Padres skipper Bud Black started Alberto Gonzalez at first base on Friday evening against the Dodgers. The results were predictably awful, as Ted Lilly and three relievers proceeded to blank the home club on four hits. With Kyle Blanks and Jesus Guzman nursing injuries and a lefty on the mound, Black’s options were limited. He [...]
Tag Archive for ‘aaron cunningham’ 
Adams and Ludwick Go, Bell Stays, Godzilla Threatens to Destroy Village
You know how all those people in the Godzilla movies are running around like crazy all the time on account of the giant lizard thing that keeps chasing them? Twitter at baseball’s non-waiver trade deadline is like that, only without the lizard. Jed Hoyer isn’t doing anything. Why isn’t he doing anything? Oh crap, he [...]
Weekend Musings
Tim Stauffer hit his spots on Friday night and had good movement on his breaking ball en route to a career-high nine strikeouts. Stauffer appeared to tire in the seventh, when he gave up a couple well-struck balls, including Freddie Freeman’s two-run homer to dead center that accounted for Atlanta’s lone runs.
Rizzo’s Debut
Anthony Rizzo made his big-league debut Thursday night at Petco Park. The Padres beat Washington, 7-3, although this was a mere footnote to the “crowd” (if three is a crowd, then 16,464 qualifies), which cheered everything Rizzo did but which seemed uncertain how to occupy the spaces between his moments. The public address announcer helped [...]
Thursday Links (2 Jun 11)
Too much day job… these have been gathering dust for a while, so you’ll have plenty to read while I’m off doing… you don’t even want to know…
Thoughts from Tucson, Part 2
The minor leagues can be funny. In Albuquerque, I saw a fly ball kick out of the glove of Dodgers prospect Trayvon Robinson and over the left-field fence for a home run. I saw former Padres right-hander Tim Redding face San Diego native (Hilltop High School) Mike Jacobs.
Musical Outfielders
The Padres have optioned outfielder Will Venable to Triple-A Tucson and recalled outfielder Blake Tekotte from Double-A San Antonio. I don’t know what is wrong with Venable (.224/.293/.291 in 151 PA this year) or how to fix it, but he vows to improve his approach. At his best, Venable is a useful if flawed piece [...]
Farm Report: Sampson Has a Good Hair Day
The station that carries the San Antonio Missions games on radio also features a show called “Down on the Farm Radio.” I was pumped, thinking maybe I could learn more about Padres prospects that way. No such… it’s about actual farms. You know… hog reports, monster lizards, and what not. It’s an old-school country station, [...]
Spring Sluggers
There has been recent discussion about whether spring training statistics are predictive in some way. John Dewan at ACTA Sports suggests they might be: For the most part, we agree with the common perception that they don’t have value. A bad spring training means nothing. An average spring training tells us nothing. Nevertheless, we did [...]
Facts of No Particular Consequence
by Geoff Young on Aug 10, 2011 (14) Comments
I am a furious note taker. I scribble quotes, reflections, and factoids with reckless indiscrimination, so that “An island is a ship without sails” (from page 209 of Deborah Tall’s The Island of the White Cow) immediately follows a chart showing Chris Denorfia’s sudden decline: Months PA BA OBP SLG Mar-Jun 208 .301 .359 .446 [...]