch Thursday night is at 7:05 p.m. PT. Be here or be elsewhere. Go Padres!

Cooperstown Road Trip Photos

by Geoff Young on Aug 30, 2007 (2) Comments

Okay, I’ve finally posted all my photos from the road. Well, not all my photos, but 158 of them.

Three quick notes:

  1. The photos at the induction ceremony kinda suck; I was at least a Canadian Football League field and three Dieter Brocks away from the stage.
  2. I got a little carried away with the Cedric Hunter photos at Fort Wayne.
  3. I got very carried away with the Grand Canyon photos. Hey, I really like the Grand Canyon, and this my first time back there since hiking to the bottom in August 1989. Incidentally, don’t hike the Grand Canyon in August.

Click on the giant thumbnail montage below to see the entire set or view as a slideshow here. Enjoy!

Cooperstown Road Trip thumbnail montage. Click to view entire set.