petco park

IGD: Padres vs Cardinals (19 May 08)

Monday, May 19, 2008
by Geoff Young

Padres (16-29) vs Cards (26-20) Wil Ledezma vs Todd Wellemeyer 7:05 p.m. PT Channel 4SD AM 1090, FM 105.7, XM 187 MLB, B-R It is difficult to remain optimistic when there is no obvious reason for hope. Even if I continue to believe that the Padres' true level of ability is 85 wins, that gives them 61 wins the rest of the way, which puts them at 77-85 to end the season. Obviously that doesn't fit anyone's definition of a contender. Assuming the Padres continue on their present course (or even improve some) and finish with their first sub-.500 record in ...

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Posted in In-Game Discussion | 69 Comments »

Series Preview: Larry Borowsky Talks Cardinals

Monday, May 19, 2008
by Geoff Young

After a long and miserable road trip, the Padres return home and try to remain relevant in 2008. Their first opponent is the St. Louis Cardinals, who visit Petco Park for three games starting Monday night. To learn a little more about the Cards, I chatted with Larry Borowsky of the excellent Viva El Birdos. Ducksnorts: Last year was the Cardinals' first losing season of the century; this year the team is off to a strong start. What has changed, and do you see them remaining in contention? Borowsky: Aside from the obvious changes (no [Walt] Jocketty, no [Jim] Edmonds, no [Scott] Rolen, no [David] Eckstein, etc.), the big difference has been the performance of the starting rotation. This year's group is as rag-tag as ...

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Posted in Interviews | 67 Comments »

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Three Pitchers and a Former GM

Wednesday, May 14, 2008
by Geoff Young

I'm kinda winging it today. We'll see what happens... This has been floating around for a few days now, but Paul DePodesta has a blog. I've added it to the ol' blogroll as well as to PadreBlogs.com. One of DePo's first posts concerns the effects of Petco Park. The entire post is well worth reading, but here's one passage that stands out to me: In each of the past 4+ seasons, the Padres have had a higher OPS than our opponents while playing in Petco. The total line since the opening: .246/.321/.379 for the Padres and .243/.303/.376 for the opposition. Over 342 ...

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Posted in Notes and Links | 109 Comments »

Falling Off the Bandwagon

Tuesday, May 13, 2008
by Geoff Young

We are all products of our environment. The recent environment in San Diego baseball has been one of winning. Since moving downtown for the 2004 season, the Padres have seen unprecedented on-field success. For the first time in franchise history they've enjoyed four straight winning seasons. In 2005 and 2006, they reached the post-season in back-to-back seasons, another first. And as fans in these parts are all too aware, they came within a strike of making it three straight. Through Monday, the Padres have won 360 games since 2004. That's more wins than all but three teams in the National League (Cardinals, 389; Phillies, 369; Braves, 368) over the same period. Only the Padres and Phillies have posted winning records in each of the past four ...

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Posted in Baseball | 94 Comments »

The Shape of Things to Come

Wednesday, May 7, 2008
by Geoff Young

Top of the ninth, two on, one out. Adrian Gonzalez steps to the plate. Braves manager Bobby Cox summons ex-Padre Royce Ring, who promptly hangs a breaking ball. Gonzalez swats it high and deep down the right-field line. He, catcher Brian McCann, and plate umpire Wally Bell all watch as it sails into the Atlanta night... just foul for strike one. Ring proceeds to fan Gonzalez. After a pitching change, Kevin Kouzmanoff lofts a harmless fly ball to center, into the waiting glove of another ex-Padre, Mark Kotsay. Game over. The Padres lose again. That's the season in a nutshell so far. The Padres play poorly, and then, when they get opportunity, it fizzles... or misses by a few feet, whatever. I'm not prepared to ...

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Posted in Game Recaps, Roster Notes | 161 Comments »

Monkeys on Roller Skates

Thursday, April 24, 2008
by Geoff Young

Thanks to reader Lance for hooking us up with seats two rows behind the visitors dugout on Wednesday night. First time I've been anywhere near that close at Petco Park, and it's a whole different experience. For a guy like me who lives in nosebleed, just, wow. Also, belated welcome to all the folks at Gaslamp Ball who came over and hung with us while GLB was unavailable. Good to see so many familiar names as I browsed through the IGD.The national story will be that Trevor Hoffman blew a save. Hooray for the media. Here are some other stories that won't get as much play: Brian Giles struck out ...

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Posted in Game Recaps | 73 Comments »

None More Epic

Saturday, April 19, 2008
by Geoff Young

I'm late to the party -- blame a lack of sleep and previously scheduled interview (Jim returned the favor and interviewed me at AZ Snakepit) -- but here are some observations from Thursday's epic 22-inning battle with the Rockies: Jake Peavy dominated. Yeah, the game went another 14 innings after Peavy departed, but he was brilliant. Trevor Hoffman can thank Petco Park for killing two thunderous fly balls and keeping the game alive in the ninth. I'm still not ready to give up on baseball's all-time saves leader, but Hoffman's margin for error has slipped ...

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Posted in Game Recaps | 17 Comments »