Game Reflections - #77 vs Braves

"I got ALL of that one!"

Last night's game was a treat.  Easily the most complete game I've seen the Padres play in person this season.  Now that you've digested the SDUT writeup, and game summaries on your favorite sports website, allow me to add some thoughts.

- Lots of aggressiveness early.  Venable going on an 0-2 count kept San Diego out of the double play. I really liked him going on that pitch because Lowe threw over 3 times during the at bat; kind of an F-U steal attempt.  Additionally the Padres successfully moved runners over on ground outs 3 times in the first 2 innings.  Many folks disdain situational hitting, but it is an important part of the game - especially for this team that struggles to score runs.

- Ludwick is flailing at the low and away pitch again.  Looks like his hot hitting is done.

- Heyward's single through Stauffer, and Jones' soft single to left, but Stauffer in immediate trouble.  Bartlett made a real nice play on McCann's ground ball.  It was hit hard, and Bartlett was blocked by Heyward's body.  He still picked it on one hop and started the 6-4-3 twin killing.  That was the start of 16 up, 16 down for Stauffer.

- Padres got their second run courtesy of a great take-out slide by Orlando Hudson.  Without that play Ludwick is doubled at first and the score is still 1-0.  Again, more fundamental baseball. Could it be the Red Sox rubbed off on these guys?

- The Braves pitched out in the third with Bartlett going, and he still stole second base.  It helped McCann's throw was high and on the first base side of the bag.  I cannot remember the last time I saw someone successfully steal on a pitchout.

- After San Diego made it 5-0 I was a little surprised Stauffer went back out for the seventh inning.  Schafer's line out to end the sixth was well struck, the best contact any Brave hitter had made since McCann's double play ball.  It seemed to indicate Stauffer was tired.  Sure enough, the three balls put in play were smoked.  Freeman's HR cut the lead to 3, but stauffer was able to strike out Uggla for the second time to retire the side.

- Speaking of Uggla, he almost got hit in the head by a Freeman foul ball in the fifth inning.  Freeman was late, hit it off the end of the bat, and it hit the screen with a thud right next to where Uggla was standing.  He moved into the dugout for the rest of the at bat.  The next time he came on deck, he stayed in the on-deck circle.  Visions of Juan Encarnacion flashed through my head when I saw how close that ball came to Uggla.  Glad he was not struck.

- When Braves pitching coach Roger McDowell visited Lowe in the sixth, Jorge Cantu's entry music blared over the PA system.  Somewhere Avenging Jack Murphy went into convulsions and could not understand why.

-On Alberto Gonzalez's single to drive in 2 later in that same inning, Heyward fielded the ball and threw to... third.  Not sure I understood that.  Maybin was the runner at second when the play started, but Gonzalez stuck the ball well and Heyward got to it in a hurry.  Plus, as he showed off on that play, he has a cannon for an arm.  Hundley (who was at first) was not going to try for third.  An interesting choice of bases to throw to.

- Guzman's HR sounded like a rifle shot.  Literally.  First Padre pinch-hit HR this season, and first Padre pinch-hit HR since Sept last year (Stairs, against STL).  You've never seen a happier guy rounding the bases and sitting in the dugout after a big hit than Guzman on that one.  Love the energy.

- Josh Spence came in with Peavy's number (44).  He topped out at 85 on the gun with his fastball.  You're typical soft-tossing lefty.  For his ML debut, he only had to face Jason Heyward, Chipper Jones, and Brian McCann.  You know, the three best hitters on Atlanta's roster, two All-Stars and a Hall of Famer.  He retired the side in order.  Well done kid.

Towel night tonight. Not sure I'll make the game.  I will make tomorrow's, and am looking forward to Cory Luebke's first start of 2011.

AA vs AAA Pitcher Call-ups

Nice win for the Padres last night.  Latos battled through 6 tough innings.  The offense sputtered again but broke a 4-4 tie in the eighth inning, and the bullpen shut down Boston late.

Couple of things to discuss.  During last night's Podcast I mentioned that it seems the Padres have dipped into AA more often than AAA for pitching help this year.  Looking at their transactions for this season that's not quite accurate.

• AAA pitching callups:  Wade LeBlanc (4/24, 6/14), Evan Scribner (4/25, 6/9).
• AA pitching callups:  Anthony Bass (6/13), Joshua Spence (6/21).

Wade LeBlanc being called up twice this season is not surprising; he spent significant time with the big club in 2010.  Scribner's a big righty but has been used exclusively in games the Padres trailed by at least 3 runs.  That's it for AAA pitching promotions.  Until recently the Padres pitching corps had been pretty healthy save Joe Thatcher.  With Harang and Gregerson on the mend, and Moseley ailing but pitching through it, I find it interesting that San Diego's front office is willing to dip into their lower level minor league team for help.

I just don't remember that happening a lot before.  It might be I haven't paid as close attention to where the callups come from as I am now.  Or it might be the PCL is such a hitters league this season it's hurting Jeremy Hefner and Will Inman's (to name two) chances of making a big league start.  Bass won his ML debut so there won't be any second-guessing here.  We'll see what Spence brings to the table in upcoming days.

We also talked last night about Wade LeBlanc's chances of making another start.  He was sent down after his Monday start, so that talk is kind of moot; who gets the start instead?  Harang won't come off the DL until 28 June at the earliest, meaning he'll miss his next start (which would be Saturday).  If I was a betting man I'd bet Cory Luebke will get the ball this Saturday.  Luebke has been the lone left-hander in the Padres bullpen this season, however the call-up of Joshua Spence (who's left-handed) had to be designed with covering Luebke's bullpen slot in mind.

I really like Luebke getting a start. He dominated the Red Sox lineup for 3 innings on Monday, and I believe Black would have left him out there longer if the seventh inning had been the fourth inning; he might have been able to pitch out of it.  At least he could have done no worse than Frieri did.  Atlanta will be a challenge and I'm looking forward to seeing him battle.

Why The Ludwick Hate?

So many things to talk about from last night.  So, so many things:

• Why the Padres didn't try to squeeze in the fourth inning.
• Why Ernesto Frieri can't find the strike zone.
• Why Wade LeBlanc continues to get starts and Cory Luebke doesn't.

I was going to write about any number of these (and probably still will in the coming days).  On the drive in this morning, however, I was distracted from that by Scott Kaplan (of Scott and BR fame on XX1090).  Naturally it makes sense this morning, after a nightmarish 7th inning which saw 10 consecutive Red Sox reach base with 2 outs, that the first Padres player Scott Kaplan decides to hammer is Ryan Ludwick.  To paraphrase: 'If I have to watch one more Ludwick dive...'.

Why all the Ludwick hate?  Why does Kaplan have a hardon for Ludwick?

Since May first, Ludwick is hitting .295/.348/.416.  He's one of only two guys on this team (the other being Chase Headley) hitting consistently, and he's the only real power threat the Padres have.  I've documented here that his defense is not as bad as most believe.  So why the continual Ludwick bashing?

Because of his diving attempt to catch Kevin Youkilis' double in the seventh inning?  Let's analyze that sequence for a moment.

When Youkilis stepped to the plate for the second time, the Padres were on their third pitcher of the inning.  There had already been 4 walks (one intentional) and 2 hit batsman in the inning.  After Frieri retired Youkilis for the second out (on a fly to Ludwick no less), the Red Sox hitters went: intentional walk (Ortiz), walk (Drew), HBP (Scutaro on ball 4), HBP (Varitek), single (Reddick), single (Ellsbury), walk (Pedroia), and single (Gonzalez).

That's a long inning.

Youkilis' second fly ball was the first ball (since his previous at bat in the inning) where a Padre fielder even had a whisper of a hope of making the play.  Ludwick, tired of standing in LF watching the carnage, tired of his team getting its brains beat in, tired of not being able to do anything to stop it - ran flat-out down the warning track from where he had been positioned (more in LC than LF) and tried to make the play to get out of the inning.  He missed.  Youk ended up with a double.

That's the play.  This isn't Ludwick diving under a ball which led to 2 runs and the loss like he did on 11 June against Washington (although that play happened in the first inning, so the Padres had the entire game to score three).  This was Ludwick trying to get his team out of a nightmare of an inning.  That's the play Kaplan decides to make fun of at the start of his show this morning?

People who hate Ludwick because he flopped down the stretch last season need to get over it.  People who hate Ludwick because he started this season hitting .098 need to look at what he's done lately.  Ryan Ludwick is not the problem here.

Come on, Scott Kaplan - you're better than this.

Rizzo vs Headley - first 10 games

Three brutal losses this weekend.  Five unearned runs enroute to a 6-5 loss, shutout for the 12th time this season, then losing a game they led 3-1 in the sixth.  Now we go to Boston to play the other hot AL team.

"Nice to see you, Adrian.  Can you sit these 3 games out so we have a 10% chance of winning?"

Speaking of Adrian, how's his replacement holding up?  After a double, triple, and HR in his first four games, he's struggled a bit:  .148/.361/.370 in 36 PA.  The best think we can say about Anthony Rizzo is the slow start on balls in play has not affected his batters eye.  His OPS+ still sits at 112, which on this Padre team is 4th best.

Here's something interesting - how does Rizzo's first 10 games compare with Chase Headley's?  Rizzo's line is above.  Here's Headley's: .250/.250/.525 (40 PA).  Headley hit 3 HR in his first 10 games with the Padres (hence the high SLG), but had not walked in 40 PA (and had struck out 15 times) which drove his OBP down.  Padres were 1-9 in Headley's first 10 games, 2-8 so far in Rizzos (appropos of nothing).

People soured pretty quickly on Headley, which I at the time thought was inherently unfair.  He did not lift a bad team out of being bad by himself, and it was unrealistic to expect he would.  People's expectations of Rizzo seem much more reasonable; this is also a bad team, Rizzo is not going to lift them out of being bad by himself.

It might also be helping to manage Rizzo expectations that he's only played 4 of his first 10 games at home.  Headley played 7 of his first 10 at Petco.

I thought that'd be more interesting than rehashing this weekend's series.  Ugh.

Game Reflections - #63 vs Rockies

Padres lost a winnable game today to the Rockies, and dropped their first series in 2 weeks.  That's a bummer.

I'm not going to do my usual recap of the whole game.  Instead, I want to make two points about the bottom of the eighth and top of the ninth.

The bottom of the eighth starts with a leadoff single from Ryan Ludwick.  Bud Black immediately pinch-runs for him with Chris Denorfia.  Taking Ludwick, his cleanup hitter and really his best hitter in the lineup, out at this juncture is risky, but figure Black thinks if the run scores he only needs to get 3 more outs.  It's worth the risk.

Brad Hawpe has a good at bat, then flies out to the track in RF.

During Nick Hundley's (and welcome back Nick) at bat Denorfia steals second.  A passed ball later and he's at third.  Colorado brings the infield in.

Point Number One:  The Contact Play Sucks

San Diego puts the contact play on, meaning that as soon as the ball is put into play Denorfia breaks for the plate.  Except that Hundley grounds weakly back the pitcher and Deno is out by 20 feet.  Which begs the question:  why?  In this situation, Denorfia's run gives the Padres the lead.  If the ball gets through the infield he scores.  If Hundley lifts a fly ball to the outfield he scores.  If Hundley makes an out without the contact play on - and this is critical - THE WINNING RUN IS STILL 90 FEET AWAY.

Teams play the infield in specifically to cut down the run at the plate.  I don't care if Usain Friggin' Bolt is taking a lead off third, on a ball hit right to an infielder playing in he's out at the plate if he goes.  So why would any team ever put the contact play on, especially with the infield in?

Hindsight is always 20/20.  Alberto "Hacker" Gonzalez singled to center (which would have driven in Denorfia), then Cantu made the third out.

So on to the top of the ninth.  Heath Bell is in, which seems odd considering he's the only guy in the bullpen that pitched Tuesday.  However, since there will be no save opportunity once the game goes extra innings (where essentially it is at this point anyway), and the top of the Rockie lineup is due, why not.

Carlos Gonzalez leads off with a single.  Jonathan Herrera, pinch hitter, attempts to bunt but pops it up.  In his eagerness to turn two, Jorge Cantu kicks the ball.  Hundley picks it up, has no play at second, slips while throwing the ball to first but retires Herrera.  Bud Black then decides to walk Todd Helton and face Troy Tulowitzki.

Point Number Two:  The Intentional Walk

In this game, Helton was 4-for-4 with a single, home run, and 2 doubles.  On deck is Tulowitzki, the Rockies best player.  Helton is 5-for-12 lifetime against Bell, Tulo is 0-for-14.  Actually seemed like the correct move.  Bell eventually uncorks a wild pitch during the Tulo at bat, so both runners move up 90 feet.  On Deck is Seth Smith.  If you're willing to walk Helton, why not walk Tulowitzki at this point to set up a double play? 

Pitching to Tulo initially with runners on first and second at least has the double play in order as a potential benefit, but that's gone courtesy of the wild pitch.  And the maxim that you don't want to put the go-ahead run in scoring position does not apply.  The winning run was already in position thanks to the "successful" (read: botched) sacrifice bunt.  Walking Tulo would not put another run in scoring position either; he was already there courtesy of the wild pitch.

Black was willing to be aggressive in taking Ludwick out, and in putting the contact play on.  Why did he go in to a shell at this point?

Tulo doubles in two, Huston Street works his second 1-2-3 ninth inning, and the Padres lose 5-3.

A wise man once said, every team wins 40 and loses 40; it's how you manage the other 80 that makes your season.  This game was one of the 80.  San Diego gave this game away.

Off-Topic: USC Sanctions

The Padres got shut out for the 10th time this season 3-0 (although this one was different. they didn't lose because they could not hit; they lost because they could hit with RISP).  The First Round of the 2011 MLB Draft was yesterday.  I'll discuss those items a bit on tonight's Podcast. 

This post is about the Sanctions handed down by the NCAA against USC.

Game Reflections: #59 and #60 vs Astros

The mood in the ballpark the day after a win at home is so much more positive than after a loss.  It's tangible.  It was not so noticeable on Saturday but it was blatantly obvious Sunday afternoon.  Nice to see the Padres carry their road roll with them on the plane for the first time this season.

By taking 3 of 4 from Houston the Padres won their first series of the season at home.  Some thoughts from the weekend's games (which I was happily able to attend):

- Padres scored in the first inning on both days.  Their 2 runs in the first Saturday matched the number of runs they had scored on Saturday at home all season.  Then they jumped on 20-year old Jordan Lyles for 3 Sunday.

- Hunter Pence has got to be in the top 5 of 'best players no one knows'.  He only had 2 hits in the 2 games I saw but hit several balls hard.  Pence left town with a 17-game hitting streak, the longest of his career.

- Chase Headley won't make that list but he is locked in at the plate right now.  He had a single on Saturday and 2 doubles Sunday.  Headley also has a hit streak in progress (15 games).  There's been a mild debate on where he should hit in the order.  With his high OBP and low power numbers I'd begun to think leadoff or #2 were the best spots, however, so long as he's hitting #3 is fine.  He's getting on in front of Ludwick, and that's essential for this offense.

- Logan Forsythe hammered a double in the third inning Saturday to drive in his first ML run.  Well done, kid.

- Aneury Rodriguez pitched pretty well for the Astros but Aaron Harang was better.  Ernesto Frieri tried to make things interesting in the ninth (although in my opinion he got squeezed big time by Todd Tichenor; the 3-0 pitch to Sanchez was a strike, as was the first one to Downs), but Bell recovered in time to strand the tying runs in scoring position.

- The interesting thing about Saturday's game was how many late swings the Astros had.  By my count they hit 11 balls to right (2-for-11 on those balls) off him.  Harang must hide the ball real well, or at least was hiding the ball real well Saturday.  Eric Patterson played very well in RF on the night; I thought he gave up a little bit on one foul ball near the Astro bullpen, but his running catch in the third inning (slamming into the wall) was a big play, as was his throw to the plate in the second.

Good game Saturday. And garden gnomes to boot!

- Ryan Ludwick got applause when he walked to the plate for his first AB Sunday.  It marked the first time I can remember him getting that reception here this season.

- When Alberto Gonzalez got hit Saturday the fans booed.  When Ludwick got hit Sunday they didn't.  Either Saturday's fans were looking for a reason to boo, or they realize the difference between taking a ball off the shirt (midsection) and taking one off the shoulder (on a ball headed for Gonzalez's head). Ludwick got pounded inside Sunday in all his AB.

- After Latos struck out in the second, Astro catcher Robinson Cancel chucked the ball into RF.  Funny.

- Astro 3B Chris Johnson got hit leading off the second Saturday night, then Ludwick and C Rob Johnson got hit Sunday.  Lyles was wild, so I don't think there was intent to retaliate.

- Not in the box score, but Brad Hawpe maed a fantastic play on an errant pickoff attempt by Rob Johnson in the fifth inning Sunday.  Otherwise that ball's in RF and the Astros have (minimum) runners on second and third with 0 outs.  Pence's hit would have then made the score 4-3 and the rest of the game is very different.  Big play by Hawpe.

- Jason Bourgeois is hitting .407.  That is not a misprint.  He's the 4th outfielder on that team.  I'm thinking he's trade bait in July.

- Bourn and Bourgeois are base stealers and they really ran on Johnson Sunday.  Remember the troubles Padres pitchers (especially Chris Young) had a couple of years ago holding runners on?  Seems those slow times to the plate have never quite been corrected.  Some of it might be on the catchers, but to my eye most of it is on slower than average delivery times to the plate.

- Speaking of steals, Rob Johnson stole a base in the sixth inning Sunday.  It's actually his 4th career stolen base (he's also been caught stealing twice).  Johnson's last successful steal was April of last year, off Matt Wieters (FWIW, besides Robinson Cancel he's burned Kelly Shoppach and Victor Martinez). 

The big key in these 2 games?  The Padres played good defense, and they've hit with RISP.  They were 4-for-50 through the first game of the Washington series; they were 21-for-56 going into Sunday's game (where they went 2-for-17.  the .117 average is bad, but the had SEVENTEEN at bats with a runner on second or third yesterday.  Wow).  The law of averages really does work.

Next up is the scuffling Colorado Rockies.  San Diego could be in third by mid-week, and wouldn't that be nice.

Just How Bad is Ludwick's Defense?

Actually he usually catches these.

You've heard it.  You may have said it:  Ryan Ludwick is a lousy defensive outfielder.  Well with 35% of this season's games played, we have enough data to ask:  just how bad is Ludwick defensively?

Let's use Dewan's plus/minus metric as our measuring stick.  Ever wondered how that stat is calculated?  Here you go:

A player gets credit (a "plus" number) if he makes a play that at least one other player at his position missed during the season, and he loses credit (a "minus" number) if he misses a play that at least one player made.

Simple, and effective.  Here's the leaderboard through last night:

Thirteen names on the list.  Ryan Ludwick is not oe of them.  Oh gee whiz he really does suck, I mean he's not even in the top 13! 

Well maybe not.  Ludwick is actually fourteenth at +4.  Thirty teams in the league, he sits in 14th, that means he's spectacularly average in left.  Let's take it one step further:  how does he stack up against the rest of the NL West?

1. Parra (AZ) +23.  Statistically he's the best defensive LF in the game today.
2. Ludwick (SD) +4.  Surprised?  He ranks 14th overall as we mentioned previously.
3. Sands (LA) 0.  He's a rookie; ranks 25th at the moment.
4. C. Gonzalez (COL) -2.  This surprised me a bit.  Everyone knows CarGo (probably the stupidest nickname I've seen recently) has blossomed into a force at the plate, but I had no idea he was inept in the field.  Gonzalez is ranked 27th.
5. Ross (SF) 0.  He spent a month hurt and is still rounding into shape.  Dewan assigns him no rank based on a lack of data.

We will revisit this again as the season wears on, but I think complaints about Ludwick's poor defense are overblown a lot.  He may not be exceptional, but he's good enough.

Winning Road Trip

Padres win 5-4.

- It's the first time they've won 4 in a row on the road since August 15-19, 2010 (against San Fran and the Cubs).  It's also the first time they've won 4 in a row period since that trip.
- It's the first time they've won consecutive series this season.  It's the first time they've won consecutive series since taking 2 of 3 from the Dodgers and Reds last September (9/21 to 9/26, specifically).
- It's the first time Heath Bell has saved 4 consecutive games in 4 consecutive days since August 10-13, 2010 (Pirates and Giants).
- Mat Latos has put together 3 consecutive quality starts, and is starting to look more and more like his 2010 self.
- Ryan Ludwick has risen from the dead.  Over his last 16 games (not including tonight) he's hit .364/.380/.545.
- Brad Hawpe must have had the tomb next to him.  Since 24 April (again not including tonight) he's hitting .308/.368/.500.

This is the first winning trip of any kind this season (I don't count the first 3 games of the season as a trip, it was only one series).  Maybe things are finally looking up.

No Podcast tonight.  Today's my last day on active duty and I'm going to celebrate a little bit.

Game Reflections - #49 vs Cardinals

In the interests of equal time, last night's game recap is posted over at Stan Musial's Stance (here's the link).  Thanks for reading.

Game Reflections - #48 vs Cardinals

Before we get to the game, two quick updates.

1.  My friend John did indeed break his arm on Sunday.  His surgery to repair is later this week.  Please keep him in your thoughts and/or prayers.
2.  There will be no Podcast tonight.  Odds are high I will still be at work and unable to get to a phone.  Next Podcast will be Thursday.

Good game last night.  Tough loss for the Padres.  I mentioned over at my other site not to expect San Diego to lay down for St Louis in this series.  The team meeting after Sunday's game suggested a refocusing of effort by the Padres last night.  The surprise demotion of Will Venable to AAA Tucson and call up of Blake Tekotte from AA San Antonio I'm sure shook up the locker room as well.  To my eye they looked a little less flat than they did during the Seattle series.

- Pujols hammered the ball in his first at bat.  Unfortunately he hit it to the deepest part of Petco on a cool night, and the ball died on the warning track.  AP yelled at the ball as he was headed up the line, something I don't remember seeing him do before.  I guess we know now the homerless drought was at least present in his conscious mind.  His collision with John Jay at first after Cameron Maybin caught the ball elicited laughter from the crowd, as you might expect.

- Rasmus' catch robbing Ludwick of the HR was very cool to see in person.  He timed his jump perfectly.  Ludwick also has the best 'you gotta be sh**ing me' face in the game today.

- Initially I thought Hawpe was an idiot for not taking third on Headley's ground out to second in the second, but on the replay it was not clear if Schumaker could catch that ball in the air or not.  Hawpe did the right thing by freezing.  If it got past the Cardinal second baseman Hawpe easily makes third anyway.

- The Cardinals made a late pregame change, switching Berkman to left and John Jay to right.  It worked out in the fifth inning for the Cardinals, as Jay ran down Orlando Hudson's drive in to the gap for an out.  It worked out for the Padres in the sixth, as Berkman misjudged Chris Denorfia's line shot into a double.  Although in fairness to Berkman, judging a ball hit that hard, headed right at you in the OF, is the toughest play in baseball IMO.

- Maybin's bunt in the seventh was exquisite.

- After Mike Adams went 3-0 on Albert Pujols in the eighth I thought we were looking at one of those unintentional/intentional walks.  Then Pujols swung at a 3-0 pitch (which was a breaking ball, but right down the middle) and missed it.  The 3-2 pitch was borderline, but home plate umpire Jim Joyce had been calling that pitch a strike consistently the entire game.  Give Joyce credit for letting Pujols vent and not reacting.  I don't know what LaRussa said to get run, but it must have been a doozy.

- The difference between the 19-29 Padres and 29-20 Cardinals was evident in the bottom of the seventh and top of the ninth.  The bottom of the seventh saw the Padres put runners on first and third with 0 out.  They got one run on Jorge Cantu's sac fly, but that was it.  The Key AB was Hudson's weak ground ball to Pujols that caught Headley off third.  Having no real bench presence behind Cantu did not help either.

In the ninth, Schumaker took a chance trying to stretch his hit into a double and beat it.  Replays showed he was indeed safe by an eyelash.  Then Jose Oquendo aggressively sent Schumaker to the plate on Descalso's single just past Hudson.  It reinforced something I noticed during the Seattle series, too:  opposing teams are very willing to test the Padre outfielders' arms.  Seattle took several extra bases on soft singles.  The Cardinals did the same last night when it counted.

That and STL got clutch hitting when they needed it, something San Diego has struggled to do at home all season.

Aaron Harang has been solid all season at home for the Padres.  He matches up Kyle McClellan, who has pitched better as a first-year starter than anyone could have reasonably expected going into the season.  San Diego has its work cut out for it again tonight, as it tries to snap this 4-game losing streak.

And tries to score more than 2 runs for the first time in a week.

Game Reflections - SDABL Playoffs

This post is not about the Padres, because that post would have looked a lot like what I've written the past 2 days.  Padres score 1 run, strike out a lot, lose to Seattle.  Instead, this post is about adult baseball in San Diego.

I still try to play baseball on Sundays.  Actually I am on a field somewhere in San Diego every Sunday; the try describes my level of play.  If the Majors are the pinnacle of baseball in this country, the San Diego Adult Baseball League 38+A division is near the bottom of the mountain.  No one in this league plays because they still harbor major league aspirations, they play because they love it.

The team I play on has 18 guys who share that love.  We range in age from 40 to 67 years old, and we're still pretty good - good enough to make the playoffs as one of the 4 best teams in our league each season.  This season, well, it was different.  We lost our first 2 games, then reeled off seven straight.  We finished second by a 1/2 game (same number of losses as the #1 team, just we played one fewer game; we chose not to play on Mother's Day).  You never know what might happen, but this team had the best chance of any I've been on to win the playoff tourney.

The playoffs started today, and we played Berry's Athletic Supply's team.  If you know anything about Berry's they always put good teams on the field.  They sponsor teams in every division of the SDABL, and typically win.  The Berry's team in our bracket is no different.  We only lost 2 games this season, and squeaked by in a couple of others, but Berry's was the only team that really handled us.  We had an ace in the hole, though - our best pitcher missed the first game, but would be on the field today.  I liked our chances.

Berry's jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first, when with runners on first and second and two out, Juan Eichelberger (yes THAT Juan Eichelberger) singled to left, scoring the runner from second.  I, who was playing left at the time, threw to the plate but the throw was going to be late.  Instead it was cut off and we cut down the other runner between second and third.  Berry's scratched out another run in the fourth to make it 2-0.

In the meantime we had trouble solving Berry's starting pitcher, but our ace kept their lineup in check and us in it.  In the bottom half of the fifth we put two runners on for the first time all game, and when they moved up on a wild pitch to second and third we had our first real opportunity, albeit with two out.  Our shortstop engaged their pitcher in an epic battle, eventually singling to center on a full count, scoring both and tying the game at two.

Like I said, it looked to be our day.

In the top of the sixth Berry's eventually put two on (again at first and second) with two out, and Eichelberger stepped up again.  This time he took an 0-2 pitch and lined it to right for a hit.  I, who was playing RF this time (funny how I was involved in both of his RBI hits), played it on a hop, then threw a strike to the cut-off man, who threw a strike to the plate, which beat the runner by 6 feet.

Umpire called him safe.  Said later he got his toe in before the tag was applied.

But that's not the worst of it.  On the next pitch our pitcher broke his arm.  Or that's what we think happened.  I heard a loud pop from right field, watched the ball sail to the backstop, the runner on third score, the second base umpire call time, and our pitcher walk off the mound.  All in the time it took you to read that sentence.

It may turn out he tore the tendon that holds his tricep to his radius, or something like that.  I don't know; I probably won't for about 2 weeks.  We called the paramedics, and after they stabilized him he left the field under his own power.  Those of us there (about 40 or so including some family) did the only thing we could:  we gave him a standing ovation.  The EMTs put him in their ambulance and headed to the hospital.  I had heard about players being hurt while throwing but had never seen it in person before today.

No one would admit it, but losing him deflated us.  Berry's scored 7 in the seventh and 4 in the eighth to put the game out of reach.  What had started out as a crisp, tense, well-played game ended up a 15-3 rout.  Those who care will see that on the website and perhaps in tomorrow's paper and think we got blown out from the get-go.  There is texture to this story and I wanted to write about that.

I don't care that we lost.  My heart goes out to John.  This is not like a sprain or an ache, this is serious.  I love playing baseball and it would tear me up to learn I could no longer do it.  I sincerely hope that is not in John's future, and that we see him on a baseball diamond very soon.

Game Reflections - #46 vs Mariners

First, a correction:  Yesterday I said Ryan Ludwick's ninth inning RBI snapped the Padres' 0-for-19 slump with RISP.  That's not true; it was actually 0-for-21.  I stand corrected.

On to tonight's game.

Hmmm looking a little gloomy.  Foreshadowing?

Game Reflections - #45 vs Mariners

Ah the opening game of the annual series against our 'Ancient Rival'.  This one had an interesting ending.  Some notes, in no particular ord.

- I have no idea how Cameron Maybin missed Kennedy's sinking line drive in the second inning.  @leftcoastbias and I discussed it for a bit, and came to the conclusion he lost it in the lights.  That really is the only explanation that makes sense.  Maybin tracked that ball all the way past his glove, as it were.

Speaking from some personal experience, when a ball merges into the lights you have two choices.  Try to get down so you can still see it, or stick your glove out and hope.  Maybin tried both and the ball still eluded him.  Tough break.

- The bottom of Seattle's lineup killed Latos.  Hitters 1-5:  2-for-18, 2 singles, 2 walks.  Hitters 6-9:  6-for-15, 2 2B, 3B, HR, Sac Fly.  These 4 hitters drove in all 4 runs.  And it's not like Seattle stacked Murderer's Row down there; coming into the game Miguel Olivo, Carlos Peguero, Brendan Ryan, and Eric Bedard came in with OPS+ of 59, 50, 54, and 0 respectively.  Latos just could not consistently get them out.

- Olivo sure liked what he saw tonight, with a ground rule double and HR to left-center off Latos.  On the double, it looked like Ludwick and Maybin slowed down when he saw each other coming.  I don't know if Ludwick had a play, or if Maybin would have had a play had he kept running all out; I think Maybin had the better shot although he came a much longer way.  Hard to say from way behind home plate.

- The Mariners got two ridiculous jumps off Latos, both by Kennedy.  He had a 2 or three step head-start before the pitch left Mat's hand.  On one play he stole second, on the other he scored easily in front of Peguero's triple.  I don't remember base stealers getting that good a read on Latos last season.

- Latos worked noticeably more quickly in the sixth.  He gave up 2 XBH in the frame, including Olivo's HR.  I wonder why he sped things up.

Ludwick's single in the ninth broke an the team's 0-for-19 21 string with RISP. - 

- I have no idea what Ludwick was thinking on Cantu's fly ball in the seventh.  Why round second on that play?  If it's a HR you've got all day to run the bases. If it's a double you've got time to get to third.  If it's caught you need to get back.  Ludwick made a bad baserunning play there.

- The scoreboard said Denorfia leads the Padres in SLG.  He had 78 AB coming into the game.  Seemed an odd stat to quote for Denorfia.  Ludwick has 178 AB and 8 HR; he's the power leader on the club.

- 3 more double plays tonight, all of which killed potential rallies.

- Bedard struck out 9 tonight.  It's the second time he's done that this season. He had not done it since 2007 before 8 May against the White Sox.

- Here's what happened on the Ludwick ball in the ninth.  Peguero didn't catch it, and it was ultimately ruled a single.  Bartlett, thinking it had been caught, started back to first.  He and Ludwick bumped.  In the umpires eyes, that meant Ludwick had passed Bartlett.  So they called Ludwick out.  Bartlett was allowed to go back to second because after Ludwick was ruled out, the force at second was off, and when Kennedy received Franklin 'Death to Flying Things' Gutierrez's throw he didn't tag Bartlett.

Rule 7.08(h) applies.

Initially they ruled that Ludwick was safe and Bartlett out on the force.

All in all a tough game.  Seattle completely out-played them on this night.  Tomorrow the Padres get to face phenom Michael Pineda  I'm looking forward to seeing the kid pitch, although not so much to him shutting down the Padre offense.  

One final thing on the Maybin comment from yesterday.  A reliable source tells me the Brewers Media Relations person asked the official scorer to take another look at Maybin's single in the seventh inning Thursday.  Seems there was a similar play in Wednesday's game on a ball hit by a Brewer that was ruled an error, and the media guy was wondering about the perceived inconsistency.  FWIW.

Game Reflections - #44 vs Brewers

Hmmm.  5 Infielders.  Will it work?

 Good Grief.  Has it really been 15 games since I last saw one live?  Wow.  Off we go.

Off to a rough start as Aaron Harang walked Corey Hart and allowed a single to Ryan Braun.  After Braun stole second, it looked like the Padres would be down early again.  But Harang wriggled out of it, getting Prince Fielder to pop to short and Casey McGehee hit back to the box.

We missed part of the first inning while eating at the Hall of Fame Grill inside the Western Metal building.  The Nachos were good.  Unfortunately for me, something in the chicken set off a nasty case of heartburn which made for a rather uncomfortable next 6 innings.  It was not food poisoning; I'm pretty sure it was an allergic reaction.  Sucked to be me.

The Brewers would only get one more runner to third, Fielder in the fourth inning, as Harang settled down and worked 8 scoreless innings.

On the other side of the ledger Chris Narveson was as good as Harang.  Narveson worked 7 1/3 innings, and the Padres only got 2 runners to third off him (Denorfia in the third, Maybin in the seventh).

Without a lot of offense, this game was quick. 1:45 in we were singing 'Take Me Out To The Ball Game".  Milwaukee took Narveson out in favor of Kameron Loe, who worked around McGehee's error.

When I got home I found two tweets from Cameron Maybin expressing some frustration with the official scorer.  During the seventh inning, he hit a hard ground ball that McGehee bobbled, and beat McGehee's throw to first.  It was ruled an infield single.  After the game the official scorer reviewed the play and changed it to E-5.  The tweets have since been deleted.

I'm not saying Maybin did anything wrong.  It was an emotional moment and I appreciated the candor.  I will say that when I saw the play live I thought it was E-5.  Maybin is a very fast man, but if McGehee fields that ball cleanly Maybin is out by a step. In my opinion the official scorer got it right after his review.  Also, he would not have reviewed the play unless someone asked him to.

Ludwick led off the ninth with a soft single, but the game turned on Black's decision to pinch run for him.  I liked the aggressiveness there, playing to win at home.  Because of that, Brewer pitcher Marco Estrada spent a lot of time trying to keep Eric Patterson close at first.  Pitchout, ball high, then another ball as Patterson stole second.  With a 3-0 count on Hawpe the Brewers walked him intentionally.

The rest was predictable.  Maybin laid down a pretty bunt to move the runners over with 1 out.  Headley was intentionally walked to load the bases.  Kotsay came in from left to play the infield, but it didn't matter as Orlando Hudson hit the first pitch he saw to right, driving Hart back and plenty deep enough to score Patterson from third.

A nice win and a series split with Milwaukee.  The Padres are now 1-0-2 in their last 3 series, their best stretch of the season, after splitting 2 game sets with Arizona and the Brewers.  They open the Inter-league portion of the scheduel tomorrow when Seattle comes to town.

We did a Podcast tonight.  It's short - 19 min long - but it can be found here.

A Winning Streak

Two in a row is a trend.  Three straight is a winning streak.  The Padres finally have a 2011 winning streak.

After losing two straight in Milwaukee (and getting slapped around a bit early in the 8-6 loss last Tuesday) the Padres have been doing the slapping.  Yes they lost the first game in Colorado 12-7, but over their last 5 games those 7 runs are the fewest they've scored.  Here's today's obscure stat:  this streak matches the franchise record for consecutive games in which San Diego has scored 7 or more runs.  The last time they did it was April 1996.  The first time they did it was April 1979.

Even more encouraging than the offense finally rising from the dead is the last starts from Mat Latos and Clayton Richard.  For the first time this season both looked like the pitchers they were last year.  When the Padres pitch to their ability, and hit a little bit, they are a formidable opponent.  Just take a look at last year.

All of that is good news.  The icing on this cake becomes the Padres leaving the NL West basement for the first time since April 17.  Thank you Armando Galarraga.

That this offensive surge started on the road has reignited complaints about Petco Park and this team's offensive production at home.  The standard slash lines bear out a significant split:  .206/.288/.317 at Petco, .265/.331/.379 on the road.  However take a look at these numbers:

• Petco Park:  29 2B, 5 3B, 13 HR to date by the Padres
• Road:           29 2B, 3 3B, 15 HR through last night's game.

That's a wash people.  The Padres problems winning at home in 2011 is not due to an inability to drive the ball downtown.  The issue is their OBP at home is 50 points lower than on the road.  They have 40 fewer HITS at home than on the road.  Sorry, but that's not solely because our ballpark knocks down balls hit in the air.

I am doing a much more detailed look at the Padres offense in Petco.  I hope to have that completed just after Memorial Day (if not sooner).

Padres go for the sweep tonight, and their first consecutive series wins of the season.  I also have a Podcast tonight.  Hope to hear from you.

Hundley to DL, Phillips Called Up

Padres announced today they have put Nick Hundley on the 15-day DL retroactive to yesterday (5 May).  The team called up Kyle Phillips from their AA affiliate in San Antonio.

Hundley suffered a right oblique strain.  He started Wednesday's 7-4 loss to the Pirates but came out of the game after a seventh-inning at bat where he struck out.  It is unclear from the Padres Press Release if he initially tweaked his oblique earlier in the game or did it during this at-bat, where he swung the bat twice (first fouling off a pitch, then swinging and missing).  It could partially explain the bad throw he made in the third inning when he attempted to force Andrew McCutchen at second following Xavier Paul's swinging bunt.

Hundley had been the Padres best hitter in the early going, but since his mini four-game hitting streak was snapped on 21 April he's been in a 5-for-36 funk, with 2 doubles and 0 HR.

Phillips was acquired from Toronto in a 25 June 2010 trade for a player to be named later (and I was unable to find out who it was after searching through the mlb.com archive).  He last played in the majors in 2009 with Toronto.

The Padres also shifted Jerrett Hoffpauir from the 15-day to the 60-day DL with a strained right quadriceps.

Information in this post was provided by the Padres Media Relations staff at 1604

Hudson to DL, Forsythe Recalled

Hudson exits Tuesday's game (AP/Larry Ignelzi)

Orlando Hudson pulled up lame last night rounding second base in the first inning.  We all held our breath, hoping he'd only be out a few days.

Not so much. The Padres announced this afternoon they were placing Hudson on the 15-day DL due to the strained right hamstring, and recalling Logan Forsythe from AAA-Tucson.

I was wondering what the long-term solution would be if Hudson went down, because Eric Patterson is an outfielder by trade.  Now we know.  Losing Hudson puts a crimp in the Padre running game (he led the team with 10 steals), as well as the infield defense.  Although I'm sure Jason Bartlett is OK with no butt-slapping for a few weeks around the bag at second.

When Forsythe enters a game for the first time it will be his ML debut.  He was the 46th pick in the 2008 Amateur Draft (supplemental round).  This season in Tucson he was 25-for-86 with 4 HR, 15 RBI, and 2 steals.

Welcome to the club, Logan Forsythe.

The Padres also announced transferring Joe Thatcher from the 15 to 60 day DL following exploratory surgery on his left shoulder.

Information in this post was taken from the Padres Media Announcement released at 1:41 today.

Game Reflections - #29 vs Pirates

Just returned from tonight's Padres/Pirates tilt at Petco.  Some thoughts on the 4-3 Padres loss:

- Great idea by San Diego to honor the military by wearing the camouflage uniforms.  The team usually invites all active duty and veterans in the crowd to stand and be recognized prior to the start of every game, and did so again tonight; but the cheers from the 20,456 in attendance were a little louder than normal.  The MLB 9-11 logo was also displayed on monitors throughout the ballpark during the introductions.

- Tonight's National Anthem was sung a capella and frankly, it was appropriate to do it that way.  We should not celebrate that a man, even an enemy, is dead; we should remember those no longer with us because of the evil that man brought into the world.

- Whatever Aaron Harang brought with him to the mound to start the game, he should forget it.  Every ball hit in play by Pittsburgh in the top of the first was a bullet.  The Garrett Jones HR was a no-doubter into the RF corner, and Chris Snyder's was hammered out to left.  After a half-inning to regroup, he allowed a measly infield single in his remaining 4 innings.

- Brad Hawpe made a nice play on a ground ball up the line off Jones' bat.  It was eerily similar to the ball Martin Prado hit on Wednesday that Hawpe missed.  Nice to see him make that play.

- Jorge Cantu's HR in the sixth was also smashed.  Amazing how when the weather heats up the ball carries better at Petco, no?  His 2-run shot cut the lead in half.

- Ryan Ludwick had 2 hits, and both those balls were scorched.  His second hit drove in San Diego's third run.

- A little bit of comedy in the top of the eighth inning when both Hundley and Cantu missed foul balls off the bat of Jones (that man again).  Comedy because Hundley disappeared into the Pirates dugout, and Cantu flopped over into the camera well.  Luckily no one was hurt, and in fairness given where they came down both were tough plays.

- San Diego was mesmerized by an opposing pitcher in their own ball park again.  Other than the HR to Cantu, Pittsburgh starter James McDonald scattered 4 hits and struck out 5 in his 6 innings of work.

- The top of the ninth took for-EVER.  Frieri walked the first 3 hitters he faced, and Gregerson (who relieved him) walked the first guy HE faced, but thanks to Lyle Overbay being caught stealing after his leadoff walk the Padres were able to wriggle off the hook without allowing a run.

- Some smart aleck decided to start the "whoOP!  WHooo" chant when Pittsburgh reliever Chris Resop was warming up, and continued it once Resop entered the game.  Eventually most of the ballpark joined in.  It didn't hurt the chant that the Padres scored their third run with Resop in the game.

- Pittsburgh has the best bullpen ERA in the NL coming into tonight's game.  I had not realized their bullpen had been pitching that well so far in 2011.

- Thanks to consecutive hits by Nick Hundley and Chase Headley, the Padres got runners to the corners with two out in the bottom of the ninth.  But Will Venable hit the first pitch he saw to short, and that ended the game.

We've been beaten down a bit both by the Padres slow start and their struggles on offense.  I think I re-emphasize the obvious when I say San Diego badly needed last Thursday's day off.  Since their attempted ninth-inning comeback on Friday in Los Angeles that fell short, the Padres have started hitting the ball much better.  Tonight every starting position player except Cameron Maybin had a hit.  That's encouraging.  Maybe the days of feeble offense and lots of shutouts are behind us for a while.

One can only hope.

Game Reflections - #25 vs Braves

Although a couple of days time-late, let's go through Wednesday's game against Atlanta. (Note:  I was under the weather the last 2 days, which explains why no post).

1.  The Padres managed to get the leadoff man on just twice - Orlando Hudson's infield single in the fifth, and Ryan Ludwick's walk to start the ninth.  Neither runner advanced past second.  Bud Black talked all winter and during spring training about being more aggressive on the base paths, but it is hard to be aggressive when there's no one on early in the inning.

It's also hard to be aggressive when guys either get forced at second or erased via the double play.

San Diego also only managed one runner as far as THIRD.  That happened with two out in the sixth.  After Will Venable stole second, Rob Johnson struck out swinging on a full count, ending the threat.

2. Credit should be given to Tyler Hanson for being dominant on this day - 10 strikeouts along with 4 hits (all singles) and a walk.  That said, not every pitcher the Padres have faced this season is Cy Young.  At what point does one draw the line between saying 'oh, that guy was really on today' and 'we just can't hit, and it makes every opposing starter we face look that much better'?

3.  Let's look at the positive out of this game for a moment.  Mat Latos got beat up pretty good in the first two innings (more on the second inning later).  After Brian McCann's double driving in Atlanta's sixth run of the game, Latos retired 10 of the last 11 hitters he faced - 4 by strikeout, 4 via ground ball.  That's encouraging.  Latos has been killed this season by leaving the ball up.  If it clicked after the double that is very good news.

Remember, he struggled last season coming out of the gate.  Only after he got torched by the Marlins in Florida did he right himself and become the dominant pitcher he was from May - August.

4.  Brad Hawpe's error ultimately became the key play in the game.  If he makes the play on Martin Prado's grounder, Latos is out of the inning, the score is still 1-0, and the possibilities are endless.  After the error the Braves went single/triple/double and blew the game open.  Padres fans at the game rode Hawpe the rest of the afternoon, sarcastically cheering after every play he made and booing him after every out he hit into.

Hawpe is struggling.  No one hits .143 at the major league level without struggling at lot at the plate, and I'm sure Hawpe is painfully aware of his trouble offensively.  Booing him won't help.  That said, I completely understand why fans booed him Wednesday.  It is their right as fans to voice their displeasure when players (or umpires, for that matter) aren't performing up to par.  Just don't expect Hawpe to suddenly snap out of it because he heard booing from the normally laid-back San Diego crowd.

------------------------------

Two other items worth mentioning:

1.  The Padres announced Thursday the return of the $5 discount when purchasing Padres tickes online through Padres.com.  From the press announcement:

Padres President and COO Tom Garfinkel made the announcement.

"The $5 online discount originated last year in an effort to increase both affordability and convenience for Padres fans," Garfinkel said. "It was incredibly popular, and our fans repeatedly told us they saw great value in the offer, so we decided to bring it back again for a limited time this year."

The $5 online discount is available now exclusively at padres.com, and is valid for all games on all tickets normally priced $13.50 or more. The promotion excludes PETCO Park's All-You-Can-Eat seats, and may not be used in conjunction with other discounts or promotions, including 2-for-1 Tuesdays, presented by Coca-Cola. Go to http://www.padres.com/ to take advantage of the limited-time offer.

Yes, a naked attempt to bolster flagging attendance, but $5 off is $5 off.

2.  The Padres Trail Podcast returned last night.  You can hear the episode here, or also through iTunes - just search for either 'SMS_Mike' or 'Padres Trail Podcast'.

Game Reflections - #21 vs Phillies

Looks like someone didn't know where the end of their car was in the MTS lot

While waiting for the fans to disperse a little bit (paid attendance - 40038), some quick thoughts on tonight's game.

Padres were much more aggressive in the first inning than I remember them being recently.  Maybin single, Bartlett triple highlighted the frame.  With a run in, runners on the corners, and Hundley up it looked very good they'd blow Blanton off the mound immediately.  Didn't happen that way, unfortunately, as their hitting funk reared its head again (tap to the mound, fly out, strikeout).

Hoffman HAS to send Bartlett in that situation.  The team is struggling to score runs, send the guy.  Let's make THEM make a play instead of us always having to. (Update:  Ted Mendenhall pointed out during the Padres Post-Game show that some of the blame should fall on Orlando Hudson.  After all, he showed no inclination to go on that fly ball, and had the play entirely in front of him.  I find that an accurate assessment.)

Someday Ludwick will stop swinging at the low and away pitch off the plate.  I hope I'm alive to see it.

Stauffer pitched his rear end off, tying a career high with 7K's tonight.

I thought the ball Pete Orr hit in the sixth was fair live and in person.  Not sure why the umpire hesitated on that call, although he had a better vantage point than I did.  Then, tough luck on the ball Rollins hit, as it skipped through the infield for a single that tied the game.

Gregerson/Adams/Bell - lights out as usual.

Bastardo is a beast. That's two games this series he's come in and completely shut down the Padres.

After Hundley's double to break the 1-1 tie, the Padres managed 2 hits the rest of the way.  Can't do that in a close game and expect to win.

Hawpe's at bat in the eleventh was his best at bat of the night by far.  He finally started laying off the outside pitches he's been waving at.  Disturbing for me to see is that he can't catch up with the high fastball at all. He's been swinging through them all year.  No wonder he's constantly pitched up there by the opposition.

Ludwick's 2 hits in this game equal the total number of hits he had on the last homestand.  Maybe he actually is breaking out of his slump.

Finally, the big decision of the game - yes the game was decided by 1000 little things before Bud Black directed Rollins be intentionally walked in front of Ryan Howard.  Yes Howard had struck out 4 times in this game and (I believe) 9 times in the series.  Howard is too elite of a player to insult like that.  If he'd walked Rollins to face Howard with Gregerson or Adams or Bell on the mound I'd been really OK with it.  But with Cory Luebke - a second season guy who's only been in the majors for 2 months now - that's a tall order.

Still, it reinforced how this is a game of inches.  Howard missed a 3-R jack by about 4 feet.  Ludwick missed catching that ball and ending the inning by about 1 foot.  If Ludwick makes that play - which was very difficult, let me assure you - we're still playing.

Padres try to avert the sweep tomorrow.  Facing Roy Halladay that's a very tall order.

Game Reflections - Game #19 Vs Phillies

Went to 2/3 of the game last night.  We left after 6 1/3 innings (a) to beat traffic, and (b) because you can only sit through so much offensive futility.  Some impressions.

1.  I tweeted last night about 'another SD home game, Padres no-hit through 3 again."  That's not entirely correct.  What is true is the Padres have gone hitless the first time through the order twice, and I've been in the ballpark on both occasions. Including last night's home game, the Padres have gotten their first hit of the game:

• First inning - twice
• Second inning -four times
• Third inning - once
• Fourth inning - once
• Fifth inning - once

2.  Last night was an interesting one from a fashion perspective.  I should have taken a picture or some video of the ladies in question, but I walked to my seat behind 4 young women wearing some of the tightest jeans I've yet seen - and platform heels to boot.  EVERY guy they walked past turned around to look, so I guess their clothing choices had the intended effect.

3.  It becomes frustrating to watch our offense routinely unable to either drive runners in from third, or to hit for extra bases.  It becomes even more frustrating to watch opposing teams come in and hit the crap out of the ball.  I'm am beginning to believe part of the problem with the Padres is psychological.  They continually hear about this ballpark and how it is a pitcher's park, and how you can't hit the long ball here.  Whether or not you believe it, it eventually seeps into your consciousness.  Other NL teams don't have to listen to that over and over again about their home ballpark, or about the park they come into.  They just hit; and seem to have better results in San Diego than the Padres do.

4.  This team really misses Jerry Hairston Jr.  How many times did we see him come to the plate last year, with the team down early, and hit a home run or start a rally?  From a perspective with no access to the clubhouse, it seems his leadership helped steady the 2010 Padres.  I don't see any evidence that type of leadership is present on this team.  Every 3 run deficit feels like game over; there's no sense the Padres can claw their back into those games.

Case in point - leading off the fourth Jorge Cantu had a 14-pitch at bat.  He eventually struck out, but it felt like a moral victory.  You know you're offense is struggling when a 14-pitch strike out feels like a victory.

5.  Cameron Maybin flat-out misplayed Ben Francisco's HR ball.  I initially thought he just backpedaled into the CF wall, but after seeing the replay he took a good route to the ball.  It seemed live he had no idea how close to the wall he was when he was trying to catch the ball.  If he jumps that's an out.

Ludwick?  Overran it, but Polanco was out a third and the blue blew the call.  Denorfia?  Looked like he lost it in the lights initially, because he didn't break on the ball at all.

Padres try again tonight - Richard vs Hamels.

I did have a Podcast last night - it can be heard here.  Two errata to correct from the discussion - I said last night was the fourth time the Padres had been shut out, that's wrong; I forgot about their Monday shutout at the hands of the Cubs.  I also said last night was the first time someone other than Moseley had been shut out, and that's also wrong; Tim Stauffer started that same game Monday.  The Astro/Padre game I reference during the show happened on July 2, 2010, and indeed ended 3-0.

Game Cancelled, Padres to play two

From the Padres media relations staff, tonights Padres/Cubs game has been postponed to tomorrow. Weather reports from Chicago are forecasting thunderstorms, rain (probably the freezing kind) and temps in the mid-30s.

Tomorrow will be much better, overcast and a high of 43. Because we must not deprive ownership of gate receipts, there will be a day/night double header. First game at 11:20 pacific time, second game at 4:05.

If there is any problem with the scheduling philosophy as it currently stands, it is the one trip per year to cities outside our division. Any hiccup in the schedule puts teams in a bind. Either they do everything possible to get the games in as scheduled, or they make sure the games are played within the dates scheduled, or risk a losing an off-day later in the season so they can fly back in for one game.

all in the name of the unbalanced schedule. Interleague does not help, but the unbalanced schedule is the culprit.

No word if Moseley will still start tomorrow. I suspect he will.

Last I'm flying back I into town late tonight, so the Tuesday Podcast will be cancelled.

Splitsville

The Padres first come-from-behind win happened on Opening Day in St Louis.  They were not able to do it again until last Wednesday vs the Reds.  Sunday they made it 3 wins in their last 5 games, and two of the come-from-behind variety, with the 8-6 win in Houston.

Before Sunday's win I was sure the only game San Diego would take in Houston was the one JA Happ started, because he's on my fantasy team.  It's been that kind of season so far for the kid.  It was nice to see some other fantasy owner suffer this week as well.

The last 5 games the Padres have scored 3, 0, 4, 3, and 8 runs.  The previous 5 hey had scored 2, 0, 7, 2, and 2 runs.  18 runs the last 5, 13 the previous five.  I'll call that progress, even if 4 of those games were played in the bandbox known as Minute Maid Park.

So it's off to Chicago and the Cubs.

I'll look to make these posts longer as the season goes, and include some actual analysis.  Right now I'm just trying to get back into the blogging groove.

Playing Catch Up

A little bit of free time appeared this morning, so let's play a little catch-up.

First the Podcast has returned! The latest two 30 minute episodes can be heard here and here. With the depth of offensive woes the Padres were experiencing at the time of both shows, I did focus on that. But I did cover other things. Give the 2 shows a whirl.

On Thursday's show I speculated that the lack of run support Dustin Moseley has gotten in his first three starts was historic. Thanks to the good folks in Media Relations with the club, we have an answer. They checked with the Elias Sports Bureau, and

The last time a starting pitcher's team was shut out in each of his first three starts to begin a season was in 2008 when the Detroit Tigers were blanked in each of Kenny Rogers' first 3 starts. Before Rogers, the last pitcher with no run support in his first three starts was Rudy May for the 1972 California Angels

Two times in the last 40 years demonstrates just how rare what has happened to Moseley is. It is a historical anomaly that the last two pitchers hung out to dry like this were left-handed. So it's been over 40 years since a righty experienced this level of no run support pain.

After Ryan Ludwick struck out Thursday night to end the eighth, I thought he and Moseley needed to start a support group to deal with failure. Ludwick could spend 10 minutes bemoaning his loss of hitting ability. Moseley could respond by slapping Ludwick around for 10 minutes, screaming HOW ABOUT SCORING SOME RUNS FOR ME JACKASSES?!?!?!

Speaking of Ludwick, he finally snapped his 0-for-the-season with runners in scoring position with a 2-RBI single in the seventh last night, snapping a 1-all tie. There was a report via Twitter (I believe Corey Brock sent the note) that Ludwick discovered he was too hunched over at the plate, and has straightened up so he can see the ball better. One wonders how long his batting stance has been tweaked, and if that's been the issue with his sub-.200 batting average since coming over from St Louis. If he now goes on a tear with the bat, we will know.

One other thing to consider: Ludwick temporarily snapped out of his funk last year when Bud Black dropped him to the bottom third of the order. This team needs Ludwick in the middle of the lineup; I hope the source of his troubles is not the pressure he puts on himself to perform as a 3-4-5 hitter (and before you remind me he hit in middle of the order with the Cardinals, he had some guy named Pujols carrying the majority of the load there).

More good news: the Padres have won 2 out of 3 for the first time since their first series of the year. They look to keep the momentum going this weekend.

Nice Start

Yeah the Cardinals have tortured San Diego over the last decade.  I'm not talking about just the 3 NLDS losses to those guys, where San Diego dropped 9 of the 10 games played.  Since the start of the 2006 season St Louis was 14-4 in Missouri against the Padres.  This includes the infamous rain-delayed Sunday game in 2008 when Colby Rasmus hit a 3-run bomb to stun Heath Bell and the Padres.

Nothing ever seems go to right at Busch.  Which is why winning this Opening Weekend series was so sweet.  San Diego has not won the season series from the Cardinals since 2006, which incidentally was the last time the Padres won a series in St Louis.  In fact the Padres had won 2 series there the last FOURTEEN YEARS until this weekend.  Here's a little tidbit: the last 3 times San Diego has won a series at Busch the Padres have made the playoffs.

I'm not telling the Front Office to start printing those ducats, but that's a nice early sign for the season to come isn't it?

We all know how important Ryan Ludwick is to the 2011 team, and the Padres could not have picked a better park for the season to start off in than Busch.  Ludwick's history there is well-known; if there's one place on this earth to get his confidence high early in the season it's in St Louis.  Ryan's 2 for 10 line might look a lot like last fall, but his 3 walks mean his batter's eye has returned, and he hit several balls hard during the series, albeit it in tough luck (most notably the sixth inning Sunday).

We wondered how the offense would look.  San Diego scored 16 runs in the series.  Yes they got shut out yesterday, but they still scored 16 runs in the series.

Most importantly, the pitchers held up their end of the bargain.  The team limited St Louis to 8 runs total, and held Pujols to 1 RBI (and 2-13 overall).  Dustin Moseley pitched far, far better than I expected he would; he pitched well enough to win, but Cardinal starter Jamie Garcia was just a little bit better.

That's a lot of reasons to be happy with a 2-1 start to the season.  Now the Padres come home to face the Giants, Dodgers, and Reds on their first homestand of the season.  I'll be at the game tomorrow, hope you are too.

Programming Note:  Tuesday's Podcast will be cancelled.  Following the game I have an 8:40 softball game, so there' s no way I'll be in any shape to prattle on for 30 minutes.  We'll pick up again on Thursday.

Season Starts Today

Padres open in St Louis today in about 15 minutes.  I apologize for not posting at all these past 2 months, that should rectify itself once the season starts.  I've got a Podcast scheduled for tonight, so we can talk about the game then too.

New Podcast Schedule

We're here in New England again, which means cell phone reception is spotty at best.  It also means our normal time slot for the Podcast would be 1am Eastern time, and that's just crazy.  You gotta sleep sometime.

This week was also to be the inaugural Tuesday podcast, but, and I'm sure this comes as no surprise to some, I've cancelled that show.

Thursday's show is on, but will be at 8PM PACIFIC, so plan accordingly.  Seriously - we want to hear from you in the chat room.

Baseball Digest and Podcasts

A quick hitter.

Baseball Digest has been doing a birthday post each day during the off-season. Recently I started contributing to those posts.  My second one is up today on former Tigers pitcher Joe Coleman.

There will be a Podcast tonight, the first 30 min version, at 10pm PST.  Feel free to stop by.

Lastly, and sadly, Mr. David Nuffer, who spoke at Saturday's SABR meeting passed away this morning.  He will be missed.

Ted Williams Chapter SABR Day Recap

My wife and I attended yesterday's Ted Williams Chapter SABR meeting.  It was, as always, a great forum and there was a lively discussion.  The meeting started at 0900 and ran until at least 1300; she and I had to leave to relieve our baby sitter, otherwise we would have stayed for the entire program.

John Ingham gave a talk on an article he recently wrote about the 1967 Pirates.  The 1966 Pittsburgh team finished 22 games over .500 and 3 games behind the Dodgers for the NL title.  Many pundits thought all the Pirates needed was improvement at third and in the rotation, which they thought they achieved through trade in the off-season, most notably by acquiring Maury Wills from Los Angeles.

That 1967 edition didn't fare nearly as well as expected, finishing at .500, 20 1/2 games behind the Cardinals.  Mr. Ingham went on to say the team was reported by contemporary press as 'wracked with dissention' in the clubhouse, which likely contributed to their poor performance on the field, and what he thought contributed to that dissention.  I will not give away his thoughts - the article is under consideration for publication at NINE, a journal of baseball history and culture published by the University of Nebraska Press - but I will tell you his thesis centers around three large personalities.  Roberto Clemente, Wills, and manager Harry 'The Hat' Walker.  It was quite interesting.

On an unrelated subject, I finally got some insight why Joe Morgan was traded from Houston to Cincinnati (Walker landed as manager there after being fired by Pittsburgh during the 1967 season), and I look at the famous Juan Marichal/Johnny Roseboro brawl in a new way.

Next we heard from David Nuffer, a Ernest Hemingway buff.  One might wonder what place a Hemingway discussion has in a baseball forum.  Aside from this being a learned group (yes, shameless intellectual promotion there), Hemingway was a bit of a baseball fan.  According to Nuffer, he played baseball in high school, and while living in Cuba built a makeshift baseball field on his estate for the local boys to use.  In fact, one of those boys became his majordomo, and eventually published a memoir of those days titled Hemingway's Cuban Son.

Nuffer is a man of some local fame; apparently he held up signs behind the first base dugout back in the Jack Murphy days.  He is a character, pulling out a card which had a herald piece on it, and saying after it finished "I need a proper introduction."  I would have liked to have known him when he was younger and not wheelchair bound.

Anyway he talked about The Old Man and The Sea, one of Hemingway's great works.  In the pages of that novel there are 7 references to baseball, and embedded in those passages are 9 references to Joe DiMaggio - 'the Great Dimaggio', as the old man calls him.  Finally he concluded by reading from the only poem Hemingway is known to have written, called 'The Opening Game' (1912).  A great presentation; it was worth making the drive to Petco just to hear him speak.

After the break,

The Bartlett Deal and Trevor Hoffman

Padres Trail:  The Cutting Edge of commentary on stories at least 24 hours old.

The Padres signed Jason Bartlett to a 2-year deal worth $11 million guaranteed.  There is a club option for a third year at $5.5M, with a $1.5M buyout.  Cot's Baseball Contracts reports the contract is incentivized, meaning Bartlett may guarantee the third year if he meets certain performance thresholds.  They don't tell you what those are sadly.  So much for the 'Is Jason Bartlett returning in 2013' meter I was planning to put in the margin.

Assuming both Orlando Hudson and Bartlett play in San Diego for the duration of their contracts, 2011/2012 will be the first 2-year stretch with the same two men playing second and short, respectively, since 2004/2005 (Mark Loretta and Khalil Greene, if you are interested).  That's a lot of turnover in the middle infield over the past 5 seasons.  No wonder GM Jed Hoyer made it a priority to stabilize the situation at those two positions.

How good of a deal is this?  Fangraphs' Eno Sarris discussed it yesterday and thinks the Padres spent wisely.  I don't see a reason to disagree with his logic, although how good a signing this is will depend largely on whether Bartlett can remain healthy all season.  If, as Sarris supposes, the dramatic decline in his range last season is due to lower body injuries, then hopefully he (and the Padres training staff) can develop a strategy to prevent that.

*************
Trevor Hoffman has officially retired, and has been invited to become a part of the Padre front office for 2011.  I didn't realize he is 43 years old.  Trevor leaves the game as it's all-time saves leader, and the only man to save 600 games in a career.  I would imagine the Padres will retire his number at some point this season.

There are a couple of things I like about how he's handled his departure from the game.

1. No one-day contract.  This always struck me as silly.  Great players have already cemented their place in their fan's hearts.  Besides, great players have a lot of great highlights, and those highlights showcase the player in the uniform of the team he played on when he was making them.  You ever see highlights of Gretzky wearing a St Louis Blues uniform?  Of course not - he was only there a couple of months, but also he wasn't the sublime player he was with Edmonton and Los Angeles (heck, even with the New York Rangers he was pretty OK).  Hoffman will be shown getting #600 as a Brewer until Mariano Rivera breaks his record.  Then his highlight clips will revert to ones from the mid- and late-1990s when he dominated the NL.
2. Has a plan.  How many players leave the league and just play golf until they get restless?  Hoffman is interested in the business side of the game, and is looking to find his next niche. Give the Padres credit for allowing him the time to determine where he fits in best.

That's all for now.  

You may already know this, but anyway

I'm doing some research for an article on Randy Jones (which will appear on Wednesday), and discovered something interesting.

- In 1973 Randy Jones was promoted from AA to the majors.  He eventually won a Cy Young award (1976).

- In 2002 Jake Peavy was promoted from AA to the majors.  He eventually won a Cy Young award (2007).

In 2009 Mat Latos was promoted from AA to the majors.  I wonder...

I will be posting more frequently now.  Sorry for the long absence.

Orlando Hudson at Second

Various sources reported on Friday* Orlando Hudson had signed with the Padres to play second base in 2011.  San Diego has not confirmed the deal, waiting for the results of the physical before making the formal announcement.  According to reports in the San Diego U-T, Hudson signed for 2 years ($4M in 2011, $5.5M in 2012), with an $8M option in 2013 (and $2M buyout).  It has not yet been stated if the option is club, player, or mutual (at least as far as I have read).

*Note to Jed Hoyer - can you PLEASE make these types of moves known on Thursday morning instead of Friday morning?  Help a poor lonely Podcast host out.  Throw me a bone, man.

Most of the reporting on this trade has highlighted Hudson's defensive ability.  That, coupled with the trade for  Jason Bartlett (agreed to during the winter meetings last week but only finalized yesterday), and the acquisition of Cameron Maybin earlier this off-season, make the Padres a better defensive team up the middle than in 2010.

Or does it?  I've already looked at Maybin vs Tony Gwynn Jr.  Let's look at the new players in comparison to who they're replacing.

There will be a podcast tonight (12/9)

There's a lot to talk about this week, don't you think?  See you at 10pm.  Follow the link below.


Padres Trail Podcast

Who's On First?

With Adrian Gonzalez now in Boston, I naturally assumed the first base job would become Kyle Blanks.  He is a natural first baseman and, again assuming he's healthy, is a power bat the 2011 Padres will sorely need.  Jed Hoyer, during an interview Monday with Darren Smith, indicated the Padres would look for free agent help at that position.  Which begets two questions:

1.  Where is Blanks going to play when healthy?
2.  What are the Padres' options at first in this market?

Cot's Baseball Contracts has the current list of free agents who play first, age last season in parenthesis:

• Garrett Atkins (30), Willy Aybar (27), Russell Branyan (34), Jason Giambi (39), Troy Glaus (33), Nick Johnson (31), Paul Konerko (34), Casey Kotchman (28), Mark Kotsay (34), Jeff Larish (27), Adam LaRoche (30), Derrek Lee (34), Lyle Overbay (33), Carlos Pena (32), Robb Quinlan (33), Jose Ruiz (25), Randy Ruiz (32), Mike Sweeney (36) , Fernando Tatis (35), Jim Thome (39).

That's a lot of guys to pick through. Let's pare it down, first by eliminating everyone over 35, which removes Giambi, Sweeney, Tatis, and Thome.  We can eliminate Konerko and Pena as unaffordable for the Padres.  We should eliminate guys with significant injury history, so that takes Glaus, Johnson, and Kotsay off.  Jose Ruiz is raw with no major league experience; he's not the answer for 2011.  That cuts the list in half.

Here are the career slugging percentages for the remaining 10 candidates:

• Atkins - .449.  Should note he has played half his career at Coors Field, and his slugging is close to 100 points higher at home (.495/.406) 
• Aybar - .399
• Branyan - .490
• Kotchman - .392
• Larish - .380 in 276 career ML plate appearances
• LaRoche - .488
• Lee - .498
• Overbay - .447
• Quinlan - .401
• Randy Ruiz - .488, 238 career ML plate appearances

Eliminating everyone slugging below .400 (and Rob Quinlan, who slugged .401) kicks Aybar, Kotchman, Larish, and Quinlan off the list.  Six potentials left.

How does one rank these guys?  Three righties (Atkins, LaRoche, Ruiz), three lefties (Branyan, Lee, Overbay).

Atkins was designated for assignment by Baltimore 27 June 10.  He did not play again in 2010.  Fangraphs calculated he was a below-average first baseman (UZR/150 of -13.2), and he's put up negative WAR the last 2 seasons.  From his 2006 career highs in every offensive category, he has seen a drop in OBP and SLG for 4 consecutive years.  His power has seemingly disappeared.

Branyan started last season with Cleveland and finished it in Seattle.  He probably should have been included with the significant injury history, but he probably has the biggest power bat of this group.  Branyan has always been a pretty good defensive 1B and put up a 6.0 UZR/150 in 2010.  He'll give a team between 0.6 and 3 WAR on a given year.  He's left-handed, but he has the power to reach Petco's right field.

LaRoche declined a little bit in 2010 when compared to 2009, but he was solid, hitting 25 HR for the third consecutive year.  He graded out at 4.8 UZR/150 and a solid 2.1 WAR.

Lee had a solid 2010 overall, but is on the downslope of his career.  He posted a UZR/150 of 2.3 playing for Chicago and Atlanta, and posted a 2.0 WAR.

Overbay hit 20 HR for only the second time in his career last season.  He was spectacularly average as a fielder (UZR/150 of 0.1), and posted a 1.5 WAR.  As a lefty, he'd probably see his power dry up in Petco.

Ruiz is really a career minor leaguer.  He played only 23 innings at first last season.  How he would project at Petco is unknown, but I doubt the Padres would take a chance on a 32 year old AAAA player.

Based on those summaries, I think Ruiz, Overbay, and Atkins aren't good options at first.  If Hoyer is going to fill first base from without, it seems Branyan, Lee, or LaRoche make the most sense, if they can be enticed into a relatively affordable contract.

Adrian Gonzalez to Boston - OFFICIAL

tWWL is reporting today the Gonzo trade is final, even though the Red Sox and Gonzalez's people could not agree on a long-term extension.

For those of you holding out hope he stays in SD, I imagine it will take the press conference tomorrow and Adrian holding a Red Sox jersey before you acknowledge he's gone.  That said I'm not sure there are many of those folks left.  Trading Adrian Gonzalez away has been expected for more than a year now.  San Diego could not afford the left-handed first baseman.  If they were forced to trade away Jake Peavy and his $16 million dollar a year deal, how where they going to re-sign Gonzo for $20 mil?

2010's almost-run to the post-season only delayed the inevitable.  Jed Hoyer could not trade Gonzalez away in July because his club was not only in contention, they were leading the division.  How would that look? Giving up your best hitter with two months to go and a 4 game lead?  So Gonzalez stayed.

There will probably be comparisons to the fire-sale of the early 1990s.  So far this off-season Jon Garland, Yorvit Torrealba, and Miguel Tejada had all left for other teams (LA, not yet signed, and SF, respectively).  With those losses this team was to have a difficult time contending.  With Gonzalez in the AL East it is pretty near impossible.  Ryan Ludwick is going to be awfully lonely in the middle of this order.

For better or worse this will be the trade by which Hoyer is judged as the GM.  It's a good thing he and key members of his staff know the Boston minor league system well, because he'd better have gotten excellent value for the fourth-best player in the NL last season (if you go by MVP voting) who is in his prime.

Whatever contract value it is Adrian finally agrees to (be it 8 years, $180M or 6/$120) congratulations to him on the deal.  Gonzalez is the best 1B in the history of the San Diego Padres, and will be for some time to come.  He's worked hard and his ship has finally come in.  I will miss seeing him hit in person and on local TV.

As I close, and in case you're not depressed enough by the trade, here's how I project the 2011 Padre team to look:

1B - Kyle Blanks
2B - Matt Antonelli (speculation only; Eckstein is a free agent and I don't know who else to put here)
3B - Chase Headley
SS - Everth Cabrera (see above, replace 'Eckstein...' with 'Tejada signed with SF')
LF - Chris Denorfia Ryan Ludwick*
CF - Cameron Maybin
RF - Ryan Ludwick Will Venable*
C - Nick Hundley

SP:  Mat Latos, Clayton Richard, Tim Stauffer, Chris Young (yes I think he re-signs) Aaron Harang**, Cory Luebke.

Think we struggled to score runs in 2010?  Just wait.

*This seems the more likely lineup after pondering it last night.
** Spaced the Harang signing.