Monday, April 11, 2011

9th game & its time for Padres to sit Hawpe

Monday April 11, 2011

On the day I paid $4.11 for gas, I came to the realization watching Hawpe fail miserably to get a hit in the 1st inning of the Padres vs Reds that even though its only the 9th game of the season, its time for the Padres to sit Brad Hawpe.

His herky jerky movements at the plate testify to a lack of confidence that is making it impossible for him to hit consistently. If you watch video from earlier in his career when he was hitting decently, he had much less movement of his bat and body at the plate. Now he looks like he is dancing up there never coming set before swinging the bat.

So its time he took a seat and Black brought in someone else to play. 1B. Cantu is not an improvement or he would already be manning 1B. Maybe its time to give Rizzo or Clark a shot. They can't do much worse than .174

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Ludwick picking up where he left off in 2010

Sunday April 10, 2011

Well, Ludwick is who we thought he was at the end of last season - a terrible Padres hitter.

So far he is hitting just .120 as a Padre in 2011 with just 3 hits in 25 abs. Granted 1 of the 3 was a home run, but even if all 3 were home runs, 3 for 25 just will not cut it.

Worse yet, he is not even getting good wood on the ball. Most of his 9 FB were pop ups, 2 in the infield and 3 foul. All of his ground balls were for outs. The ONLY ball he has struck well was his home run today.

Don't get me wrong, Ludwick is not the only Padre starter we were counting on to hit the ball well that is sucking wind. Will Venable is hitting just .120 as well and looks completely lost at the plate. Bartlett is hitting under .150. Hawpe is hitting just .174 with 9 SO against just 1 BB in 23 AB.

Now the Good news in terms of Padres hitting:
Nick Hundley has come of age. After today he is hitting .445 with 2 home runs and 5 XBH in his 11 hits.
Orlando Hudson is his consistent self, hitting .286 after 8 games.
Chase Headley was hitting .280 going into today's game.
Cameron Maybin is hitting .276 and showing some power with 4 XBH in his 8 hits.

The REAL good news? Its only 8 games. So while I am bitchin' about Ludwick, Venable, Hawpe and Bartlett's production so far, I realize we have 154 games, 95% of the season, to go.