While the Padres have been busy losing winnable games, I’ve been busy doing life stuff. In lieu of actual content, here are some links…
Tag Archive for ‘mat latos’ 
Me, Elsewhere: Contrasting Defensive Styles
My latest look at the NL West over at Baseball Prospectus (freebie) considers the respective defensive approaches (or lack thereof) of the Giants and Dodgers. And I offer a few thoughts on the Padres’ opening weekend series win in St. Louis: Most people don’t expect much from the Padres in 2011. Three games doesn’t change [...]
Opening Day Links and Open Thread
Well, it’s here. First, we have links to whet your appetite…
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 [...]
Gardenhire’s Cat
As you may have surmised from the title of this blog, I’m a big fan of quirky baseball terminology. With that in mind, I’ve got an idea for a phrase we should start using. Physics has Schrodinger’s cat. Baseball should have Gardenhire’s cat. This term would be used to describe seemingly irrelevant details provided in [...]
Mailbag: On Lineup Construction
We had some good discussion about possible lineups for the 2011 Padres in last week’s open thread. Several suggestions were made regarding specific order, but a few “big picture” comments caught my attention.
I Think I Sprained My Cliche
Spring training has arrived. Players are preparing to give 110% while staying within themselves. They won’t try to do too much… one day at a time, of course. They’re busy people. It’s all very complicated; just try to stay with them. Here’s a quick rundown of what to look for this spring…
Me, Elsewhere: Galarraga and Latos
I’ve made another guest appearance at SweetSpot. This one focuses on the near-perfect games thrown by Detroit’s Armando Galarraga and San Diego’s Mat Latos in 2010. Although the outcomes were nearly identical, the two performances will be remembered differently by history because of a few critical differences that don’t show up in the box score: [...]
One-Hit Wonders: John Urrea to Jaret Wright
This is Part 13 of a 13-part series examining the 65 men who have collected exactly one hit as a member of the San Diego Padres. The current installment features a man who once outpitched Dennis Martinez in the minor leagues, a high school teammate of Kerry Wood, one piece of the Ken Caminiti trade, [...]
Debuts, Artistic Mastery, and the Coming Thing
by Geoff Young on Apr 14, 2011 (12) Comments
We watched Mat Latos’ season debut from Section 301. The stadium scoreboard had his fastball at 92-96 mph, and he mostly located his pitches well. Two exceptions came in the fifth inning. First, he got ahead of no. 8 hitter Paul Janish and couldn’t put him away. Then, after opposing starter Edinson Volquez failed to [...]