These early games are killers. Even though they are middle of the afternoon games here on the East Coast, they are throwing off my schedule. But anyhow, the Padres are playing the Cubs and that means the games are on TV for me.
I saw the beginning of yesterday's game (before life caught up with me) and I have to say, you could tell in the first inning it was going to be a rough outing for David Wells when it appeared he wasn't going to get the strike zone he wanted. He got out of that inning ok, but the tight zone eventually caught up to him and Chicago took the first game.
I have to say as a side note to the game, listening to the Cubs announcers talk about the series was funny. They pretty much were saying that the series should be easier because the Cubs don't have to face Jake Peavy or undefeated Justin Germano. Apparently those guys thought Chicago fared better against Wells, Chris Young and Greg Maddux.
They went on to say that there were no easy games against the Padres rotation but Wells may be the easiest one to pick a win up from given his somewhat erratic nature. Well, hopefully Young and Maddux will get the job done and win this series for SD.
Young takes on Carlos "Punching buddy" Zambrano in an early afternoon game out East.
Saturday, June 16, 2007
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Blown away
You had to know the Padres stood a good chance of winning Wednesday's game just because Jake Peavy was on the mound. But who knew they would actually take advantage of a high ERA pitcher and chase Edwin Jackson in the first? He officially had only 1/3 of an inning but the damage was done before Peavy took the mound.
It's nice to get off that four game slide, now let's see SD take the series and get out of interleague play and back to beating up on the NL. Justin Germano takes the hill in the early Thursday match against J.P. Howell. Both pitchers are undefeated and had rocky last starts.
It's nice to get off that four game slide, now let's see SD take the series and get out of interleague play and back to beating up on the NL. Justin Germano takes the hill in the early Thursday match against J.P. Howell. Both pitchers are undefeated and had rocky last starts.
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
There's no place like the NL
I think one thing has been established during this disastrous four game losing streak - the Padres are definitely in the right league.
It looked like the Padres were finally going to get some luck going their way and then the bullpen imploded. You could see the smoke from Tampa. I, for one, will be glad when this interleague garbage is over so that SD can go back to being the team it was when they swept the Dodgers.
It looked like Greg Maddux pitched decent enough to win last night - not necessarily anything special, but good enough - and should not have had to worry when the pen came to the rescue. However, Cla Meredith has been downright bad of late and another game we should have won got away. In his 4 1/3 innings pitched in June, Meredith has given up 5 runs - 3 of them earned - and 10 hits. He has been responsible for three losses and his ERA continues to climb towards 4.00.
Meanwhile, as Gaslamp Ball pointed out after the game, the Padres have two guys with ERA's under 1.00 that are rotting on the bench.
Whatever the reason is, Bud Black has got to change his strategy or this will be the worst road trip of the season. Let's hope they can get to tonight's pitcher Edwin Jackson and his 7.39 ERA. Of course, most of the AL pitchers SD has faced recently have had juicy ERA's just begging to be blown up more and look how that has turned out. At least Jake Peavy will be able to get us to the eighth without need of the pen.
It looked like the Padres were finally going to get some luck going their way and then the bullpen imploded. You could see the smoke from Tampa. I, for one, will be glad when this interleague garbage is over so that SD can go back to being the team it was when they swept the Dodgers.
It looked like Greg Maddux pitched decent enough to win last night - not necessarily anything special, but good enough - and should not have had to worry when the pen came to the rescue. However, Cla Meredith has been downright bad of late and another game we should have won got away. In his 4 1/3 innings pitched in June, Meredith has given up 5 runs - 3 of them earned - and 10 hits. He has been responsible for three losses and his ERA continues to climb towards 4.00.
Meanwhile, as Gaslamp Ball pointed out after the game, the Padres have two guys with ERA's under 1.00 that are rotting on the bench.
Whatever the reason is, Bud Black has got to change his strategy or this will be the worst road trip of the season. Let's hope they can get to tonight's pitcher Edwin Jackson and his 7.39 ERA. Of course, most of the AL pitchers SD has faced recently have had juicy ERA's just begging to be blown up more and look how that has turned out. At least Jake Peavy will be able to get us to the eighth without need of the pen.
Monday, June 11, 2007
Swept away
How do the Padres go from sweeping the Dodgers earlier in the week to being swept by Seattle? That should not happen, especially when two of the guys San Diego threw had ERAs under 3.00 while all three of Seattle's pitchers were over 5.00.
Steadying influences Jake Peavy and Chris Young failed to pick up wins this weekend and San Diego lost three straight one run games, a very disturbing trend. When you don't have much offense, these are the types of games that need to be won.
Luckily for the Padres both Arizona and Los Angeles struggled this weekend as well and they are still tied atop the NL West with the Diamondbacks.
Interleague nonsense continues this week as the Padres travel to Tampa Bay to take on the Devil Rays. Hopefully Greg Maddux can get the team back on track Tuesday, even though Tampa Bay is throwing out one of the most promising pitching prospects in Scott Kazmir. And even though the Rays are still pretty bad, as the series with the Mariners showed, the Padres are no lock to take any series.
Steadying influences Jake Peavy and Chris Young failed to pick up wins this weekend and San Diego lost three straight one run games, a very disturbing trend. When you don't have much offense, these are the types of games that need to be won.
Luckily for the Padres both Arizona and Los Angeles struggled this weekend as well and they are still tied atop the NL West with the Diamondbacks.
Interleague nonsense continues this week as the Padres travel to Tampa Bay to take on the Devil Rays. Hopefully Greg Maddux can get the team back on track Tuesday, even though Tampa Bay is throwing out one of the most promising pitching prospects in Scott Kazmir. And even though the Rays are still pretty bad, as the series with the Mariners showed, the Padres are no lock to take any series.
Friday, June 8, 2007
Yahoo article
Was checking on my fantasy baseball team when I saw a link to this article by Yahoo Sports on Kevin Towers. It's a short piece but it addresses Towers' GM style and talks about the need for another quality bat.
The best part of this story though is the full out grammar war in the comments section. I would say there is a better way to use your time, but then I would be getting involved and I'm not necessarily in the mood.
The best part of this story though is the full out grammar war in the comments section. I would say there is a better way to use your time, but then I would be getting involved and I'm not necessarily in the mood.
Flashback Friday: Justin Germano
Ok, I realize I never got a flashback up last week and I apologize - things get crazy, life happens and it becomes Friday. For this week, I decided to flashback to the not so distant future of 2004, a time when people had just finished watching the first season of the new hit show, The O.C. (ok, when teenagers started watching it) and gas prices were still less than $2.00 a gallon. Oh I remember the days.
Anyways, on May 22 a young pitcher named Justin Germano made his major league debut for the Padres, giving up 4 earned runs in 5 innings while picking up the win, 9-6 over the Phillies. After the Padres had jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the top of the second, Germano gave up four runs in the third. San Diego then chiseled away at the lead and had retaken it by the time Germano was pulled. Both teams combined for 15 runs and 23 hits and used most of their pens to try and win the game.
Germano would only start four more games and pitch in seven total the rest of the season, finishing with a 8.86 ERA, 16 K's and he gave up 31 hits in 21 1/3 innings. The next season Germano was traded along with pitcher Travis Chick to the Cincinnati Reds for IF Joe Randa.
Germano pitched 6 2/3 innings for the Reds in 2006, finishing 0-1 with a 5.40 ERA and 8 K's. He was then traded to the Phillies at the trade deadline for Rheal Cormier.
The Padres then claimed him off waivers as the Phillies tried to option him to the minors March and after optioning him themselves, the Padres called him up when Clay Hensley went on the DL. Since his call up March 30, Germano is 4-0 with a 1.76 ERA, 10 K's and a 0.81 WHIP.
While it still remains to be see how important of a role he will secure with San Diego, the Padres certainly have brought Germano back into the fold at the right time.
Anyways, on May 22 a young pitcher named Justin Germano made his major league debut for the Padres, giving up 4 earned runs in 5 innings while picking up the win, 9-6 over the Phillies. After the Padres had jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the top of the second, Germano gave up four runs in the third. San Diego then chiseled away at the lead and had retaken it by the time Germano was pulled. Both teams combined for 15 runs and 23 hits and used most of their pens to try and win the game.
Germano would only start four more games and pitch in seven total the rest of the season, finishing with a 8.86 ERA, 16 K's and he gave up 31 hits in 21 1/3 innings. The next season Germano was traded along with pitcher Travis Chick to the Cincinnati Reds for IF Joe Randa.
Germano pitched 6 2/3 innings for the Reds in 2006, finishing 0-1 with a 5.40 ERA and 8 K's. He was then traded to the Phillies at the trade deadline for Rheal Cormier.
The Padres then claimed him off waivers as the Phillies tried to option him to the minors March and after optioning him themselves, the Padres called him up when Clay Hensley went on the DL. Since his call up March 30, Germano is 4-0 with a 1.76 ERA, 10 K's and a 0.81 WHIP.
While it still remains to be see how important of a role he will secure with San Diego, the Padres certainly have brought Germano back into the fold at the right time.
Walk off walk
You've got to love winning a game on a walk off walk, especially when it seemed that the Padres had blown the sweep. Five runs in the bottom of the ninth is unheard of and what makes this win even better is that is finished off a sweep of the Dodgers.
Jake Peavy got rocked - by his standards - and things seemed to have gotten away from our boys but behold the power of a bottom of the ninth rally. It was even better to get it against LA's interim closer, Jonathan Broxton, whom many feel should take over for Takashi Saito.
These three wins should give us a little bit of breathing room at least with the Dodgers, now we have to focus on keeping up the pace with Arizona, as they have matched San Diego's every win of late. This NL West race is going to come down to the wire and every game is going to count. Next up, the fiercest rivalry in baseball. Yup, you read that right, the Mariners are coming to town.
Justin Germano looks to improve to 5-0 and keep his ERA under 2.00 while his counterpart, Miguel Batista, struggles to prove he actually belongs in the bigs.
Jake Peavy got rocked - by his standards - and things seemed to have gotten away from our boys but behold the power of a bottom of the ninth rally. It was even better to get it against LA's interim closer, Jonathan Broxton, whom many feel should take over for Takashi Saito.
These three wins should give us a little bit of breathing room at least with the Dodgers, now we have to focus on keeping up the pace with Arizona, as they have matched San Diego's every win of late. This NL West race is going to come down to the wire and every game is going to count. Next up, the fiercest rivalry in baseball. Yup, you read that right, the Mariners are coming to town.
Justin Germano looks to improve to 5-0 and keep his ERA under 2.00 while his counterpart, Miguel Batista, struggles to prove he actually belongs in the bigs.
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