Sunday, September 06, 2009

NEVER bring Joe Thatcher in with men on base!

Sunday September 6, 2009

Joe Thatcher on the season:

With the bases empty he is perfect - 0.00 ERA/0.90 WHIP/.189 BAA & just 4 walks in 20 innings pitched.
With runners on base - 5.94 ERA
With runners in scoring position - 8.71 ERA
With RISP and 2 outs - 13.50 ERA

With RISP he actually has as many walks as hits.
With RISP and 2 outs he has allowed only 3 hits, but has given up 5 walks in just 5.1 IP

And remember, this does not include the 6 inherited runners he has allowed to score.

So why would the Padres EVER bring him in or leave him in with men in scoring position, especially if there are two outs?

Padres win 4th straight series

Sunday September 6, 2009

Happy Labor Day!

The San Diego Padres defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers 4-3 tonight at Chavez Ravine to take their 4th straight series. Throw out the two series against the St Louis Cardinals, the best team in the NL right now, and the Padres have not lost a series for a month.

After a 15-14 August, their first winning month in 2 seasons, the Padres are now 4-1 in September.

Who would have thunk it?

Its fun watching these kids play. Sometimes you have to look between the fingers you have put over your eyes because you are not quite sure if they are going to get it done, but its still fun.

And you know they are going to make some mistakes, like the 3 errors in one game (and the error tonight) by Everth Cabrera and a bad pitch here and there from the young pitchers, but its still fun.

Tonight we saw a resurgent Tim Stauffer throw 6 2/3 innings of 1 run ball for his 4th win of the season and 3rd straight. In fact if Joe Thatcher had not come in with 2 men on and 2 outs and given up a double on the first pitch to the left handed Andre Ethier the Padres likely would have won this game 4-1. We saw rookie reliever Luke Gregerson come in and shut the Dodgers down for 1 1/3 perfect innings.

We also saw Kevin Kouzmanoff drive in 3 runs, his 81st, 82nd, and 83rd; and Adrian Gonzalez hit his 35th home run. Heath Bell got his 35th save of the season. We saw Cabrera score his 48 run in just 77 starts. That is a 100+ run pace.

Not one Padre I mentioned there is over 30 except 31 year old Heath Bell.

That folks, is exciting! I can't wait to see what these kids and hopefully a couple of key Free Agent or Trade acquisitions this off season can do in 2010.