1969: Padres Swept by Giants, Fall to .500

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

April 13, 1969, San Diego: Giants 5, Padres 1 (box score)

San Francisco’s Gaylord Perry toed the slab against Padres opening day winner, Dick Selma. Unfortunately for the home team, Selma never got into a groove. Willie McCovey led off the top of the second with a home run to right, and Hal Lanier singled home another run later in the inning.

The Padres fought back for a run of their own in the bottom half. Bill Davis and Cito Gaston knocked back-to-back doubles, but despite loading the bases later that inning, the home team couldn’t push across any more runs.

The Giants added single tallies in the fourth, fifth, and sixth innings. Beyond McCovey’s home run, the main offensive sparks came from Lanier and Jack Hiatt, who reached base seven times between them.

Perry, meanwhile, shut down the Padres. He worked the full nine innings, allowing just five hits and retiring 18 batters on ground balls. At age 30, Perry had earned his 77th big-league victory against a team for whom he later would win a Cy Young Award.

Trivia: For the second straight day, Ed Spiezio recorded the game’s final out.

Padres Take Third Straight Series

by Geoff Young on Apr 12, 2007 (36) Comments

Don’t look now, but the Padres are 4-2 at home. What worked in Wednesday night’s 4-0 victory over the Giants (recap | box score)? Pretty much everything.

Greg Maddux pitched brilliantly, winning his 334th game as a big leaguer and first as a Padre. He needed just 75 pitches to complete six shutout innings before passing the baton to a still-flawless bullpen. Efficient? Yeah, a little bit. Maddux threw 73% of his pitches for strikes. He started 18 of the 23 batters he faced with a strike.

San Diego Padres pitcher Greg Maddux warms up in the bullpen before a game against the San Francisco Giants at Petco Park.

So much impressed me about Maddux’s performance that I hardly know where to start. Do I talk about the sick movement on his pitches (almost a reverse cutter) that led to four called strikeouts? Or that for the second straight game he broke a bat with a fastball barely into the mid-80s? Or maybe we marvel at the fact that he retired Barry Bonds three times in a row, on a total of four pitches. Sure, the last one was pretty well struck, but that’s insane.

Maddux is a pleasure to watch, and I couldn’t be happier that he’s finally pitching in San Diego.

The Professor also received help from his defense. With one out and runners at the corners in the third, Rich Aurilia hit a slow grounder to shortstop. Khalil Greene charged the ball nicely and made a quick feed to Marcus Giles (NOG), who got rid of the ball in a hurry to double up Aurilia and end the inning. This came on the heels of a single to left by Omar Vizquel that advanced Dave Roberts only to third thanks to a strong throw by Jose Cruz Jr.

In the bottom of the third, Cruz led off with a walk. After a perfect sacrifice bunt by Maddux, NOG singled to center, scoring Cruz ahead of Roberts’ throw. As we know here in San Diego, you run on Roberts every chance you get.

Mike Cameron then smashed a grounder down the third base line. Aurilia made a terrific diving stop but threw wildly to first baseman Ryan Klesko, who failed to come off the bag to field the errant throw, plating the Padres’ second run of the inning. Nice to see the defensive shortcomings of Roberts and Klesko working in the Friars’ favor this time.

Roberts later made up for his weak throw by robbing Cruz on a spectacular running catch at the wall with the bases loaded to end the sixth. That would have cleared the bases and broken the game wide open, though as it turned out, the four runs the Padres ended up scoring this night were more than enough.

The at-bat immediately before Cruz’ was the worst of the evening. After an intentional walk to Greene to load the bases, Geoff Blum hacked at a first-pitch, belt-high fastball and popped weakly to third. Again, thanks to the Padres’ pitching staff, it didn’t matter, but that was just terrible.

Cla Meredith, Scott Linebrink, and Doug Brocail finished with three perfect innings to seal the victory. Intending no disrespect to anyone else on the staff or in the league, it’s hard to imagine a reliever pitching better than Meredith is right now. I will be sure to cheer Tim Wakefield vigorously when the Red Sox come to town.

Incidentally, here’s what the bullpen’s scoreless innings streak looks like through Wednesday night’s game:

Padres Bullpen Scoreless Streak to Start 2007, through 4/11/07
IP H R BB SO
28.1 12 0 4 23
Stats courtesy of ESPN.

Wow.

Padres Prospect Report

by Peter Friberg

You will not see all the notable performances from the night before, but you will see the notable performances from those who are actually prospects.

AAA

Luke Carlin: 3 AB, 1 R, 2 H, 0 RBI; 2B, BB, SO

AA

No games scheduled

High-A

Matt Antonelli: 3 AB, 0 R, 0 H, 0 RBI; 3 BB, SO
David Freese: 3 AB, 1 R, 1 H, 3 RBI; HR
Kyle Blanks: 3 AB, 1 R, 2 H, 0 RBI; 2 BB, SO

Low-A

Snow wins — all Midwest League games postponed

Commentary:

Josh Bard, Rob Bowen, Pete LaForest, Todd Greene, and Luke Carlin… The Padres have an unexciting but talented, deep catching corps between the big league team and their AAA affiliate.

In the 2007 Prospect Handbook, Baseball America said Antonelli had the “Best Strike-Zone Discipline” of all Padre minor leaguers.

Old for a prospect, drafted as a 5th year senior, serious bat with questions about the glove; Freese is Kouzmanoff-redux.

Off day on Thursday, then three in Los Angeles over the weekend. Go Padres!

1969: Padres Drop Second Straight to Giants

by Geoff Young on Apr 12, 2007 (1) Comments

April 12, 1969, San Diego: Giants 5, Padres 1 (box score)

In the first Saturday game at San Diego Stadium, the Padres and Giants drew just 20,356 people. I know this sounds like a terrible turnout, but consider that 12 big-league games were played that day. Of those, only the Reds at Braves and the Expos at Cubs drew larger crowds. Two teams (Cardinals and Tigers) had drawn as many as 2 million people the previous season, and it took them a combined 200 victories and a date in the World Series.

Context is everything.

To the game at hand, right-hander Al McBean got the call for the Padres. On the other side, San Francisco skipper Clyde King sent future Hall of Famer Juan Marichal to the mound.

McBean, a former mainstay in the Pirates bullpen, held his own against Marichal through the first five innings. Then in the sixth, after Bobby Bonds dropped a bunt single to lead off the inning and moved to second on a passed ball by Chris Cannizzaro, Willie McCovey doubled to right to plate the game’s first run.

In the bottom of the seventh, now down 2-0, the Padres finally broke through against Marichal. Tony Gonzalez laced a one-out single to left. After Ollie Brown popped out to second, Bill Davis and Cito Gaston followed with singles to account for San Diego’s only run.

McCovey and Jim Davenport connected for solo homers in the eighth to seal the deal. The Padres managed to load the bases in the bottom half of the inning, but Brown ground to third to end the threat. Marichal then retired the Padres in order in the ninth to earn the first of his 21 wins that season.

As for McBean, he’d given the Padres seven strong innings in his debut for the expansion club. Six days later, with just the one start under his belt, McBean was shipped north to the Dodgers for shortstop Tommy Dean and right-hander Leon Everitt — a trade that helped neither team.

Trivia: McBean is the first big-league player and only pitcher ever to hail from Charlotte Amalie, Virgin Islands.

IGD: Padres vs Giants (11 Apr 07)

by Geoff Young on Apr 11, 2007 (198) Comments

first pitch: 7:05 p.m. PT
television: Channel 4SD
matchup: Greg Maddux (0-1, 6.75 ERA) vs Noah Lowry (0-1, 1.29 ERA)
previews: Padres.com | SI.com

The Padres go for their third straight series win to start the season Wednesday night. Greg Maddux gets the start. Maddux has allowed eight homers to Barry Bonds over the years — that’s more than to any player except Luis Gonzalez (10). Most of those came early in their respective careers, with the last being a two-run blast in the sixth inning of a May 1, 1998, contest at Turner Field. Since 1999, Bonds is just 5-for-28 against Maddux. All five hits are singles.

On the other side, only one current member of the Padres has homered against Noah Lowry. That would be Geoff Blum. The good news about Lowry is that he was terrible away from PhoneCo last year. This doesn’t appear to a fluke either:

Noah Lowry: Home vs Road, 2004 – 2006
  PA BA OBP SLG IP ERA
2004
Home 208 .255 .295 .393 52.1 3.10
Road 175 .263 .333 .449 39.2 4.76
2005
Home 486 .242 .300 .348 117.1 3.30
Road 389 .257 .346 .425 87.1 4.43
2006
Home 420 .245 .314 .384 102.1 3.61
Road 269 .316 .371 .557 57 6.79
Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.

Is it coincidence that Lowry has started eight more games at home over the past three seasons than on the road? I’m thinking not. He’s always enjoyed success at PhoneCo, but last year, someone turned his suckitude up to eleven away from there. Lowry also had all kinds of problems in the third inning in 2006 (.387/.444/.632), but he’d never exhibited any similar tendencies in the past, so we probably can file that under “J” for “just one of those things.”

I will be out at the ballpark this evening, so talk amongst yourselves and be excellent. Go Padres!

Padres Fall Short in Comeback, Young Signs Long-Term Deal

by Geoff Young on Apr 11, 2007 (30) Comments

Once again, there isn’t a lot of quit in this team and I like that. After spotting the Giants a 6-0 lead, the Padres darned near came back and won on Tuesday night (recap | box score). If not for a bizarre second inning that saw Marcus Giles muff a grounder, Mike Cameron lose a “double” in the lights, and Clay Hensley forget how many outs there were…

Then again, if the Mariners had just kept 12 of Boston’s runs off the board last night, they would’ve won their game.

Thanks to Adrian Gonzalez‘ second homer, a two-run blast off Armando Benitez in the ninth, the Padres now have played in five straight one-run games. And that bullpen scoreless streak? It’s up to 25 1/3 innings. If the game is close late, the Padres have to feel like they’re going to win it.

Seriously, I love the comeback, but it burns me that the Padres fell short. And I love that their falling short burns me. Like, I have a right to expect victory after spotting the Giants a six-run lead. Hello, when did we start expecting that out of our club?

I dunno. Maybe it’s the back-to-back division titles?

This team is always in the game. And for anyone who hasn’t been watching his first two starts and is judging him solely on the numbers, Hensley has pitched well for the most part. I hate to play the luck card, but in his first start, Hensley ran into a home plate umpire who couldn’t find the strike zone; last night he fell victim to a defense that momentarily forgot its purpose.

Bizarre.

Big Picture? Big Pitcher?

The other news on Tuesday was the Chris Young signing. According to the North County Times, the deal is worth $14.5 million over 4 years, with an $8.5 million club option for 2011. Yesterday I mentioned being thrilled at this news; now I’ll tell you why.

Let’s take a quick look at all the pitchers who signed multi-year contracts this past off-season. Statistics are those accrued from the time Young made his big-league debut on August 24, 2004, through the end of the 2006 season.

Pitchers Who Signed Long-Term Contracts, Winter 2006-07
Name Age Yr $M GS IP ERA H/9 HR/9 BB/9 SO/9
Miguel Batista 37 3 25 38 314.1 4.70 10.19 0.94 3.81 5.07
Adam Eaton 29 3 24.5 43 243.2 4.36 9.86 1.07 3.03 6.80
Orlando Hernandez 37 2 12 58 330.0 4.75 8.86 1.23 3.49 7.80
Ted Lilly 31 4 40 63 345.2 4.92 9.11 1.51 4.06 7.45
Jason Marquis 28 3 21 73 451.1 4.89 9.47 1.40 3.33 4.61
Gil Meche 28 5 55 66 380.2 4.68 9.10 1.23 4.04 6.38
Mark Mulder 29 2 13 57 339.0 5.07 10.46 1.19 3.37 4.83
Mike Mussina 38 2 23 69 425.1 3.81 8.91 1.08 1.99 7.68
Vicente Padilla 29 3 33.75 67 385.2 4.64 9.17 1.17 3.57 6.56
Jason Schmidt 34 3 47 69 435.2 4.13 8.18 0.87 3.76 8.33
Jeff Suppan 32 4 42 71 424.0 3.97 9.81 1.08 3.18 5.12
Woody Williams 40 2 12.5 59 346.0 4.37 9.73 1.30 2.45 5.38
Barry Zito 29 7 126 77 499.1 3.91 7.91 1.05 3.69 6.54
Chris Young 28 4 14.5 69 380.1 3.93 7.86 1.28 2.93 7.76
Stats courtesy of ESPN and Baseball Musings Day by Day Database.

The numbers speak for themselves. Needless to say, in the current market, this is tremendous value for the Padres. Or perhaps you would rather see them blow $11 million a year on the likes of Meche and Padilla?

Padres Prospect Report

by Peter Friberg

Ed note: I am very pleased to announce that long-time Padres minor-league observer Peter Friberg will be providing periodic updates on prospects in the farm system. I haven’t been keeping up as well as I’d have liked and so Peter will be giving us the dirt on who’s doing what down on the farm. Welcome, Peter!

You will not see all the notable performances from the night before, but you will see the notable performances from those who are actually prospects.

AAA

Tim Stauffer: 1.0 IP, 2 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 2 BB, 2 SO, 1 HR – yuck!

AA

Chase Headley: 5 AB, 1 R, 2 H, 3 RBI; 2B, HR, BB, & SO
Nick Hundley: 5 AB, 1 R, 1 H, 1 RBI; HR, SO

High-A

Chad Huffman: 3 AB, 1 R, 2 H, 0 RBI
Matt Bush: 3 AB, 0 R, 1 H, 2 RBI; BB
Manny Ayala: 4.1 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 SO, 1 HR

Low-A

Aaron Breit: 3.0 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 0 SO, 0 HR

Commentary:

Tim Stauffer is not a “prospect.” Heck, he’s not a rookie. But I can’t report the good and ignore the bad. Stauffer is not working out as a reliever — 31.50 ERA.

Last year in a hitters’ league (the California League) Headley hit .328/.416/.510 on the road. At home in a pitchers’ park, he hit .261/.368/.365. This year Headley again calls a pitchers’ park home, but plays in the hitting-friendly Texas League. Tuesday night’s explosion came on the road. We’ll continue to monitor his splits this year.

Parting Thoughts

As a reminder, I’m pimping the book over at Big League Baseball Report. Joe is giving me grief about your lack of participation in the contest, so be sure to listen to the podcast and give him a call for a chance to win a free copy of the Ducksnorts 2007 Baseball Annual.

Please. Do it for the children…

1969: Padres Suffer First Loss in Franchise History

by Geoff Young on Apr 11, 2007 (2) Comments

April 11, 1969, San Diego: Giants 8, Padres 0 (box score)

After a three-game sweep of Houston to open their inaugural season, the Padres welcomed the Giants to town. Led by future Hall of Famers Willie Mays and Willie McCovey, and rising young star Bobby Bonds, the Giants had won 88 games the previous season, good for second place in the National League. Still, fewer than 16,000 people came out to San Diego Stadium on this Friday evening.

Unfortunately for the Padres, the game ended almost before it began. McCovey and Dick Deitz each drove in first-inning runs to give the Giants an early 2-0 lead. This proved to be more than enough for southpaw Ray Sadecki, who spun a six-hit shutout for San Francisco.

Mays knocked a two-out solo homer to left in the fourth, and Bonds drove in two runs for the visitors. The Padres, meanwhile, couldn’t get anything going. The only batter to enjoy any success against Sadecki was left fielder Tony Gonzalez, who singled twice and doubled in four trips to the plate.

Rookie Clay Kirby (ninth best starting pitcher in club history according to the Ducksnorts 2007 Baseball Annual) surrendered four runs in four innings. On this night, Kirby suffered the first of his 20 losses.

As a team, the Padres suffered the first of their 23 shutouts on the season. Their record now stood at 3-1, good enough for second place in the NL West, one game back of the Braves.

Trivia: Jerry DaVanon, who flied to right field as a pinch hitter in the seventh inning, is the father of SDSU alum and former Angels outfielder Jerry Jeff DaVanon.

IGD: Padres vs Giants (10 Apr 07)

by Geoff Young on Apr 10, 2007 (271) Comments

first pitch: 7:05 p.m. PT
television: Channel 4SD
matchup: Clay Hensley (0-1, 9.64 ERA) vs Matt Morris (0-0, 1.50 ERA)
previews: Padres.com | SI.com

We’re seven games into the season, and already the Padres have played in four one-run contests. In fact, they’ve played in four straight, winning the last three. Get used to it, folks; this is how it’s going to be.

Clay Hensley gets the start Tuesday evening against the Giants. When he faced them in San Francisco last week, he battled control problems. Actually, the plate umpire that night battled control problems; Hensley just suffered for it. Assuming Hensley’s blister (great name for a band) doesn’t act up and tonight’s plate umpire has better command of the strike zone, he should be fine.

Matt Morris takes the mound for the Giants. He’s had pretty decent success against most current Padres over the years, with two notable exceptions: Mike Cameron (.444/.559/.926 in 34 PA) and Brian Giles (.395/.449/.744 in 49 PA). Those are big enough samples that they probably aren’t flukes.

Also, in case you missed it, the Padres have signed Chris Young to a deal worth $14.5 million over 4 years, with a club option for 2011. We’ll drill a little deeper tomorrow; for now I’ll just say I’m thrilled about the news.

Go Padres!

Padres Beat Cain, Giants

by Geoff Young on Apr 10, 2007 (25) Comments

Do you notice any themes emerging early in the season? Here’s one: Keep the game close and then let the bullpen take care of things. It happened again Monday night (recap | box score).

San Francisco’s Matt Cain took a no-hitter into the seventh. That inning, Khalil Greene smashed a double down the left field line. After falling behind in the count, 0-2, Russell Branyan drew a walk. Jose Cruz Jr. followed with a sacrifice. Geoff Blum, batting for Chris Young, then lofted a fly ball into foul territory along the right field line that Randy Winn caught, allowing Greene to score the game’s only run.

Welcome, Channel 4SD Viewers!

Big thanks to Matt Vasgersian and the entire Channel 4SD team for mentioning Ducksnorts on air Monday night. To those of you just joining the conversation, welcome to our humble abode!

Feel free to peruse the site and, after reading our comments policy (basically don’t be an ass), jump on in and let us know what’s on your mind.

If you’re looking for the book Matt mentioned, the Ducksnorts 2007 Baseball Annual, you can buy it here. You can also read some reviews and an excerpt from one of the chapters over at Hardball Times.

Also, friend of Ducksnorts Joe Aiello is giving away a copy of the book over at his podcast. We talk at great length about the book — why I wrote it, what went into making it happen, and more. Give it a listen and then enter the contest for a chance to win a free copy.

Finally, there are a couple other Padres blogs out there that you need to know about and visit: Rich does fantastic work at San Diego Spotlight, as do Dex, jbox, and the crew over at Gaslamp Ball. Be sure to stop by and say hey.

That about covers it. If you have any questions, drop me a line. Thanks again for visiting, and I hope to “see” you here again!

Young, meanwhile, held the Giants in check for 7 innings before yielding to a still-perfect bullpen. As Rich Campbell notes at San Diego Spotlight, Young could have been more efficient. That said, he couldn’t have been much more effective. (The Padres apparently saw something they liked — word is they’ll announce a 4-year extension with the right-hander today.)

In the eighth, with a lead, Cla Meredith set the Giants down in order. The highlight of the inning came on a ridiculous sequence to Barry Bonds that ended in The Man Who Would Be King chasing a sinker in the dirt.

When Bonds came to bat, I remembered the last time the two battled: Last Wednesday, in relief of Young at PhoneCo, Meredith fanned Bonds in the seventh inning of a 3-3 tie. Then I thought back to last year, when Meredith made Albert Pujols look terrible. And I remembered what Pujols did to Meredith the next time they faced each other.

Did I have concerns Monday night when Bonds came to bat? Look, I have concerns any time Bonds comes to bat representing the tying run. Let’s just say that knowing what had happened in their previous matchup and knowing the type of hitter Bonds is didn’t allay those concerns in the least. Whatever help Bonds may have had along the way, the guy can flat hit and that means making adjustments. So when you ask me if I have concerns about Bonds, you might as well be asking me about my opinion of Dave Kingman’s performance.

Silly me. Meredith proceeds to attack Bonds like few pitchers will, and sends him back to the dugout on three pitches. Say what you will about Bonds, that just doesn’t happen. Incidentally, did you happen to catch what Meredith said the other day? Dig this:

What I try to do is try to minimize the damage against left-handers. I know I’m not as good against left-handers, so I’m going to have to pitch them a little harder and a little different.

Uh, yeah. Keep doing what you’re doing.

Trevor Hoffman nailed down the save in the ninth. After a two-out double to center off the bat of Bengie Molina, Hoffman got Pedro “Don’t Call Me Vinny” Feliz to chase a pitch in the dirt (shock!) to end the game.

Sweet. Let’s keep it going on Tuesday…

1969: Padres Complete Sweep in First Ever Series

by Geoff Young on Apr 10, 2007 (6) Comments

April 10, 1969, San Diego: Padres 2, Astros 0 (box score)

The first two games in Padres history had been dominated by pitching, and the third game proved no different. Right-hander Tom Griffin, a former first-round pick, made his big-league debut for the Astros. The Padres countered with journeyman southpaw Dick Kelley, who had gone 2-4 with a 2.76 ERA shuttling between the rotation and bullpen for Atlanta in ’68.

What a start it turned out to be for Kelley. Through six innings, he’d allowed only a walk to Dennis Menke and nothing else.

The Padres, meanwhile, had manufactured a run in the third on singles by Rafael Robles and Tony Gonzalez, and a ground out by Ollie Brown to give Kelley a 1-0 lead. Brown later led off the sixth inning with a homer to extend the Padres’ lead.

In the seventh, after retiring Joe Morgan on a pop fly to third baseman Ed Spiezio, Kelley faced Jimmy Wynn. Despite standing just 5’9″, Wynn represented a serious offensive threat. The man known as “The Toy Cannon” had knocked 26 homers the previous season while playing half his games in the cavernous Astrodome and finished second in the National League in walks.

Against Kelley, in front of fewer than 5,000 fans on that Thursday evening in April, Wynn smacked a single to left to break up the no-hitter. Kelley retired the next two batters to end the inning unscathed.

After working an uneventful eighth, Kelley came back out to finish what he’d started. The first batter of the inning, Jesus Alou, lined to center. Morgan followed with a walk, and manager Preston Gomez had seen enough. He pulled Kelley in favor of right-hander Frank Reberger.

The move paid immediate dividends, as Reberger induced Wynn to hit into a force play for the second out. Only one out remained between the Padres and a sweep in their first ever series. Doug Rader, however, had other ideas and drove a single to left to put runners at the corners.

Gomez replaced Reberger with southpaw Billy McCool. An All-Star with the Reds three years earlier at age 21, McCool faced reserve outfielder Norm Miller, who had come on to pinch hit for Bob Watson. McCool plunked Miller to load the bases, bringing Menke to the plate. Menke promptly flied out to Gonzalez in center, sealing the victory for the Padres, who improved to 3-0 and moved into a first-place tie with the Atlanta Braves.

Trivia: Griffin, the starter for Houston, later pitched for the Padres in 1976 and 1977.

IGD: Padres vs Giants (9 Apr 07)

by Geoff Young on Apr 09, 2007 (430) Comments

IGD: Padres vs Giants (9 Apr 07)

first pitch: 7:05 p.m. PT
television: Channel 4SD
matchup: Chris Young (0-0, 4.76 ERA) vs Matt Cain (0-0, 4.50 ERA)
previews: Padres.com | SI.com

Chris Young graduated from Princeton University. According to the delightful and sometimes accurate Wikipedia, here are some other famous Princeton grads:

Sometimes you get insight here at Ducksnorts; other times, you get whatever the heck this is. Go Padres!