Tag: San Diego Padres

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MLB General

The Full Count: Verlander rolls along


1. This Rookie’s not fading: It’s a fact that most rookies, even the best ones, fade down the stretch. But Justin Verlander of the Tigers isn’t following that trend. In September he has two starts and a 0.60 ERA after last night’s gem against the Twins. Verlander threw 7 innings, allowing just one run and striking out 5. He earned a victory to improve to 16-7 as the Tigers rolled on against the Twins. Verlander was helped by the Tigers’ offense, which scored 7 runs and hit 4 homers. Detroit ended a 1-4 stretch with the victory and leads the Twins by 5 games.

2. The Contenders: The Phillies and Marlins started what will be an interesting four-game series over the weekend. Yesterday the Phils took Game 1 by a score of 14-8 in a game that featured great offense by both teams. For the winning Phils, Ryan Howard hit his 54th homerun of the season, his fifth jack in five days. Chase Utley had two hits and three RBIs, and backup catcher Chris Coste even got in on the action with four runs driven in. The Marlins were impressive too on offense, as Miguel Cabrera went crazy with four hits, a homer, and three runs. But their stud rookie pitcher Josh Johnson saw his ERA rise over 3.0 for the first time since May 4. He had been leading all pitchers in that category for a while, but not after the 4 innings pitched, 5 earned runs effort he had last night. The Marlins fell back to .500 a day after their no-hitter. But each team is still very much alive in the Wild Card standings.

3. The Steamroller: The Mets are literally steamrolling their way through the relatively easy National League. Yesterday they cruised by the Dodgers 7-0, as Tom Glavine pitched well enough to earn his first victory since August 5. Since June 23, Glavine is remarkably just 2-4, with an increased ERA as well. Two wins in two-and-a-half months are very bad luck for a pitcher on the NL’s best offense, which showed off as well in the win. Jose Reyes hit what was surprisingly his first career inside-the-park homerun. David Wright went 2-2, drove in a run, and scored. And Carlos Beltran hit his team-leading 113th RBI. Brad Penny of the Dodgers got smoked for all seven runs and exited with a loss.

4. No Hafner, no problem: The Cleveland Indians lacked big-time DH Travis Hafner last night, who hasn’t played since the 1st with an unknown injury. But that was no big deal for their offense, even against the defending World Champs. Cleveland easily outclassed the White Sox yesterday, winning 9-1. Victor Martinez and Grady Sizemore each homered for the Tribe, who pumped out 17 hits on the night. The loser for the White Sox was Mark Buehrle, who has been plagued by inconsistent play recently. He left after 4 innings, allowing 5 runs and 10 hits on the day. The loss dropped him to 12-12, including a 3-6 mark since the break. The Indians have now outscored their opponents by 81 runs this season, a remarkable figure considering their 67-72 record.

5. The Quiet Pursuit of an All-time Record: An MLB player is about to break a major record, yet even baseball fans haven’t been hearing about his chase. He is Padres closer Trevor Hoffman, who has been one of the league’s most underrated players for a while and is closing in on the saves record. Hoffman leads the National League with 37 saves this season, and has closed out more than half of the Padres’ 73 wins. He hasn’t even allowed a run since July 28. More importantly, Hoffman is just 5 away from Lee Smith’s mark of 478 saves. He’s on pace for six more saves this season, meaning that he should break the record.Why this isn’t a bigger story is beyond us. Mariano Rivera gets all the publicity, but Hoffman has been just as good for just as long in the regular season. The only thing he doesn’t have is the playoff experience. Still, he’ll retire the all time saves leader, and that should be enough to get anyone into the Hall of Fame.

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MLB General

The Full Count: Special August Wrap-up Edition



Often compared to Willie Stargell

1. He’s good. Real good: The Phillies lost to the Nationals last night, but that wasn’t the most important thing going on in that game. It was Ryan Howard’s continued dominance at the plate. Howard jacked his 49th homerun of the year, breaking Mike Schmidt’s single-season franchise record with a month left in the season. Howard has now hit an RBI in 9 straight games and homered in 6 of those games. His August will go down as the best month of the season by any player, as Howard hit 14 homeruns and 41 RBIs for the month. He also hit .348 and slugged .750 on the month and put up a stratospheric 1.214 OPS. The most incredible part of all this? Howard’s just 26 years old and playing in his first full season.

2. Santana strikes again: Who do you call when you need a win? Call on Johan Santana. The pitcher had a great start against the Kansas City Royals, who were actually on the brink of sweeping the Twins. He struck out 11 and pitched seven innings for his league-leading 16th win of the season. Johan just completed a truly special month of August. He went 4-0 with a 2.32 ERA and 47 strikeouts, first of any pitcher in the month. The win improved him to 7-0 after the break this year and 37-3 after the break since 2003. The Twins won 3-1 and are a half-game out of the Wild Card.

3. Where did this come from?: Putting it lightly, Astros pitcher Andy Pettitte sucked the first half of the season. He posted a 5+ ERA each of the first three months and allowed opponents above a .300 batting average. But now, Pettitte is starting to produce like a machine. In August he put up a 2.43 ERA and 44 strikeouts, both very comparable to Santana’s numbers above. Though he just went 3-2 and still has a .500 record on the season, Pettitte is looking more like himself from last year, when he went 17-9 with a 2.39 ERA. Last night he pitched seven innings while only allowing 5 hits and 1 earned run to the Brewers. With Pettitte in addition to Roger Clemens and the recently resigned Roy Oswalt on the pitching staff, the Astros are looking good as they head into September.

4. New York, New York: Both teams from the Big Apple had particularly good months. The Mets finished the month with a loss yesterday but overall posted an outstanding 19-8 record. They gained the best record in baseball, 82-50, in the process. The Mets are 15.5 games ahead of the second-place Phillies in the division, still the only double-digit lead of any team, and they would be 11 games up on the Cardinals if they were in the same division. That’s quite an accomplishment considering the Cards have finished with the best record in the NL for two straight years and are in second this year. And how `bout them Yanks? For them it’s been a great month for them and a bad month for their rival, you-know-who. NYY was tied with the BoSox on August 1, but after their success and Boston’s struggles have opened up an 8 game lead. By the way, that is the second-largest lead in all of baseball. So if you don’t think another Subway Series is a reality this season, you better reconsider.

5. Back to the Bay: After lasting two years with the Boston Red Sox, David Wells is moving on in his career once again. Wells is going back to the San Diego Padres, his hometown team who he played with in 2004. Wells was sent to Cali in a trade for a minor league catcher. Padres GM Kevin Towers thinks Wells is the difference for this team as they look to keep a lead in the Wild Card race.

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MLB General

The Full Count: Padres overtake the Reds



Ryan Franklin gives it up

1. Knocked off: It’s almost hard to remember a time when the Cincinnati Reds were not leading the Wild Card. They’ve had control of the lead ever since the All Star break and despite numerous competitors have not let go. Until now. The Reds lost their 5th game in a row, a stinging 16-inning defeat to the Los Angeles Dodgers. The game was tied at 6 for ten innings until pinch-hitter Ramon Martinez hit an improbable walk-off homerun, only his second jack of the year. The Dodgers, who have won 4 straight, find themselves three games up on their NL West competitors. The Reds are 3.5 back in their division and now a half-game back in the Wild Card.

2. New teams on the block: So which contenders overthrew the Reds to take the Wild Card lead? Well, the outright leaders are now the
San Diego Padres, who beat the Diamondbacks 8-3 yesterday behind the strong pitching of Chris Young. Young, who was a legit All Star contender after a few great performances before the break, had posted a 5.21 ERA afterwards. But he rebounded to his capable form, striking out 11 batters while allowing just 1 run last night. His 10th win of the season, along with Mike Piazza’s 19th dinger on the year, helped send SD to the WC lead. Also, Philadelphia is now a half-game back after another win. Ryan Howard hit his MLB-leading 48th homerun and 125th RBI of the season in the win. And don’t overlook the Florida Marlins as contenders as well. They have won 9 in a row after defeating the Cardinals yesterday.

3. Complete games galore: Of yesterday’s six AL games, three featured a complete game by a pitcher. C.C. Sabathia of the Cleveland Indians tossed his majors-leading 5th complete game of the year. He struck out 6 and allowed just 4 hits as the Indians beat the Blue Jays 5-2. Now let’s go to our favorite All Star: Mark Redman! He tossed a shutout for the Kansas City Royals against the Twins, allowing just 5 hits on the night. He improved to a glorious (by Royal standards) 8-8 on the season. And now for the last CG, throw by Kevin Millwood of the Rangers. He allowed 4 runs to the Orioles but received plenty of run support in a Rangers win.

4. Taking it back: So much for the Twins leading the Wild Card. The Chicago White Sox took advantage of their loss by winning against the D-Rays 12-9. Freddy Garcia allowed 5 runs but still won as he got all the run support a pitcher could ask for. Jermaine Dye continued his recent streak with a homerun (39) and 4 RBIs. Joe Crede improved his average to over .300, going 4-5 with two knocked in. The losing Devil Rays also had something to smile about. In his major league debut, Delmon Young hit a two-run homer. Young is well-known for his infamous bat-throwing incident with a minor league umpire earlier this year, but he has served that suspension and was called up yesterday. The ChiSox lead the Wild Card by a half-game.

5. Tripped up: The Braves showcased their offense yesterday in a 13-8 blowout against the Giants. Andruw Jones, Chipper Jones, and Adam LaRoche all went deep for the Braves, but it will be one of Andruw’s two shots that is most memorable. Jones tripped and fell on his way to first during his homerun trot, causing an array of laughter in the
Braves’ dugout. (Here is video of the incident.) For the Giants, Barry Bonds had one of his better games of the year. Bonds went deep twice, giving him 19 homers on the season and 727 for his career. He also made a homerun-saving catch in the loss.

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MLB General

The Full Count: Mets vs Cardinals as good as advertised



Bill Clinton approves this series

1. NLCS Preview?: In possibly the best overall matchup possible between National League teams, the Cardinals took on the Mets last night in Flushing. The result was better than anyone could have even anticipated, as the best offensive players for each side really took off. Albert Pujols hit a 3-run homerun in the third and followed it up with a fourth-inning grand slam. His 2 homeruns and 7 RBIs gave him 38 and 105 for the year, and he completely carried his team’s offense for the night. For the Mets, Carlos Delgado hit two blasts of his own, including a towering grand slam that gave him 400 career homeruns. But the Cardinals were still winning 7-6 heading into the 9th inning. That’s when Carlos Beltran stepped up. The slugger, who was 0-4 going into the inning, hit a walk off two run homerun to win the game for New York. It was one of the best games of the year in the NL, and there are still two games to go in this series.

2. NL West Showdown: We can’t believe we’re saying this after months of NL West bashing, but there is actually a watchable series in the division. The Dodgers are taking on the Padres in a battle of the top two teams in the West. So far, the Padres have absolutely dominated the season series over the division leader. They have taken 10 of 13 from LA, including a 1-0 win last night. Jake Peavy pitched a great game to continue his recent success, while Mike Piazza drove in the only run of the night. Peavy has had one of the more puzzling seasons of any pitcher. While he is third in the league in strikeouts and has a good 1.23 WHIP, Peavy owns an awful 7-12 record. That’s due in part to poor run support, and in part to Peavy’s underwhelming 4.35 ERA. But he won last night as the Padres won their third in a row to close the gap between them and the Dodgers to two games.

3. Next step: division lead: With the Cardinals loss, all the Reds needed to do was win to put them one game back of the division leaders. They did more than that. Cincy annihilated the Astros 14-0, crushing them in every way possible. Offensively they put up 4 runs in the second and 8 in the third. Brandon Phillips started the scoring with a solo shot, while Scott Hatteberg and Adam Dunn tacked on two more homers. Then Kyle Lohse, who had been simply awful before being traded from the Twins to the Reds this year, pitched his fourth straight quality start with 8 shutout innings. His masterpiece gave Lohse his first win as a Red and his ERA is now 1.65 with the team. Now at 66-60, Cincinnati is one game back of St. Louis and has the same amount of victories as the Cardinals. They are closing in on the team that has won two straight Central division titles.

4. AL Roundup: There were plenty of events in the AL yesterday as well. The Seattle Mariners ended an 11 game win streak with a 6-5 defeat of the Yankees. Adrian Beltre hit a walk-off homer, his second of the night and 15th of the year. The Red Sox continued their poor play with a 4-3 loss to the Angels, keeping them 6.5 back of the Yankees. Also, Kenny Rogers pitched 7 shutout innings for the Tigers as they beat the White Sox again, 4-0. Marcus Thames continued the Detroit tradition this year of unknown players stepping up, with a homer, a triple, and 3 RBIs. And finally, the Blue Jays improved after last night’s embarrassment, defeating the Athletics 4-3 as AJ Burnett won his 4th consecutive start. Fortunately, Jays manager John Gibbons didn’t challenge Burnett to a fight for the 3 runs he allowed.

5. Winning games, losing money: While the Yankees continue to spend, spend, and spend some more on free agents, few people think about whether the team has the funds to support their gigantic $200 million payroll. Well here’s the answer: they don’t. Yankees GM Brian Cashman (what a name!) reported yesterday that despite all the money the team is making, they are still losing money due to revenue sharing. Last year they made the most money in baseball with $277 million in revenue, but still lost $50 million overall. Perhaps this isn’t a good time to remember their $1 billion-plus new stadium that the team has to finance in part.

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MLB General

The Full Count: Royal pain in the ass


1. Beating the Royals: We’re not sure whether defeating Kansas City is getting harder or if teams are just taking them lightly. Either way, the Royals, who swept Boston last week, were in position to take a four game series against Chicago yesterday. But the White Sox won to split the series at two games a piece. Mark Buehrle was victorious for the first time in 9 starts, with two earned runs allowed in a quality start. Jim Thome, Paul Konerko, and Jermaine Dye each drove in runs for the White Sox, who held onto the Wild Card lead with the 5-4 victory. With a Minnesota loss last night they lead the Twins by 2.

2. Embarrassment avoided: The Mets hadn’t just been beaten by the Phillies for three straight games, they had been crushed. Philly won the first 3 games of a 4 game set by a combined score of 27-4, including two shutouts. But the Mets retaliated with a little offense and slick pitching of their own in a 7-2 victory. Their 3-4 punch of Carlos Beltran and Carlos Delgado was very effective in the win. Beltran went 4-5 and hit his 34th homer of the year. He now has a team-high 99 RBIs on the season. Delgado was even better, with 2 homeruns and 4 RBIs on the day. He has a respectable 28 and 78 this season. Pitching-wise, John Maine was effective again, with 6 solid innings and two runs allowed. The runs were because of Ryan Howard’s 42nd shot of the year, tying him with David Ortiz for the ML lead. With the win the Mets kept a 13-game lead in the division.

3. Lack of focus?: Maybe the Yankees couldn’t concentrate with all the hype that is already surrounding their upcoming 5-game set with the Red Sox. Whatever happened, they didn’t look like themselves in their 12-2 loss to Baltimore. While their offense could only muster two solo shots against pitiful starter Rodrigo Lopez, the Yankees’ pitching was even worse. Jaret Wright, who is very inconsistent, had one of his worst days yesterday with 5 earned runs allowed. He also allowed a homerun for the first time in over 50 innings, snapping a major-league long streak. Octavio Dotel, in his second appearance of the season for New York, allowed 3 runs in less than an inning. New York now heads into the Red Sox series with a 1.5 game lead over their heavy rivals.

4. What happened?: The Padres had seemingly captured the division lead until the Dodgers went on their tear. Now it seems like San Diego can’t even win a game. They just took a four game sweep to San Francisco and have lost 8 of their last 10. Jake Peavy lost yesterday to bring his record to an outstanding 6-12, the second most losses of any NL pitcher. He didn’t even have a bad start, but the Padres failed to support their staff until a pinch hit grand slam in the 9th inning by Josh Barfield. Suddenly the Padres, who had led the NL West for about two months, find themselves with a losing record and in 3rd place.

5. You’re out!: As suspected, eight members of the Texas Rangers and Los Angeles Angels were suspended for their roles in Wednesday’s brawl. Managers Mike Scioscia and Buck Showalter were among those who will miss some action. Showalter will miss four games, while Scioscia will only miss three for some reason. Adam Kennedy, who started the fight by charging the mound, will only get 4 games compared to reliever Scott Feldman’s 6. Feldman did hit Kennedy with the pitch, but we think that the person who actually started the fighting should get a more severe punishment. A few other players won’t see action over the weekend for both teams.

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MLB General

The Full Count: Red Sox Swept by a AAA team?


1. A Royal Sweep: What has happened to the Boston Red Sox? The team, once dominant over the AL East, has lost five straight games. They have fallen from first place to 3 games back in that span, and they are just not looking good right now. The Kansas City Royals of all teams just hammered the Sox in a three game sweep. Yesterday they prevailed 5-4, despite an incredible 8th-inning single by David Ortiz that many national columnists are calling “clutch.” Anyway, the Royals got three hits and two RBIs by vet Reggie Sanders, and a decent start by Runelvys Hernandez, who had allowed 17 runs in his previous two outings. For the Red Sox, Curt Schilling allowed an uncharacteristic 11 hits and 5 runs to one of the league’s worst offenses. Until the Red Sox can figure out what’s going on, the Yankees have a chance at dominating the division.

2. Different Sox, different story: Ready to take some more blame, Alex Rodriguez? The Yankees slugger, who had been relatively quiet for like a week, made a costly throwing error against the White Sox. His errant throw let Jermaine Dye score, and four runs total crossed the plate that inning. So with those runs and a Scott Podsednik RBI, the White Sox won to take the series of three. Javier Vasquez walked six but struck out 8 and Bobby Jenks closed the door for his AL-leading 31st save. With that Chicago was able to re-pass Minnesota for second place in the division. The 76-38 Tigers, who were off yesterday, still loom large in first.

3. Back to the normal: The Earth rotates, the sky is blue, and the Houston Astros are in Wild Card contention. Those are the facts of life these days. The `Stros, who have won the Wild Card and advanced to the NLCS for two consecutive seasons, are now two games back after sweeping the Pirates. Roger Clemens pitched last night to close out the series, with his 4th win of the year. Incredibly the Rocket has allowed three earned runs or less in each of his 10 starts. So now the Astros, despite an underwhelming record of 56-58, trail the leading Reds by just 2.5 games. In the American League, their record would put them 11.5 games out.

4. One game changes everything: San Diego had the NL West lead when they woke up on Thursday. Now, after they lost and the Dodgers won, the Padres find themselves tied for second. SD lost to El Duque Hernandez of the Mets, who after early struggles has won four straight decisions. The Dodgers, meanwhile, defeated the Rockies despite an ace performance by their starter Jason Jennings. Underrated youngster Andre Ethier hit his 11th homerun for LA. They lead both the Padres and the Diamondbacks (who were off) by a half-game. With how crazy this division is, however, the Dodgers could find themselves in third place by tomorrow.

5. Don’t believe it Phillies fans: The Fightins might be 3 games out of Wild Card contention and starting a series against the Cincinnati Reds who lead the WC race but don’t get your hopes up. This is, after all, the Phillies. They will break your hearts every time. Even worse so because they give you some hope. Just move it along. Move it along to football and the Eagles. This has been a public service announcement from Sportscolumn blog.

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San Diego Padres

Padres minor league team has Tom Cruise night

Hey folks, it’s Tom Cruise night at The Diamond in Lake Elsinore! That means bring your ridiculously hot brainwashed girlfriend and leave your boyfriend at home! (zing!)

The Lake Elsinore Storm (class A affiliate of the Padres) are giving away bobble-couches to the first 1,500 fans. In addition there will be a couch jumping contest and a “silent inning” to commemorate ridicule the recent silent birth of TomKat’s daughter. God bless those minor league teams and their promotions. Remember the Minnesota team that gave out the Vikings Love Boat collectible?

Links:

[SignOnSanDiego]: Couch potato, get out there tonight