Padres Take Second Straight Series, Face Giants Next

by Geoff Young on Apr 09, 2007 (28) Comments

The Padres returned to their winning ways on Sunday, beating the Colorado Rockies, 2-1, in 10 innings. Jake Peavy held the visitors mostly in check for seven of those innings while waiting for the offense to break through against Aaron Cook, whose nasty sinker baffled the Padres for most of the afternoon.

With two out in the eighth, Jose Cruz Jr. laid into a Cook offering and drilled a solo homer just above the yellow line in front of Petco porch. The ball didn’t travel very far, but Cruz demonstrated to all who were watching that if you hit the ball in the right direction, you don’t need to hit it a long way. Something to remember when batting at Petco Park.

The Padres then put runners at the corners with one out in the ninth against Cook, but Josh Bard bounced into an easy double play to end the threat and send the game into extra innings. Hello, battle of the bullpens.

After Cla Meredith and Trevor Hoffman each worked a perfect frame, Scott Linebrink did the same in the 10th, extending the bullpen’s scoreless streak at the beginning of the season to 18 2/3 innings. In the bottom of the 10th, Khalil Greene delivered a one-out triple to the gap in right-center on an 0-2 mistake from LaTroy Hawkins. Then Kevin Kouzmanoff, who probably needed a hit more than just about anybody on the team, smashed a ground ball just under the glove of a diving Todd Helton to win the game and bring the weekend to a satisfying conclusion.

Let’s Not Wake Sleeping Giants

Bruce Bochy hasn’t gotten off to a real good start in his new gig. Although I’d be lying if I said this surprised me, it’s good to remember that the season is very young and a lot can happen between now and October. Still, The Most Expensive Pitcher in Baseball has been shelled in each of his first two starts, and Bochy already has gotten himself tossed from a game. At the risk of being too blunt, Bochy doesn’t have the collection of talent he had in San Diego.

What he does have, though, are a group of veteran players who aren’t going to roll over after six games. He has guys that fit snugly into his comfort zone — Pedro Feliz probably is everything Bochy hoped Vinny Castilla would be, which is scary if you think about it. He also has Barry Bonds, and all that that brings. I guess what I’m really trying to say is that even though the Giants appear to be the worst team in the division, it’s best not to take them too lightly.

Pitching matchups for the series? Tonight’s is the best of the lot. In a rematch of last Thursday’s game at PhoneCo, Matt Cain squares off against Chris Young. Matt Morris and Clay Hensley hook up on Tuesday, with Noah Lowry going against Greg Maddux in the finale.

Other Stuff

With complete and utter disregard for graceful transitions, here are a few things I’ve gotten myself involved in that might also interest you:

  • I’ve mentioned this before, but you may have noticed a little blue badge at the bottom of each article. This allows you to “hype” Ducksnorts stories over at Ballhype, which is like Digg for sports. Why would you want to do this? Aside from feeding my enormous ego, you can help give Ducksnorts and the Padres a little more visibility in the blogosphere. Add me as your friend. Join the Padres Nation group. Go on, it’ll be great. We’re trying to take over the world here, remember?
  • I recently appeared on Joe Aiello’s BLBR Extra podcast to talk about the Ducksnorts 2007 Baseball Annual. Joe’s taking some heat for picking the Padres to win the NL West, and he’s giving away a copy of the book to the person who best helps justify his choice. I know you’ve already bought the book, but I also know that you’re the most qualified folks to win this contest and you have friends who maybe don’t have a copy. Bearing in mind that we’re trying to take over the world, I think you know what to do.
  • The good folks at Channel 4 recently started a blog. It’s written by friend of Ducksnorts Ed Barnes, head researcher for the Padres telecasts and all-around good guy. Stop by when you have a moment, and tell ‘em I say hey. :-)

That’s all for now. I’m a little behind on my del.icio.us bookmarks, but I’ll be updating those throughout the day and week. We’ll get the IGD up and running around 6 p.m. PT. Until then, have an excellent day!

1969: Padres Beat Astros Again

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

April 9, 1969, San Diego: Padres 2, Astros 0 (box score)

After winning the first game in franchise history, the Padres made it two in a row against Houston. The Padres scored two early runs, more than enough for Johnny Podres and Tommy Sisk.

In the bottom of the first inning, Roberto Pena drew a one-out walk off right-hander Larry Dierker. Tony Gonzalez followed with a single to right that advanced Pena to third. Ollie Brown then grounded to second. Joe Morgan fielded the ball and flipped to shortstop for the force, allowing Pena to score.

In the second, Dierker again issued a one-out walk, this time to Ed Spiezio. In a replay of the first inning, Chris Cannizzaro singled to right, moving Spiezio to third. Podres followed with a fly ball to center field that plated Spiezio for the second and final run of the game.

The only hits off Podres, meanwhile, were singles to Curt Blefary and Morgan. The veteran southpaw also walked three before yielding to Sisk, who worked the final two innings to record the Padres’ first ever save.

How many people witnessed the second victory in Padres history? A whopping 4,218. Sadly, the numbers wouldn’t always be that good later in the season.

Trivia: Dierker, who became a broadcaster and manager for the Astros after his playing days were over, went on to notch the only 20-win season of his career.

IGD: Padres vs Rockies (8 Apr 07)

by Geoff Young on Apr 08, 2007 (160) Comments

first pitch: 1:05 p.m. PT
television: Channel 4SD
matchup: Jake Peavy (1-0, 0.00 ERA) vs Aaron Cook (0-0, 7.50 ERA)
previews: Padres.com | SI.com

Good to see the Padres get back on the winning track behind a strong effort from David Wells in his 2007 debut, more great bullpen work, and some timely hitting late in the game. This team went down fighting on Thursday and Friday, but it wasn’t quite enough. On Saturday night, it was. Play hard till the last out is recorded; you never know what will happen.

The Padres look to take the series on Sunday afternoon behind Jake Peavy. Happy Easter, everyone! You know what to do…

1969: Padres Nip Astros in Franchise Opener

by Geoff Young on Apr 08, 2007 (12) Comments

April 8, 1969, San Diego: Padres 2, Astros 1 (box score)

In their first ever National League game, the San Diego Padres sent right-hander Dick Selma to the mound against Houston’s Don Wilson. A crowd of 23,370 gathered to watch the expansion Padres debut at what was known then as San Diego Stadium.

The 25-year-old Selma had gone 9-10 with a 2.76 ERA for the New York Mets the previous season, his first as a (mostly) full-time starter in the big leagues. The Padres nabbed Selma with the fifth pick in the 1968 expansion draft, and manager Preston Gomez promptly installed him at the front of his rotation.

The first batter Selma faced was Jesus Alou, who smacked a single to right and then stole second. After a Joe Morgan walk and a fly out, Doug Rader singled home Alou for the first run of the game. Selma escaped the inning without further damage and proceeded to settle down in a big way.

On the other side, Wilson held the Padres hitless through four innings. Then, with one out in the fifth, third baseman Ed Spiezio stepped to the plate and dialed a solo homer to left, tying the game.

The Padres took the lead the next inning. Wilson plunked second baseman Roberto Pena to lead off the sixth. One out later, Ollie Brown drove a double to left to plate the Padres’ second run of the contest.

Selma, meanwhile, proceeded to stymie the Astros. He allowed just one hit — a single to Alou — after the fifth inning, fanning seven of the final 14 batters he faced. Selma’s final line: 9 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 12 SO. He also collected two of the Padres’ four hits on the day.

Trivia: Second base umpire Doug Harvey graduated from SDSU.

IGD: Padres vs Rockies (7 Apr 07)

by Geoff Young on Apr 07, 2007 (60) Comments

first pitch: 7:05 p.m. PT
television: Channel 4SD
matchup: David Wells (3-5, 4.42 ERA) vs Josh Fogg (11-9, 5.49 ERA)
previews: Padres.com | SI.com

Analysis? Naw, it’s a Saturday. Let me just say that I’ll always have a soft spot in my heart for Josh Fogg due to his involvement in last season’s game of the year (as featured in the Ducksnorts 2007 Baseball Annual).

For the Padres, David Wells makes his season debut. With luck, he’ll get a little more offensive support than Greg Maddux received Friday night and the Padres can notch another win.

Due to circumstances beyond my control, I will not be able to join this evening’s festivities. Be good to one another; there’s beer in the fridge (yours, not mine). Go Padres!

Padres Drop 2007 Home Opener

by Geoff Young on Apr 07, 2007 (19) Comments

After Friday night’s 4-3 loss to the Rockies (recap | box score), I’m reminded of two things: First, losing stinks. Second, it’s a long season, and thank goodness for that.

Pregame: Sushi and Flag Raising

I met my wife downtown around 4:30 p.m. After a sushi dinner at Ra (don’t be fooled by the trendy looks; these guys deliver the goods), we arrived at Petco a little after 6. Beneath an overcast sky and a brisk wind coming off the harbor, a house full of baseball fans came to celebrate the opening of a new season in San Diego.

Before the game, Trevor Hoffman, Scott Linebrink, and bullpen catcher Mark Merila hoisted the 2006 NL West championship flag. Tony Gwynn, whose Aztecs were busy beating New Mexico on the other side of town, delivered a scoreboard message thanking the fans for their support and welcoming them to the 2007 season.

During the pregame introductions, former Padres Steve Finley and Brian Lawrence both received a warm welcome home. Even Rodrigo Lopez and John Mabry (who played here for about 20 seconds) got a nice round of applause.

Maddux: Everything but Results

The contest itself featured future Hall-of-Famer Greg Maddux and rookie Jason Hirsh. On the Rockies’ side, Hirsh kept the Padres off-balance with an assortment of pitches. He didn’t light up the radar guns, but the kid worked some nice sequences. The cliche “he knows how to pitch” applies here, or it least it did on this night.

Maddux? Don’t believe the final line. He looked fantastic. Watching him pitch reminded me so much of watching Hoffman pitch. How do you break a guy’s bat with an 84-mph fastball? That’s just unreal.

San Diego Padres right-hander Greg Maddux

Unfortunately, Maddux made a few mistakes. The first came with two out in the third inning, when he plunked the speedy Willy Taveras on an 0-2 pitch. The second came when the next batter, Kaz Matsui, ripped a triple into the right field corner.

Then in the sixth, Maddux made two more mistakes. With Matsui on third, Maddux uncorked an uncharacteristic wild pitch to plate the Rockies’ third run. After a walk to Todd Helton, Matt Holliday crushed an 0-2 pitch into the left-center field bleachers.

If you’re looking for silver linings, let me offer a few: The hit by pitch and wild pitch were flukish. He now has one more of each than he did all of last season. Hey, stuff happens.

The other reason for encouragement is that the only two pitches hit hard all night were the Matsui triple and the Holliday homer. Maddux gave up a few more hits, but none left the infield.

All things considered, Maddux delivered exactly what I expected. If he keeps pitching the way he did in his Padres debut, he’ll be just fine.

Bullpen Rocks Again

Other positive signs? How about the bullpen. Heath Bell and Mike Thompson did a tremendous job of keeping the game close and giving the Padres a chance to pull it out at the end.

I don’t know what to say about Bell. The guy’s stuff is way better than I thought it would be. I’m not sure how the Mets couldn’t find a use for him. He looks like another Linebrink to me. As for Thompson, anytime you don’t allow a runner to score from third with nobody out, you’re doing something right.

Sledge and Greene, Nothing in Between

On offense, Khalil Greene and Terrmel Sledge continue to impress. Greene’s two-run homer in the ninth off Colorado closer Brian Fuentes reignited the crowd and kept the Padres alive for a few moments. The home run itself was impressive. From where we were seated, when the ball left the bat, I assumed Taveras would catch it in center, but it just kept carrying. Maybe now Khalil will get it in his head that he can hit at Petco Park. That would be nice.

As for Sledge, he battles every at-bat. He knocked a solo homer in the fifth to open the scoring for the Padres and singled in the seventh. Even in his first at-bat, which resulted in a strikeout, Sledge nearly hit a ball out of the yard. Actually, he did, but it hooked foul at the last second.

This brings me to a couple of peeves I had from the game. First, with Sledge swinging the bat so well, why lift him for Geoff Blum in the ninth? Yeah, I know Fuentes is a tough lefty, but Blum hit just .167/.211/.222 against southpaws last year. How is that a better option than Sledge? Don’t send a guy up to the plate just because he bats right-handed. That was so Bruce Bochy.

The other gripe I have is with Kevin Kouzmanoff‘s approach at the plate. It’s way, way, way too early to panic, but he needs to make an adjustment. I don’t know if he’s feeling pressure to replace Josh Barfield or what, but Kouz is just hacking at all kinds of stuff right now. This is not the same hitter we saw in spring training.

Woulda, coulda, shoulda. It happens. It’ll happen again. Sometimes they’ll set the world on fire, sometimes they’ll break our hearts. But we’ll be here just the same. Hang tight, folks, we’ve got 158 of these to go.

Maybe more…

IGD: Padres vs Rockies (6 Apr 07)

by Geoff Young on Apr 06, 2007 (38) Comments

first pitch: 7:05 p.m. PT
television: Channel 4SD
matchup: Greg Maddux (15-14, 4.20 ERA) vs Jason Hirsh (10-15, 4.98 ERA)
previews: Padres.com | SI.com

After taking the opening series in San Francisco, the Padres play their home opener Friday night. They’ll take on the Rockies, who have a strong nucleus of young hitting talent and who feature a surprisingly decent pitching staff (especially if ex-Padre Rodrigo Lopez can continue to perform the way he did in his first start for the Rockies).

Greg Maddux makes his Padres debut. The Efficient One will show the kids how to get guys out with an economy of pitches. Presumably he won’t be subjected to the incredible dancing strike zone that Clay Hensley had to deal with on Thursday, so that should help. Not that Maddux needs help.

Incidentally, I’ve been playing around with some of the new stats Sean Forman has made available at the increasingly invaluable Baseball-Reference. I’m mainly just poking at stuff right now, but here is some 2006 pitch data on the current Padres rotation you might find interesting:

Selected 2006 Pitch Data for Current Padres Starters
  1st% SOc% Cntc% 02%
Peavy 62 20 74 20
Young 59 23 77 20
Hensley 59 11 77 15
Maddux 64 37 83 18
Wells 61 32 88 18
Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.

Okay, so what is all this stuff? From the source:

  • 1st% – Percentage of first pitch strikes
  • SOc% – Percentage of strikeouts that were called
  • Cntc% – Percentage of times contact made when swinging
  • 02% – Percentage of PAs that resulted in a 0-2 counts

The amount of data is a bit overwhelming, and like I said, I’m still figuring out how to use it all. I’ve just grabbed a few items that caught my interest and I thought I’d offer a few very superficial observations.

  • Maddux throws a lot of first-pitch strikes. I don’t know how his numbers compare with other pitchers in the league, but he tops the Padres rotation. (Trevor Hoffman, in case you’re wondering, was at a ridiculous 68% last year.) It’s also encouraging to see Jake Peavy with a pretty high number. He was at 59% in 2003, his first full season. Could be improved command, improved confidence, dumb luck, or some combination of the above and/or other factors. Yeah, how’s that for going out on a limb. We’re just observing here, remember?
  • Notice how often Maddux and David Wells get called strikeouts. Is this because they’re crafty? Or do they get more calls because of their experience and reputation? At the other end of the spectrum, there’s Hensley. Nine times out of 10, his victims go down swinging.
  • The contact numbers aren’t real surprising. They match visual observation pretty well — Peavy is a lot better at making batters miss than is Wells.
  • I find it interesting that Peavy and Young do such a good job of getting to 0-2 and still are among league leaders in pitches per plate appearances. Interesting, but not surprising. This appears to confirm (or at least provide another data point in favor of) something we’ve long suspected — that these guys have trouble putting away batters after getting ahead in the count. Just as a thought exercise, I wonder what the effect would be on Peavy if his Cntc% rose from 74 to Maddux’s level (83). That’s an unanswerable question, but it’s a little more practical than “What is the sound of one hand clapping?”

For fun (oh, is that what I call this?), I looked up the same numbers for some of last year’s top starting pitchers around the big leagues. We’re getting pretty deep into the category of “stuff I find interesting but I’m not sure what to do with yet,” so I offer these without comment:

Selected 2006 Pitch Data for Starters Receiving at Least One Cy Young Vote in ’06
  1st% SOc% Cntc% 02%
Chris Carpenter 63 32 80 18
Roy Halladay 63 11 83 17
Roy Oswalt 65 33 83 25
Kenny Rogers 59 41 84 16
Johan Santana 65 14 74 25
John Smoltz 68 22 75 26
Justin Verlander 57 24 81 17
Chien-Ming Wang 56 28 85 15
Brandon Webb 65 29 80 19
Carlos Zambrano 57 30 77 16
Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.

Food for thought (some might say too much for a Friday). Enjoy the game, folks. Enjoy Maddux. Go Padres!

Friday Links (6 Apr 07)

by Geoff Young on Apr 06, 2007 (25) Comments

Tough loss for the Padres on Thursday (recap | box score). A sweep at PhoneCo would have been nice, but winning the series is a good way to start the season.

What’s crazy is that even despite the slapstick antics of Khalil Greene, Kevin Kouzmanoff, and Terrmel Sledge, as well as an inconsistent strike zone from home plate umpire Paul Emmel, the Pads almost came back against Armando Benitez in the ninth. You think the Giants’ new manager misses his old bullpen?

Enough of the rhetorical questions; let’s get to the links:

  • Paul Emmel Helps Giants Avoid Sweep (San Diego Spotlight). Rich Campbell offers his thoughts on Thursday’s loss. What happened to Clay Hensley in the fifth? Rich sets it straight:

    Ray Durham should have struck out. Even the pitch tracker on Gameday at ESPN has pitches called balls touching the strike zone. It was horrid. It was ridiculous. I have change in my pocket with a greater diameter than the strike zone as it existed to Paul Emmel during that at bat.

    Word.

  • Looking Forward to 2007 – San Diego Padres (Baseball Think Factory). Calling my own number here. This came out earlier in the week and I forgot to mention it. I’ve got the Padres winning 85 games; that might be a tad conservative, but I’m comfortable with it. The division is going to be very tight.
  • Projected Standings for the 2007 Season (Diamond Mind Baseball, via Lem in the comments). The folks at Diamond Mind ran 200 simulations of the season. They’ve got the Padres taking the NL West with 88 wins. Seems reasonable to me. Actually, anything between 85 and 90 wins seems reasonable to me.
  • Scratch is there if itch is to spend (San Diego Union-Tribune). There’s talk about having payroll flexibility to make a move for Ichiro Suzuki, Andruw Jones, or Torii Hunter this summer, but here’s my favorite part:

    The Padres expect to set a franchise record for spending on amateurs this year. In addition to having seven extra draft picks, the club is prepared to offer a seven-figure sum to pitcher Matt Latos, the Padres’ 11th-round draft pick last June who is pitching for a community college in Florida.

    “He’s pretty special,” Towers said of the right-hander, whose fastball has been clocked in the high 90s. “We may spend close to $10 million in the amateur draft.”

    The draft has been an area of relative weakness in recent years, and the team is taking aggressive steps to remedy that situation. Signing Latos would be huge.

  • The Brothers Giles (San Diego Magazine, via Gaslamp Ball). Not the usual wackiness that we’ve come to expect, this is a grandfather’s wistful recollection of time spent hunting and fishing with his grandkids.
  • Fort Wayne Wizards 2007 season preview (MadFriars). John Conniff provides a quick look at the Padres’ Low-A club. Kyler Burke, Cedric Hunter, Aaron Breit, and Drew Miller are the big names here. There’s also a little Q&A with Grady Fuson.

Update: A couple more things I’m involved in just got published:

  • Two on Two: NL West Preview (Baseball Analysts). Rich Lederer, Patrick Sullivan, Jon Weisman, and I dissect the division. We do not, however, put it back together again.
  • BLBR Extra – The Ducksnorts 2007 Baseball Annual (Big League Baseball Report). Joe Aiello was good enough to give me some time on his podcast to pimp the book. There’s even a contest for a free copy. Listen to the show, then call the BLBR buzz line at 206-666-BUZZ with your response; leave your name and location at the beginning of the message, and an email where Joe can contact you at the end.

Happy Friday, folks. Get ready for Opening Night at Petco Park; I’ll be out at the game, but we’ll have the IGD up and running by 6 p.m. PT. Be sure to buy the Ducksnorts 2007 Baseball Annual if you haven’t already done so and keep spreading the word!

IGD: Padres @ Giants (5 Apr 07)

by Geoff Young on Apr 05, 2007 (155) Comments

first pitch: 7:15 p.m. PT
television: Channel 4SD
matchup: Clay Hensley (11-12, 3.71 ERA) vs Matt Morris (10-15, 4.98 ERA)
previews: Padres.com | SI.com

Sweep? Sure, that’d be nice.

. . .

Marcus Giles has swung at 58% of the pitches he’s seen over the Padres’ first two games this year. It’s a small sample, but for his career, he’s at 49%. He draws his share of walks, but that’s an extremely aggressive approach for a leadoff batter. Nineteen players registered 500 or more plate appearances in the #1 spot last year. The only guy who hacked at a higher percentage of pitches seen than Giles also knocked 46 home runs:

Name SwgA% P/PA OBP
Alfonso Soriano 50 3.90 .351
Marcus Giles 48 3.88 .341
Jose Reyes 48 3.61 .354
Randy Winn 48 3.49 .324
Brian Roberts 46 3.84 .347
Juan Pierre 46 3.48 .330
Ichiro Suzuki 44 3.73 .370
Gary Matthews Jr. 44 3.71 .371
Curtis Granderson 43 4.08 .335
Grady Sizemore 43 4.01 .375
Hanley Ramirez 43 4.00 .353
David Eckstein 43 3.75 .350
Johnny Damon 42 4.09 .359
Chone Figgins 42 3.88 .336
Rafael Furcal 41 3.84 .369
Jimmy Rollins 41 3.70 .334
Dave Roberts 40 3.95 .360
David DeJesus 40 3.67 .364
Scott Podsednik 38 4.08 .330
Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com

If it works for Giles, then who am I to argue? Still, this is a fascinating approach to batting leadoff and something that bears watching throughout the season.

Padres Win Again at San Francisco

by Geoff Young on Apr 05, 2007 (37) Comments

Hit the ball hard, play good defense, shut down the oppostion in the late innings. That was fun to watch. A few quick observations from Wednesday’s 5-3 victory over the Giants at PhoneCo (recap | box score):

  • It’s only two games, but Marcus Giles (NOG) may be the most aggressive leadoff hitter I’ve ever seen. Of course, it worked pretty well in this one.
  • Adrian Gonzalez is locked in at the plate. Three hits, including a two-run homer in the eighth that proved to be the game-winner. His two singles off starter Matt Cain came on fastballs down in the zone. The home run off lefty Jack Taschner was an absolute bomb to right on an 0-1 fastball up and in. Oh, and I understand we are now calling Gonzalez “El Hombre!” (note the exclamation mark).
  • Early impression of Kevin Kouzmanoff: Better than advertised at third base (real nice play on a Randy Winn bunt attempt in the fourth); will expand the strike zone at the plate — susceptible to breaking balls down and away, and fastballs up (remind you of anyone named Phil Nevin?).
  • Terrmel Sledge had a fantastic approach at the plate. The line shows he went 0-for-2 with two walks, but he also saw 27 pitches in those four trips. Even though he flied to left in the seventh, he forced reliever Brad Hennessey to throw seven pitches despite falling behind 0-2 to start the at-bat. That’s called being a pest. Sledge’s left field defense still makes me a little nervous. He struggled to catch a ball off the bat of Omar Vizquel in the first and got a terrible jump on a ball hit by Winn in the sixth that should have ended the inning and gotten Chris Young out of his jam.
  • Nice to see homers from NOG and Khalil Greene in the fifth. Cain had been crusing up to that point. Both homers came on 1-0 fastballs up and in; NOG’s surprised me — he’s not a big guy, but that thing went a long way.
  • Young struggled with pitch efficiency. The third inning was a killer. Even though he didn’t allow any runs, he threw 31 pitches. I understand needing seven to retire Barry Bonds, but a nine-pitch at-bat to Ray Durham after jumping ahead 0-2 doesn’t work. Fortunately, Bengie Molina bailed out Young that inning by hacking on the first pitch with the bases loaded and lofting a lazy fly ball to Mike Cameron in center field.
  • Speaking of Cameron, he made a spectacular diving catch in the eighth to rob Rich Aurilia. That was huge because it kept the tying run from coming to the plate. Molina followed with a single, which turned out to be harmless. If Cameron doesn’t catch that ball, the Giants have runners at first and second, nobody out. Big difference.
  • How sick was that 1-2 sinker Cla Meredith delivered to Bonds in the seventh? You don’t see Bonds take a swing like that. Ever. Yeah, I guess maybe Meredith can pitch to left-handers.
  • Love that eight-pitch ninth from Trevor Hoffman. The 1-1 change he threw to Vizquel was filthy.

Good to see the club executing so well this early in the season. More of that, please…