Khalil Greene’s California League Debut

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

I unexpectedly got my first look at Khalil Greene last night. He was recalled from Eugene to replace Jason Bartlett, recently traded to Minnesota for outfielder Brian Buchanan. Here’s a quick rundown on his Cal League debut:

At the plate

  • 2nd inning, one out, runner on second: Hustle RBI double past the second baseman. Free Double-Doubles for everyone in Section 110.
  • 4th inning, one out, none on: Fly ball to warning track in right.
  • 6th inning, no out, none on: Jams himself. Popup to shallow center.
  • 7th inning, two out, runner on second: Fly ball to right. Just got under it.

In the field

  • 2nd inning, two out, runners at first and second: Makes a nice stop on a ball hit to his right, bounces throw to first. E-6. A couple of scouts behind me make disparaging remarks about his arm.
  • 5th inning, no out, none on: Jumping catch of line drive.
  • 7th inning, two out, runner at first: On line drive into left-center gap, runner attempts to score from first. Greene makes strong throw from edge of grass to end inning.
  • 8th inning, one out, runner on second: Ranges to his left and makes a good off-balance throw.

Overall he looked pretty good out there.

Speaking of trades (and this is old news by now), the Padres sent engimatic infielder D’Angelo Jimenez to the White Sox for minor-leaguers Alex Fernandez and Humberto Quintero. Apparently Jimenez had worn out his welcome in San Diego; he was given up for two guys who aren’t quite prospects. I wish Jimenez had gotten more of a chance at second base but those are the breaks. The Sox, meantime, have assigned him to Triple-A, where he’ll play shortstop.

So now the short- and long-term infield situation is wide open. Right now it looks like Phil "GM" Nevin is at third, Deivi Cruz at short, Ramon Vazquez at second, and Ryan Klesko at first. They’ve got a first baseman playing third, a utility guy playing short, a shortstop playing second, and an outfielder playing first. Not exactly what Brian Lawrence wants to see behind him.

As for the future, well, that’s pretty much a mess at this point. As long as Nevin isn’t at third, Cruz isn’t at short, and Klesko isn’t at first come 2004, the Pads should be in decent shape.

Shoeless Joe Jackson and the Black Sox Scandal

by Geoff Young on Jul 12, 2002 (Comments Off) Comments

I received an e-mail yesterday from a regular reader (hint, receiving e-mail from readers makes me very happy; I prefer messages that don’t begin with "You’re an idiot, and here’s why" but hey, I’ll take what I can get) about my musings on Shoeless Joe Jackson. I’m the first to admit that I really don’t know much about the Black Sox scandal other than how it was portrayed in the movie Eight Men Out. But I’d like to learn more, because it was a defining moment in what has become, more or less, my religion.

To that end, I read, as this reader suggested, a thread over on rsb that shed some light on the details surrounding the scandal and Jackson’s involement in it. Also, from that thread, I found two other sites that have good information: Shoeless Joe Jackson’s Virtual Hall of Fame and Real Legends. If you’re interested, I encourage you to visit these sites. The study of history frequently is not painless but it is always germane.

The only conclusion I’m willing to reach from what I’ve read is that there were a lot of bad people involved in the scandal, and it’s not clear that Jackson and Buck Weaver were among them. In Jackson’s case, it seems like he just wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed and made some poor decisions. Ignorance doesn’t absolve him of responsibility, but it does cast him in a somewhat different light than someone like Pete Rose, who quite clearly knew what he was doing.

As for Weaver, his mistake was in not blowing the whistle. My personal opinion is that the punishment levied against him outweighed what was appropriate for the crime but that, given the historical context, it made sense at the time. Weaver and his teammates were being set forth as examples of what would happen to those who associate with gamblers with the intent to affect the outcome of games and thereby tarnish the integrity of the sport. It’s an understandable reaction to a situation that had gotten way out of control.

The damning thing is that, thanks in large part to the owners (well, Charles Comiskey, at the very least–and if things were at all like they are today, he probably wasn’t alone), the players were forced, or at least felt as though they were forced, to accept money from shady individuals. Again, this doesn’t absolve the players of responsibility. But there is a difference between a person who robs banks to support their drug habit and one who picks pockets to buy food for their family. In this day and age it’s hard to sympathize with big-league ballplayers and the money they make. But if you go to minor-league games, you see guys who are out there struggling to make ends meet doing a job that, while considered by many (myself included) to be living out a dream, has a very short lifespan, takes a tremendous toll on the body, and generally doesn’t provide (m)any useful skills for future employment. Yeah, baseball is great. But for the vast majority who claim it as a profession, it’s no walk in the park.

Anyway, my point with all this is that the whole scandal was a real shame. It’s easy to understand why it happened, and we can hope that something like it never occurs again. As a working stiff, I am sympathetic to people who are trying their darndest to provide for their families. But as a member of a society that holds (or should hold) its members responsible for their actions, I appreciate the need for some form of punishment. Should Jackson and, even moreso, Weaver still be banned from baseball? It’s a question of principle at this point, of course, but one worthy of consideration. A part of me would like to see them brought back into the fold, particularly Weaver. But another part of me realizes that these men are dead, and in a real sense it is irrelevant how we publicly choose to honor them (or not). If for no other reason than to keep Rose and his sympathists at bay, I’m finding myself increasingly on the side of keeping their bans intact and instead just remembering them well, as average guys who stumbled into a difficult situation, made questionable (at best) decisions, and paid dearly for it.

Whatever the case, no matter how hard I look at this, and from how many angles, as a baseball fan, the whole affair does and always will break my heart.

Selig’s All-Star Fiasco and Other Lessons Learned

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

I missed the All-Star game because I didn’t want to witness what I thought would be Bud Selig’s moment of glory. But just when I think he’s reached the pinnacle of stupidity, he digs down deep for a little more and surprises me. The man’s incompetence knows no bounds. Honestly, it’s gotten the point where I don’t even take pleasure in poking fun at the guy.

Anyway, now that we’re midway through the season and the Padres are going nowhere fast, what have we learned?

  • Selig and his cronies are stupid, incompetent, and untrustworthy; MLB has no idea how to promote its product, nor does it appear to act in the best interest of the sport. But this is not exactly breaking news.
  • The Padres were overhyped coming into the season.
  • It is exceedingly difficult to overcome the loss of three starting pitchers and a primary power bat for extended periods of time.
  • Ramon Vazquez is an excellent defensive infielder, Deivi Cruz is not.
  • As expected, the loss of Ben Davis created a huge organizational gap behind the plate; the acquisition of Vazquez and especially Brett Tomko appears to have offset that gap.
  • Ryan Klesko can hit lefties.
  • Ray Lankford can’t hit anyone.
  • The Padres have some really good young arms.
  • Bruce Bochy and Greg Booker may not be the best people to work with those young arms.
  • Phil Nevin’s absence from the lineup is a bad thing for two reasons: first, it leaves the Padres without a legitimate power threat from the right side; second, it leaves him with too much time on his hands, which leads him to opening his mouth and saying stupid things.

I’m sure there are many others, but these are some of the critical lessons I’ve learned so far.

Speaking of idiot owners, I finally watched Eight Men Out the other night. As a baseball fan, that is one of the most heartbreaking movies I’ve ever seen. During the trial scenes, I broke out my Total Baseball to see what Shoeless Joe Jackson and Buck Weaver did during the series. If you go by the numbers, Jackson had the best series of any hitter on either team. Weaver wasn’t far behind him. If those two guys were trying to throw games, they sure did a lousy job.

If nothing else, the movie gave a good look into the owners’ abuse of power and poor treatment of players. When I see Selig and company repeatedly make asses of themselves at the hands of the union, I like to think that the 1919 White Sox and a bunch of other old-time ballplayers are cheering wildly in some kind of afterlife.

That’s about as far as I’m going to go with that. It’s not that I couldn’t go on for pages about it, just that I do like to stay on the right side of that boundary between genuinely interesting and painfully self-indulgent. Not that I always succeed, mind you, but that is the goal. Usually.

The only thing I regret about missing the All-Star game is that I didn’t get to see the Milwaukee fans boo Selig in his own stadium. That must have been beautiful.

Finally, I leave you with some articles that have caught my eye over the past couple days:

More as it happens…

Oliver Perez Fans 13, Throws Too Many Pitches

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

Quick question for all you managerial hopefuls out there. You’ve got a 20-year-old left-hander on the mound, working on a shutout through six innings. With two on and two out, his spot in the lineup is due up. He’s thrown 107 pitches on the day. Do you:

  1. Lift him for a pinch-hitter, and say “Nice job kid”?
  2. Let him bat, and leave him in for 19 more pitches?

Ugh. I realize Oliver Perez had 13 strikeouts but honestly, is there no regard for his future? This is the problem with bringing a guy like Perez up to the big leagues so soon.

Not to start any conspiracy theories, but in light of 1B/3B/GM Phil Nevin’s recent idiotic ramblings about the state of the Padres’ farm system, one has to wonder who, exactly, is running the ship these days. Was the decision to leave Perez in the game made in his and the team’s best interest? Or was it made to appease self-appointed player development experts such as Nevin?

For those of you keeping score at home, here are Perez’ pitch counts to date:

Date   Pitches
--------------
6/16     107
6/21     114
6/26     105
7/1       97
7/9      126

I dunno; maybe they’re thinking that he hasn’t worked in eight days and that the All-Star Break is upon us. But I don’t like it.

In other news, did you catch any of the Futures Game? Probably the funniest thing was when the ESPN commentators called Milwaukee prospect Bill Hall another Miguel Tejada. Um, no. Be happy if he’s another Jose Hernandez.

There was a shot of Bud Selig signing autographs in the stands. He looks more and more like Squidward with each passing day.

Got my first look at Brad Baker, acquired from Boston in what my wife refers to as the Andy Shibilo trade. It was only one inning but he didn’t impress me much.

The Mets’ Jose Reyes is incredibly fast. He looks like another Rafael Furcal to me, but with more power. Joe Borchard possesses a sweet swing but has trouble making contact. Russ Branyan, anyone?

The announcers compared Franklyn German, acquired by the Tigers in the Jeff Weaver deal, to Armando Benitez; he reminds me more of Jose Mesa. The Braves’ Adam Wainright looked real good. Just what they need, more pitching. He reminds me a bit of Jake Peavy. Good mechanics and command, live fastball, beautiful curve.

Storm Rough Up Jenks

by Geoff Young on Jul 05, 2002 (Comments Off) Comments

Hope everybody had a safe and happy 4th. We had a good one over here.

Great time at Elsinore Wednesday night. Beautiful evening, some good baseball, a fireworks show. What could be better?

The crowd of 5925 was out to have some fun. A bunch of folks were blowing those horns that Montreal fans blow. In fact, if it weren’t for all the people, I’d have sworn I was at an Expos game. Thank you, I’ll be here all week.

Flamethrowing right-hander Bobby Jenks started for the Quakes. Scouts were out in full force. At least four had their guns on for Jenks’ first-inning warmup tosses. Once the game started, he ran 93-97 with the fastball, which he threw–I’m guessing–about 80% of the time.

Jenks is a very large kid, generously listed at 225 lbs. He’s built kind of like Milwaukee’s Ruben Quevedo. Jenks throws very hard, has no command, and appears to suffer from lapses in concentration. One scout behind me noted that while Thunder, the Storm mascot, was working the crowd into a frenzy, Jenks actually looked up to see what was going on in the stands. I thought he was being facetious, so I watched for myself and he did it again. Right before he looked in to get the sign from his catcher. Did I mention there were 5925 people in attendance?

John Sickels, in his 2002 book, says of Jenks that “he’s the closest thing you’ll find in real life to Nuke LaLoosh, except that Nuke probably threw more strikes.” I hadn’t read this comment prior to the game, but I have to admit, the comparison crossed my mind more than once during the game. I can’t think of a current big-league pitcher Jenks reminds me of. Going back a few years, maybe Eric Plunk.

Jenks’ final line for the night: 4.2 IP, 7 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 6 BB, 5 SO. There were only a couple of balls hit real hard; most of the hits were grounders that missed infielders. Oh, and one more thing about Jenks: he couldn’t hold runners on base. The Storm stole 7 bases in 10 attempts, and I believe they were 5 for 6 with Jenks in there.

On the Elsinore side, right-hander Mike Bumstead worked six solid innings for the victory. Marcus Nettles singled, drew three walks, and stole a base. He also was caught stealing third with a 6-2 lead in the eighth. One of the scouts behind me couldn’t believe he tried that, but the guy sitting next to him pointed out that this is A-ball and the Pads might be having Nettles run as much as possible so that he can develop into a top-notch leadoff hitter. An interesting angle that I myself had not considered.

To close the game, the Storm brought in two flamethrowers of their own. Right-hander Mike Nicolas worked a perfect eighth, featuring a 94-97 MPH fastball and a breaking ball that looked better than I’d remembered. Then the new closer, southpaw Rusty Tucker, finished the game with a scoreless ninth.

Tucker is an interesting one. The Pads picked him out of the University of Maine in the 21st round of the 2001 draft. The 21-year-old out of Gloucester, Mass., has a live arm: his fastball came in 93-96 MPH, and his slider had some serious tilt to it. Tucker’s stuff and stature (he’s 6-1, 190) call to mind Houston’s Billy Wagner. And talk about coming out of nowhere; how’s this for improvement:

Year  Lvl  IP    H  R ER HR BB SO  ERA
2001   R+  35.1 41 41 28  - 50 43 7.13
2002    A  35.2 19  8  4  2 10 50 1.01

Not what you’d call a blue-chipper at this point, but someone worth watching.

The Storm ended up winning the game, 6-2. Center fielder Todd Donovan collected two hits, including his first double of the season, which scored all the fine folks in section 101 a free Double-Double from In ‘N’ Out. How cool is that?

In other baseball news, do you suppose the White Sox regret trading Josh Fogg and Kip Wells to Pittsburgh for Todd Ritchie?

Name   Age    IP   H  R ER HR BB SO W  L  ERA
Fogg    25 103.2  95 42 41 16 25 54 9  6 3.56
Wells   25 104.0  92 37 34  7 38 68 9  5 2.94
Ritchie 30 106.1 129 77 64 15 36 61 5 10 5.42

Ouch…

Odds and Ends

by Geoff Young on Jul 03, 2002 (Comments Off) Comments

Odds and ends today. Mostly odds…

Good article over at Baseball Prospectus about the ways in which groundskeepers "help" the home team. Gary Huckabay is one of my favorite baseball writers, and this one’s a treat.

Speaking of treats (and having nothing to do with baseball), if you ever have the chance to see Willie K. perform, by all means do so. Anyone who can pull off Hendrix’ Voodoo Chile (yes, he used his teeth on the solo), Bob Marley, Pavarotti, and Green Day in the same show has my ultimate respect. The guy is a phenominal guitar player and vocalist.

Back to baseball, I’ll be in Elsinore tonight for the Storm game and fireworks. Bobby Jenks is pitching for Rancho Cucamonga, which should be interesting. The radar guns will be out in full force.

We’re in the process of tilling our backyard lawn so that we can lay down sod. Yeah, it’s late, but better late than never. The yard looks terrible right now and will for a while, but I keep thinking of how nice it will be when the grass is green and we can actually sit out back and enjoy our lawn.

The Padres right now are like my lawn. They are U-G-L-Y. No nice way to say it. Aside from a few key performers, they are not playing well at all. Expectations were overly optimistic coming into the season, and then a slew of big injuries hit. As a result, the on-the-field product that Padre fans have been subjected to for the most part this season has been decidedly substandard.

But I really believe the Padres are on the right track, in terms of building a franchise. There are a lot of good young players in the system, some of whom we’ve seen and others who are still down on the farm. And except for the quick demotion of Ben Howard and the early promotion of Oliver Perez, the Pads have done a pretty good job in handling them.

Yes, it’s painful to watch sometimes. These kids have talent but they don’t necessarily belong in the big leagues just yet. Meantime, a new stadium is being built, and when it’s ready there are going to be some pretty good ballplayers who call it home.

As with my lawn, I’m looking forward to the day when the ugliness is gone and we can sit back, relax, and enjoy. Keep the faith, folks. And have a happy and safe 4th of July.

Mark Phillips and Other Prospects

by Geoff Young on Jul 02, 2002 (Comments Off) Comments

First-rounder Khalil Greene has signed and been assigned to Eugene. Sean Burroughs, rehabbing at Portland, is working on pitch recognition. He’s drawn three walks in two games. No strikeouts. Xavier Nady is up to .270/.306/.317. Still not real good, but getting there.

Jake Peavy and Oliver Perez have been pounded the past couple days. They’re young; it’ll happen.

Never thought I’d say this, but thank goodness for Bud Selig. If it weren’t for his Brewers, the Pads would have the worst record in the NL.

Jake Gautreau is now hitting .305/.366/.480 at Elsinore. What’s particularly encouraging is the fact that he’s starting to draw some walks.

Mark Phillips has made 21 starts for the Storm since he first came to Elsinore last August. Okay, he’s made 19, with 2 appearances in relief of the rehabbing Tom Davey. Here is his line in those 21 games:

   IP  H  R ER HR BB  SO  ERA
114.0 85 59 49  5 73 119 3.87

Incidentally, three of those five homers came in the same game.

Here is how his numbers break out depending on control:

BB/G  G   IP  H  R ER HR BB SO  ERA
 0-2 12 69.1 55 32 29  4 20 76 3.76
 3-5  6 26.2 24 17 15  1 25 25 5.07
  6+  4 18.0  6 10  5  0 28 18 2.50

BB/G is actual number of walks in a game, not a theoretical BB/9IP.

Here is perhaps a more interesting breakout:

IP-BB G   IP  H  R ER HR BB SO  ERA
   4+ 9 56.0 36 16 14  1 14 63 2.25
  1-3 5 22.7 27 22 21  3 13 23 8.35

IP-BB is on a per-game basis; e.g., 2 walks in 7 innings equals 5. Phillips has been hard to hit when his control is very good or very bad. But when it’s just kinda bad, he’s gotten hit.

FWIW, six of his last eight starts have fallen into the 4+ category (after the previous four had been of the

One more stat line, and then I’ll get on with life and let you do the same. Here’s what Phillips has done over his last eight starts:

  IP  H  R ER HR BB SO  ERA
46.2 30 17 14  2 20 48 2.70

Ten of those runs came in back-to-back games at the beginning of June. Hit prevention is down, walks are down, runs are down. What’s not to like?

Finally, here are a couple sites of interest: Baseball Musings | Touching the Bases. Enjoy…

Nady’s Upside

by Geoff Young on Jun 28, 2002 (Comments Off) Comments

Wow. The Expos are making a run at it. Just five games out of the NL wildcard, they’ve dealt a bunch of prospects (shortstop Brandon Phillips being the centerpiece) to Cleveland for hard-throwing right-hander Bartolo Colon.

How’s this for a scenario: The two teams slated for contraction play well enough to make the playoffs, and make Bud Selig look like even more of a buffoon. Then the players go on strike, denying those teams the chance to actually play in the playoffs. Don’t laugh; look at what happened to the Expos back in 1994.

In Padre news, Dennis Tankersley has been promoted to Triple-A Portland, and Tagg Bozied has moved up to Double-A Mobile. Sean Burroughs begins rehab tonight at Portland, where among other things he’ll get a serious look at second base.

Xavier Nady had three hits last night and appears to be adjusting to the more advanced pitching. There’s an interesting discussion going on over at a Padre message board I recently discovered (in the sense that Columbus "discovered" America) about Nady’s upside. The names being thrown out for comparison are Pat Burrell, Paul Konerko, and Dean Palmer. These all seem like reasonable comps to me. Konerko is probably the one that Nady reminds me most of from an approach standpoint.

The potential downside of Nady? I was leafing through some old Sickels books the other night and discovered a disturbing similarity between Nady’s line at Elsinore at age 22 and that of former Angel and Padre third baseman George Arias in the same park at the same age 7 years earlier. Lest we be quick to dismiss this concern, recall that Arias came from a major university program and was very well regarded as a prospect–at least as well regarded as Nady is now.

I’m not trying to kill the mood, just looking at as many different angles as possible.

Around the Organization

by Geoff Young on Jun 27, 2002 (Comments Off) Comments

Playing catch-up. Sort of like the Padres this year, but hopefully with a more favorable outcome. Their games are becomingly increasingly difficult to watch. Oliver Perez pitched great yesterday but the bullpen blew it. This time it was Trevor’s turn. He’s been so automatic for so long that it’s always a bit shocking when he blows one. But it happens. For the first time this year he failed to convert a save opportunity. So I guess he was due. But he’ll be back. He always is.

A few days ago I’d speculated, based on his presence in Lake Elsinore, that Ben Howard might be returning to San Diego soon. A reader who had spoken with Howard at Sunday’s Storm game said he was in town to get an MRI on his arm. He’s currently on the DL for Portland but expect back in action soon. Just wanted to set the record straight. :-)

Dennis Tankersley pitched a brilliant game against Greenville yesterday. Struck out 11 in 8 innings, allowing just 3 runs (2 earned). Also knocked a double and a homer. Vince Faison and Ben Johnson continue their hot hitting, each going 3-for-4 with a double and a homer. Faison, whom I thought was promoted too aggressively, is actually holding his own in Double-A, hitting .254/.338/.446. The strikeouts are still high but the walks are pretty decent, too. Johnson is looking like he might have benefitted from another season in the Cal League, now batting .233/.324/.365. His big problem is that he’s fanned 84 times in 266 at-bats, while knocking just 19 extra base hits. Something’s got to give. Either he’s got to start driving the ball more or make better contact.

Mark Phillips turned in another strong performance at San Bernardino: 6 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 4 SO. The walk total is particularly encouraging.

Second baseman Josh Barfield and outfielder Pedro de los Santos continue to shine at Ft. Wayne. Barfield is up to .298/.325/.401 in 302 at-bats, while de los Santos is at .308/.373/.399 in 143 at-bats, with 30 steals in 35 attempts. Barfield needs to tighten up his strike zone but there’s time for that.

Embree Traded to Red Sox for Baker and Giese

by Geoff Young on Jun 24, 2002 (Comments Off) Comments

It began with the recall of Eric Cyr from Mobile and ended with Alan Embree fanning seven Yankees in three innings last night. Embree has been dealt, along with minor-league right-hander Andy Shibilo, to the Boston Red Sox for right-handers Brad Baker and Dan Giese.

Baker, a first-round pick out of a Massachusetts high school in 1999, was 7-1 at Sarasota of the Florida State League, with a 2.79 ERA. The 21-year-old allowed 53 hits and 25 walks in 61.1 innings, while striking out 65 batters. Baseball America named him Boston’s #13 prospect. The scouting reports say he features a low-90s fastball and good curve. Frankly, with all due respect to Embree, I’m surprised the Pads were able to land a prospect with Baker’s pedigree for him. Baker isn’t just roster fill; he’s a legit prospect.

Giese, a 34th-round pick in 1999, comes home. The University of San Diego product had a 3.83 ERA at Trenton of the Eastern League in 23 relief appearances. He allowed 53 hits and just 9 walks in 49.1 innings, while recording 39 punchouts.

The guess here is that both will report to Double-A Mobile, although Baker conceivably could end up at Elsinore. Right-hander David Lundquist, who saw limited action with the Pads last year, was recalled to fill Embree’s spot on the roster.

Speaking of Cyr, he made his big-league debut yesterday against the Yankees and guess what: he looked a lot like Embree. He came in with runners at first and second in the seventh, and Jason Giambi at the plate. He got Giambi to pop out to left, then struck out Bernie Williams on a nasty slider to end the inning. Cyr’s fastball was 91-94 MPH, and he was attacking hitters. Nice work.

Brian Lawrence had started the game and pitched another gem. He leads the big leagues in groundball outs.

A few random questions:

  • Why does anybody ever throw Alfonso Soriano a fastball? He routinely hammered that pitch in the series, while struggling against breaking stuff.
  • How come the Red Sox’ and Yankees’ advance scouts didn’t tell them about Mark Kotsay’s arm? Three assists in six games sure looks nice, but it makes you wonder.
  • What’s the deal with Bernie Williams’ defense? He has a reputation as a good center fielder but badly misplayed two drives by Kotsay in yesterday’s game. Just one of those days, I guess.

The Padres may have lost the series, but they fought the Yankees tooth and nail. The Bronx Bombers, with one of the most potent offenses in the big leagues, scored just five runs in three games against the Pads.

Shifting gears, I caught the Storm game last night. Chatted a bit with Mark Phillips, who was charting pitches next to me. Real personable kid, understandably eager to join his former teammates in San Diego.

Crazy game at Elsinore, with the Storm beating High Desert, 14-8. It took 2 1/2 hours just to get through the fifth inning. The top two hitters in the Storm lineup reached base all 12 times they came to the plate. Marcus Nettles drew a walk each of his first three times up, then hit three singles. Jason Bartlett started the evening 5-for-5 before reaching first on an error in his final at-bat.

Former Storm pitchers Jake Peavy and Ben Howard were in the house. Peavy I understand; the Padres played an afternoon game less than an hour away from The Diamond. But what was Howard, who currently is at Portland, doing there? If I were one to engage in wild speculation, I might think that the Padres had found a potential taker for Steve Reed and were keeping Howard nearby just in case.