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Please Help, My Shortstop Is Broken

Thursday, July 31, 2008
by Geoff Young

My latest article at Hardball Times deals with Khalil Greene's disappointing season. Here's something I uncovered in my research that didn't make the final cut. These are Greene's home/road splits in seasonal notation (i.e., per 162 games -- thank you, Baseball-Reference, for making it so easy): Khalil Greene at Petco Park, 2004-2008 YearABRH2B3BHRRBIBBSOBAOBPSLG Statistics are courtesy of Baseball-Reference and are through games of July 29, 2008. 20045135612315666583108.241.345.338 200557359146302159728110.256.285.399 200655356116212167251137.210.282.346 200762076134316258531164.216.258.412 200859151129183214251129.218.295.365 Khalil Greene away from Petco Park, 2004-2008 YearABRH2B3BHRRBIBBSOBAOBPSLG Statistics are courtesy of Baseball-Reference and are through games of July 29, 2008. 2004618101186582298738111.301.353.543 200559478145502258939139.244.308.465 20065499215447223745395.280.356.507 20076731111936103111935107.288.322.519 20086124212929396816181.212.225.317 Just for grins, I dug up comparable player-seasons while I was under the metaphorical hood. This is kind of esoteric, ...

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Posted in Baseball | 97 Comments »

Hairston Never Got the Memo

Monday, July 28, 2008
by Geoff Young

I spend the weekend at Comic-Con, and the Padres go out and win three straight games. Are they even allowed to do that? Scott Hairston hit another home run on Sunday. Dude is batting .364/.417/.909 in July. He also has eight homers this month and 11 RBI. That's pretty hard to do. Hairston has some unusual splits in 2008. First off, he's destroying left-handers: .297/.313/.658, with 10 homers in just 115 plate appearances. Sure, the OBP is low, but why would you ever let a pitch go by when you're knocking the snot out of the ball like that? Hairston also ...

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Posted in Baseball | 105 Comments »

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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 »

IGD: Padres vs Marlins (9 Jul 08)

Wednesday, July 9, 2008
by Geoff Young

Padres vs Marlins 12:35 p.m. PT DIRECTV 726 (Fish feed) AM 1090, FM 105.7, XM 186 MLB, B-R Fun game Tuesday night. Nice to see Scott Hairston finally get on track -- two doubles, a homer, and an out to the wall in left-center works for me. Chip Ambres, Brian Myrow, and Joe Thatcher all were recalled to the big club before the game. Ambres got the start in right, singling and walking twice in his Padres debut. Myrow knocked his first big-league homer in the seventh while pinch hitting for starter Randy Wolf. Among the casualties of this latest roster shakeup (does it feel like 2002 around here, or what?) is Paul McAnulty, who cleared waivers and ...

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Posted in In-Game Discussion | 170 Comments »

Air Supply or Suicide?

Friday, June 27, 2008
by Geoff Young

Reader Didi and I had an excellent time in Section 214 (prime foul ball territory) on Thursday afternoon... well, except for the whole losing thing. It was good to be reminded that hanging out at the ballpark and enjoying a big-league game with friends is way more fun than just whining about the team all the time, which isn't particularly productive or even interesting. I'm preparing for my trip up to Oregon, so this will be brief. Three quick items: I'm happy to note that long-time Padres minor-league observer Peter Friberg (he did the reports here in 2007) has relaunched his blog. Be sure to check it out when you have a moment. Another friend and colleague of mine, Eric Seidman (of ...

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Posted in Notes and Links | 115 Comments »

Chatting with Sandy Alderson (Part 1)

Monday, June 16, 2008
by Geoff Young

This is the first of a three-part interview with San Diego Padres CEO Sandy Alderson. Big thanks to Mr. Alderson for taking time out of his busy schedule to make himself available, and also to his assistant, Dayle Tedrow, for her indispensable assistance in making this happen. Sandy Alderson has been CEO of the San Diego Padres since May 2005. Before then he served as general manager of the Oakland A's from 1983 to 1997, where he led that franchise to a World Series title in 1989 and mentored one of today's more noteworthy GMs, his successor, Billy Beane. After leaving Oakland, Alderson went to work at the MLB offices in New York, where his duties included, among many other things, finding ways to speed up ...

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Posted in Interviews | 56 Comments »

Notes on a Victory

Wednesday, May 28, 2008
by Geoff Young

Satisfying win on Tuesday night. The last two games I've attended have followed the exact same pattern: Randy Wolf serves up a two-run homer in the first, settles down, and watches his teammates play long ball late. To the bullet points: Hard to complain about a victory, but I'll do it anyway. The Pads really should have put Shawn Hill away early. He had zero command. I love watching Adrian Gonzalez play first base. Aaron Boone hit a grounder down the line at third to start the sixth. Kevin Kouzmanoff made a nice backhanded grab, then fired across the diamond well ahead of Boone. The throw came ...

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Posted in Game Recaps | 63 Comments »