1969: Bats Come to Life as Padres Beat Atlanta

by Geoff Young on Jul 19, 2007 (0) Comments

July 19, 1969, Atlanta: Braves 6, Padres 2 (box score)

Four Padres enjoyed multi-hit games and Joe Niekro shut down the Braves in Atlanta.

San Diego batters jumped on starter George Stone right away. With two on and two out, Al Ferrara doubled to right, giving the Padres a 2-0 lead. After Ed Spiezio walked, Ivan Murrell singled home Ferrara.

In the fifth, the Padres did more damage. Ollie Brown led off with a single. Nate Colbert popped up for the first out, but Al Ferrara followed with a single, setting the stage for Ed Spiezio, who knocked a three-run homer to left. The Padres now led, 6-0.

The Braves scored their lone run against Niekro in the sixth on the strength of three straight two-out singles. After that, Niekro recovered and went the distance to improve his record to 5-6.

IGD: Padres vs Mets (18 Jul 07)

by Geoff Young on Jul 18, 2007 (145) Comments

Game #93
time: 7:05 p.m. PT
tv: 4SD
sp: Greg Maddux (7-7, 4.35) vs John Maine (10-5, 2.91)
pre: Padres.com, SI.com

If you want to feel bad for a team, how about the Baltimore Orioles. They traded John Maine and Jorge Julio to the Mets for Kris Benson. New York turned Julio into Orlando Hernandez, so essentially, the Mets parlayed Anna Benson‘s overpaid, broken down husband into two good starting pitchers.

Nice trick, that…

Left at Albuquerque

by Geoff Young on Jul 18, 2007 (62) Comments

I’m staring at a blank screen, trying to think of things to say about Tuesday night’s loss (box score) that you don’t already know. “It sucked” doesn’t qualify, but that’s all I’ve got.

On another note, we’re still brainstorming ideas for a Hall of Fame meetup. Keep the chatter going.

Finally, I’m driving from San Diego to Albuquerque first thing Monday morning. Am I better off going through Phoenix or taking I-15 to I-40? The difference in time is negligible. Anything worth seeing on either of those routes?

1969: Ex-Padre Gonzalez Leads Braves to Doubleheader Sweep

by Geoff Young on Jul 18, 2007 (0) Comments

July 18, 1969, Atlanta: Braves 6, Padres 2 (box score); Braves 6, Padres 3 (box score)

The Padres traded outfielder Tony Gonzalez to Atlanta on June 13, 1969. This day, however, Gonzalez made the expansion club from San Diego regret its decision.

In the first game, Al Santorini hooked up with Ron Reed. The game remained scoreless through the first three innings.

In the fourth, home runs by Al Ferrara and Larry Stahl gave the Padres a 2-0 lead. The Braves, though, didn’t stay down for long. In the bottom half of the inning, a Bob Didier single scored two to tie the game. After singles by Reed and Felipe Alou, Gonzalez stepped up to the plate and swatted a grand slam against his former team.

Neither club scored again. The Braves won, 6-2.

In the second game, San Diego again jumped out to an early lead. Nate Colbert led off the fourth with a homer to put the Padres up, 1-0.

Again, the Braves came storming back that same inning. A hit batsman, walk, and error netted Atlanta a run and tied the game. Then, with two on and one out, Gonzalez drilled another homer to put his club up, 3-1.

The Padres re-tied the contest in the sixth. With one out, Ferrara drew a walk and Stahl pounded his second home run of the day.

Atlanta broke the game open two innings later. Three singles and two walks resulted in three runs, and gave the Braves an insurmountable 6-3 lead. The Padres had dropped a doubleheader in front of more than 23,000 fans — the team’s largest crowd since May 21 at home against Pittsburgh.

IGD: Padres vs Mets (17 Jul 07)

by Geoff Young on Jul 17, 2007 (149) Comments

Game #92
time: 7:05 p.m. PT
tv: 4SD
sp: Jake Peavy (9-3, 2.19) vs Orlando Hernandez (5-4, 3.20)
pre: Padres.com, SI.com

I cannot begin to tell you how glad I am that the Diamondbacks traded Orlando Hernandez for Jorge Julio in May 2006. Sure, it made sense at the time, but Arizona could use Hernandez right about now.

Meanwhile, Jake Peavy has been less than his dominant self of late. Since June 1, he’s posted a 3.35 ERA over seven starts, and opponents are batting .256/.321/.337. Not bad, but we get spoiled by those long stretches where Jake shuts down everyone.

On another note, I’ve taken your feedback and made some tweaks to the player dashboard I introduced last month…

Jake Peavy Dashboard (click image for larger version)

Click image for larger version

Main changes from previous attempt:

  • Got rid of 3d views for cleaner, more readable graphic.
  • Added league averages for ISO and BB/PA trends to provide greater context.
  • Removed ISO and BB/PA from Player vs Position graph to avoid duplicating trend graphs.

I tried to ditch the pie chart, but everything I came up with in its place was too cluttered. I’m also sticking with black-and-white since these are intended for use in next year’s book, and printing in color costs extra bucks.

As always, comments are welcome…

Coffee, Jazz, Victory

by Geoff Young on Jul 17, 2007 (34) Comments

Got me some coffee in a mug, some Lionel Hampton on the radio, and a Padres win (box score) on my mind. Not bad for a Tuesday morning.

Hall of Fame Meetup

Tony Gwynn’s induction into Cooperstown is nigh upon us. As a reminder, we’re brainstorming ideas for a Hall of Fame meetup. Any and all suggestions are welcome and encouraged. Hope to see you there!

First and foremost, I have to give props to David Wells for doing a better job of controlling his emotions on the mound. If he disagreed with the plate umpire at all, he did a nice job of hiding it. Too bad Wells needed a suspension to get the message, but it was nice to see him not put the team in a potentially difficult position. He also pitched pretty well, working into and out of jams — it’s a style that isn’t always easy to watch, but Monday night it was effective.

Second, I’d like to thank the Mets for their baserunning exploits. David Wright getting picked off after starting the sixth with a single was huge. If Wells is going to fall apart, it usually will be in that inning. After Wright got his knock, I’m sure we were all thinking the worst. But once Wells picked him off, the snowball never materialized and the Padres held onto their 2-1 lead. Ruben Gotay helped out as well, getting caught stealing to end the seventh.

On the offensive side, everyone contributed. The only starter who didn’t get a hit was Marcus Giles, and he drove in a run on a grounder to short that Jose Reyes couldn’t get out of his glove. Michael Barrett led the charge, collecting three singles and driving in three runs.

Speaking of Barrett, I love the hustle that he and fellow newcomer Milton Bradley are showing. The one time Barrett was retired came on a swinging strikeout; the third strike bounced away from Mets catcher Paul LoDuca and Barrett ran hard down the line, very nearly beating LoDuca’s throw to first.

Bradley impressed me a couple of times. In the sixth, he hit a shallow fly to left — the ball was caught for an out, but as Matt and Mud mentioned on TV, Bradley was hustling all the way, making no assumptions. It’s a relatively minor detail, but something you like to see.

The second time came in the eighth. Immediately following a Mike Cameron solo homer to dead center, Bradley singled to left and stole second while Khalil Greene struck out swinging at ball four. Second baseman Jose Valentin (who begat Gary Sheffield, who begat Trevor Hoffman) swiped at Bradley and missed. The ball kicked away from Valentin — just far enough for an alert Bradley to jump up and sprint to third without a throw from Reyes, who had retrieved the ball. There aren’t many guys on the Padres who get to third on that play. Bradley. Cameron. That’s about it.

The bullpen, meanwhile, returned to its usual dominant form. Heath Bell gave up an infield single to Gotay in the seventh, and Cla Meredith gave up a grounder to Wright that shot past Adrian Gonzalez for a base hit in the ninth. Both runners were erased — Gotay on the aforementioned stolen base attempt, Wright on a 1-6-3 double play off the bat of Carlos Delgado — and Padres relievers faced the minimum nine batters over the final three innings of a victory that, given the matchup, seemed like a longshot coming into the game.

We often say that good teams take advantage of the opposition’s mistakes. Usually it’s in the context of grousing about an avoidable loss. In this case, though, the sentiment applies to a Padres win. Both teams had opportunities in Game 1, but the Padres did a better job of executing when it mattered. That doesn’t always happen, but it sure is nice when it does.

Padres Prospect Report

by Peter Friberg

You will not see Rob Bowen in a Cubs jersey, the former Padre backstop was traded to the A’s.

[Ed note: In return, the Cubs received Jason Kendall, who has become an alarmingly inept offensive player over the past several years.]

AAA

Pete LaForest: 5 AB, 1 R, 2 H, 5 RBI; HR, 2 SO
Ryan Ketchner: 3.0 IP, 6 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 1 BB, 2 SO, 2 HR

AA

Matt Antonelli: 4 AB, 3 R, 1 H, 1 RBI; HR, BB, SO
Will Venable: 5 AB, 3 R, 3 H, 1 RBI; HR
Chase Headley: 4 AB, 1 R, 2 H, 4 RBI; 2B, HR, BB, 2 SO
Nick Hundley: 5 AB, 2 R, 2 H, 2 RBI; 2 HR, 3 SO – true outcomes…

High-A

Kyle Blanks: 4 AB, 0 R, 1 H, 3 RBI; 2B, SF

Low-A

Drew Underwood: 4.0 IP, 9 H, 10 R, 8 ER, 3 BB, 0 SO, 0 HR

Short Season-A

Mat Latos: 1.2 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 4 SO, 0 HR – 17 IP, 27 SO

Rookie

Jeudy Valdez: 3 AB, 1 R, 2 H, 0 RBI; 2 BB, SO
Keoni Ruth: 5 AB, 1 R, 2 H, 1 RBI; 2B, SO – 18th game, 3rd SO

Commentary:

Ryan wishes I hadn’t “found” him.

When the season started, Chase Headley was coming off his less-than-impressive.291/.389/.434 2006 season. With that as the backdrop the Padres changed Double-A affiliations and moved to San Antonio. The Missions were not a must-watch team. Now, with the hotter-than-hot Headley (.348/.440/.616) and recently promoted Antonelli and Huffman (not to mention Wade LeBlanc and Manny Ayala), the Missions are the most interesting team in the Padres system.

Thanks, Peter. First pitch Tuesday night is at 7:05 p.m. PT. You know the rest. Go Padres!

IGD: Padres vs Mets (16 Jul 07)

by Geoff Young on Jul 16, 2007 (91) Comments

Game #91
time: 7:05 p.m. PT
tv: 4SD
sp: David Wells (4-5, 4.31) vs Jorge Sosa (7-3, 3.92)
pre: Padres.com, SI.com

As a team, the Mets do most of their damage during the game’s second act. They’re batting .294/.352/.477 in innings 4-6 this year. Unfortunately for the Padres, David Wells tends to implode in the sixth (.326/.356/.651), which happens to be the best scoring inning for the Mets.

Meanwhile, Jorge Sosa is pitching way better than anyone had a right to expect. That said, he still has occasional lapses in command and his own kryptonite inning (opponents are batting .371/.389/.629 against him in the fifth).

The strategy is always the same when Wells starts: give him runs and get him out of there before anything bad happens. Easier said than done. Go Padres!

Weekend in the Desert

by Geoff Young on Jul 16, 2007 (48) Comments

Shutting out the Diamondbacks on Sunday took some sting out of the weekend series. Saturday night’s game was particularly frustrating, but what can you do other than hope the bullpen holds next time out, which it did.

Some positives:

  • Adrian Gonzalez is starting to get his stroke back. The single and double on Sunday were great, but he also put a ball to the warning track and crushed a couple more to dead center on Saturday. We saw the same thing with Kevin Kouzmanoff early in the season just before he got on track. First the approach improves, then the results follow. Adrian has nailed the first part of that equation, which is great news for a team that needs more than two guys in the lineup to be hot at any given time.
  • Speaking of Kouz, he continues to swing a very hot bat. His day of rest on Sunday was part of a strategy to keep him healthy, which makes sense given the past back problems.
  • I love what Brian Giles brings to the leadoff spot. He is working counts, getting on base, and generally being a pest. The power is gone (although he hit a homer over the weekend and was robbed of another), but that’s a horse that seriously can’t be beaten any further. Fact is, dude has a .386 OBP. Even better, he’s hitting .357/.518/.500 since returning from the disabled list. Yes, 12 games is a small sample, but it’s pretty evident from looking at the numbers and watching him play that Giles’ knee was causing a lot of problems. Now that he’s healthy, he’s producing. We can whine about Jason Bay all we want, but this is the guy we’ve got and he’s going to help the Padres down the stretch and hopefully deep into the playoffs.
  • Khalil Greene‘s power is unbelievable. His approach drives me crazy at times, but how many shortstops have a .231 ISO? Well, in the National League, that mark has been exceeded just nine times. Ever. Six of those are by Ernie Banks. The others are Bill Hall (.283 in 2006), Barry Larkin (.269 in 1996), and Rich Aurilia (.248 in 2001). Greene remains a flawed player, and yeah, I’d really like to see him get that OBP over .300, but I’d hate to think where the Padres would be without him.
  • Speaking of which, how about Justin Germano? Sure, it may be smoke and mirrors, but he’s getting the job done. His ERA is back down to 3.55. The Phillies, who couldn’t keep Germano in spring training, have exactly one pitcher — Ryan Madson (3.51) — with a better ERA. Score one for the Padres scouting department.

Negatives? Sure, but with the Padres just a game out of first place after 90 games in the National League’s toughest division, I’m in no mood to dwell on them. The bullpen implosions on Friday and Saturday scream fluke to me. Greg Maddux hasn’t looked sharp the past few times out, but he’ll be fine.

Give credit to the Diamondbacks. Folks seem reluctant to admit it because they’re so young, but that is a real good team. Fortunately, so is the one that calls San Diego home…

Padres Prospect Report

by Peter Friberg

You will not see much baseball if you take my boys to a baseball game (concession stands, potty breaks, Thunder watching, program browsing, etc.). They do not sit still. However, I had a lot of fun as did they…

Friday, July 13, 2007

AAA

Pete LaForest: 2 AB, 3 R, 1 H, 2 RBI; HR, 3 BB, SO
Tim Stauffer: 7.0 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 7 SO, 0 HR

AA

Matt Antonelli: 4 AB, 1 R, 3 H, 1 RBI; BB
Chase Headley: 4 AB, 1 R, 2 H, 1 RBI; 2B, SO
Chad Huffman: 4 AB, 0 R, 0 H, 1 RBI; 3 SO, SF – zero AA hits

High-A

David Freese: 2 AB, 1 R, 1 H, 0 RBI; 2 BB, HBP
Colt Morton: 4 AB, 0 R, 2 H, 2 RBI; 2 2B, BB, SO

Low-A

Cedric Hunter: 4 AB, 0 R, 0 H, 0 RBI; BB
Drew Miller: 6.0 IP, 9 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 1 BB, 7 SO, 3 HR – yikes!

Short Season-A

Mitch Canham: 5 AB, 0 R, 2 H, 1 RBI; SO, SB, 2 PB
Kellen Kulbacki: 4 AB, 1 R, 4 H, 2 RBI; 2B
Jeremy Hefner: 5.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 6 SO, 0 HR

Rookie

No game scheduled…

Saturday, July 14, 2007

AAA

Clay Hensley: 5.1 IP, 6 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 4 BB, 6 SO, 1 HR

AA

Matt Antonelli: 5 AB, 2 R, 3 H, 0 RBI
Will Venable: 4 AB, 2 R, 2 H, 4 RBI; HR, BB, 2 SO, SB
Chad Huffman: 3 AB, 1 R, 1 H, 1 RBI; BB – first AA hit
Mike Ekstrom: 3.1 IP, 8 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 3 BB, 4 SO, 0 HR

High-A

Colt Morton: 5 AB, 4 R, 4 H, 5 RBI; 2B, 3 HR, BB
Josh Alley: 5 AB, 2 R, 3 H, 2 RBI; 2B, SO, SB
Yordany Ramirez: 5 AB, 1 R, 2 H, 2 RBI; HR

Low-A

Mike Epping: 3 AB, 4 R, 3 H, 3 RBI; 3B, 2 HR, BB

Short Season-A

Mitch Canham: 4 AB, 2 R, 2 H, 4 RBI; HR, BB, 2 SO, SB
Jeremy McBryde: 2.2 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 6 SO, 1 HR

Rookie

Keoni Ruth: 5 AB, 3 R, 4 H, 2 RBI; 2B, 2 BB
Yefri Carvajal: 4 AB, 2 R, 2 H, 2 RBI; SB

Commentary:

Clay opened Saturday’s contest with four scoreless innings. He then opened the fifth with two walks. He got the third batter out on a ground ball then gave up a double and a homer — four runs. He gave two more to open the sixth… Without witnessing the action, it sure seems he gets rattled then presses.

I still don’t believe in Colt Morton as a prospect (not at 25 years old in A-ball), but if he keeps hitting like this, I may have to rethink my prejudice…

[Ed note: Looks like Morton won't be there much longer.]

Mike Epping is not a big-time prospect, but wow, what a night!

Sunday, July 15, 2007

AAA

Terrmel Sledge: 6 AB, 1 R, 3 H, 0 RBI – rehab

AA

Matt Antonelli: 4 AB, 2 R, 1 H, 1 RBI; HR, 2 SO – first AA HR
Chase Headley: 3 AB, 0 R, 1 H, 2 RBI; 3B, BB, SO
Manny Ayala: 7.0 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 7 SO, 1 HR

High-A

David Freese: 6 AB, 3 R, 4 H, 6 RBI; 2B, HR, BB
Jose Lobaton: 4 AB, 3 R, 2 H, 4 RBI; 2B, HR, 2 BB, SO
Yordany Ramirez: 6 AB, 2 R, 3 H, 3 RBI; HR

Low-A

Mike Epping: 3 AB, 2 R, 0 H, 0 RBI; 2 BB, SO, 2 SB

Short Season-A

Luis Durango: 3 AB, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 RBI; SO, SF, SB
Eric Sogard: 6 AB, 1 R, 4 H, 4 RBI; 2 2B, SO

Rookie

Shawn Estes: 3.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 5 SO, 1 HR

Commentary:

Assuming a 450 AB season, Chase is on pace for 68 XBH (40 doubles, 6 triples, 22 home runs).

It’s already been brought up here and in other discussions, but the Padres are developing a nice problem… Kouzmanoff (who is hitting .292/.351/.530 since May 1 — Geoff points this out regularly, not my find) is entrenched at third base and Gonzalez is entrenched at first base. And we’ll have Giles in right field for at least one more year. Then we have Headley (3B) and Huffman (LF) in Double-A with Freese (3B) and Blanks (1B) right behind them in High-A (not to mention some of the guys in the lower levels). The Padres have some nice corner-bats in the system.

Thanks, Peter. The Mets are in town for three games starting now. First pitch Monday night is at 7:05 p.m. PT. We’ll have the IGD up and running about an hour before then. Go Padres!

1969: Bonds Powers Giants Past Padres

by Geoff Young on Jul 16, 2007 (0) Comments

July 16, 1969, San Francisco: Giants 4, Padres 3 (box score)

Dave Roberts couldn’t find the strike zone for the Padres, Gaylord Perry survived some shaky defense, and Bobby Bonds dealt the big blow in this one.

The Giants scored in the first without the benefit of a hit. Roberts retired the first two batters he faced before walking four straight to give San Francisco an early 1-0 lead.

In the fourth, the Giants tacked on three more runs. With two on and two out, Bonds drilled a home run to left to make the score 4-0. They had a chance to do further damage in the eighth, loading the bases with one out, but came away empty.

In the bottom half of the eighth, the Padres finally broke through against Perry. As he had a day earlier, Tito Fuentes committed an error with two out and nobody on base. Once again, it cost his team some runs. After Ollie Brown reached base, Al Ferrara singled to center and Van Kelly homered to right, cutting the Giants’ lead to 4-3.

The Padres had another great chance in the ninth, but couldn’t convert. With runners at the corners and one out, John Sipin bounced into a 1-6-3 double play to end the contest.

IGD: Padres @ Diamondbacks (15 Jul 07)

by Geoff Young on Jul 15, 2007 (68) Comments

Game #90
time: 1:40 p.m. PT
tv: 4SD
sp: Justin Germano (5-3, 3.90) vs Brandon Webb (8-6, 3.37)
pre: Padres.com, SI.com

Brandon Webb’s GB/FB ratio is down a bit this year (3.18). That’s still extremely good, but it’s not as freakish as it was in ’05 (4.34) or ’06 (4.06).

Webb is no less effective now than he has been the past couple seasons, so this downward trend might not mean anything. Then again, it might…