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 ...
Keep reading >>

Posted in Baseball | 31 Comments »

Padres Farm Report (11 Apr 08)

Friday, April 11, 2008
by Geoff Young
I figure I'll throw in some stats once a week. I don't want to bombard you with info, but I want to give you enough... Triple-A -- Sacramento 6, Portland 3 Matt Antonelli: 0-for-4, BB (.238/.429/.524) Edgar Gonzalez (3B): 2-for-4 (.500/.526/.667) Chase Headley: 0-for-4 (.185/.241/.222) Brian Myrow: 1-for-4 (.174/.345/.304) Nick Hundley: 0-for-3, BB (.263/.333/.579) Jody Gerut (DH): 1-for-4, SB (.267/.353/.400) Will Venable: 1-for-4, 2B (.308/.308/.385) Luis Rodriguez: 2-for-4, 2B (.444/.500/.667) Shawn Estes: 6 IP, 8 H, 5 R, 1 HR, 0 BB, 3 SO (3.75 ERA, 5.25 K/9) Kevin Cameron: 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 HR, 1 BB, 0 SO, 5 GO (1.69 ERA, 5.06 K/9) Small samples are fun; they're what allow Rodriguez to outhit Headley by a wide margin... Why hasn't the Estes era ended ...
Keep reading >>

Posted in Future Friars | 4 Comments »

Padres tickets  Chargers tickets  Sports tickets

Do Everything

Wednesday, January 2, 2008
by Geoff Young
The idea was that I'd take some time off between Christmas and New Year to relax before pushing hard to finish the book. The reality was that I found myself involved in three other projects: I'm honored to announce that I'll be writing at Baseball Digest Daily in 2008. Joe Hamrahi and company do awesome work over there, and I'm proud to call myself a member of their team. This doesn't take the place of any of my current projects, but rather augments them all. When in doubt, do both, or in this case, do everything. Houston Astros outfielder Hunter Pence is now blogging at Inside ...
Keep reading >>

Posted in Off-Topic, Open Thread | 11 Comments »

Friday Links (28 Dec 07)

Friday, December 28, 2007
by Geoff Young
I don't have a lot of links today, so before we get to those, let's do a quick recap of this winter's moves so far: Out Geoff Blum, INF: Signed with Houston Astros Hiram Bochachica, INF/OF: Signed with Seibu Lions (Japan) Milton Bradley, OF: Signed with Texas Rangers Doug Brocail, RHP: Signed with Houston Astros Mike Cameron, CF: Free agent Jack Cassel, RHP: Signed with Houston Astros Scott Cassidy, RHP: Signed with Milwaukee Brewers Brady Clark, OF: Free agent Morgan Ensberg, 3B: Free agent David Freese, 3B: Traded to St. Louis Cardinals Marcus Giles, 2B: Free agent Jason Lane, OF: Free agent Rob Mackowiak, INF/OF: Free agent Signed with Washington Nationals Terrmel Sledge, OF: Signed with Nippon Ham Fighters (Japan) Mike Thompson, RHP: Signed with Pittsburgh Pirates Brett Tomko, RHP: Free agent From what I can tell, the Padres will ...
Keep reading >>

Posted in Notes and Links, Roster Notes | 30 Comments »

Cogs in a Machine

Tuesday, October 23, 2007
by Geoff Young
San Diego Fires Yeah, our city is going up in flames. I'm okay, but a lot of folks I know aren't doing so great; I hope you're not one of them. If you want to follow what's going on or learn how to help, I've got a thread open for that; otherwise, and intending no disrespect to anyone affected by the fires, we'll keep doing what we do around here. Whatever helps us keep our sanity, right? Peace... As you know, I've been re-reading the old Bill James Baseball Abstracts this off-season. There's an interesting discussion about ballpark tendencies in the Houston Astros section of the 1983 edition. I wonder if some of this might apply also to the Padres and their current environment at Petco Park: Fenway ...
Keep reading >>

Posted in Baseball, Future Friars | 65 Comments »

World Series: Astros vs White Sox

Thursday, October 20, 2005
by Geoff Young
Congrats to the Chicago White Sox and Houston Astros for reaching the World Series! It is great to see some new blood in there (and no teams from Boston or New York). I have a slight preference for the ChiSox because they don't have Roger "I Don't Know What That Thing I Threw at Mike Piazza Was" Clemens on their roster, but honestly, I'll be happy for either team and their fans. Both cities have waited a long time for this. We'll be running World Series IGDs here at Ducksnorts for those interested. However, for the best team coverage be sure to check out Vince Galloro's Exile in Wrigleyville and Lisa Gray's The Dugout. Both of these bloggers have a terrific ...
Keep reading >>

Posted in Playoffs | 5 Comments »