Tag Archive for ‘chris denorfia’ rss

Facts of No Particular Consequence

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 [...]

I Would Like to Order Brooms from You

I received a delightful note from a fan the other day. It didn’t make sense to me at the time, but apparently he was anticipating this past weekend’s three-game sweep in Pittsburgh. I’ll reprint the message in its entirety: Dear Sir/Madam Am Mr Jerry and i would like to order Brooms from you and would [...]

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.

Symbol of a Lost Season

While the Padres were getting pasted by the Red Sox at Fenway on Monday evening in the first game of what I told a friend “has a chance to be the least competitive series between two baseball teams all season,” I was rewriting an article. Part of that article landed on the cutting room floor, [...]

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 [...]

That Was the Weekend, This Is the Title

Did you expect a big finish on Sunday? I didn’t, although after Saturday’s near miss, maybe I should have. If Hunter Pence doesn’t make that sprawling catch of pinch-hitter Nick Hundley’s drive to lead off the ninth, maybe the Padres come back against a shaky Brandon Lyon, who tried his best to cough up the [...]

Lemontastic

When we arrived at Petco Park, a little over an hour before first pitch, the Giants were taking batting practice and Heath Bell was signing autographs near the home dugout. Bell signed for 10-15 minutes, with other members of the Padres bullpen joining in as well. Players milled about the field, the grounds crew made [...]

Pity About the Padres Offense

The Padres made Jake Westbrook work hard on Saturday in St. Louis. The veteran right-hander used 89 pitches and didn’t survive the fifth inning. Five walks helped. Three of those five walks came around to score.

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 [...]