5/18/2013 Washington Nationals 1, San Diego Padres 2

Petco Park, San Diego, CA
Game 2 of 3

To simply state that a change of scenery has no effect upon a pitcher's performance is one of the greatest of all fallacies.  Sure, we can't measure how this works...we can only analyze in hindsight how a park, a coaching staff, a change in mechanics, or even a pitcher's general health can count among the many factors that ultimately draw a big composite red line between time period A and time period B.

Eric Stults is one of those pitchers; a buff, pre-geriatric tough-guy type of pitcher from Indiana who posted a career 4.84 ERA and an 8-10 W-L record with the Los Angeles Dodgers from 2006-2009.  After spending 2010 with the NPB Hiroshima Toyo Carp, his 5.07 ERA, 6-10 record didn't necessarily scream "BUY" when he opted to return to the States, but the Colorado Rockies gave him a chance in 2011, signing him to a Minor League deal that found him on the AAA Colorado Springs Sky Sox roster as a reliever, appearing in 52 games (primarily in middle relief).  In July of that year, the MLB club purchased his contract, and a few weeks later DFA'd him, sending him back to AAA for the remainder of the season.  The Chicago White Sox came calling in 2012 with another Minor League deal, albeit short-lived...the Padres selected him on waivers after Chicago DFA'd him and he posted a formidable 8-3 record with a 2.92 ERA in 18 games (4 of them as a reliever).

Stults suddenly became a fairly reliable and consistent part of a rotation that needs more mercy than it can afford; he's off to a somewhat uneven start in 2013, entering today's game with a 3-3 record and 4.57 ERA in 8 starts.  

But hey...it's only the middle of May!  Plenty of starters are experiencing the same exact thing, right?  Well, Jordan Zimmermann isn't.

Stults faces Washington Nationals ace Jordan Zimmermann, which is not great news (he's 7-1 in 8 starts with a remarkable 1.69 ERA, and the Nationals have won every game he has won), but Stults is holding his own in May (1-1 with a 2.95 ERA) and the Padres' defense has committed no errors in the past few weeks.

The Padres get to Zimmermann early, with a lead-off HR in the second inning by Yonder Alonso...a tater that makes it all the way up to the Porch in deep right field.

Everything is cool immediately thereafter, but the Nationals put the recently-stellar Padres defense to the test in the top of the 3rd, and the result is, literally, a no-go, and then a go...2 Nationals runners in scoring position with one out quickly develops into an inning-ending LIDP of the weirdest kind.

To set the stage, Danny Espinosa (he of the worst swing in baseball) is called out on strikes.  Kurt Suzuki finds Stults behind the count and walks on a 3-1 pitch.  With Suzuki on first, Zimmermann squares up to bunt, and knocks the first pitch he sees cleanly to Stults, who throws a low sinker to Jedd Gyorko, covering the bag...

...and Gyorko misses the catch, it goes "right through the wickets"!!  

It's Gyorko's first MLB career error. 

Also, hopefully, his final Bill Buckner moment.

Zimmermann cruises to second base, Suzuki to third, and now skit is gettin' real.  Denard Span looks at ball one, called strike one, and ball two before he smacks a liner, straight into Stults' torso!

Still not having touched the ground, the ball caroms neatly into the glove of Alonso, who touches the bag to record the out on Span...

Without even blinking, Alonso suddenly bolts across the infield...whassup, Yonder?

It happens too fast for us to catch it, but when he checked the runner at second, he found there was, indeed, no runner at second at all...

Suzuki is running back to third, and Zimmermann has made it there already, and is just kind of standing around behind Chase Headley (who now realizes why Alonso is making tracks his way)...

We can see it now...Zimmermann, Suzuki (who is now thinking about going...back to home?!?), and Alonso is gaining on them...Headley is like, "whadup?"

This next screenshot is worth it's weight in laughter gold...Alonso is ready to pounce on one of these guys, and seeing as how he's gaining on them to within an arm's length, Suzuki changes direction again, heading back to home, and now Zimmermann finally begins to move....and Headley is just hanging out, waiting for the pizza and beer to show up for the party.

Alonso darts left, tags Suzuki...

Zimmermann looks back, "wait what"...

Alonso points to Suzuki so that 3B umpire Vic Carapazza can see "hey, bro, I tagged 'im" - Carapazza points at Suzuki...

...and gives him the FIST of OUT!  TOOTBLAN! (Tag, not throw)

One of the weirdest double plays you'll see all season, trust me!

SCOREKEEPER'S NOTE: How was this scored?  LIDP 1-3, and here's why...the ball never touched the ground (even after the Stults carom, BTW yes, he's OK, thanks for asking), and Alonso was the last receiver to handle the ball, Suzuki tagged out at home.

The Nationals still can't find a way to score, not until the top of the 6th when Left Fielder Steve Lombardozzi scores Suzuki on an RBI single to tie the game.  The Padres add an unearned run to Zimmermann's line when Pinch Hitter Alexi Amarista reaches on a fielder's choice bunt, then scores on a pick-off attempt error by Zimmermann attempting to catch Cabrera (who reached on a single) stealing second base.  The 8th inning ends with the Padres up 2-1, and both Stults (8IP, 4H, 1ER, 2BB, 5K) as well as Zimmermann (8IP, 7H, 2R, 1ER, 6K, 1HR, 1HB) are done for the day.

Huston Street walks Lombardozzi to bring the Nationals within threat distance to lead off the 9th, but Lombardozzi is erased on a strike-em-out-throw-em-out play with Ryan Zimmerman swinging through desperation.  Street follows by walking Adam LaRoche, but Ian Desmond pops out to Gyorko to end the game.

I watched the Fox Sports SD broadcast with Dick Enberg and Mark "Mudcat" Grant.  #shadows mentioned 7 times.

My scoresheets, using my new pitch-counting method! Read about it HERE, download the scoresheets for free HERE!

8/27/12 Atlanta Braves 0, San Diego Padres 3

Petco Park San Diego, CA
Game 1 of 3

When I heard that Casey Kelly was scheduled to make his long-awaited debut with the Padres tonight, I cancelled the rest of my pressing affairs and stayed up late to watch this event.  As San Diego looks to win their 8th straight game, my expectations were high...even though they were facing the Braves and one of my favorite pitchers, Paul Maholm.

I would not be disappointed...Kelly showed up ready to go, and summarily blew me away.

There was little doubt how good Kelly was going to be; as a key part of the trade in late 2010 that sent Padres hero Adrian Gonzalez to the Red Sox, he spent all of 2011 with the AA San Antonio Missions, compiling an 11-6 record with a 3.98 ERA in 27 games...a nice bounce-back from his 3-5 5.31 ERA season with Boston AA affiliate Portland Sea Dogs in 2010.  At 22 years old, he's still got a great deal of development to go; perhaps he's not Major League-ready yet, had battled right elbow inflammation to start the 2012 season in AAA Tucson that saw him miss some service time through most of July.  All the same, in 8 games between the rookie league AZL Padres and the AA Missions, he compiled a 0-2 record, 3.35 ERA, and saw his WHIP dip below 1 for the first time since his single A days with the Red Sox organization.

Kelly held it all together and showed anything but a hint of questionable promise as a future starting pitcher, and had some help from Yasmani Grandal along the way.  Maholm held the rest of the Padres handcuffed as he couldn't afford anyone other than Grandal to emerge from the gate, but the Padres prevailed, with Kelly and the bullpen keeping the Braves scoreless and earning his first MLB Win.

8/22/12 Pittsburgh Pirates 2, San Diego Padres 4

Petco Park, San Diego, CA
Game 3 of 3

Andrew Werner's MLB Debut and 1st MLB Win.  Tommy Layne's first MLB Save.

9/26/11 Chicago Cubs 0, San Diego Padres 2

Petco Park, San Diego, CA
Game 1 of 3

Casey Coleman is a GREAT pitcher. I believe in Casey Coleman.

The final series of the 2011 season finds the wayward Cubs in Petco Park to face the Padres, who very much like the Cubs are looking at a losing season with barely 70 wins and nearly 90 losses apiece. When I hear the baseball pundits complain about teams who “aren’t in the race” at the end of the season and how this may or may not affect their performance on the field, I think about games like this and I’m glad that I don’t subscribe to this way of thinking. The Cubs and the Padres both played as if they had a chance; especially Casey Coleman and his opponent Mat Latos.



Pretend for a moment that you are not aware that both of these teams are mathematically and metaphysically out of the running for a postseason appearance. The Cubs need Casey Coleman to continue his 2011 performance in the years to come…the same goes for Mat Latos, whose 2011 wasn’t quite as stellar as his 2010 campaign, but he (as well as Coleman) are damn good pitchers, and are both young enough to improve. Perhaps that’s what is driving them to excellence tonight, where they stare each other down for 5 straight innings of scoreless baseball; the greatest tangible advantage being the no-hitter that Latos has going on through those 5.

I fly my “Pitchers who can hit are sexy” flag fairly high and prominently, and I can’t imagine a day, time, year, or dissertation that could ever persuade me otherwise. That being said, Coleman breaks up Latos’ no-hitter with a 1-out triple in the top of the 6th. That’s just plain down and dirty awesome. As you may be able to tell from this photo, Coleman looks a bit peaked standing at 3rd after a run like that. Pitchers who hit well, I love it and I promote it. The same may not be said for pitchers who are aggressive baserunners…most Cubs fans still have a wince on their face from when Carlos Zambrano yanked a leg muscle a few years ago running to first to beat out a grounder and missed several starts. Here, the impact is more immediate; as soon as you can say “wow, did he really just do that??” Len Kasper and Bob Brenly immediately speculate on how Coleman’s hard drive to 3rd may affect his work on the mound in the bottom of the 6th. After all, they could be wrong…but there’s a point to be made there, couldn’t he have kept it to a double and be done with it?

Bottom of the 6th, Coleman yields a solo HR to Will Venable on a 0-1 pitch. Jason Bartlett grounds out to Coleman right after, but it seems as if the Padres have found his sweet spot as Jesus Guzman reaches on a ground-rule double that was nearly another HR. Nick Hundley strikes out swinging, but Cameron Maybin doesn’t, with a seeing-eye line drive down the left field line for a run-scoring double. The Padres are on the board, Coleman’s triple run seems to have revealed the truth in Kasper and Brenly’s statement, and Rafael Dolis gets the final out of the inning in his MLB debut.

Casey…please…next time, buddy, make it a DOUBLE.

Latos, in the meantime, stays in through the 7th inning and finishes with 9K and 1BB. Chad Qualls and Heath Bell administer 2 perfect innings and the Cubs are done for the evening.

Carlos Peña earns his 100th free pass of the season and is the 1st Cub since the 1900s to walk this many times in one season. Starlin Castro extends his hitting streak to 9 games and his on-base streak to 38 games. In addition to Dolis, Steve Clevenger makes his MLB debut.




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The Pete Rose Avatar Story

…and the story behind the story…

Yesterday, I changed my avatar on Twitter. Not usually a big deal, but I did so in order to promote a bizarre “inside joke” via a bizarre, obtuse baseball reference that I was sure nobody would get. That’s more because my brain works in bizarre ways, and my sense of humor is the kind that finds me sliding in hidden references to unrelated events when current events inspire me.

Going back a couple of weeks, here’s the story and how it started:

On August 20, Duane X Harris (follow him on Twitter: @duanexharris) posted, among other things, this amazing photo of Pete Rose wearing a San Diego Padres “mustard” cap (Willie in Puerto Rico. The Spaceman in Alaska. Billy Dies. Charlie Hustle in SD. PCL Stars in Boston), as well as the story about the cap, on his fantastic and must read blog ninety feet of perfection, with the photo he outlined the circumstances around the photo itself, where Rose apparently had to wear this cap as part of a sizing exercise for a portrait:

"While this is weird, Rose almost DID play for the Padres while they were still a PCL team in 1962. This is due to the fact that the Padres were an affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds from 1962 to 1965. Rose was actually featured in the official program for the 1962 season while wearing a Padres cap. I assume he was expected to play for the team that year? I scanned a photo of it (HERE) from Bill Swank’s incredible book “Baseball In San Diego – From The Padres To Petco” which is the 2nd volume he wrote that chronicles the history of the game in the city of San Diego."

This photo popping up in my browser was all I needed for a great chuckle at the time, so I mercilessly saved it and bookmarked the post, not knowing if I would ever need to refer back to it for any reason.

There is a “story behind the story,” as I mentioned above, regarding Pete Rose and the Padres, this isn’t it yet…don’t worry, I’m getting there!

Fast forward to early yesterday afternoon, 8/31/11, when in the midst of my End of the Month calamities at work, I find out on my Twitter feed that Jeremy Hermida was dealt by the Reds to the Padres for cash considerations. Readers of my blog know that I’ve followed Hermida for quite some time now, during his stay in Louisville with the Bats (AAA affiliate of the Reds), and how much I like his baseball stuff.

Since I like the Padres more than the Reds (much more, they are more or less my “team #3” that I follow) and also since Hermida is pretty much ‘stuck in a rut’ with the Reds organization (he’s an outfielder, the Reds outfield is a little too deep for him right now), I consider this a great move. Hermida is an outstanding ballplayer, and I’m sure he will do great with the Padres.

I am a little shocked that many Padres fans, blogs, etc. just aren’t embracing the move at all…many feel like the Padres need a “veteran outfielder” in the lineup, in the case where “veteran outfielder” translates to “an old guy who has been on an average of 1.23 teams per season in the past 8 years of his career.” I don’t get it…this season is pretty much in the books, and a “veteran outfielder” isn’t going to get the Padres to the postseason, so why not pick up a guy who has solid skills, a bona-fide presence at the plate, a great arm, and enough drive to make his mark with a great growing organization like the Padres? I don’t want to single folks out, but a) you may think he’s just a AAAA player, but I’m sure he will prove you wrong, and b) don’t take his numbers in NL Central parks (of which he hasn’t seen much anyway, too small of a sample size) as a death-knell for clumsiness and sterility in Petco. Padres fans need to lighten up and look at the bright side of this transaction, their sense of humor (and lack thereof) smells like “fan makeup issues” to me.

So in a moment of quasi-anachronism I thought about a Red going to the Padres, thought about the Pete Rose in a Padres cap photo, and suddenly, before I realized what I was doing, I changed my avatar from beloved Moe Thacker to the Pete Rose mustard cap photo. So there is my obtuse reference: a Red and the Padres. Yup, that’s it…that’s the big inside joke.

In unrelated news, the LobShots blog posted the same picture, kindly giving Duane Harris and his blog credit, only a few moments later…so I say again, this all happens for a reason!

Reaction to the avatar has been amusing…I’ve heard a little bit of everything from gambling references to just plain shock at the grisly nature of the photo. It won’t be there forever, but for now I still get a chuckle when I open my timeline and see Mustard Cap Pete looking sheepishly back at me.

As alluded to earlier, there is a story behind the story, in two parts. Part one is all Pete Rose, part two is all Padres.

Pete Rose - so, here’s an opportunity to say whatever I want to about Charlie Hustle, yet I won’t say much or take time to editorialize. The debate is still strong; I have my very, very strong opinions about Mr. Rose but they are mine, and I don’t want to discuss them. All I feel like saying about Pete Rose is that he is one of the best baseball players of all time, that shouldn’t stir up any debate.

My Pete Rose story happened about 11 years ago, when my wife and I went to Damon’s here in Louisville as we had a coupon that could be used there. We weren’t then, and still aren’t, great fans of spending buckets of cash and eating out a lot. If a restaurant has a coupon, we’ll try to use it once every couple of months. My oldest daughter was about 3, and my youngest was just a peanut, we trotted to Damon’s on a random evening to discover a big surprise…

Paul Horning is a local hero, he’s from the area and appears in commercials now and then. There’s also a statue of him at Louisville Slugger Field. Back then, Paul had a monthly cable sports program, and it was filmed at Damon’s for some reason…when we walked into the door, I saw the blackboard message that Paul Hornung was taping tonight and I burst with excitement. As a kid, I thought Paul Hornung was some sort of Scandinavian God of Sports, I idolized him completely. Paul is here, I thought…WOW.

Then my eyes got stuck on the rest of the blackboard message: “Paul’s guest tonight: PETE ROSE.” Holy Moley. Paul Hornung and Pete Rose, in the same place at the same time. Mountains, ye MOVE at thy command!!!

We were seated quickly (showing up at restaurants way before dinner rush is a habit of ours), and that’s when my “WOW” turned to “WOWIE ZOWIE”…if you’ve ever been to a Damon’s establishment, you know that there’s a back row on a platform with booths, then a floor level with booths adjacent to the back row build-out and stationary tables in the ‘arena,’ which are situated before their famous 20-or-so giant TV screens on the opposite wall. We were seated in a booth on the back row against the wall that divided the floor level section. There, in the booth right next to ours, on the floor level, was Paul Hornung, Pete Rose, Mrs. Pete Rose, and Pete’s son eating their dinner!!

My Wife: “Who is that?”
Me: “That’s PETE ROSE, one of the greatest baseball players of all time.”
My Wife: “Should you get his autograph?”
Me: “Oh my goodness…NO.”

There were about 15-20 Reds fans already in the establishment, as Pete was going to sign autographs after he ate and before the show taped. I did think about getting Hornung and Rose to sign a napkin or something, but I was not driven to this…I just didn’t want to interfere. I sipped on my soda, watched my kids squirm around, and sat in amazement as Paul and Pete gobbled up ribs and shot the breeze nonchalantly. Yes, I did wave and say “hi.” The autograph session started, folks lined up, and I just watched them file past. Years later, I think I was just too intimidated by this gathering of greatness to even push across a handshake. We paid and left before the taping began.

The San Diego Padres - this story is a little more complicated and a little more personal. Those who know me know that my baseball journey began with the Royals in the 70s, drifted for just a year or two with the Yankees, and then I focused on things other than baseball. I was ‘away’ from baseball for many years, although I casually and fondly observed some baseball moments from a distance…the Cubs in 84, the Braves in 91, the strike, moments such as those.

My return to baseball started with my obsession with Japanese culture and my growing admiration for Japanese baseball, which snowballed into fandom again in the early part of the 2000 decade and my adoption of the Hanshin Tigers as my favorite NPB team (and they still are, to this day). I returned to gaijin baseball with a few Louisville Bats games during that period, but had not returned to a Major League ballpark until 2006, when on a business trip to San Diego my boss and I went to see the Padres take on the visiting Astros at Petco on August 1st. The Padres lost in a pitchers’ duel (Jake Peavy vs. Brad Lidge) but I remember fawning over Mike Piazza and Peavy both, and the experience was so wholesome and so powerful, I was immediately gripped and therefore, made my way back to the greatest game. That’s why the Padres and Petco park will always have a special part of my baseball consciousness.

So…congratulations to Jeremy Hermida, who seems to be headed for a better place, and if you don’t like the avatar (or Pete Rose for that matter), just hang on a bit and things will eventually change. Whether you like it or not.

And hey...John Baker (@manbearwolf) likes the avatar, too...#beastmode

7/29/10 Los Angeles Dodgers 2, San Diego Padres 3

Petco Park, San Diego, CA

LAD 2 3 0
SD 3 8 1

5/1/10 Milwaukee Brewers 2, San Diego Padres 1

Petco Park, San Diego, CA
Game 3 of 4

A pitchers' duel, or Rob Drake Dementia? Two effective arms battle, but a salty HP umpire's bizarre strike zone may or may not have made this the toe-to-toe confrontation this game may or may not have been.

MIL 2 9 0
SD 1 7 0

It's Mat Latos (SD) vs. Yovani Gallardo (MIL) as the Brewers try to snap the Padres' home-winning streak. Consider it snapped, but don't blame the ump.

Let me explain, without watching the game all over again. Rob Drake made at least a dozen 'questionable' calls (off the top of my head), ultimately Adrian Gonzalez and then Bud black both would be ejected in the bottom of the 8th after Gonzalez argues his 3rd strikeout of the game, his 2nd called. I could go back and watch the game again and count the number of 'iffy' called strikes, against BOTH teams, but really I still think that one thing made the difference: Yovani Gallardo's solo Home Run gave the Brewers the one-run lead that counted at the start; the Padres tied the game in the same inning, but with Rickie Weeks' solo shot a couple of innings later and Tim Stauffer's great performance for the Pads in later innings...you start to wonder how many extra innings we'd have seen if it wasn't for Gallardo's blast.

I forgot to mention, Gallardo fanned 11 batters total. Wobbly strike zone or not, he did a fantastic job and moved way up on my 'enemy starting pitchers in the NL Central to despise and admire simultaneously' list.

I really like watching Padres home games on 4SD much better than others, 4SD has the best fly-over shots of Petco and also the best inside-the-park shots.




I scored this game 2/24/11.

4/12/10 Atlanta Braves 2, San Diego Padres 17

Petco Park, San Diego, CA
Padres 2010 Home Opener

ATL 2 4 1
SD 17 19 0