Tag Archive for ‘mat latos’ rss

Padres Destroy Braves, Pythagoras

Who saw that coming? The Braves certainly didn’t. Petco Park is supposed to suppress offense, not play host to 17-2 thumpings. That’ll muck up the ol’ Pythagorean record for a while. Five Padres knocked two or more hits, five scored two or more runs, and five drove in two or more. They went 10-for-17 with [...]

Stuff I Mostly Didn’t See on Saturday

I missed most of Saturday’s win against the Rockies. Caught the first few innings while driving to Elsinore, then heard Heath Bell’s high-wire act in the 14th. Watched a little of the rebroadcast on Channel 4 when I got home. It will shock you to learn that I have some thoughts on the game anyway: [...]

Best Case, Worst Case

Opening Day is upon us. We are all full of optimism… or some other, less flattering term. I’m on record as saying the Padres will lose 85-90 games in 2010, but I also recognize that young, inexperienced ballplayers tend to be a volatile bunch that have the capacity to surprise. With that in mind, let’s [...]

Latos Makes Rotation, Geoff Makes a List

Young right-hander Mat Latos has been named the Padres #5 starter to open the season. He staved off some tough competition from right-handers Sean Gallagher and Tim Stauffer, who will stick as long relievers, and southpaw Wade LeBlanc, who will start the year at Triple-A Portland. As for Latos, he looked terrific this spring. I [...]

So Close, No Matter How Far

The tricky thing about spring training is figuring out what means anything. I guess that’s no different from the rest of life, but when someone tells me that Chase Headley has a boatload of RBI in the Cactus League, what am I supposed to do? “How nice for him,” I could say as I smile, [...]

Me, Elsewhere: Padres Preview at THT

It’s that time of year again. My annual Five Questions article is up at Hardball Times. One of my questions focuses on the new ownership group and what it is doing to regain fan trust: Jeff Moorad and President and COO Tom Garfinkel have come in and expressed a commitment to the organization, the fans, [...]

Friday Links (26 Feb 10)

Oy, what happened to the week? I want a do-over. Anyway, here are your links: Stairs happy to fill niche for Padres (U-T). From Bill Center’s article: “With his phone not ringing with offers, Stairs signed on with NutriSystem and started trimming 32 pounds. He began playing hockey, became an assistant hockey coach at John [...]

Friday Links (5 Feb 10)

You’ll have to supply your own snappy intro today… The Case for Mark Loretta’s Hall of Fame Enshrinement (Gaslamp Ball). This is hilarious, although I’m not sure that’s its intent. Willie Mays, at 78, Decides to Tell His Story (New York Times). One of the game’s legends has a biography coming out soon. [h/t Didi] [...]

Bud Black’s Short Leash

I was flipping through The Bill James Handbook 2010 the other day and got to wondering about Bud Black’s managerial tendencies. Now that Black has three years under his belt, maybe we can start to make meaningful assertions about his style in the dugout. James evaluates managers according to several different factors — adherence to [...]

Where in the Cycle Are We?

Ray from Sacrifice Bunt recently asked in the comments: Does anyone think that [GM Jed] Hoyer is trying to build a team that will make the 2010 playoffs? It seems clear to me that Hoyer is treating this season as a way to get an idea for what he has and what he needs. Not [...]