Twinsies 3, Drinos 1

I turned it off.

I'm not gonna lie to you. When Hoffy gave up that bomb to Brendan Harris I shut down my computer (mlb.tv ... there is no substitute ... other than living in S.D. and getting Channel 4 in HD that is) and walked away. It's not that I was even that upset with Hoffman (I should have turned it off after Gerut failed to get the bunt down in the 8th). I kind of figure giving Hoffy anything less than a 2-run lead these days basically amounts to a 50/50 proposition that we will be tied or losing after his inning.

Thus every career must end.

Whoa, whoa, whoa ... don't get me wrong. I'm not saying the Padres should shelve their copy of AC/DC's Back in Black just yet (prediction: Hoffy ends the year with a semi-respectable 3.88 ERA and 38 saves), but the writing is on the wall. Hoffman is not the closer he was in his prime (I know, news flash), nor is he the closer he was 2 years ago or even for 98% of last year. He is now what you would call a "risky closer." Someone of the Todd Jones type. If anyone thinks Trevor is going to bounce back and go on a run where he saves like 20 games in a row (the kind of run the Pads would need to get back in this race), well, I'm afraid I don't share your optimism.

But like I said, I don't blame Trevor. The Padres offense is growing increasingly inept and forcing our bullpen, including Trevor, to be absolutely perfect every night. That's a pretty high standard, perfection. Perfection is rare. Off the top of my head the only things I can think of that are perfect are A Few Good Men, the Mexican model Blanca Soto, the bacon appetizer at Peter Luger's and the series finale of Cheers.

And let's face it, the Padres bullpen is no Luger's bacon app.

One of Three Against the Tigres

I'm ready to be done with this AL stuff. Another series against the Twinsies and then one with the M's and then let's be done with it. Let's get back to the NL West where we can pummel some teams and move up the standings on a direct basis, i.e. beat the Backs, they move down one, we move up one. I'm ready. Anyone else? (Note: I recognize fans of the other NL West teams, particularly the Backs, are saying the same thing about getting back to playing the Drinos.)

But before we look ahead let's look back at the Tigre series.

Friday night - Drinos 6, Tigres 2: Before the game I saw that Joel Zumaya and Fernando Rodney were both activated and I thought to myself, "Hey, maybe that's how we win this thing. We face some relievers that haven't thrown for awhile, draw a few walks and take advantage." And what do you know? That's exactly how it went down. A few walks in the 8th, an A-Gon single, et cetera, et cetera ... all in a day's work. Of course it all would have been for naught had Gregor the Maddux not been lethal on the Tigres lineup through the first 7 innings. He even laughed off that shadiness by Leyland when Jimmy L. complained to the umps that Maddux was wiping sweat from his forehead while standing on the mound.

Leyland ... so shady.

Saturday night - Tigres 7, Drinos 5: If I could have one wish this summer it would be that no more Padres get thrown out at the plate. Please. No more. Not again. Do not get thrown out at the plate. If it isn't A-Gon, it's Khalil; if it isn't Khalil, it's Jody Gerut; if it isn't Gerut, it's probably A-Gon again (let's face it, it's usually A-Gon.)

Sunday afternoon - Tigres 5, Drinos 3: Headley pulled a Kirk Cameron.

Growing Pains.

The Final Two Against the Shanks

I had the opportunity to go to the game again Wednesday but, despite having a ticket in hand, had to sit in the office and watch on mlb.tv the Joba outing Thursday afternoon. It was a sell out too, and a beautiful day.

I'm only a little bit bitter.

Wednesday night, Shanks 8, Pads 5. You could almost predict Peav would be so fired up for this game - his first start at Yankee stadium - that he'd overthrow and not have his best command. There's certainly precedent for that - the two Cardinals playoff games, the Rockies Game 163, last year's game against the Red Sox - though I'm not sure that's what happened Wednesday. A-Rod got into him good for a monster bomb in the third, but other than that it was a couple Damon squeaker base hits, a stolen base, a fly ball McAnulty didn't get to and a Khalil throwing error that got Peav into trouble.

Too bad too because the bats woke up in the late stages of the game. Giles and A-Gon went yard to pull the Drinos within a run going to the bottom of the 7th but the Yanquis bats got to the Drino bullpen (why did Black let Hampson start the 7th - very dubious decision) and pulled away.

Let me say one other thing about our boy Chase Headley. What a beast. I feel privileged to have been at Wrigley for his MLB debut last year - sat a few seats behind his family members who were already wearing a Padres jersey with Headley's name on the back - and to have seen his first bomb, hit at the legendary Stade Fascist in its final season. Even more, Headley's fly out to right center in the third missed being a salami by about five feet, and his fly out to Damon in the second missed being a solo shot by about two feet, so it was nice to see him break through against Farnsworth in the 8th. Well played Chase!

Thursday afternoon, Shanks 2, Pads 1. When you work in New York City and you are sitting in your office watching the Pads play the Yankees on mlb.tv and your co-workers, including your secretary, keep coming in and looking over your shoulder for updates, and those updates are that Joba Chamberlain is pitching well and the Padres can't score runs and the Yankees are in the lead and about to win and then that Rivera just struck out the side ... it's really annoying.

That's all I'm going to say about that.

Oh, but one more thing ...

Go Padres! Dominate the Tigers!

Yanks 8, Drinos 0

Rough beatdown last night at the Stade. I knew things weren't going well when, as we were sitting in traffic about three blocks from the stadium, a couple street vendors were saying that "A-Rod just hit another one" and "Giambi hit one too." I was pretty sure as I surreptitiously sipped a Coors Louie in the backseat of the car that the "one" that A-Rod and Giambi hit was a "bomb" and that ended up being a correct assumption.

Not to mention that as I was walking to my seats in RF (second row in fair territory, bomb central) Headley misplayed a ball that caromed off the corner and the runner ended up at third base. Nice play Chaser! That particular run didn't score but the error added to the total mix of doom that was in the air.

It probably started even earlier, in fact, when Kouz was scratched from the lineup after tweaking his back during batting practice. I didn't even realize Kouz wasn't in the game until, in the fourth inning, the second basemen dropped the ball on a routine double play and I yelled out "Edgar!" only to have my friends tell me that Edgar wasn't the one that dropped but rather the one that threw it. Looking closer I realized it was in fact E-Gon at third and Stansberry at second. Later on in the game Stansberry made another error. Thanks Kouz's back!

But overall it was a good time. Later in the game between innings we were standing in our Padre shirts and wolf masks (yes, we wore wolf masks to support Randy) and cheering on Headley in LF and Headley gave us a distinct nod of recognition. It was a beastly moment from the future beast and I felt like a beast because of it.

The Tribe Series

I felt really confident for the boys in this series and - it's kind of weird - I still feel like we won the series. I know we didn't win the series, but for some reason it feels that way. Not sure what that gets us (probably nothing) but maybe it means it looked like the Padres were still playing with some confidence and can carry that type of play into this mid-week series in the Bronx.

Let's hope so at least.

But before we move on to New York City, let's briefly recap the weekend series in the Land of Cleve.

Friday night: Tribe 9, Pads 5. A-Gon and Kouz raked but the Drinos - in particular Claw Meredith - couldn't survive a relentless Tribe attack lead by Grady Sizemore's two bombs.

Saturday night: Pads 8, Tribe 3. They will speak of this Cha Sung Baek outing for centuries in South Korea. It was the stuff of legend. After a sloppy first where he walked two and gave up three runs, Baek retired every batter he faced over the next 6 innings. The offense couldn't do much with Cliffy Lee either, however, so the stage was set (after a dazzling 2 inning performance by Heath) for extra innings and a go-ahead grand salami by Kouz.

Sunday afternoon: Tribe 7, Pads 3. Kind of a downer but I guess you expect to lose when, of all things, Greg Maddux makes a throwing error and you are facing C.C. Sabathia. These things happen. Of course the Drinos were still in it until Claw bled out a few more runs. That guy has been a leaky faucet of late. He'll come around.

* * *

Okay, on to New York, my current city of residence. I'll be at the game tonight and Thursday (and hopefully to watch Peavy on Wednesday).

Drinos 9, Dadgers zip

Peavy looked masterful. Giles and A Gon and E Gon are raking.

Query our boy Kouzmanoff?

He'll come around.

* * *

In other news, I noted on Pablo DePodesta's blog that highly touted 2007 Dominican signee Jonathan Galvez is still playing with the DSL Padres. This point is interesting because until this season Jonathan Galvez was named Jhonaton Spraud.

I have no problem with a player changing his name (though I liked the name Jhonaton) but I hope the name change didn't come with an extra few years of age, as has been known to happen with other Latin players.

But setting that point aside for the moment, looking over the Padres' minor league rosters on madfriars.com and firstinning.com I am enthused with all the starting outfields at every level of our system.

Here is who the Drinos started in the OF last night at each level:

DSL Padres: LF - Cesar Sosa, CF - Rymer Liriano, RF - Carlos Garcia
Fort Wayne: LF - Yefri Carvajal, CF - Robert Perry, RF - Shane Buschini
Lake Elsinore: LF - Javis Diaz, CF - Cedric Hunter, RF - Kellen Kulbacki
San Antonio: LF - Chad Huffman, CF - Drew Macias, RF - Michael Baxter
Portland: LF - Chase Headley, CF - Will Venable, RF - Vince Sinisi
San Diego: LF - Paul McAnulty, CF - Jody Gerut, RF - Brian Giles

First of all, what a pack of beasts.

And second, let's imagine some possibilities. You have Headley and Huffman who could probably hit for the big league team right now. Then one notch down you have Venable who came to baseball late and may still be mastering his skills. He's close as it is. Then you have a kind of pupu platter of guys who likely won't make it but all have talent: Sinisi is one of those AAA/AAAA guys who could come up and fill in spots in the bigs if needed; Baxter is a 23-year old out of Vandy, hitting about .280 right now; Drew Macias is a former 35th round pick who hit .280 in over 100 ABs in Portland last season; Javis Diaz is a 23-year old Dominican with good speed; Buschini is a big kid out of USD; Robert Perry is a left-handed bat out of Long Beach St.

But then you have four more potential beasts: Liriano, Carvajal, Hunter and Kulbacki. Imagine a starting outfield in 2012 of Carvajal, Hunter and Kulbacki. With Liriano raking in AAA. That probably won't happen but my point is that with all these bats the Drinos have improved their chances of stocking their outfield with a home grown beast or two in the near future.

And this doesn't even count the guys heading to Peoria and Eugene in the next few weeks. This includes the likes of Blake Tekotte and Jaff Decker. Not to mention the next crop of Dominicans and Venezuelans and Mexicans and Colombians the Drinos sign on international signing day.

Drino 4, Dadgers 1

Peavy is on the mound even as I write this and just got Russ Martin to fly out to CF for the third out of the top half of the first.

So I will keep this post brief.

I really just wanted to note how liberating last night's game was. Not so much because Randy Wolf dominated the Dadgers lineup and Khalil and E Gon hit bombs to deep areas of the ballpark, but more so because the game only lasted just over two hours. That's a big deal for someone watching the games on East Coast. Instead of ending at 1 AM, the game ended around 12:15 and I felt like I had the whole night ahead of me. I read, I caught up on e-mails, I had a conversation with my wife. It was like I was livin' on borrowed time.

I actually felt productive.

Ooh, ooh ... Gerut and E Gon just hit back-to-back singles to start the bottom of the first. Giles up with two on, no out.

And the pitch ...

Drinos 2, Metsies 1 (again!) (again!)

Great at bat by Scotty last night in the 10th. Facing Pete Feliciano here is the pitch-by-pitch breakdown:

1. Feliciano throws a slow slider that stays outside. Scotty offers a half-hearted bunt attempt at it (so devious, that Scotty, showing bunt when he is planning to hit a walk off bomb) and then pulls back and lets it pass. 1-0.

2. Feliciano brings that side arm fastball of his down the pipe at 87 mph and Scotty fouls it straight back behind the plate. 1-1.

3. A slider that dips inside completely ties up Scotty and sends him to his right knee but, though close, Lance Diaz at 1B rules he doesn't swing. Crucial call to keep the count in Scotty's favor. 2-1.

4. An 86 mph fastball stays wide and Scotty just spits on it. 3-1.

5. On the 3-1 pitch, Feliciano throws another mid-80s "fastball" that starts on the outer half and then fades back middle-in and Scotty unleashes his compact swing and drives the ball out of the park.

What. A. Beast.

Drinos 2, Metsies 1 (again!)

Great game last night. A lot of action wrought by talent (Wright's bomb that Scotty Hairston snagged, the outings by Wolf, Bell and Hoffman, A Gon gunning down Endy at third on an attempted sacrifice), action wrought by ineptitude (E Gon's baserunning snafu), action wrought by randomness (Wolf's pitch smacking off Santana's shoulder on the attempted bunt) and action wrought by a little redemption (E Gon's diving snake to rob Beltran of a single in the top of the 8th).

Well played on both sides.

Looking forward to OP getting rocked tonight so his price tag will drop and KT can sign him for peanuts in the offseason.

Hi-oooooooooooo!

* * * * *

Now a brief word on our boy Antonelli. Like many of you I've been wondering what's wrong with the kid in this his first foray into the ranks of AAA. He is currently batting .169 with 3 bombs and only 15 ribeyes in 195 at bats. Compare that to his line at San Antonio late last year (.294 7 24 in 187 ABs) and at Lake Elly in the first half of last season (.312 14 54 in 346 ABs).

Certainly a drop off in production for the youngster.

I do have one note of hope, however, that I was hoping someone who has watched Antonelli's games this year might be able to corroborate. Comparing his line from Portland this season and from San Antonio late last season, in a similar number of at bats, Antonelli has a similar number of Ks. So far this season in 195 ABs he has 39 Ks; at San Antone in 187 ABs he had 36 Ks.

In short, even though he is getting a lot fewer hits, Antonelli is not striking out at a greater clip this season. What that tells me - and again I'd love to get some corroboration of this from someone who has seen some of Antonelli's at bats live - is that he hasn't forgotten how to make contact, but may be having some bad luck and not driving the ball yet with consistency.

In other words, he is not so outclassed by the AAA pitchers that he is whiffing and taking called third strikes. Rather, he is hitting the ball at people and hasn't found a groove yet to hit the ball with authority to the gaps.

My thought is Antonelli will come around shortly.

Drinos 2, Metsies 1

I will wholeheartedly take that victory. Giles summed it up best in a post-game interview on SNY. He said that the team has lost every close game like that this season so it was nice to finally come out on top in one and get the victory.

In other words he didn't care how the team did it, he was just happy they won.

Could not agree more.

If there wasn't enough evidence already, the recent Estes and Iguchi injuries prove that this Drinos season is pure tragicomedy. The Edmonds signing and immediate calf injury (and resultant suck), Barrett throwing his arm out (revealing how much effort he puts in to never throw guys out), the 22 inning game and the 18 inning game, the CY-Pujols-Bard "menage a injury," Prior's diagnosis with a shoulder so injured the doctors operating on it had never before seen the injury in a pitcher, Peavy's creaky elbow and now, Estes falling down some stairs to fracture a digit on his pitching hand and Iguchi doing a Baryshnikov-gone-bad to avoid a ground ball and in the process separating his shoulder.

What a season.

And despite all that the Drinos are only 8 games back.

Three straight if they beat Santana tonight.

To quote the immortal Coach Bobby Finstock, "Let's play some ball here."

Scubbies 9, Drinos 6

Lately I've been noticing all the bombs Adrian Gonzalez has been hitting and it seemed to me he was hitting all the bombs in clutch, late-inning situations. To verify that observation I took a look at the game log of Adrian's 2008 bombs on the indispensable baseball-reference.com.

And what did I find?

Confirmation of course that Adrian is a beast.

To wit ...

Of Adrian's 18 bombs so far this season, only 5 were hit in the 7th inning or later, but his last 4 bombs all came in the 7th inning or later (so that explains why it seemed to me he was hitting so many late inning bombs).

The five bombs after the 7th inning include the bottom of the 18th walk-off game winner against Edinson Volquez on May 25, the bottom of the 7th bomb off the Nats' Charlie Manning on May 27, the top of the 10th bomb off the Gints' Alex Hinshaw on June 1, and the bottom of the 9th 3-run jack off the venerable Carlos Marmol that brought the Drinos to within 1 run of the Scubbies with only 1 out (of course Tony Clark and Michael Barrett quickly made game-ending outs).

All of these bombs either gave the Drinos a win, a critical late inning lead or gave them a chance to win in just the past 8 or so days.

And if even only 5 of Adrian's 18 bombs have come in the 7th inning or later, all of his bombs this season (with the exception of one blowout loss to Houston) have come when the Drinos were either tied or losing the game. True, some of that is a function of the fact the Drinos have not had many leads this year, but, when you look closer, you realize that every one of Adrian's bombs (with the exception of the bomb off Marmol that brought the Drinos to within 1) have come when the Drinos were only 1 or 2 runs down.

In other words, Adrian is a total clutch monster beast.

Just to give a few examples to illustrate the point:

April 2: down 3-2 and facing Wandy Rodriguez, Adrian hits a 2-run, go-ahead bomb;
April 22: down 2-0 and facing Brandon Backe, Adrian hits a 3-run, go-ahead jizzack;
May 10: tied 0-0 and facing Ubaldo Jimenez, Adrian hits a 3-run, go-ahead bomb; and
May 22: down 2-1 and facing Aaron Harang, Adrian hits a 2-run, go-ahead bomb.

And Adrian is doing all this at the age of 26 and in only his third full season. It makes you wonder what Adrian will do once he gets into his late 20s and acquires his man-strength.

Scubs 7, Drinos 6

After Kouzmanoff's triple last night I wrote an e-mail to a friend of mine who owns Zambrano in a fantasy league that said, "Los must bow to the Kouz." I was referring of course to Zambrano's nickname "Crazy Los."

A few minutes later he wrote back with this question: "query who has better numbers per ab this year - big z or kouz."

I laughed the statement off and then proceeded to watch Zambrano reach out his bat and send a 2-strike offering from Cha Seung Baek into the gap between Gerut and Giles for an RBI triple of his own.

What a monster.

So it got me wondering, if Zambrano had the same number of at bats as Kouzmanoff this season, what would his numbers look like. (Keeping in mind of course that Zambrano's numbers almost certainly wouldn't project out the same way if he played everyday.) Here is the breakdown:

Zambrano's current line: 41 ABs, 15 hits, 2 2B, 1 3B, 1 bomb, 5 ribeyes, .366 AVG

Kouzmanoff's current line: 242 ABs, 66 hits, 8 2B, 2 3B, 8 bombs, 25 ribeyes, .273 AVG

Zambrano's 242 AB projection: 242 ABs, 88 hits, 12 2B, 6 3B, 6 bombs, 30 ribeyes, .364 AVG

Based on these numbers Crazy Los profiles to a nice 3 hole hitter.

Sign him up.