Links for 18 Nov 08

Tuesday, November 18, 2008
by Geoff Young
Hooray, it's links: Giles and Hoffman (It Might Be Dangerous...). Paul DePodesta offers his thoughts on the re-signing of Brian Giles as well as the latest in the Trevor Hoffman negotiations (or lack thereof). [h/t LynchMob] John Moores to give $2.1 million to Scripps Research Institute (Gaslamp Ball) I especially like how some of the commenters begrudge Moores for, you know, doing some good in the world. That takes a special kind of bitter. ;-) Quite a Haul (Bad Altitude) Mark Donohue isn't impressed with what the Rockies got in return for Matt Holliday, and who can blame him? Here's hoping the Padres do better in any ...
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Posted in Notes and Links | 15 Comments »

Whatever Happened to Controlling the Strike Zone?

Monday, July 21, 2008
by Geoff Young
Baseball revolves around control of the strike zone. -- Bill James, Baseball Abstract 1988, p. 72 On pages 179-181 of the Ducksnorts 2007 Baseball Annual, we examined how the Oakland A's and Minnesota Twins parlayed their dominance of the strike zone into wins. The A's excelled at getting on base, while Minnesota specialized in keeping runners off base. Both achieved a fair measure of success with this approach -- perhaps not directly because of it, but certainly during the same time frame. Acknowledging that many other factors dictate a team's fate, it's worth noting that the Padres have done an excellent job of controlling the strike zone since moving to Petco Park. This ...
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Posted in Baseball | 31 Comments »

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Interview: Steve Poltz, Part 5

Thursday, December 13, 2007
by Geoff Young
In Part 4 of our chat with singer/songwriter/Padre fan Steve Poltz poltz.com, Steve talked about Steve Garvey's homer in the NLCS in '84, shagging fly balls while Tony Gwynn took batting practice, and more. In our final segment, Steve discusses his meeting of Ken Caminiti, the heartbreak of watching USD alum Brady Clark struggle in Colorado, and his favorite baseball movies. *** Ducksnorts: How about the '98 team? Steve Poltz: Back in '98, Kevin Brown did it all. He was such a gamer; I f***in' loved that guy... [Ken] Caminiti, down in Mexico getting an IV... I have a memory of him driving on his motorcycle at Windansea -- that was the year I knew the whole ...
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Posted in Interviews | 121 Comments »