Padres defeat Astros, 2-1. Bandwagon holding steady
by Dex on May 8, 2010 7:11 PM PDT
Email
Print
I'll be honest with you. I'm not usually honest. Typically, what you read from me is a mixture of exaggeration, sarcasm and old timey time story telling. Sometimes I break out the analysis and it's real good, but it's only at those times do people actually think I'm joking. It's a catch-22.
But to be totally honest.
I don't think the other teams in the league had a book on the Padres hitters and pitchers before the season. And if the Padres keep this up, the other teams will develop that book.
I'm being totally honest. This team is talented enough to win this division, but only if every other team continues to work off of last year's playbooks. By the All-Star Break, my biggest fear isn't that Adrian or Heath will be traded. My biggest fear is that the other teams will have us figured out.
I think we can play our division close (except for the Rockies). I think we can KILL the Central (except for the Cardinals). And I think the West will have trouble with the East overall. I don't see any team in the West dominating the division (except for maybe the Rockies, which is what I figured before the season started). Therefore, we have a shot.
I wish people would quit crowing about how the Padres don't get any respect. I truly honestly believe that we only have a shot this season if we continue to not get respect and I'd rather not go around asking for people to start noticing our guys and sending advanced scouts to discover all of the holes in our career .240 - .260 hitters.
Anyways...
...Game ball goes to Jerry Hairston for playing the high bounce into the volleyball set for the forceout at second base. If you didn't see it. Look for it on Web Gems or whatever MLB TV calls their thing. Quick Pitch I think.
GO PADRES!!!
Roll Call: Sam (sdsuaztec4), All Things SD, justdave, whithd3, scout1222, Dex, tonoxtono, mrbarneydangles, Axion, dontkickthebaby, icaughthundleys#4, ABY, Zach (maestro876), Hormel, field39, MrPoe, Zen Blade, pasadenapadre, The Kipper, Dude52089, I8EtoDunbar, Kozak, gogodurango, Richard Wade, Boilermaker19, StrangeBroP25, podpeople, Ketchup, Schrute Bucks, Duke Street Kings, jpleeg2, jayman66, eastbaysd, theodore donald kerabatsos, jodes0405
Total Users: 35
Total Posts: 551
45 comments
|
0 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
Gaslamp Ball Game Balls are awarded for flamboyance
by Dex on May 8, 2010 7:18 PM PDT up reply actions
And yet Drama's never won one.
by theodore donald kerabatsos on May 8, 2010 7:19 PM PDT up reply actions 2 recs
Well, true enough on the "no respect" POV
I’d rather fly in under the radar until we do something REALLY noteworthy.
Yup, I'm the nut who believes Mark Loretta is a possible future Hall of Famer.
Well... it seems
Like a good part of our success is a result of our coaches being given the green light to be risky ands somewhat reckless in managing runners on the base paths. It makes sense; Bud Black, or someone even higher up says “we basically have no chance, so have some fun out there and make things exciting”. Well the only problem here, is that exciting is translating to winning consistenly.
So now, my only fear is that if we keep this up, management will get nervous about wanting us to keep it up and force our coaches to run a less wreckless ship. Though I could be way off base. Either way, this is fun….. I never had any idea this season would be so much fun…. even if we stink it out from here on out, I’m so much more satisfied with this year than with any other year in PEtco….. even, and especially the boring and mediocre teams that won the division those couple times.
"Well, he ought to go home and find somebody else to bang." Jerry Coleman
I don't know...
They have made an awful lot of outs on the base paths. In all likely hood they have lost just as many runs as they have gained. It is just more exciting this way.
From what I have seen, they are winning with pitching, pitching and pitching.
Their baserunning has been fun to watch
But hasn’t contributed a lot. They’ve been winning with run prevention and league average offense.
"It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains."
Bolts From The Blue - Heavy with the facts, slightly less heavy with the opinions.
by Zach (maestro876) on May 8, 2010 7:58 PM PDT via mobile up reply actions
The Padres are the Rodney Dangerfield of baseball
I just want to get paid to draw naked girls, is that so much to ask?
They are gonna have to bring their A game tomorrow against Oswalt.
It will be a test of the Emergency Scrapcast System.
"Savvy Chicks Dig the Bullpen"
Paulino brought his best stuff today
Shouldn’t be too different than what they’ll see from Oswalt.
Isn't it enough to know that I ruined a pony making a gift for you? ◔ヮ◔
Uncommon Sportsman :: Absurdity in play
Dex, you're wrong about the "book" thing.
The players with the least experience on our team are Latos, LeBlanc, Blanks and Venable, and any book or scouting reports went out on them long ago. The fact is that most of guys on our roster have been around long enough that teams’ scouts already know everything there is to know.
Some guys are overperforming because their BABIP is either really high (Headley, Torrealba) or really low (Garland) but some are actually improved players, with the potential to get better. They’ll regress some, but it won’t be due to them getting figured out.
So don’t worry about the book getting out. It already did long ago.
"It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains."
Bolts From The Blue - Heavy with the facts, slightly less heavy with the opinions.
by Zach (maestro876) on May 8, 2010 7:57 PM PDT via mobile reply actions
would this be considered a "Wonking"?
"There are two great tragedies in life: One is not getting what one wants; the other is getting it."
"I like to consider the padres' team as a microcosm, or symbolic representation of my daily endeavor towards inner salvation." — Mysterious Cloaked Padre Fan
i agree
These guys are professionals. “Oh the sucky-ass Padres are coming, let’s not prepare for them very well. Let’s go on another tour of NASA…”
I don’t see it. They want to win badly, both collectively and individually, so they prepare.
Regarding Gerut, this is a first in my memory. The Pads, as you all know possess neither a no-hitter nor a cycle. But I don’t think any Padre pitcher has pitched one after leaving the Padres. I am not sure about the cycle, but Gerut is the first I recall.
Also, did an analysis of no-hitters. What franchise do you think is the worst in “net no hitters: +1 for each no hitter you’ve had, -1 for each on against”. Yep, we are -8. 0 for, 8 against. The Mets are closest of teams without a no hitter in -4 (there are few teams with no hitters that have had a lot against that are worse than NY). So Jody hitting for the cycle hurts.
All I'm saying
It makes sense that other teams will have a bigger book on Manny Ramirez’s spray chart and how to pitch him than they do on Will Venable. They’ll probably know a bit more about Rafael Furcal’s base stealing tendencies than they do about Chase Headley.
If what you’re saying is true, then the books that other teams keep never improve because they’ve got them figured out and that’s just wrong.
by Dex on May 9, 2010 7:29 AM PDT up reply actions
I'm not saying that they won't learn more
I’m saying it won’t make much of a difference.
"It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains."
Bolts From The Blue - Heavy with the facts, slightly less heavy with the opinions.
by Zach (maestro876) on May 9, 2010 8:40 AM PDT via mobile up reply actions
Dex, maybe for the hitter
but not for the pitchers.
All of our pitchers, minus LeBlanc should be well known. Garland has pitched in the NL west, our other starters were around last year enough to be known already. This includes the bullpen.
So, while our hitting my go down, I think our pitching is solid.
That’s my two cents.
also my typing/spelling is horrible sometimes
this being one of those times.
“hitters”
“hitting may go down”
They each pitched a fair amount last season
Richard 12 starts
Latos 10 starts
If you are in the west/NL and you have not figured them out (or at least last year’s version of them), then you aren’t doing your job.
You can argue that’s why someone like Blanks might struggle a lot more this year b/c he played just enough of last season that people now know him.
anyways, that’s my three cents.
This makes no sense.
Blanks is hitting .182 and has struck out 38 times, I’m pretty sure they’ve figured out that he can’t hit the low and away breaking stuff, what more evidence do you need of a ‘book’ being out about him.
Venable is hitting .234 and has struck out 32 times, I’d say that book is pretty out too.
We are hitting over our head at the catcher position, pitcher spot, and at third base with Headley, we’re hitting about what we should expect from CF and 2B, and at every other position I’d say we’re pretty far below what we should be. RF, LF, and SS, aka where the youngest guys start, is where we are struggling, and it is precisely because the book is out on these kids. Time will tell whether they make adjustments and learn to beat the book, or if they Khalil Greene and never patch up that massive hole in their swing.
Either way, the book is firmly out, or as someone mentioned, the pdf file or spreadsheet with information that a decade ago was held in a book, is out. Our pitchers won’t perform at this level all year either, which is again why we’re winning, but I do believe our hitting should actually improve as the year goes on.
Your prototypical weak-hitting second baseman.
You might be right
I just hope the Padres advanced scouts aren’t as lax in their work as everybody else apparently is going to be with the Padres.
by Dex on May 9, 2010 9:28 AM PDT up reply actions
Jody just hit for the cycle for the Brewers
I just want to get paid to draw naked girls, is that so much to ask?
And yet again....
I work they win…..
I think most teams know about the Padres now. Its only so much that the base running does in each game itself. Its the overall effect its had. Pitchers are more adapt to throw strikes, and miss their location then giving someone a free pass on the basepaths. (It also doesn’t hurt with our strike out rate) But the main reason this team can place that kind of pressure on a pitcher is their own pitching has been unreal thus far this year. Teams know exactly what the Padres want to do, and how they want to do it. Its called forcing the issue, something the Padres have been good at this year. It comes down to us playing some small ball, with defense and pitching, while other teams still rely on the power game. In some ballparks its going to put the Padres at the disadvantage, but in other (like Petco) it will give them the advantage.
Awesome
Keep working.
The thing is much more internal than external. Early last season, the following were not only true, they were revered as holy writ:
- If we fell behind, it’s over.
- We need a big inning
- We have to get hits, especially home runs, to win
After we fell out of the race, we stopped playing ball in the same, formulaic fashion. As was mentioned before, that’s when we started to succeed. We didn’t have to get ahead early. We didn’t have to hope for the luck required to string multiple hits in a row. Now, we know that we can scratch out runs here and there, and that we’re not out of it until the 9th inning ends with us behind.
All of this is ignoring the fact that the pitching has been neither good nor great, it’s been immaculate.
Hmmm…
That needs all caps.
IMMACULATE!
Probably won't get to say this again
But the Padres have scored more runs than St. Louis. Allowed fewer, too.
"It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains."
Bolts From The Blue - Heavy with the facts, slightly less heavy with the opinions.
by Zach (maestro876) on May 9, 2010 12:15 AM PDT via mobile reply actions
It's incredible
I think their team chemistry has a lot to do with this great start. This team has been so much fun to watch. I really hope the folks in SD start waking up and coming out to the ballpark now, as opposed to mid-season.
Tim Stauffer to start for Kevin today....
Mountain West Connection ::Above the Rest::
Bolts From The Blue "There’s a gleam men. Let’s go get the gleam! Focus and Finish!!! One play at a time!!! Let's Go!!!"
it kind of reminds me of that movie "You've got mail"...I'm Tom Hanks he's Meg Ryan -- Padres prospect Matt Antonelli on sdsuaztec4
by Sam (sdsuaztec4) on May 9, 2010 8:37 AM PDT reply actions
Thank God this team has depth.
I’m pretty confident in Stauf’s ability to get us through 5-6 innings. Especially against this lineup. Hopefully it’s a twisted ankle or something.
"It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains."
Bolts From The Blue - Heavy with the facts, slightly less heavy with the opinions.
by Zach (maestro876) on May 9, 2010 8:42 AM PDT via mobile up reply actions
huh....
makes me a bit nervous…
Stauffer may or may not be able to go more than 4 innings… hopefully he has a strong few innings with few pitches, and doesn’t tire.
Also, hopefully the astros anemic lineup continues.
Kevin isn't hurt
His younger brother died.
Mountain West Connection ::Above the Rest::
Bolts From The Blue "There’s a gleam men. Let’s go get the gleam! Focus and Finish!!! One play at a time!!! Let's Go!!!"
it kind of reminds me of that movie "You've got mail"...I'm Tom Hanks he's Meg Ryan -- Padres prospect Matt Antonelli on sdsuaztec4
by Sam (sdsuaztec4) on May 9, 2010 9:43 AM PDT up reply actions
*Isn't hurt physically
Mountain West Connection ::Above the Rest::
Bolts From The Blue "There’s a gleam men. Let’s go get the gleam! Focus and Finish!!! One play at a time!!! Let's Go!!!"
it kind of reminds me of that movie "You've got mail"...I'm Tom Hanks he's Meg Ryan -- Padres prospect Matt Antonelli on sdsuaztec4
by Sam (sdsuaztec4) on May 9, 2010 9:43 AM PDT up reply actions
4 scoreless innings would be just fine with me.
Thanks to Mat and Garland our bullpen is tanned, rested and ready.
"I've got great references. Ask Drama."
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Recent FanPosts
In Association With
Big League Stew - MLB - Yahoo! Sports
- College player makes impossible over the fence catch to save tournament game (Video)
- Security!: Camden Yards guard collides with Royals’ Mike Moustakas
- The Juice: Nelson Cruz matches career high eight RBIs, Pujols stays hot in Seattle
- Benches clear at Fenway as Red Sox-Rays rivalry heats up
- Keeping good company: Albert Pujols becomes fourth-youngest player to hit 450 home runs
