2007 recaps: Starting pitching

Alright, so it's been almost another week between posts so I guess it's time to get to my thoughts on the starting pitching in 2007.

What started out as one of the team's strongest parts became somewhat of a problem as things wore on. If Jake Peavy doesn't win the Cy Young, it will be a tragedy as he was clearly the best NL pitcher this year. Not only was he the only starting pitcher in the majors with an ERA under 3.00 ( he finished with 2.54), he also led the NL in wins and strikeouts - the pitcher's triple crown. But behind him was one roller coaster of a staff.

Competing with Peavy for the Cy Young through the All Star break was teammate Chris Young, however he tailed off after an oblique injury early in the second half of the season. Once the injury hit, you never knew how good Young would be for how long and it showed in his stats. On July 24, Young was 9-3. Then after the injury he went 0-5 (to finish with a 9-8 record) and the Pads went 2-8 during that span.

Greg Maddux had a similar situation happen to him where he had five consecutive losses but he followed that up with five wins in his next six starts and finished with a 14-11 record. Maddux clearly wasn't the Maddux of old and for a long time it seemed that he needed to be pulled by either the sixth inning or 65 pitches, whichever came first. But he picked it up in the second half and threw less than 65 pitches only once.

After Maddux the rotation was a complete mess. Clay Hensley battled early season injuries and was never able get going once he was healthy. David Wells was like Maddux but compounded, needing to be pulled by around 50 pitches before he imploded. He was so ineffective that he was eventually released. And while Justin Germano came up huge at the start of the season he eventually wore down and was no better or worse than any of the other pitchers the Pads were trying to get quality starts out of every now and then.

All of this inconsistency eventually wore down the pen and contributed to SD missing the playoffs, but that is more of a discussion for the breakdown of the pen. With Peavy and Young back healthy, the top spots of the rotation are obviously taken care of but after that its anyone's guess as to who will fill out the spots in '08. Maddux has a player option and would again be a good back-of-the-rotation guy, but it is obvious the Nos. 4 and 5 spots will need to be addressed.

Hensley is probably not an option and Germano may be better suited for long relief. And from what the guys the Pads were trying out at the end of the season, none of them really seized the opportunity provided to them in a time of need. There is clearly some need here, no matter how strong it was thought to be at the beginning of 2007.

Pitcher's Duel

After splitting the first two games of the series with the Red Sox, both teams will send their early season Cy Young candidates to the mound. Both Jake Peavy and Josh Beckett come into Sunday's game with only one loss and both pitchers strike a ton of people out. This should be one of the best games of the season, win or lose.

Not much more to say other than I'm glad interleague play will be over after this.

How sweep it is

They finally did it, the Padres picked up their first series sweep of the season ... and they did it against one of the hottest teams in the early going.

As Padres fans it's got to make us feel good that this team has what it takes to derail a hot Brewers team that has now lost five in a row. And now the Padres are tied for the second best record in the NL and have a share of the NL West lead.

The best part of Sunday's win had to be another masterful performance by Jake Peavy. And while it is still really early in the season, each start like this is helping Peavy build his case for the Cy Young. But what is even more impressive is Peavy's batting stats this year. He's now got a .231 average, better than four of his teammates in the starting lineup. Too bad they don't offer a hitting crown for pitchers because Peavy could win that too.

After a day off the Padres travel to Pittsburgh before heading to my neck of the woods this weekend, meaning I will finally get a chance to see them up close. Let's hope they can keep this streak going and pick up another series sweep.