marcus_giles

Review the Preview: Hitters

Thursday, October 4, 2007
by Geoff Young

Back in April, I wrote my annual "Looking Forward to..." piece on the Padres over at Baseball Think Factory. In the interest of holding myself accountable, and maybe learning something in the process, I thought we should do a quick review. We'll cover the position players today and the pitchers on Monday. Marcus Giles, 2B What I said: "...he should provide the Padres with a nice mix of on-base skills and gaps power. On balance, Giles probably is no worse an option than last year's starter, Josh Barfield." What happened: Technically this last statement was true, but only because Barfield had a disastrous season in Cleveland. Giles hit .229/.304/.317 and eventually lost ...

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Posted in Baseball | 82 Comments »

IGD: Padres @ Phillies (25 Aug 07)

Saturday, August 25, 2007
by Geoff Young

Game #128 time:4:05 p.m. PT tv:4SD sp:Clay Hensley (2-3, 6.70) vs Kyle Lohse (7-12, 4.61) pre:Padres.com, SI.com, B-R.com Three things: Carlos Ruiz is an idiot. Thanks for lighting a fire under the team's collective posterior. Here's hoping Marcus Giles is okay. Great response by the Padres. Embarrassing the opposition in its home park with a 14-3 whooping is sweet revenge. What did we ever do without Milton Bradley? The Padres score ...

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Posted in In-Game Discussion | 135 Comments »

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Brian Guile

Tuesday, July 3, 2007
by Geoff Young

Seeing Brian Giles reach base three times in the leadoff spot and score two of the Padres' three runs Monday night (recap | box score) is great. Seeing how he did it is even better. In the first inning, Marlins right-hander Sergio Mitre retired Giles on three pitches. Call it a mulligan. Next time up, leading off the fourth, Giles smoked a 1-0 fastball out over the plate into left-center field for a double. He took third on a beautiful sacrifice bunt by Marcus Giles (who almost beat it for a single) and scored on an Adrian Gonzalez grounder to second. With the ...

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Posted in Game Recaps, Minors | 42 Comments »

Two-Hit Wonder

Wednesday, June 6, 2007
by Geoff Young

For the second time this season, the Padres won despite collecting just two hits. Tuesday night's contest (recap | boxscore) might not have been pretty, but last I checked, there aren't any bonus points for style. Although Chris Young wasn't at his best, he battled for seven innings and kept his team in the game. The Dodgers wasted a huge opportunity in the seventh when Russell Martin slipped rounding second on a single to right by Winston Tony Abreu. A runner on second with two out is nothing like runners at the corners with one out. Give credit to Hiram Bocachica for ...

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Posted in Draft, Game Recaps, Minors | 86 Comments »

Seventeen Innings of Solitude

Monday, April 30, 2007
by Geoff Young

Another gut-wrenching loss on Sunday (recap | box score). For the third time in five starts, David Wells didn't look sharp at all. His final line wasn't horrible; then again, "wasn't horrible" is hardly the standard by which starters on a contending team should be measured. To their credit, the Padres picked up Wells and came back late. Jose Cruz Jr. and Adrian Gonzalez almost took Chin-hui Tsao deep in the 10th, but both drives fell just short. Cruz, who played another terrific game, had a chance to break things open earlier. In the seventh, Dodgers manager Grady Little inexplicably summoned left-hander Joe Beimel to ...

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Posted in Game Recaps, Minors | 36 Comments »

Checking In on the New Guys

Monday, April 23, 2007
by Geoff Young

The Padres lost on Sunday, and I have surprisingly little to say about it. They didn't really do anything wrong other than run into Jason Hirsh, who is pitching very well right now. I liked what I saw from Greg Maddux. Again. Actually, I like what I'm seeing from a lot of the new guys: Marcus Giles has a bizarre approach to batting leadoff, but it seems to be working so why fight it? Jose Cruz Jr. is playing well on offense and defense; he looks like a solid fourth outfielder to me. Heath Bell? Kevin Cameron? Yes, please. About the only newcomer that hasn't contributed yet is Kevin Kouzmanoff. There's a huge disconnect between the way he's swinging the bat ...

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Posted in Minors, Open Thread | 36 Comments »

Better Ways to Get There

Wednesday, April 18, 2007
by Geoff Young

Yeah, I'm happy that the Padres won on Tuesday (recap | box score). Actually, relieved is more like it (pun only partially intended). The bullpen coming through with nine innings of two-hit shutout baseball is huge. I still can't believe the Mets had no use for Heath Bell. Still, this Mike Cameron losing fly balls in the sun/lights thing is getting a little old. So is leaving 17 runners on base. A win is a win, but this game shouldn't have been close. Some of it was dumb luck. Beyond being irritated, there's not much you can do about Rob Bowen lining hard to Matt Murton ...

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Posted in Game Recaps, Minors | 29 Comments »