Recently in San Diego Padres Category

Cardinal Blogger Shuts Up, Cardinal Offense Heats Up

I sincerely hope there's not a correlation, but since I last regularly blogged last week, the Cards have scored seven runs in all but two games, the first one I missed and the one of the UCB Progressive Game Blog, which I participated in.  If the Cardinals don't score runs tonight, I might have to take a month off. Not much luck for these guys against Carp.  Plus he's faced the Reds twice this year and has a 1.39 ERA to show for it.  Could be third time's a charm, especially since the Reds are hitting well, but I don't know that I'd gamble on that.

Their Reputation Preceeds Them

You know that going into San Diego, it's going to be a tough place to score runs.  The park is designed for pitching and the Padres usually take advantage of that with some pretty solid pitchers.  Last night was a textbook example of that. Some pretty solid numbers, especially from the big boys. Pujols hasn't gone yard on him, but he's hit him well. Matt Holliday has gone yard and has a good sample size from which to work with.  You'd like to think they'd put up a few runs tonight, though you never know.

Signs Of Cardinal Life

It wasn't a perfect weekend for St. Louis.  Not that it was bad, mind you; anytime you win two of three it's a pretty good set.  However, the signs from this weekend indicate that as nice as this series with the Angels was, better days are a-comin'. Not a lot of exposure here. Interesting that old friend and former Cardinal David Eckstein has had the most at-bats against him.  He's kept them in the yard, even though some of the Friars have a pretty tolerable BAA vs. him.  Still, if he can scatter singles, he'll be OK.

Playing Pepper 2010: San Diego Padres

Last year before the season began, I posed five questions to a blogger for each team, so as to get to know the rest of baseball.  I focus so heavily on the Cardinals that sometimes the rest of MLB can pass me by.  That went very well, so much so that it spawned not only a postseason edition but was part of the impetus for the formation of the Baseball Bloggers Alliance.

So this year, I've brought Playing Pepper back, with a little bit of a twist.  Instead of five questions, I posed 10 questions, and this year every team got the same set.  Plus, tapping into those BBA connections, I sent them to every blogger representing that team in the BBA.

We'll try to do two a day in a general alphabetical order---ah, who are we kidding, we'll get them up when we get them up.

San Diego Padres
2009 Finish: 75-87, fourth in NL West  Continue Reading

Cardinals Continue To Push

It wasn't necessarily a perfect series against the Padres this weekend, but it definitely was a positive one.  The Cards never lost any on their division lead and were able to push it out to eight games.  They may have lost a pitcher, but they may have gained one (or at least more than they thought) as well.  Let's take a look at the last four games.

Thursday (5-1 win)
Hero: Brendan Ryan.  You don't need to hand much of a lead over to Joel Pineiro, but Ryan gave him plenty with his first career grand slam.
Goat: Colby Rasmus.  Tough night for the rook, with an 0-3 plus an error.
Notes: Another stellar outing for Pineiro.  It might not last after this season, and I don't think the Cards should go nuts trying to keep him, but it's very enjoyable while it lasts.....We have a scoreless Jason Motte sighting!  Granted, it was just a third of an inning, but it's something, right?

Friday (4-0 loss)
Hero: Talk about a tough one.  Nobody stands out in this game, but I guess I'll go with Mark DeRosa, since he went 1-3 and walked, leaving no one on base.
Goat: Hate to give it to a guy that wound up leaving injured, but Kyle Lohse didn't look that sharp even before the injury.
Notes: Really not much going on here.  Nobody stood out in good ways or bad ways.  I would have liked to seen Blake Hawksworth get stretched out some, but that's a minor point.

Saturday (7-0 win)
Hero: Chris Carpenter.  Seven innings, three hits, no runs.  Plus he took over the ERA lead from Tim Lincecum as well.
Goat: Albert Pujols.  Three strikeouts in a game for AP doesn't happen often.  Nine times in his career, in fact, and it'd been over a year since his last one.
Notes: Matt Holliday had another good game, smashing a home run among his two hits.  Joe Strauss indicates via Twitter that the Cards could start working on 2010, with the implication that they'll be talking to Scott Boras very soon.

Sunday (5-2 win)
Hero: John Smoltz. I'm not sure what the expectations were for Smoltz going into this game.  We'd seen the Boston results and, while there was hope for improvement, I'm pretty sure no one expected him to set any kind of strikeout record.
Goat: Rick Ankiel.  0-5, 3 K, 6 LOB.  That's not a pretty line.
Notes: The Jason Motte scoreless appearance streak was pretty short as he gave up (what else) a home run in this game....Ryan Franklin apparently channelled his inner Izzy, making the game way too interesting in the ninth before locking down the save....Apparently Pujols didn't care too much for Will Venable's style of play, criticism that was justified, according to some.

So the Cards enter yet another off day, their fourth of five this month, sitting eight games ahead of the Chicago Cubs and with a magic number of 31.  You know John Mozeliak is pretty happy with how things are going and is feeling much better about his public relations than he was this time last year.

It's not a walk to the playoffs, though.  The eight-game cushion is nice, but we'll really see what this team has in store over the next series, when Houston throws Wandy Rodriguez, Roy Oswalt and Brian Moehler at the Cards.  All of those pitchers have given the team fits before.  Having Adam Wainwright and Carpenter going in the series helps, but winning this series should go a long way toward quieting any fears about the long-term viability of this club.

Speaking of the Astros, we'll be having a guest post here from James of Astros County either later today or tomorrow taking a look at the series.

Somehow this weekend I wound up making a spirited defense of Chris Duncan's time in St. Louis.  If you want to chime in on either side, feel free to do so.  Enjoy the offday!

Pujols Pulls It Out

It's always good to have the best player in baseball on your team.

I've said before that the great ones get it done somehow, whatever it takes.  Albert Pujols proved that again tonight.  He only had one official at-bat, but proved that walking him is not always the brightest idea either.  His ninth inning steal made it possible for Matt Holliday to drive him in and win the game.

It's too bad that it came down to more Pujols heroics, though.  Adam Wainwright was pitching a gem last night.  No hits until the sixth inning is always a nice way for an ace to come out.  Then came the seventh, which is completely my fault.

I wasn't able to watch the early part of the game due to co-hosting last night's UCB Radio Hour and chatting with some of the bloggers after it.  So I get back to the game right about the seventh.  The first home run, I really thought was going to be caught.  The way the ball came off the bat, I thought it'd be a long fly out, but it just kept carrying.  The second home run was pretty much crushed off a hanging pitch.  At this point, I figure it's best for everyone if I roll over and go to sleep.  I do, the Dodgers don't score again, and the Cards win.  Apparently it was my night to be the Cardinal Nation jinx.

Save for that one inning, though, it was again a wonderful outing for Wainwright.  We discussed the NL Cy Young race on the show last night, and while Tim Lincecum probably does have it all wrapped up, especially when you look at the advanced metrics, you do have to tip your cap to what Wainwright and Chris Carpenter are doing.  They may not win the award, but they are definitely in the top 5.

I was leading toward Ryan Ludwick as the Goat for his strikeout with the bases loaded, but it's tough to argue with Julio Lugo's line of no hits in five at-bats, including stranding Brendan Ryan at third in the eighth in a tie game.  It'd have been nice to get that run and get Wainwright in line for his 15th win, but it was not to be.

Of course, the other big news of yesterday was the finalization of the John Smoltz deal.  There are indications that Smoltz still has something left in the tank, despite what his run in the American League might seem to say.  I found it pretty interesting that there is a fairly short leash on his starter role, as Tony LaRussa says they'll reevaluate after two starts.  With John Mozeliak indicating that part of the reason for him to start is to get more innings to get ready, it's hard to fault the move too much.

Honestly, for $100,000, you can't fault the move at all.  The best case scenario would be he reverts to more like John Smoltz of old and overtakes Kyle Lohse for the fourth starter role, putting him in the playoff rotation.  I don't really think that's going to happen, though it'd be great if it did.

More realistically, you think he could be passable in his starts, then move into the late inning role that most of us figure the Cards really wanted him for.  Imagine being able to go from Carpenter/Wainwright to Smoltz to Ryan Franklin in October.  The best way to win games in the postseason is to keep the other team away from the soft part of your bullpen.  If you could make that kind of transition, there is no soft part.  The lefties are strong, Blake Hawksworth has proven he can get guys out, so you might not have to see Jason Motte come into the game in a key situation after the regular season wraps.

I understand Mike from Stan Musial's Stance is planning to be at Sunday's game, which should be Smoltz's first start, so I'm sure he'll have some interesting points after watching him.  Be sure to check over there Sunday evening or Monday morning!

Smoltz was on XM Radio yesterday and had a few interesting things to say.

"I went home for 13 days, worked on a high school field, went to Georgia Tech and threw, got all the people who have ever worked with me looking at it and we've hopefully unlocked a simple secret but one that slipped away from me, [which] was the heel of my shoe was about two inches off the rubber pointed the wrong way and causing me to not get away from my arm side, to the left side of the plate which is where I've always been good, and it just really trickled down into a lot of bad habits.  So I wouldn't be doing this today if I didn't think I could make the necessary adjustments to really help a ball club. I could just as easily sit at home and watch baseball and get ready for fantasy football but I'm not ready for that yet."

I told someone yesterday, if there was any sort of mechanical problem, not only do you expect Dave Duncan to be able to find it (though it looks like Smoltz may have already done so) but Smoltz is veteran enough to apply whatever patch is needed.  He's not some young guy that needs to be told 10 times what to do.  If an adjustment to the mechanics will help, Smoltz knows how to do it.

"And for me personally this was the best fit.  It gave me the opportunity to get my feet wet again.  I need reps.  I need to get out there and feel good about my pitches and they need to see it.  They need to know and assess what role is going to be the best for them.  They've created a body of work that I've had nothing to do with and certainly want to be able to contribute in any way I can.  I really believe that I know still what it takes.  I know the difference between pressure and making big pitches.  Now I've just got to get myself in that position.  Their clubhouse, their guys that were there really all led to me making a decision that was the best for me and my family."--on why he chose the Cardinals

I know Wainwright and Mark DeRosa were really on him to come to St. Louis, with DeRosa saying the atmosphere was like those great Atlanta teams of the past.

"Whatever they feel is the best role.  I've done both but at this point I've trained this long comeback to start and to create this structure.  So I'd have to find out where I'm at physically and where I'm at, more importantly, pitch-wise.  You know, every game that I came out this year, with the exception of Washington, the first couple of innings were great.  And I know that a lot of teams were looking at that as saying that maybe I fatigued or got tired or whatever the reasons would be and I tend to think, mechanically, you flirt with fire long enough you're going to get burned and that's what happened to me.  Mechanically I wasn't as good as I needed to be so the longer you're out there and the more big league hitters you face the better chance you are to run into some innings.  So getting ready and pitching a big inning is not a big deal for me.  The big deal's going to be how many times can I do it and how many times can I get up and down?  So that's where getting my innings in right now will be important.  I'm not an idiot.  I realize I've got to get some results.  So the first couple starts or the first couple games I'm not going to put the pressure I put on myself and just go out there and make pitches."

It's easy to take a 20+ year veteran at his word when he says "whatever they want".  Mozeliak emphasized that Smoltz made no demands during the negotiations, which helps ease any uncomfortableness the coaching staff might have had about moving him to the pen later on.

This has been an amazing couple of months, really unprecidented in my following of the Cards.  When was the last time they filled this many needs, and did so in such a prominent way?  I know the early '00s, Walt tended to make a deadline move or two, like 2000 when he brought in Will Clark and Carlos Hernandez (and I know there was another move, but I'm blanking), but to get the top players on the market?  To get the two hitters everyone wanted in DeRosa and Holliday?  To get a couple of cast-offs in Lugo and Smoltz that still had some cache?  To fill basically every hole in a pretty leaky ship so that you don't even have to worry about Joe Thurston still being on the team?  Amazing.

Cards get to try to continue this run tonight in San Diego.  Joel Pineiro will take his groundball stuff to Petco, one of the best pitching parks in the league.  In other words, even if he gets something up, it's likely to stay in the park.  Pineiro has had some difficulties with these guys in the past, but he was able to limit them to three runs in just shy of seven innings last weekend. 

Padres counter with Tim Stauffer.  The Cards beat him around pretty good last weekend, and since he's only faced the Cardinals twice in his career, those career numbers are kinda skewed.  On paper, this one leans toward the Cardinals, but the only baseball that gets played on paper is rotisserie (and even that's on computer these days).

Putting the Padres Out to Pasture

A real nice weekend in St. Louis, full of interesting twists and turns.  For the most part, the Cardinals took care of business and were able to show that this is a very different team than what we saw earlier in the year.  The team earlier in the year probably loses two out of three of these games instead of a Cardinal sweep.  Let's break down the games.

Friday (9-2 win)
Hero: Adam Wainwright.  Seven scoreless innings and a home run to boot?  Look, if you want to win the game by yourself, just say so!
Goat: Jason Motte.  Ruined the shutout and continued to cast questions upon the bullpen.
Notes: Colby Rasmus started hitting this weekend.  Three for five in this game and, of course, more to come from him....Matt Holliday continues to pound the ball as a Cardinal.  Maybe the NL is that much easier!

Saturday (7-4 win)
Hero: Yadier Molina.  A lot of offensive possibilities in this game, but Yadi's pickoff--with the bases loaded!--may have kept the game in the win column.
Goat: Dennys Reyes.  He did his best to turn this game into a very close one.
Notes: Holliday and Rasmus again, spraying the ball all over the yard....Joel Pineiro was a little shaky at the beginning, but was able to settle down and, with this offense, three runs isn't what it used to be.

Sunday (7-5 win)
Hero: Colby Rasmus.  You do the walk-off thing, it's hard not to get the Hero tag.
Goat: Kyle Lohse.  Five runs isn't what you want to see out of him.  Just about the time you think he's getting back on that roll, he has another stinker of a game.
Notes: Much credit to Blake Hawksworth for keeping the team in the game and not letting things get away.....Rarity: Albert Pujols came up with the bases loaded and didn't get the job done, grounding out on a hard-hit ball with two outs.

Couple yesterday's win with the rainout in Chicago and the Cubs beat up on the Pirates twice this weekend...and lost a half-game in the standings.  That's got to be frustrating for the North Siders.  Not that Cardinal fans are feeling too empathetic toward the guys in blue!

Today's big news will come off the field, as it's the deadline for teams to sign their draft picks.  The Cardinals are still talking to Shelby Miller, but all indications seem to be that they will come to an agreement sometime today, if they don't have the basic framework already established.  We talked about it some on the Sunday edition of the UCB Radio Hour yesterday and the consensus seemed to be that Miller would sign.  Both sides have a decided incentive to get the deal done.

I'm sure that'll be a talking point on tonight's broadcast, because the Cardinals don't get started until late as they begin a West Coast road trip.  It's a pretty big one, at least the first part of it.  Even though the Dodgers have been struggling of late, they still lead the NL West by 5 games and have a 3.5 edge on the Cardinals in the overall standings for the best record as well.  Going out to their park will help get a real good sense of how this team is coming together.

Chris Carpenter takes the mound to kick off this potential October preview. If he can keep Manny Ramirez in the park, he's had pretty good numbers against the Dodger hitters in his career.  He shut down LA when they were in Busch at the end of July, allowing one run in seven innings.  Carp's been a little shakier on the road (2.69 ERA to 1.74 at home) but still definitely nothing to be concerned about.

The Dodgers roll out Charlie Haegar, a knuckleballer that only Julio Lugo has seen before.  That's not necessarily a combination that would normally scream "run explosion" for this team.  It may be a good thing that Carpenter is going, because it could be a quiet night for the bats, especially when you factor in the trip across country.

The Cubs go with us out west as they visit San Diego.  Cards game is on ESPN tonight as well as FSMW, if you want to stay up late and see how it turns out.  Since my evening is booked until around 9:45 or so, it'll be nice to see some of the game instead of getting home after it's completed.  Hopefully we'll have another Cardinal win to talk about tomorrow! 

Playing Pepper 2009: San Diego Padres

As the players start getting themselves ready for another season, I thought it'd be a good idea to do the same.  I contacted a blogger for each major league team and posted them five questions.  This is the result.  You can find the tentative schedule of teams here and today's main post is right here.

A big new ballpark.  San Diego weather.  A team that came within inches (and questionable ones at that) from playing in the playoffs in 2007.  Life should have been good in Padre-land for 2008, but instead the bottom fell out.  It was a rough year for the Padres and that wasn't even counting Albert Pujols's swath around the bases that took out Chris Young and Josh Bard when the Cardinals visited out there.

I was lucky enough to get responses from not one but two Padres blogs for this outing.  Clay from Downtown Padres and Myron from Friar Forecast talk Jake Peavy and contention for the Friars.

  Continue Reading

Greene Deal Basically Done

Papers in both San Diego and St. Louis are reporting it, so it's about as official as it gets without a press release.

Reading the comments on the San Diego site, it looks like Greene was a fan favorite over there, which doesn't necessarily mean much, but hopefully it indicates he's not a jerk.  A minor thing, to be sure, but it can carry some weight, I believe.

Bernie gives the strengths and weaknesses of the new shortstop and after reading that I feel a little better about the deal.  It does require considering last year more an aberration than a trend, but if that's the case his pop in the bottom part of the order will be useful.  And if someone can get him to strike out less, that'd help a lot as well.  The latter may be a lost cause, however.

It also helps that Greene is going into the last year of the contract.  One, because of that general "free agent boost" that is at least rumored.  (I can't remember if there have been studies on that or not.)  Secondly, though, it doesn't tie up the Cardinals long term.  If he comes in and performs, they can work on an extension.  If he doesn't, he walks at the end of the year.

It still doesn't sound like the players going back will be a huge loss.  (Someone on the SD paper's comments said they'd be happy if Perez and Motte were coming.  Sorry, but that's just not happening, because they are worth more than Greene, for one, and the reports indicate minor-league pitchers, which they aren't.)  A smart, low-risk move by Mozeliak.  It's not a sure thing, big splash move, but maybe knowing the cost now for the shortstop will help for a bigger move farther down the line.

EDIT: Dustin Mattison sent along his recent interview with Mark Worrell.  To me, this really increases the odds he's one of the ones going to SD.  If he's expressed this kind of frustration to management, they are likely to send him along.

EDIT2: Looks like Worrell is going. No word on the other PTBNL.

Small News, But News Nonetheless

A couple of notes from the wide world of Cardinal baseball.  Is anyone else like me, hoping for a short World Series so we can get to the Hot Stove League even faster?

In news that ranks just below "the sun came up this morning" and "the Cubs lost in the playoffs", the Cardinals bought out the contract of Mark Mulder.  There was no way that the Cardinals were going to pick up an $11 million option even if Mulder had been reasonably healthy.  He's not, though, so that was a no-brainer.  I'd be surprised if they even considered signing him to an incentive-laden deal like they did with Matt Clement this year.  Sometimes, you just have to turn the page.

Bernie says the Cardinals aren't a player for Peavy.  Can't say that's a huge surprise, given what Peavy commands salary-wise and the other issues that the Cardinals have in that department.  I figure the Lohse signing also helped put a crimp into those plans.  Wonder if they'd have gone ahead with that extension if they had thought they had a chance for Peavy?

Now, it could be a smokescreen to keep the price down, but I don't think so.  For once, it's not that the Cardinals don't have the chips to trade for him, it's the other issues.  But like Bernie says, if he winds up in the NL Central and it's not with the Cardinals, there could be some irate people.

Congratulations to the Tampa Bay Rays.  It's great to see a team develop some young players and make some October noise.  And it is also good to see a Series without the Red Sox in it.  After 2004, I've not been that much of a fan of that organization.  While the Phillies and Rays may not be the best ratings the World Series has ever had, it should be some interesting baseball.  I'd love the Rays to pull it off, but I think Philadelphia celebrates after the Obama-delayed Game 6.  (C'mon, delaying the World Series?  You'd think someone would have told him not to mess with the baseball!)

Also on the Network: √ Doing It The Hard Way [C70 At The Bat] √ Bobby Jenks Saves Sox's Win Over Seattle [Tremendous Upside Potential] √ Deadline moves [Feeling Dodger Blue] √ Manny's impact [Feeling Dodger Blue] √ Shea Stadium Plays Citi Field [Loge 13] √ Frustration Revisted [C70 At The Bat] √ Not So Fast, T-Mac [Tremendous Upside Potential] √ Payroll breakdown [Feeling Dodger Blue]