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Friday Links (5 Oct 07)

Friday, October 5, 2007
by Geoff Young

Busy, busy, busy... Scouting Jake Peavy (Baseball Analysts, via Jim Parish in the comments). Joe P. Sheehan dissects the repertoire of Jake Peavy. Brian Giles has surgery on knee (San Diego Union-Tribune, via Tom Waits in the comments). Brian Giles, who has been having trouble with his right knee since April, is expected to be ready for Opening Day 2008. Also, the possibility of Matt Antonelli leading off next year is mentioned. Overachievers, ey? (Friar Forecast). MB isn't impressed with Nick Canepa's latest. (Neither is ...

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Posted in Notes and Links | 110 Comments »

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 »

Padres tickets Chargers tickets Sports tickets

Thank You, and Winter Plans

Wednesday, October 3, 2007
by Geoff Young

So, now what? Before we get to that, I'd like to thank everyone for visiting, participating, and otherwise being a part of Ducksnorts again throughout the 2007 season. We laughed, we cried, we debated the great issues of our time. Or something like that. There are far too many folks to thank individually, so I'll keep the list short. Thanks to Peter Friberg, who did a great job covering prospects for us this year. Thanks also to my unbelievably accommodating wife for believing in this crazy dream of mine. Words can't begin to express my gratitude. The rest of you know who you are. If I listed all your names and contributions, we'd never be done, so you get one giant pat on the back. * * * This is ...

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Posted in 2008 Annual, Site News | 179 Comments »

Reality: You’re Soaking in It

Tuesday, October 2, 2007
by Geoff Young

Where do I even begin? That this isn't the way I'd wanted to see the season end seems so beyond doubt that it hardly bears mentioning, and yet I just mentioned it. Even though a thing is obvious, it still needs a voice. I hate writing this. I hate thinking this. Honestly? I hate everything about this. But you can't go through life hating, right? Well, you can, but it's probably not a good idea. Besides, it's just baseball. "Just baseball." I hate that, too. Like that somehow negates it all, makes the experience less important, less real. Yeah, buddy, screw you. Anyway. Now you see the problem. I can't even get started. Do I whine about Monday night's outcome (...

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Posted in Playoffs | 234 Comments »

1969: Padres Finish As They Started, with a Win

Tuesday, October 2, 2007
by Geoff Young

October 2, 1969, San Francisco: Padres 3, Giants 2 (box score) Prior to the Padres' inaugural season, manager Preston Gomez and his coaching staff had hoped their club could win 60 games. Although they fell short of that mark, they fared much better than the last National League expansion team, the historically inept 1962 New York Mets. As for Gomez' prediction that the Padres would outscore the Los Angeles Dodgers... well, let's just say he was off a tad (where a tad equals 177 runs). San Diego sent 20-game loser Clay Kirby to the mound in the season finale. The Giants countered with rookie right-hander Rich Robertson. The ...

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Posted in 1969 Revisited | 3 Comments »

IGD: Padres @ Rockies (1 Oct 07)

Monday, October 1, 2007
by Geoff Young

Game #163 time:4:37 p.m. PT tv:TBS sp:Jake Peavy (19-6, 2.36) vs Josh Fogg (10-9, 4.79) pre:Padres.com, B-R.com Analyze this one however you'd like; it's one game, and anything can happen. That is my greatest fear and also my greatest hope. Go Padres!

Posted in In-Game Discussion | 1,031 Comments »

Where There’s a Game, There’s Hope

Monday, October 1, 2007
by Geoff Young

From October 1, 2004: Well, it's October and technically the Padres still aren't out of the race. Or, if you're reading this later in the day, maybe they are. The Pads have already won 22 more games than they did all last year (and they still have three more to go against the worst team in baseball), and they're the only NL team that had a losing record in 2003 that managed to push themselves above .500 in 2004. They've surpassed my preseason prediction of 84 wins (which I actually worried might be overly optimistic). The Padres will end up within shouting distance of the 800 runs forecast by GM Kevin Towers despite getting virtually no production from the key free agent acquisition (Jay Payton) and ...

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Posted in Baseball, Playoffs | 176 Comments »