scott hairston

Shadow Puppets

Tuesday, May 20, 2008
by Geoff Young

For those of you who might have "missed" Monday night's game, here is a quick recap: The Cardinals scored their first runs of the game on a fly ball to deep left that Scott Hairston dropped into the stands for a two-run homer. They scored their next run on a bases-loaded HBP to Yadier Molina -- yes, that Yadier Molina. They scored their next run on a homer by Cesar Izturis -- yes, that Cesar Izturis. Then Albert Pujols homered, which is fine because, well, he's Albert Pujols and that's what he does. Then Todd Wellemeyer drove in a run -- yes, that Todd -- wait, who the heck is Todd Wellemeyer? The game ended. I see the white flag. I'm not prepared to acknowledge it just yet, but ...

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Posted in Game Recaps, Roster Notes | 127 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 »

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Singles Night

Wednesday, April 9, 2008
by Geoff Young

Aggravating. Annoying. Bilious. Discouraging. Disheartening. Dispiriting. Exasperating. Frustrating. Infuriating. Irritating. But enough about me, let's talk about the game. [rim shot] I finally saw the team that everyone else seems to think the Padres are, the one that should be grateful to the Giants for granting them a spot in fourth place. The Padres have more talent than they get credit for, but not so much that they can play stupid baseball and still expect to win games: Two homers to Bengie Molina? Granted, the first got a good push from the 30-mph wind, but c'mon, there's a reason we chide the Giants for batting Molina cleanup. Thirteen singles, no extra-base hits? I don't know a nice way to say this, but the Padres may have the slowest team ...

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Posted in Game Recaps | 75 Comments »

Your Predictions for 2008?

Sunday, March 30, 2008
by Geoff Young

From esteemed reader LynchMob comes this excellent idea for a post on the eve of Opening Day: "provide us with a list of questions which you want us, the commenters, to go 'on the record' with"; he then poses several questions, which you will find below. This might be fun to peek back at throughout the season. I'll lead off with my responses; feel free to follow... How many wins for the Padres in 2008? They'll go 86-76. Is this 2008 team better or worse than the 2007 team? Why? About the same. Randy Wolf and Tadahito Iguchi should represent upgrades over David Wells and Marcus Giles, while Jim Edmonds won't produce like Mike Cameron. Where will they finish in the NL West? Second place. What are ...

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Posted in Baseball | 25 Comments »

Sportswrappin’

Thursday, March 27, 2008
by Geoff Young

As I've mentioned, Derek Togerson was kind enough to have me on as a guest of NBC 7/39's "SportsWrap" this past Sunday evening. Our segment was the Padres preview, so there wasn't really an opportunity to pimp the book. Still, we had a great time talking baseball. Some highlights: I cited the continued development of Chase Headley as the most exciting item of the spring and said that we'd see him at some point during the season, but that the left field job probably was Scott Hairston's for now (we taped this on March 15). I also noted that the Padres wouldn't bring Headley up as a stopgap solution ...

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Posted in Baseball | 87 Comments »

Quick Thoughts from Peoria

Monday, March 10, 2008
by Geoff Young

Just bullet points this morning: Bud Black, Wally Joyner, and Rick Renteria all threw during the big-league session we watched. Darrel Akerfelds pitched to minor leaguers over at the next field. Tadahito Iguchi had a nice batting practice session on Sunday. He showed more power than I'd expected. Tony Clark's kid scored 13 goals in two soccer games on Saturday. Relevant? Probably not, but that's the kind of thing you learn while watching guys take batting practice. Some lady asked, and he answered. Rock on. Colt Morton is a big dude. I already knew this, but it bears repeating. He also scalded a ball during Sunday's game against the White Sox, right back through the middle. Randy Wolf looked good on the mound. I didn't see any gun readings, but ...

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Posted in Spring Training | 11 Comments »

Cactus League Photos

Saturday, March 8, 2008
by Geoff Young

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR. See full photo set at Flickr. How cool was Friday's game? I'm talking about all the Ducksnorters, of course. I hung out with Lance all day, and met up with LynchMob, Bruce (and dad), and Aaron at various points. I'd say that was pretty cool. I even managed to catch a foul ball off the bat of Luis Rodriguez. First time I've ever caught a foul ball at a game. For whatever spring training performances might be worth, our Chris Young looked terrific. Scott Hairston hit the ball hard every time up, resulting in a homer and a double. He also got ...

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Posted in Spring Training | 20 Comments »