Eaton’s Rehab

by Geoff Young on Aug 23, 2002 (Comments Off) Comments

I’ve been studying Charlie Christian of late. He’s the guy who pulled the guitar out of the rhythm section back in the late ’30s playing for Benny Goodman. If you’ve ever been to a concert where a guitarist takes a solo, it’s no exaggeration to say that he owes it to Christian. Every Western electric guitar player has been profoundly influenced by the man, whether or not they know it.

The challenge now, for me, is to try to emulate his melodies and phrasing, understand the concepts behind them, and then apply those concepts to the style of music I play. You’d think incorporating swing licks from the ’30s into something like "Smokin’ in the Boys Room" would be difficult, and you’d be right. But it sure does open up a lot of different and exciting possibilities.

Enough of that. You came here for baseball.

Adam Eaton continues his climb back toward the big leagues. He worked 7 1/3 innings last night against Salt Lake City, allowing two earned runs on four hits. Struck out four, didn’t walk anyone. Figure one more rehab start for him, then a September callup assuming MLB is still playing games.

Several Padres are mentioned by Baseball America among top second base prospects. Jake Gautreau came in at #2, Josh Barfield at #6, and Bernie Castro at #12. Oakland’s Freddie Bynum, whom I saw play last weekend, checked in at #9. He didn’t show much at the plate, but in the field he reminded me a little of Damian Jackson. Great range.

Speaking of guys named Bynum, how about Mike? First big-league win. And, hey, the Pads took the series from the Braves.

And while we’re talking about the Braves, there’s one other thing I forgot to mention about their batting practice. When Greg Maddux was out in the outfield shagging baseballs, he would pick up a ball, grip it carefully, and then throw to a spot on the field. He did this several times. If you wonder why he’s so good, I’m sure the fact that he’s constantly working on his game doesn’t hurt.

Some riveting stuff on pitchers over at Baseball Primer:

I’m still digesting these myself, and while I may never fully grasp the theory, the results are intriguing.

We’re in the recording studio this weekend, so I’ll catch you all early next week. Have fun…

Wasted Opportunities

by Geoff Young on Aug 22, 2002 (Comments Off) Comments

Made it to the game last night. It was pretty much a microcosm of the Padre season to this point: wasted opportunities.

Dennis Tankersley worked behind in the count all night. I still can’t figure out why a guy with his stuff won’t throw the ball over the plate. I’ve compared him to Matt Clement on more than one occasion due to his reluctance to come after hitters, and I’ll stand by it. This is not the pitcher I saw at Elsinore a couple years ago. It’s way too early to give up on the guy, but he’s facing a lot of competition for a spot in next year’s rotation and right now I don’t see him in it.

Got to the park real early, caught the end of the Pads’ batting practice and all of the Braves’. Highlights of the latter included Greg Maddux going up over the fence to take a homer away from someone (Javy Lopez, I think), Gary Sheffield and the Joneses taking grounders at short, and Kevin Millwood knocking a couple of pitches into the seats.

The game was pretty brutal, unless you’re a Braves fan like my buddy Jeff, who scored the tix. Thankfully he’s one of those who has an actual life and so he makes for good company during a game despite his loyalties. The guys behind us, on the other hand, were sort of a redneck version of Cheech and Chong (props to Jeff for that call). They were alternately funny or downright scary (one of them, wearing a John Rocker jersey, claimed that 9-11 never would have happened if Rocker had had a chance to talk to President Bush) depending on your perspective.

I love Trevor Hoffman, I really do. But last night I wished we’d never traded Gary Sheffield to get him. Sheffield doubled, homered twice, and walked twice in five trips to the plate. As usual with him, everything was hit hard. What a player.

Jeff also forwarded me a link to a classic Braves/Mets game from 1985 which lasted 19 innings, featured a Rick Camp home run, and was followed by a fireworks show at 4 AM that prompted numerous calls to the authorities. My favorite from this account of the game: "ball hit puddle and stopped." Brilliant. And thank goodness for Retrosheet, a group of dedicated fans that documents all this stuff and makes it available to the public.

Seriously, is there any doubt what makes baseball the greatest sport? Despite what MLB owners and players seem to believe, it’s the fans. Don’t ever forget that.

Storm Watch

by Geoff Young on Aug 21, 2002 (Comments Off) Comments

Okay, I’m back for a bit. The gig went well Sunday night. We actually broke out the Green Day song. Not bad for our first stab at it.

Justin Germano continued his fine pitching in his first start at Elsinore last week. Six innings, a run, two walks, six strikeouts. Different league, same results. The Pads could have another Brian Lawrence on their hands.

I didn’t get to see Germano but I did catch Adam Eaton’s most recent rehab start. He allowed four runs in five innings but he struck out nine. His command was shaky in the first two innings (all four runs came in those innings). And Khalil Greene muffed a routine grounder in the first that led to two unearned runs. But Eaton appeared to be throwing pretty hard and his trademark curveball was working for him.

My folks came down for the weekend, so I thought I was going to miss the game. But I managed to talk them into joining us and they ended up having a great time. My mom took me to my first minor league game back in 1987. Opening Day, Columbus Clippers at Maine Guides. Jay Buhner was the big name on the Clippers back then but the big star of that game was Phillie prospect Ron Jones, who swatted two homers into the forest beyond the outfield fence.

My stepdad Jim isn’t much of a baseball fan. On arriving at the ballpark, he told my mom to keep an eye on center field because that’s where the grass grows the fastest. But once we arrived at our seats and he saw how close we were to the action, he got into the game.

Being a former high school track and football star, Jim found the mechanics of the game fascinating. He remarked early on at how well Eaton appeared to hide the ball from the hitter during his delivery. Pretty astute observation from somebody who might watch one baseball game a year.

Also, in that game, it looked to me like Greene’s long season was finally catching up to him. Of course, he promptly knocked homers in each of the next two games. So much for that theory.

Mark Phillips reached double digits in strikeouts last night against Modesto. Second start in a row he’s fanned 10. He walked only one batter. Last three starts: 19 IP, 17 H, 5 BB, 24 SO, 2.37 ERA.

Tom Lipari, recently recalled to Ft. Wayne, threw a gem in his second start there. Seven innings, one hit, no walks, nine punchouts. That was good enough for a 5 PQS, and a 1-1 Qmax score. Here’s a list of all such starts made this year by Padre minor leaguers in full season leagues:

Name      Date     Matchup  IP H R ER BB SO HR
----------------------------------------------
J.Peavy   04/22/02 Mob@Orl 8.0 4 0  0  0 10  0
C.Stewart 06/06/02 Wis@FtW 8.0 3 0  0  0  6  0
J.Germano 06/10/02 CR@FtW  8.0 4 1  1  0  8  0
J.Germano 06/23/02 Peo@FtW 8.0 4 1  1  1 10  0
C.Rojas   06/25/02 Gre@Mob 7.0 3 3  1  0  6  1
M.Bynum   07/08/02 Mob@Bir 8.0 1 0  0  1  9  0
N.Yoshida 08/02/02 FtW@Mch 7.3 2 0  0  0  7  0
D.McAdoo  08/03/02 LkE@RC  7.0 3 1  1  0 11  0
T.Lipari  08/20/02 SBn@FtW 7.0 1 0  0  0  9  0

Pretty geeky, but there it is. Enjoy…

Similar Players

by Geoff Young on Aug 16, 2002 (Comments Off) Comments

Sigh. The players’ union has set the date for a possible strike: August 30. Here’s hoping MLB can get its act together before then and avoid a repeat of 1994.

On a happier note, how ’bout those Padres. I can’t even remember the last time they swept anyone.

Thanks to readers Kristi and Don for confirming what I had guessed yesterday. Justin Germano has been promoted to Elsinore. Don also pointed out that RHP Chris Oxspring has moved up from Elsinore to Mobile, LHP Tom Lipari from Euguene to Ft. Wayne, and LHP Kevin Beavers from Idaho Falls to Eugene.

Khalil Greene made his first appearance at third base last night. Not sure why.

In other news…

SDSU’s Anthony Gwynn was named the 12th best prospect in the Cape Cod Baseball League. Gwynn hit .291/.364/.333 for Brewster.

USD grad Ricky Barrett is dominating the Appy League in his pro debut. The left-hander, drafted in the seventh round by Minnesota, has a 1.25 ERA over 57.2 innings at Elizabethton, with 73 strikeouts against just 45 hits and 23 walks.

Seven Padres will participate in the AFL. Pitchers Brad Baker and Mike Bynum; infielders Tagg Bozied, Jake Gautreau, and Ben Risinger; and outfielders Vince Faison and Xavier Nady will play for the Peoria Javelinas. Risinger will be activated only for Wednesday and Saturday games.

Something that’s been gnawing at my soul for a while is the issue of Corey Patterson. Remember all those walks he was drawing at the start of the season? Check this out:

 AB  R  H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB CS   BA  OBP  SLG
 90 10 30  5  3  1   8 10 14  7  0 .333 .400 .489
365 46 89 18  1 12  37  8 86  8  2 .244 .260 .397

I still think Patterson is going to be a heckuva player once he figures out what he’s doing. After all, Patterson just turned 23 on Tuesday. But it is disturbing that he ditched an approach that was working for him and hasn’t productive since then (except for a recent power surge).

Finally, taking a cue from TwinsGeek.com, I thought it might be fun to look at the most similar players by age (according to Baseball Reference) for a few Padre players:

A few notes. Klesko’s most similar player at age 29 was HOFer Willie Stargell. The Nevin comp is amusing, because he and Burnitz almost were traded for one another a couple winters ago. Kotsay’s most similar player from ages 22-24 was Johnny Damon. Laabs, Trammell’s counterpart, played from 1937-1947; Trammell’s best active comp is Brian Daubach. The Eaton/Isringhausen comparison is interesting; Izzy blew out his arm at the same age and for a while it looked like he wouldn’t have a career. But he’s come back strong as a closer.

Frivolous but fun. That’s all for now…

Green Day and a Look at the Minors

by Geoff Young on Aug 15, 2002 (Comments Off) Comments

Yet again, it’s impossible to predict what will engage the imagination of my readers. In response to yesterday’s deep, burning question, one person suggested that "When I Come Around" might be about drugs because Green Day likes to sing about drugs. Well, okay. Maybe. My current pet theory is that it’s about a guy and a girl who slip into and out of a dysfunctional relationship over a period of time. Ah, what ever happened to the good ol’ days?

While I was rummaging around the Internet, looking for someone to explain the lyrics, I found an interesting piece on the 1564 chord progression that has come to dominate modern rock music. Apparently, it was used heavily in the late ’50s and early ’60s as well. Hey, if you can play "When I Come Around" on guitar, you can also play "One Fine Day" by the Chiffons. Pretty cool.

Also very cool (note the graceful segue) is the fact that the Padres have won two in a row. Brian Lawrence shut down the Mets a day after Jake Peavy did the same. This is going to be a fun staff to watch next year.

BTW, yesterday I mentioned that Mike Bynum was taking Bobby M. Jones’ spot in the rotation. He’s not; he’s taking Bobby J. Jones’ spot. If you have trouble remembering which is which, like I obviously do, just use this simple mnemonic device: M stands for lefty, J stands for righty.

Baseball America named its Top 20 first base prospects. Tagg Bozied (who homered last night against Tennessee, for the Bay Bears’ only run) placed #12 on the list.

At Elsinore, Mark Phillips fanned 10 in 5 innings against Stockton. Khalil Greene singled twice and (!) drew a walk in the Storm’s 5-3 victory. Greene is now hitting .268/.311/.431 in 30 games. Only 5 errors in 29 games at shortstop.

At Ft. Wayne, Geoff Jones fanned 13 in 7 innings against Kane County. In attendance were Padre GM Kevin Towers, scouting director Bill Gayton, and director of player development Tye Waller. I don’t know much about Jones, but he’s pitching pretty well for the Wizards.

Speaking of Ft. Wayne, I noticed this morning that Justin Germano has an X by his name on the Wizards’ stat page at Baseball America, signifying that he is no longer with the club. Anybody know whether he’s been promoted? I can’t find a record of it anywhere.

Finally, at Idaho Falls, our friend Omar Falcon continues to amass stunning strikeout numbers. Seriously, the guy is making Russell Branyan look like Tony Gwynn. He’s fanned 75 times in 143 at-bats. What’s sick is that despite his .231 average, his OPS is a solid 827. Needless to say, Falcon remains one of the most fascinating players in the Padre organization.

Later…

Green Day Lyrics and Peavy

by Geoff Young on Aug 14, 2002 (Comments Off) Comments

Have you ever read the lyrics to Green Day’s "When I Come Around"? My buddy Chris and I like a lot of the same types of music. This always amazes us both, because whereas he knows most of the lyrics to songs he’s heard over the past 20 or so years, I tend not to know any of them. He likes those songs in large part because of the words. On the other hand, I consider lyrics little more than a vehicle for carrying the vocal melody and prefer them to be at least somewhat unintelligible so I can concentrate on the music.

At least, I did before I started singing with my current band. But now that I actually have to learn the lyrics to songs, I find that (a) without wishing to insult anyone, most pop and rock songs are pretty inane in terms of any message they hope to convey; and (b) because of the preceding fact, it’s not always easy to figure out a singer’s motivation in delivering lyrics. You might not think this is such a big deal until you try to sing something like "I’m just roaming for the moment/Sleazin’ my back yard so don’t get/So uptight you been thinking ’bout ditching me" with conviction. I mean, I’d like to, but I have no freakin’ idea what he even means.

Lest anyone think I’m picking on pop and rock music, be assured that I still love the stuff. I just like it better when I can’t understand what they’re saying.

Hey dude, shut up with your elitist music b.s. and talk about baseball.

Fine. How about Jake Peavy? Thanks to class, I caught only the ninth, when he was running out of gas. By all accounts, though, that was a heckuva performance. Sure, the Mets were without Edgardo Alfonzo and Mike Piazza (although it should be noted that Piazza’s replacement, Tom Wilson, did the only direct damage to Peavy all night), but still. The only thing that concerns me a bit is that he threw 115 pitches. That number is a shade on the high side for my taste, but given his handling to this point and the game situation, I can live with it.

Speaking of young pitchers, Mike Bynum was pulled after two innings last night at Nashville. No need to panic; word is he’s being recalled to start Saturday’s game in place of Bobby M. Jones.

Xavier Nady knocked three hits in that game to raise his average to .280. His peripherals are coming around, too. Still not where you’d like to see them but getting there. When he comes around, you know where he’ll be found. (Ah, yes; the caffeine is kicking in good now.)

I’m going to stop now before I lose the rest of you. Have a great day, and if anyone has a clue what that Green Day song is about please let me know. I think I’m starting to get the gist of it but there are still some gaps…

Random Notes

by Geoff Young on Aug 13, 2002 (Comments Off) Comments

Cool site: Only Baseball Matters.

Over at Baseball Prospectus, Rany Jazayerli has some thoughts on The Five-Man Rotation. I haven’t had a chance to digest this yet, but it’s a different perspective.

Caught the tail end of the Cubs/Astros game last night. Silly umpiring decision. After both teams had been warned, Houston starter Roy Oswalt nailed the leadoff man in the bottom of the seventh. Instant ejection. Oh, his team was leading, 9-2 at the time. Of course, he’s trying to hit the guy. I mean, with a seven run lead and the wind blowing out at Wrigley, the obvious thing to do is put baserunners on so the opposition can get back into the game.

Adam Eaton made his second rehab start at Elsinore last night. Against Stockton, he allowed three runs (two earned) on five hits over 4 1/3 innings. Struck out six, walked two. Rusty Tucker struck out the side in the ninth en route to his 10th save.

With school and work, upcoming gigs and a recording session coming up, things are kinda crazy right now, so if I don’t post quite as regularly over the next couple weeks, that’s why…

Traffic School, Brock2, and Everything in Between

by Geoff Young on Aug 11, 2002 (Comments Off) Comments

Predictably, traffic school stunk. Actually, it wasn’t as bad as I’d expected. The main problem is that it killed my Saturday. But there was some nice scenery, if you know what I mean. Yeah, I’m a pig; I admit it.

What’s up with Padre starting pitching? This is painful. Last night’s game was so bad that I actually changed over to the Cubs-Rockies contest. Even listening to Joe Carter wasn’t as bad as watching the Padres. But I couldn’t stomach that for long, either. I ended up watching Animal Planet and then going out to Target with my wife. My sense of excitement and adventure knows no bounds.

Oh yeah, I finally posted a new article: Revisiting the Crystal Ball. It’s just a fun look back at some work I did with Bill James’ Brock2 career projections a few years ago. Take a look when you have a moment.

Former Padre Rodrigo Lopez keeps rolling. He won again last night and is now 13-4 for Baltimore. Another former Padre, Andy Sheets, knocked his third homer of the season for Tampa Bay. That gives him 17 for his career, just 116 behind Phil Nevin, for whom he was traded prior to the 1999 season. I know that’s old news but it takes some of the sting off of the loss of Lopez, so indulge me.

Has anyone noticed how well Ramon Vazquez has been playing of late? Since the break, he’s hitting .313/.380/.410. He’s also playing a terrific shortstop when he’s not being moved to an easier position to accommodate an inferior defender.

I still don’t believe it was a bright idea to let Mark Prior throw 136 pitches against the Rockies last week. But give Bruce Kimm some credit for yanking him after 86 pitches last night in a laugher. Don’t give him too much credit, though; he’s still been riding Prior very hard.

I’m wiped. Have a good one…

Bits and Pieces

by Geoff Young on Aug 09, 2002 (Comments Off) Comments

I’m trying not to be too cynical and down on the owners, but it’s difficult when they keep lying to us (ESPN). Sigh.

On the field: How about Ron Gant and the Padres yesterday? They never win games like that. Great job by the bullpen to hold the Phillies in check until the offense woke up. As for Gant, he is hitting .277/.353/.530 and has been one of the unsung heroes on this ballclub.

Kevin Walker is back with the big club. Oliver Perez, as mentioned yesterday, goes to the DL.

Speaking of lefties, the Giants designated former Padre Jason Pearson for assignment. So I guess if Kevin Towers wants him back, arrangements can be made. That would make some people happy. Right, Don? :-)

Hey Brandon, You Get Poi?

by Geoff Young on Aug 08, 2002 (Comments Off) Comments

Jake Peavy threw a heckuva game last night. Worked out of a nice little jam there in the third. Did ya see that play he made coming off the mound and nailing the runner at the plate? Looked like Greg Maddux out there.

Brandon Villafuerte has been pitching well since his recall. My wife, who is from Kaua’i, likes the fact that the Padres have a Hawaiian dude on the team. "Hey Brandon, you get poi?"

Oliver Perez is headed to the DL as a precautionary measure after his Superman impersonation. Kevin Towers says that Mike Bynum will not be recalled and that Bobby M. Jones likely will take Perez’ spot in the rotation.

All-you-can-eat Chinese: the bane of Western Civilization, or just a good meal?

Adam Eaton worked four perfect innings last night at Elsinore, fanning four. Threw 38 pitches, 26 for strikes. Rusty Tucker, in a rare blown save opportunity, took the loss.

It’s a matter of trust and good faith. The players have agreed to be tested for steroids starting next year. This sounds suspiciously like negotiation to me. We’ll see…