Monday, June 01, 2009

Correia gets pounded in Padres loss - again

Monday June 1, 2009

Kevin Correia gave up two huge blasts to Chase Utley and Ryan Howard to start the 5th inning and the Padres lost to the Phillies 5-3 tonight in San Diego.

Correia gave up 10 hits and 4 earned runs in 4 1/3 innings with 5 k's to raise his ERA to 5.37 on the season. Reliever Luke Gregerson gave up his first earned run since giving up 3 on May 9th.

In the lone bright spots for the Padres, Adrian Gonzalez hit his league leading 21st home run and Scott Hairston followed it up with his 8th blast of the season in the bottom of the 6th to pull the Padres within a run. That was as close as they would get and former Padre Shane Victorino would drive in an insurance run for the Phillies in the 8th.

If Adrian Gonzalez played in any of the major cities of MLB he would be voted in as the All Star 1st baseman. He is hitting an astounding 1 home run for every 9 at bats. He is on pace for 66 home runs this season. That is made all the more astounding by two facts. 1- He plays half his game in Petco, the place home runs go to die. 2 - There is no one to protect him in the Padres lineup so teams are simply pitching around him half of the time.

Folks, one big bat in the lineup and this guy could hit 50 every year. He is THAT good. So enjoy him while you can. Some team is going to offer the Padres a whole minor league team for him soon and he will be playing in New York or Boston or some other big market.

Chase Headley got another night on the bench. He is struggling mightily, having struck out 49 times in 161 abs while hitting just .236/.309/.366/.675 with just 4 home runs. Hardly the hitter the Padres were expecting when they called him up last year.

You have got to wonder how long it will be before he is back in AAA trying to hone his hitting and Macias will be back in San Diego as the 4th outfielder?

Ducksnorts says what I wanted to about Gwynn, but was too angry to type

Monday June 1, 2009

Geoff Young over at Ducksnorts said in a coherent manner what I tried to get across about Gwynn's defense on Saturday. I guess only posting once a week or so has its benefits.

I was so ticked off about how Gwynn cost the Padres that game I was just doing my best not to lace the whole post with profanity. With much gnashing of teeth and cussing under my breath, I pounded out a barely coherent post.

Geoff took a few days and posted a much more eloquent post on Gwynn's performance that started with:
Gwynn gave a clinic on how not to play center field. We’ll cut him slack for not tracking down Clint Barmes’ first-inning triple to right-center. If Gwynn lays out for that ball, maybe he catches it. I’ve got enough other gripes that I don’t want a missed highlight reel opportunity to be a sticking point.
Then he laid out the three plays Gwynn blew that gave the win to the Rockies. I encourage you to go over to his blog and take a look at the rest of what he wrote about Gwynn. Young has good writing skills (something I don't have) and he took the time to cool down (something I didn't do) before he posted. Maybe I should take a lesson from that.

And just maybe Gwynn should take some fielding lessons from his Gold Glove winning father.

Thanks Geoff. Wish I could have said that as well as you did.

Is Brian Giles finally turning it around?

Monday June 1st, 2009

Brian Giles has gone 9/29 with 5 bb, 3 doubles and a triple in his last 10 games for a .310 BA and a .412 OBP. He has done that against 3 teams, the Diamondbacks, Cubs and Giants, who have good pitching staffs.

That is the Brian Giles we are used to seeing.

The question is, has he finally turned it around and will this be the Brian Giles we will see the rest of the season?

If it is, he is one of the bigger bargains on the market for a RF.

If not and he continues to sit around the Mendoza Line for the rest of the season, he may just be the biggest bust since Andruw Jones.

As a Padres fan I am hoping he does keep it up and his past would indicate he more than likely will.

I have had my say. Now what do you think?