IGD: Padres @ Marlins (13 Apr 06)

by Geoff Young on Apr 13, 2006 (78) Comments

first pitch: 10:05 a.m., PT
television: Channel 4SD
matchup: Dewon Brazelton (0-1, 34.71 ERA) vs Jason Vargas (0-1, 9.00 ERA)
previews: Padres.com | SI.com | ESPN.com

The Padres look for the sweep on Thursday against a Marlins team that fields a lot of players that probably don’t belong in the big leagues yet. With a 2006 salary lower than that of 12 major leaguers (including San Diego’s Chan Ho Park), the club that MLB franchise-wrecker Jeffrey Loria is trying to move to San Antonio doesn’t figure to be competitive this season.

I caught most of Wednesday’s game on TiVo last night, and here are a few observations:

  • If Loria’s intent is to kill the value of his franchise in its current market, he’s doing a great job; in just their second home game of the season, attendance was listed at 8,994. That might be generous — you could actually hear individual voices in the crowd on the telecast, very reminiscent of a spring training contest.
  • Terrmel Sledge showed surprising (to me) opposite field power, lining a ground rule double into the left field corner in the first inning.
  • Brian Giles, Khalil Greene, and Adrian Gonzalez all hit balls that very well could’ve been homers at Petco. Giles hit one to the wall in dead center, about 430 feet from home plate, that was caught by center fielder Eric Reed. Greene and Gonzalez both knocked shots off the scoreboard in left field; Greene’s went for a double, but Gonzalez’ was hit so hard that he was held to a single. So when you see that Gonzalez had four singles in the game, understand that one of them almost left the yard.
  • Except for the second inning, Chris Young looked sharp. In the second, with a 2-0 lead, he walked the first two batters and then served up fly balls to deep left field off the bats of Dan Uggla and Chris Aguila that stayed in the park. I really thought Aguila’s was gone off the bat (well, not really because I already knew the outcome — but he put a charge into that one). That was pretty much the only trouble Young was in all day. The only “hit” he allowed was a grounder down the third base line that Vinny Castilla waved at and deflected. It wasn’t an easy play but it’s one that a big-league third baseman should make (and I expect Castilla would be the first to tell you so).
  • Although Greene hasn’t drawn a walk yet this season, he is working counts, pacing the club at 4.21 pitches per plate appearance through the Padres’ first seven games. Josh Barfield is second, at 4.17. Miniscule sample, but encouraging nonetheless.

Another early start today, as Dewon Brazelton tries to prove that his Padres debut was a fluke. He’s also looking for his first road victory as a big leaguer, having started his career 0-15 with an 8.22 ERA in just under 100 innings. Youngster Ben Johnson is expected to make his first start of the season against southpaw Jason Vargas. Let’s get the sweep!

IGD: Padres @ Marlins (12 Apr 06)

by Geoff Young on Apr 12, 2006 (51) Comments

first pitch: 10:05 a.m., PT
television: Channel 4SD
matchup: Chris Young (0-0, 6.75 ERA) vs Brian Moehler (0-0, 27.00 ERA)
previews: Padres.com | SI.com | ESPN.com

“Breakfast!” Good morning everybody,
The sun is up and there’s lots of toast and jelly
Wash Wash, you gotta wash the dishes
If you’re gonna eat upon ‘em, ya gotta wash ‘em.
You can get it if you really want,
you gotta try hard, try hard
(P.S. Keep on the sunny side)

IGD: Padres @ Marlins (11 Apr 06)

by Geoff Young on Apr 11, 2006 (88) Comments

first pitch: 1:05 p.m., PT
television: none
matchup: Woody Williams (0-0, 0.00 ERA) vs Sergio Mitre (1-0, 0.00 ERA)
previews: Padres.com | SI.com | ESPN.com

The Padres hit the road following a season-opening home stand that can charitably be described as disastrous. In the five games at Petco Park, they were outhit, .306/.362/.544 to .229/.298/.357, and outscored, 36 to 19. The bright spots on offense have been Brian Giles and Adrian Gonzalez. And all you need to know about the pitching is that some of the best performances so far have come from Scott Cassidy, Alan Embree, and Chan Ho Park.

Woody Williams gets the call today out of the bullpen in place of the injured Shawn Estes. According to the North County Times, Williams has been working on a knuckleball. Apparently no less an authority than Doug Mirabelli, who caught knuckler Tim Wakefield in Boston, has called Williams’ pitch “excellent.”

On the other side of the diamond, Florida is also off to a 1-4 start, although theirs is due more to luck than being dominated by the Rockies. The Marlins have scored just as many runs (21) as they’ve allowed. Rookies Hanley Ramirez and Josh Willingham are leading the charge on offense, and Miguel Cabrera is always a threat, as is youngster Jeremy Hermida. Former Padres Miguel Olivo and Matt Herges now play for the Marlins.

And speaking of San Diego connections, today’s starter, Mitre, is a local product (sweet, he has his own Wikipedia page) acquired this off-season from the Cubs in a deal that sent Juan Pierre to Chicago. Mitre, just 25 years old, spun six shutout innings in his first start of the season, notching the Marlins’ lone victory thus far, an 11-2 shellacking of the Astros exactly one week ago.

Today, something has to give. One of these teams will walk away with their second win of the young season. The other will just walk away.

Spalding’s World Tour

by Geoff Young on Apr 10, 2006 (1) Comments

Spalding’s World Tour
By Mark Lamster
Public Affairs: 368 pp., $26 hardcover

Albert Spalding in 1888 led two teams of baseball players across five continents in an effort to bring America’s game to the rest of the world (and help Spalding establish his sporting goods empire on distant shores). By ship, train, and even camel, the group played games in locales such as Auckland, Sydney, Melbourne, Cairo, Naples, Rome, Paris, London, Glasgow, Belfast, and Dublin among many others — 57 games in total between the “Chicago” and “All-America” teams.

But the games were only part of the adventure. If you think that labor strife, deceit, and controversy are new developments in baseball and long for the “good old days,” then this book will provide the strong dose of reality you need. Did you know, for example, that relations between players and management grew so acrimonious that in 1890, many of the brightest stars in the game quit and started their own league?

Perhaps we shouldn’t be so surprised at the events happening today in baseball. If I learned anything from this book it’s that labor strife, deceit, and controversy are as much a part of the game we love as are balls, strikes, and outs. They might not be a part of the game that we like or are proud of, but they exist and always have. To deny this is to deny the game itself, beautiful but flawed (why else play on a diamond?) — just like those who play and follow it.

Spalding’s World Tour is a must-read for anyone with more than a passing interest in baseball history. Dotted with U.S. presidents, foreign heads of state, literary figures, and other fascinating characters, the tale of Spalding and his men is a compelling one, and is well-placed in the hands of Lamster, whose extensive research (the book boasts 28 pages of end notes and an impressive bibliography) and obvious love for the subject bring it to life.

One of Spalding’s heroes, P.T. Barnum, is purported to have said, “There’s a sucker born every minute.” The fact that history has misattributed David Hannum’s quote to Barnum makes for a nice parallel with Spalding’s own misattribution of baseball’s origins to Abner Doubleday. Regardless of who said what, if you need a reminder of why you and I are among the legions of “suckers” for baseball, Spalding’s World Tour is a fine place to look. By the time you finish the book, the answer will be as obvious as a 3-1 fastball: we cannot help ourselves.

Learn more about Mark Lamster and Spalding’s World Tour at marklamster.com.

Comps for Gonzalez

by Geoff Young on Apr 10, 2006 (15) Comments

I’m just as disgusted as the rest of you that the Padres didn’t even bother to show up against the Rockies this weekend. I would rant, but you can’t rant about everything, which is what’s wrong with the Friars right now. Plus, we’ve got better things to do with our time.

With that in mind, let’s take a closer look at Adrian Gonzalez, who will be stationed at first base for the Pads for at least the next two to four months while Ryan Klesko recovers from shoulder surgery. We’re peering into the future here, so the usual disclaimers apply.

I sifted through Ron Shandler’s Baseball Forecaster 2006 in search of players whose projections for this season were similar to those for Gonzalez. Actually, Gonzalez wasn’t given a projection in the book (or in the Bill James Handbook 2006), but Shandler does list his MLEs from last year: .302/.348/.482.

From the 20 or so (depending on whether you count less-established players such as Mike Jacobs and Chris Shelton) guys who came within 10 points of OPS, I looked for hitters who had a similar “shape”; specifically, I identified nine players who were projected to have both OBP and SLG within 10 points of Gonzalez’ MLE. This eliminated some intuitively good comps, including Bill Mueller, Lyle Overbay, and Brad Wilkerson, and left us with the following list:

Name BA OBP SLG
Adrian Gonzalez .302 .348 .482
Carlos Beltran .274 .351 .473
Eric Chavez .273 .351 .487
David Dellucci .257 .350 .474
Cliff Floyd .263 .343 .488
Shawn Green .281 .354 .483
Austin Kearns .269 .351 .479
Chad Tracy .293 .342 .481
Randy Winn .308 .357 .478
Ryan Klesko .269 .375 .443

I threw Klesko in at the end for grins. There are some interesting names here. Gonzalez relies on batting average more than most of them; Winn is the only other guy with a .300 batting average, and he’s a completely different type of player. That leaves probably Green (decline phase version, not the 35-40 homer guy from back in the day) and Tracy as the best comps for Gonzalez.

Again, we’re looking at MLEs (minor league numbers translated to their major league equivalents) and projections, so take all of this with the appropriate buckets of salt. That said, the Green and Tracy comps make sense to me.

Contact Form, Archives, Subscriptions

by Geoff Young on Apr 09, 2006 (1) Comments

I’ve added a contact form to make it easier for you to get in touch with me. It’s at the top of every page, as well as in the right sidebar. You can also access it at any time by clicking ALT + 8. So you’ve got no excuse. ;-)

And I’m also happy to note that I’ve imported all the entries from our stint at All-Baseball.com. Everything from mid-March 2005 onward is now part of the new site. I’m still working on the stuff from 2001 to 2005.

While I’m at it, this might be a good time to remind you that it’s easy to subscribe to Ducksnorts via Bloglines so you always know when the site has been updated. I’ve also revived a long-dormant newsletter that’s going out each Sunday night to recap the week’s events and give a little heads-up of what’s to come. Check out a sample and sign up if you’re so inclined. Go on, it’ll be fun.

That’s all for now. Next time, back to baseball.

IGD: Padres vs Rockies (9 Apr 06)

by Geoff Young on Apr 09, 2006 (18) Comments

first pitch: 1:05 p.m., PT
television: Channel 4SD
matchup: Jake Peavy (1-0, 1.29 ERA) vs Jason Jennings (0-0, 1.29 ERA)
previews: Padres.com | SI.com | ESPN.com

Eleven runs in the first inning at Petco Park? Are you kidding me? I wonder if the Rockies have ever scored double digits in consecutive games on the road. Dewon Brazelton had a historically bad debut for the Padres, coughing up four runs before recording a single out. And I know it’s only four games, but guess which team has the lowest OPS in then NL so far. Yep, the Friars are hitting just .226/.296/.339.

I could cite more statistics, but what’s the point this early in the season? It’s just irritating to see the Padres completely overmatched by Colorado the last two nights. And I’m looking forward to seeing the “new and improved” outfield defense this year. Dave Roberts (center) and Eric Young (left) both had a terrible time in the field Saturday night. Again there were at least two or three balls hit to center that I’m pretty sure Mike Cameron catches. As for Young, he clanked a couple himself. I’m not saying these were all easy plays (some were, some were not), but big-league outfielders should be making them.

The one reliable starting pitcher on the staff, Jake Peavy, gets the nod Sunday afternoon. The Padres have already lost the series and the homestand, so the best they can do is avoid a sweep by the Rockies. Then, after an off day Monday, the Friars embark on a nine-game road trip, with three games each at Florida, Atlanta, and Colorado. It’d be nice to see the Padres end their stay at Petco on an up note before heading east.

IGD: Padres vs Rockies (8 Apr 06)

by Geoff Young on Apr 08, 2006 (52) Comments

first pitch: 7:05 p.m., PT
television: Channel 4SD
matchup: Dewon Brazelton (1-8, 7.61 ERA) vs Zach Day (1-3, 6.85 ERA)
previews: Padres.com | SI.com | ESPN.com

During Friday night’s 10-4 loss to the Rockies, the opening to Rush’s “Twilight Zone” played as the television broadcast went to commercial following the top of the ninth. This is noteworthy for two reasons. The first is that the more obvious choice would have been Golden Earring’s hit song of the same name, which came out in 1983. The song by Rush appeared seven years earlier, on Side 2 of their seminal 2112, and bears no resemblance whatsoever to the Golden Earring tune.

This brings us to the second reason, which is that even among Rush fans, “Twilight Zone” is a pretty obscure track. It’s 30 years old and as far as I can tell, it never received any airplay. Not only is it less well known than the song by Golden Earring, but most likely it’s not known at all by the vast majority of, well, anyone. So to whomever chooses the music leading to commercial over at Channel 4SD, I say thank you for rewarding this Rush fan for suffering through an otherwise horrible game.

Ah yes, the game. The less said, the better. Despite the final line, Chris Young looked good in his Padres debut. He also showed that he can swing the bat a little, driving a ball deep into the left field corner for a double, his first big-league hit. Adrian Gonzalez and Khalil Greene hit balls that had home run distance but hooked just foul. Nice to see Gonzalez, who gets to keep his first base job a little longer now that Ryan Klesko has opted to have surgery on his left shoulder and is expected to miss two to four months, pull the ball with such authority. And Chan Ho Park and Alan Embree did a nice job coming out of the bullpen, with the latter running his fastball at 94-97 mph according to the displays on television.

The rest of the relief corps looked very shaky, with Clay Hensley having a rare bad outing, and the recently recalled Scott Cassidy and Brian Sweeney demonstrating why they have spent so much of their careers in the minor leagues. Cassidy, if you haven’t been following along, was brought up to replace Shawn Estes, who landed on the disabled list due to a “strained flexor tendon in his left elbow” and is expected to be out four to six weeks. Woody Williams replaces Estes in the rotation, with Park getting the #5 spot when it comes up on or around April 15.

As for Saturday night’s contest, Padres fans will get their first look at yet another unknown in the equation that is the San Diego pitching staff. Dewon Brazelton opened a lot of eyes this spring and won the #4 spot over guys with longer track records and bigger contracts. Tonight we’ll get our first indication of whether to believe his performance this May or the 5.98 ERA over 253 career innings he brings into the season. He is a former first-round draft pick and he’s only 25 years old, so anything is possible. With so many question marks on the staff, it would be fantastic to see someone like Brazelton step up and establish himself. We can only hope.

Irish Baseball Movie

by Geoff Young on Apr 08, 2006 (1) Comments

This just hit the in-box:

My name is John Fitzgerald. I recently directed a documentary about the Irish National Baseball team called, “The Emerald Diamond.” The movie is playing in San Diego on Thursday, April 13 at the Hillcrest Cinema (3965 5th Avenue) at 7pm.

Tim Flannery actually contributed a couple of songs to the soundtrack… so there’s a bit of a tie-in to the Padres.

Sounds interesting. Check out the movie’s web site for more information. I won’t be able to make it, but if anyone goes, please let us know how it is.

IGD: Padres vs Rockies (7 Apr 06)

by Geoff Young on Apr 07, 2006 (65) Comments

first pitch: 7:05 p.m., PT
television: Channel 4SD
matchup: Chris Young (12-7, 4.26 ERA) vs Josh Fogg (6-11, 5.05)
previews: Padres.com | SI.com | ESPN.com

Did you know that Miguel Ojeda is the Rockies’ backup catcher? And Wiki Gonzalez plays for the Nationals? Gary Bennett is in St. Louis. Ben Davis and Wil Nieves are in the Yankees system. Mike Rivera is with the Brewers.

Geez, I think we’ve hit a new low here. TGIF.