IGD: Padres @ Cubs (16 Jun 07)

by Geoff Young on Jun 16, 2007 (104) Comments

Game #67
time: 10:05 a.m. PT
tv: 4SD
sp: Chris Young (6-3, 2.34) vs Carlos Zambrano (7-5, 4.89)
pre: Padres.com, SI.com

Don’t look now, but Chris Young is becoming more efficient with his pitches and working deeper into games. The home run rate is just an added bonus:

Chris Young, Now More Efficient Than Ever
Age Yr IP/GS P/PA P/IP HR/9
Stats are through games of June 15, 2007, and are courtesy of Baseball-Reference.
26 05 5.31 4.08 17.33 1.04
27 06 5.78 4.11 16.86 1.41
28 07 6.21 3.96 16.34 0.33

Young still could work a little more efficiently, but this is a big improvement on last season. He’s getting one more out a start without exerting any extra effort. Is this the influence of Greg Maddux or just a young pitcher maturing? Doesn’t really matter, does it. Go Padres!

1969: Padres Top Dodgers in Lucky Thirteen

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

June 16, 1969, Los Angeles: Padres 3, Dodgers 2 (box score)

After a miserable 1-8 homestand, the Padres trekked north to Los Angeles for a four-game set with the Dodgers. Southpaws Dick Kelley and Claude Osteen locked horns in the opener.

San Diego wasted no time in getting on the scoreboard. With two down in the first, Ollie Brown knocked his 10th homer of the year to give the Padres an early 1-0 lead.

The Dodgers answered with a run of their own in the fourth. A single, walk, and Jose Arcia error tied the game at 1-1.

The score remained knotted until the ninth. The Dodgers had gotten runners into scoring position in the sixth and eighth but failed to capitalize. Osteen, meanwhile, completely shut down the Padres through the middle innings.

Then, in the top of the ninth, Ed Spiezio knocked a one-out solo homer to give San Diego the lead. In the bottom half, with Willie Davis on second and two out, Dodgers manager Walter Alston sent Len Gabrielson up to bat for Bill Russell against reliever Frank Reberger. Padres skipper Preston Gomez countered by bringing in left-hander Billy McCool. The right-handed hitting Ken Boyer, on his last legs as a big leaguer, came to bat for Gabrielson and singled home Davis to tie the game and send it into extra innings.

In the top of the 13th, the Padres finally broke through against former teammate Al McBean. With Arcia on first base and one out, Roberto Pena singled. Recently acquired Van Kelly then doubled to right. Arcia came home to score the go-ahead run, but Pena was thrown out at the plate to end the frame. Tommie Sisk worked the bottom half to nail down the victory for the Padres in front of 11,588 at Dodger Stadium.

Trivia: Kelly had come to the Padres on June 13, along with future hitting guru Walt Hriniak, in a deal that sent Tony Gonzalez to the Atlanta Braves. Ironically, Hriniak, one of the great hitting coaches, collected a grand total of 25 base hits in his brief big-league career. All were singles.

IGD: Padres @ Cubs (15 Jun 07)

by Geoff Young on Jun 15, 2007 (172) Comments

Game #66
time: 11:20 a.m. PT
tv: WGN
sp: David Wells (3-3, 4.76) vs Ted Lilly (4-4, 3.96)
pre: Padres.com, SI.com

The Cubs are a strange team. On the one hand, their current record and occasional love spats have to be viewed as disappointments in light of the nearly $300 million they spent on free agents this past off-season. On the other, the Cubs are even further below their Pythagorean winning percentage than the Padres are, and several young hurlers — Rich Hill, Sean Marshall, Angel Guzman, Carlos Marmol — have gotten off to nice starts.

On offense, the triumverate of Derrek Lee, Aramis Ramirez, and Alfonso Soriano is striking large doses of fear into the opposition, and free-agent signee Mark DeRosa is insinuating that his season in Texas was no fluke. There’s almost enough fire power here to compensate for the out machines known as Cesar Izturis and Jacque Jones.

On the pitching side, Jason Marquis and Carlos Zambrano seem to be stuck in a Dan Aykroyd movie, but that will work itself out over the long haul. The bullpen? Not as terrible as you might expect (4.01 ERA, .249/.332/.382). Friday’s starter, Ted “$40 Million Man” Lilly, came out of the gates strong for the Cubs but has been brutal over his past four starts (17 IP, 8.47 ERA, .309/.372/.691, 7 HR). Whatever the problem is, here’s hoping that Lilly and the Cubs don’t solve it until after the Padres have left town.

David Wells gets the call for San Diego in the opener at Wrigley Field. He’s been the anti-Lilly of late. Over his past five starts, Wells has posted some nice numbers (31 IP, 2.90 ERA, .267/.286/.353, 1 HR). The key, of course, is to get Boomer out of the game at the first sign of trouble, if not sooner.

Oh, and the Padres have made a switch at third base:

Out In
Kevin Kouzmanoff Chase Headley

Let the Chase Headley era begin. Go Padres!

Friday Links (15 Jun 07)

by Geoff Young on Jun 15, 2007 (30) Comments

Ah, it’s nice to win a series again. This calls for some links…

  • Germano’s savvy outing baffles Rays (North County Times). I’m finding my skepticism of Justin Germano increasingly difficult to justify. I love this quote from Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon:

    Just get the Padres pitchers out of town. They can go wherever they want to go. Just get out of here.

  • Towers rang up Tampa on Bell (San Diego Union-Tribune). Fluff piece on reliever Heath Bell. Apparently the Devil Rays were interested in him this off-season. Hey, at least they got Jay Witasick.
  • A quick look at how Black is using the pen (Friar Forecast). From the article: “I’d like to see Bell used in even more critical spots, but I’m not even close to ready to give up on Meredith yet.” Yep, what he said. Also, Friar Forecast is moving to a new home, so please be sure to make the necessary adjustments.
  • Meet Kevin Kouzmanoff (The Extrapolater). Nice little profile of everyone’s favorite third baseman. Of course, we prefer “Mashin’ Macedonian” around these parts, but if he keeps hitting the way he has been (once his back is feeling a little better), folks can call him whatever they want.
  • Boone blazed Giles’ injury trail (San Diego Union-Tribune). There’s no timetable for Brian Giles‘ return.
  • Q&A with Grady Fuson (San Diego Union-Tribune, via Bruce in the comments). Some good stuff here, including this quote about second-round pick Bradley Chalke:

    I don’t know if he’ll develop power, but in college (Clemson) he was an amazing singles, walks, on-base-percentage guy. He could play center field in the major leagues right now. Chalk reminds me of Steve Finley in every aspect except power.

    As a quick reminder, Finley didn’t develop his power until age 31.

  • 2007 Draft: San Diego Padres (Baseball America, via LynchMob in the comments). Several draftees have signed, including former SDSU shortstop Lance Zawadzki, former USD outfielder Shane Buschini, and former USD second baseman Keoni Ruth. Incidentally, the Padres’ 32nd-round pick, shortstop Anthony Renteria, out of Temecula, is the son of former Lake Elsinore Storm manager Rick Renteria.
  • Blue Jays, Braves among big winners in 2007 draft (SI.com, via Phantom in the comments). Bryan Smith reviews the draft, and places the Padres at #10. Unfortunately, he also has the Diamondbacks at #3 and Giants at #7. As a Padres fan, I really hate Arizona’s draft.
  • Quantifying Plate Discipline (Dan Agonistes, via Didi in the comments). Using Gameday data, Dan Fox attempts to answer old questions with new metrics.
  • Hall of Famers take the reins at Futures Game (MiLB.com). Ex-Padre and HOFer Dave Winfield will lead the U.S. squad in the July 8 contest.

Thanks to Thursday’s insanely early start time, we missed a day of the PPR. Time for a double dose:

Padres Prospect Report

by Peter Friberg

You will not see Chase Headley in San Antonio. He has been called up to play (and start) for the Padres this weekend.

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

AAA

Vince Sinisi: 6 AB, 3 R, 2 H, 0 RBI; 2B
Frank Menechino: 4 AB, 0 R, 3 H, 2 RBI; 3 2B
Tim Stauffer: 7.0 IP, 9 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 1 BB, 2 SO, 1 HR

AA

Chase Headley: 4 AB, 1 R, 2 H, 1 RBI; HR, 2 SO
Joshua Geer: 4.0 IP, 14 H, 7 R, 7 ER, 0 BB, 3 SO, 0 HR

High-A

No game scheduled

Low-A

Daryl Jones: 5 AB, 3 R, 4 H, 3 RBI; HR
Kyler Burke: 4 AB, 0 R, 0 H, 0 RBI; 3 SO

Commentary:

No commentary, I’ll have a feature ready for you on Monday.

Thursday, June 14, 2007

AAA

Jared Wells: 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 4 SO, 0 HR – 1 ER in 7.1 IP as RP

AA

Will Venable: 4 AB, 1 R, 3 H, 2 RBI; BB
Jonathan Ellis: 0.0 IP, 0 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 0 SO, 0 HR – yuck!

High-A

Nic Crosta: 2 AB, 1 R, 2 H, 2 RBI; 2B, HR, BB

Low-A

Cedric Hunter: 4 AB, 0 R, 0 H, 0 RBI; 2 SO

Commentary:

I am amped to watch Chase Headley’s big-league debut. That’s about all I can think about at the moment. Set your DVRs…

Thanks, Peter. Another morning start on Friday when David Wells and Ted Lilly hook up at Wrigley Field. We’ll have the IGD up and running by 10:30 a.m. PT. Go Padres!

1969: Phillies Complete Sweep of Padres

by Geoff Young on Jun 15, 2007 (0) Comments

June 15, 1969, San Diego: Phillies 5, Padres 4 (box score)

Clay Kirby and southpaw Woodie Fryman hooked up in the series finale in front of 7,311 at San Diego Stadium. The Padres drew first blood in this one. With one on and one out in the first, Ollie Brown singled to right. Al Ferrara followed with a double down the right field line that scored Brown and Roberto Pena.

Working with a 2-0 lead, Kirby faced the heart of the Phillies order in the fourth. Dick Allen and Johnny Callison led off with singles. A Deron Johnson triple tied the score. After Mike Ryan grounded to third, Larry Hisle pounded a two-run homer to left center, giving the visitors their first lead of the game. The Phillies put two more runners on base in the inning but couldn’t convert them into runs.

The Padres didn’t stay down for long. Brown led off the bottom of the fourth with a single. After a Ferrara strikeout, Ed Spiezio drilled his eighth home run of the season to re-tie the contest.

The score remained deadlocked — despite loading the bases with one out in the eighth, the Phillies were unable to score — until the 10th inning. In that frame, after the first two batters were retired, Philadelphia parlayed three singles and a walk into the go-ahead run. The Padres put two runners of their own on base in the bottom half, but right-hander John Boozer replaced Fryman and got Ferrara to pop out to first base and end the game.

The Padres had lost four in a row. Their record now stood at 25-38 on the season.

Trivia: Both starting pitchers worked into the 10th inning. Kirby faced 42 batters, while Fryman faced 39.

Elsewhere in the world: Hee Haw, featuring Loretta Lynn and Charley Pride as musical guests, made its debut on CBS; rapper and actor Ice Cube was born in Los Angeles, Calif.

IGD: Padres @ Devil Rays (14 Jun 07)

by Geoff Young on Jun 14, 2007 (197) Comments

Game #65
time: 9:10 a.m. PT
tv: none
sp: Justin Germano (4-0, 2.75) vs J.P. Howell (1-0, 4.85)
pre: Padres.com, SI.com

Wake up, fall out of bed, drag a comb across your head. There’s a game on this morning, and the Padres have a chance to take another series.

Nobody likes a four-game losing streak, but a 9-0 win sure makes everything better — at least for a little while. And, hey, both Kevin Cameron and Justin Hampson got into Wednesday night’s game. This reminds me, I may have stumbled onto a way to maximize a 12-man pitching staff:

Percentage of Appearances in Low-Leverage Situations
  G +/-4 Pct
Stats are through games of June 13, 2007, and are courtesy of Baseball-Reference. +/-4 represents the games in which a pitcher entered with his club leading or trailing by four runs or more.
Cameron 14 9 .643
Hampson 11 7 .636
Brocail 26 13 .500
Bell 31 9 .290
Meredith 28 5 .179
Hoffman 27 3 .111
Linebrink 28 3 .107

If the game is out of hand, there’s a decent chance that Cameron or Hampson will get into the game. Of course, this assumes that Doug Brocail is unavailable:

Who gets the call in blowouts?

Shoot, I really thought we had that solved. Ah well, perhaps some other day. Go Padres!

1969: Allen, Johnson Power Phillies Past Padres

by Geoff Young on Jun 14, 2007 (0) Comments

June 14, 1969, San Diego: Phillies 7, Padres 5 (box score)

Al Santorini faced right-hander Jerry Johnson in the second of three games at San Diego Stadium. The Phillies jumped out to an early lead courtesy of a two-out solo homer to right-center off the bat of Dick Allen in the first.

The Padres wasted no time in responding. With one out in the bottom half of the inning, Roberto Pena drew a walk. The next batter, Ollie Brown, doubled to left, scoring Pena. Thanks to an Allen error on the play (apparently he threw wildly to second base), Brown also came around to score, giving the home team their first and only lead of the game.

In the top of the fourth, with Allen on first, Johnny Callison doubled to right; Allen scored on a throwing error by Brown, tying the game at 2-2. San Diego native Deron Johnson then launched a two-run homer to right, putting the Phillies ahead for good.

Philadelphia added two runs in the fifth, and I would love to see footage of this sequence. With the bases loaded and two out, Santorini uncorked a wild pitch that scored Johnny Briggs from third and Tony Taylor from second. Santorini then fanned Deron Johnson to end the inning.

The Padres made a little noise in the sixth. With one out, Brown singled to center and Al Ferrara homered to left, narrowing the gap to 6-4.

Then, in the ninth, with the score now 7-4, Ed Spiezio led off with a home run. With one out, Cito Gaston tripled to center, bringing the tying run to the plate against right-hander Turk Farrell. But John Sipin and pinch hitter Larry Stahl struck out to the end the contest in front of 6,127 fans.

Trivia: Deron Johnson had played for the Padres in 1963, leading the Pacific Coast League with 33 home runs that year.

Elsewhere in the world: Tennis star Steffi Graf was born in Mannheim, West Germany.

IGD: Padres @ Devil Rays (13 Jun 07)

by Geoff Young on Jun 13, 2007 (142) Comments

Game #64
time: 4:10 p.m. PT
tv: 4SD
sp: Jake Peavy (7-1, 1.97) vs Edwin Jackson (0-7, 7.39)
pre: Padres.com, SI.com

The good news is that despite losing four straight, the Padres still own a share of first place in the NL West. The better news is that Jake Peavy gets the start Wednesday evening.

A four-game slide doesn’t break a season any more than the preceding five-game winning streak made it. By my count, the Padres have 99 games remaining on their schedule. Single footsteps and what-not…

Philosophy Makes My Head Hurt

by Geoff Young on Jun 13, 2007 (60) Comments

My degree is in English (hey, it’s my native tongue), but I minored in philosophy. I finished six units shy of a double major. Then, just before my senior year, my head exploded.

We’re speaking in metaphors here. I’m okay, thanks for asking.

Philosophy isn’t without its uses. As a discipline, it can be a tremendous tool in developing one’s critical thinking skills, learning how to poke (and close) holes in arguments, and avoiding members of the opposite sex. It also gets pretty esoteric at times, and not in the “I can cite Kurt Bevacqua’s 1979 VORP from memory” kind of way.

That said, I learned some valuable lessons while studying philosophy. Here are a few of them:

  • If you quote Hume, Kant, Leibniz, or Locke at a party, you will get slapped.
  • If you find someone at a party who recognizes and understands those quotes, they will get slapped harder.
  • Tropicana Field is hideous.
  • Ontological arguments? Ugh, don’t go there. Seriously, I’d rather spend an eternity at Tropicana Field.
  • Cla Meredith is going through a rough stretch, but he really was unlucky Tuesday night.
  • He who smelteth it, dealteth it.
  • The official scorer in Tampa Bay is unclear on the concept of “error” as it applies to baseball. Add one to Delmon Young and subtract two from Adrian Gonzalez if you’re scoring at home.
  • If you expend enough energy and find the right audience, you can turn any position into one that seems sensible.
  • Nietzsche is dead.

There you go. Maybe Peter will have something more relevant for us this morning…

Padres Prospect Report

by Peter Friberg

[Group exercise: Mentally insert your own preamble here (psst, no one else is reading it)]

AAA

Jared Wells: 1.1 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 1 SO, 0 HR – first R as RP

AA

Chase Headley: 3 AB, 1 R, 2 H, 0 RBI; 2B, BB – 36th XBH
Cesar Ramos: 7.0 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 3 SO, 0 HR – 4.13 ERA, 5.17 K/9, .263 BAA

High-A

Matt Antonelli: 5 AB, 0 R, 2 H, 1 RBI – .314/.399/.490
Jose Lobaton: 2 AB, 1 R, 1 H, 1 RBI; HR, 2 BB, SO – .258/.372/.448
Yordany Ramirez: 3 AB, 1 R, 1 H, 0 RBI; BB, SO, SB
Manny Ayala: 7.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 4 SO, 0 HR – 1.86 ERA, 6.64 K/9, .236 BAA

Low-A

Cedric Hunter: 6 AB, 0 R, 3 H, 2 RBI – .285/.349/.357
Kyler Burke: 4 AB, 1 R, 2 H, 1 RBI; 2B, BB
Aaron Breit: 5.2 IP, 8 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 4 SO, 0 HR – 8.00 ERA, 5.50 K/9, .332 BAA

Commentary:

I have talked about promoting Headley, but a new idea occurred to me the other day. How good would Headley be if he had Antonelli and Freese batting in the same lineup with him? I think it’s time to start thinking about Freese or Headley in the outfield.

Cedric Hunter is starting to turn it on. In his last 10 games he’s gone 15 for 43. Unfortunately, he’s not hitting for much power; one extra-base hit in those 10 games — a double.

Thanks, Peter; I knew we could count on you! Padres and Devil Rays again this evening at 4:10 p.m. PT. IGD will be in effect about an hour before first pitch. Go Padres!

1969: Everyone Hits as Phillies Pound Padres

by Geoff Young on Jun 13, 2007 (0) Comments

June 13, 1969, San Diego: Phillies 6, Padres 1 (box score)

The Padres looked to rebound from a series loss to Montreal. The Phillies, winners of two straight against the Dodgers after losing nine in a row, had other ideas. Right-hander Rick Wise got the start for Philadelphia, while Johnny Podres toed the slab for the home team.

After an uneventful first inning, Dick Allen led off the second with a home run to left field. Then, with one out, Mike Ryan doubled. After another out, Terry Harmon singled home Ryan, with Harmon advancing all the way to third on an errant throw by center fielder Cito Gaston. A Podres wild pitch scored Harmon, giving the Phillies what proved to be an insurmountable 3-0 lead.

The Padres scored their lone run in the third. Gaston led off with a triple to right-center, and John Sipin drove him home on a ground ball to second base.

Philadelphia tacked on two more runs in the fourth on a two-run homer off the bat of Ryan that chased Podres. By the time Gary Ross had restored order, the score was 5-1.

The Phillies scored their final run on a Johnny Callison home run to lead off the eighth. The Padres mounted their only serious threat of the game that same inning. With the bases loaded and one out, though, pinch hitters Larry Stahl (strikeout) and Ivan Murrell (fly to right) failed to come through against Wise, who went the distance, allowing just three hits along the way.

Trivia: Everyone in the Phillies lineup collected at least one hit in this game. Wise, an excellent hitting pitcher, singled in the fourth. For his career, Wise batted .195/.228/.308, with 15 homers (including 6 in 1971) in 741 plate appearances. Wise also made 45 fairly undistinguished starts for the Padres at the end of his career (1980-82).

Elsewhere in the world: Guitarist Mick Taylor was introduced as Brian Jones’ replacement in the Rolling Stones; Laura Kightlinger, formerly of the Daily Show and Daria, was born in Jamestown, N.Y.