The Rotation

The Padres currently have, give or take a guy, 14 pitchers competing for rotation spots this Spring Training.  That number includes Cory Luebke and Joe Wieland who are recovering from Tommy John surgery and won't be available until mid-summer at the earliest.  The remaining 12 guys are a mix of veterans and youngsters, none of whom are top-of-the-rotation starters.  It could be a long season at Petco Park.

But what if some of the veterans had a season equal to their best season ever.  Then the Padres would have something!  Just look at the numbers:

1.  Jason Marquis - 15-7  3.71  201.1  [2004]

2.  Edinson Volquez - 17-6  3.21  196.0  [2008]

3.  Clayton Richard - 14-9  3.75  201.2  [2010]

4.  Freddy Garcia - 18-6  3.05  238.2  [2001]

5.  Tim Stauffer - 9-12  3.73  185.2  [2011]

6.  Eric Stults - 8-3  2.92  92.1  [2012]  

This could absolutely happen.  In fact, if Freddy Garcia doesn't throw 238 innings, I'll be shocked.

With The Padres At Fenway: Vol. 3

I knew it couldn't last. Two perfect summer days in Boston had to be followed by a cloudy, drizzly day. This isn't San Diego, after all. Consistent perfection is just not attainable.


We arrived to our seats just as the Fenway grounds crew removed the tarp. The start of the game was delayed about 30 minutes (the first of four rain delays).

MLB really wanted to get the game in yesterday, for the obvious reason that rescheduling a game between two teams in separate leagues on opposite coasts would be a logistical nightmare. They pulled the tarp while it was still sprinkling and the teams played through a steady drizzle all afternoon.

Unfortunately the steady drizzle prevented me from ever sitting in my seats. You see, I attended yesterday's game with my wife and 3 1/2-month old daughter (her first Padres game!), and apparently, at least according to my wife, it is a "bad idea" to have a "baby" "sit out in the rain" for an extended period of time.

Who knew?

This gives you a good idea of the soggy conditions. A few minutes before the first pitch and the fans still had their umbrellas up. You also never see this many empty seats at Fenway a few minutes before the first pitch.


"But Da', you said we'd sit close to the field so I could show off my pink Padres shirt and see Chase Headley field ground balls. Instead, we're standing in this hallway with loud echoes. I don't know about this baseball stuff."

Patience, young one. That was not a representative experience. Don't judge it just on that one encounter alone.

The underbelly of Fenway. Deceptively spacious and with good crowd flow.

It's not evident from the photo, but this was moments after Will Venable led off the game with a bomb. Had I been in my seats, I would have had a great view. Incidentally, the groan from Red Sox fans after Lackey gave up the bomb was palpable. They really dislike that guy.

The rain was not letting up so we left in the third inning, just before the second rain delay, and found a seat at the Cask 'n Flagon, a well-known bar next to the ballpark. Here's a view looking out the side door of the bar on Landsdowne Street.


Looking down Landsdowne St., those are the famed Monster Seats on the right. On a related note, this was as close as I got to sitting in the famed Monster Seats.

And my final view of the game on the many TVs at the Cask 'n Flagon. Clay Richard is everywhere, and nowhere. (Mind blown.)

And this is a photo of my shirt on the train ride home at the moment I heard the Padres won 5-1.

Go Padres!

Not The Pitching Too ...

The Padres lost again last night to the Brewers, this time 8-6 in a game that at one point the Brewers led 8-0.

Small consolation.

Still, if the Padres win this afternoon, they'll be at .500 for the month, and no worse than 6 games back of first. That's not bad considering they have the worst hitting in the league. Nor is it bad considering their starting pitching, one of the team's few strengths in April, has been up and down this month.

Let's look at the starters numbers through the first 10 days of May (April ERA in parens):

Aaron Harang: 1-1 4.50 (3.90)
Tim Stauffer: 0-0 0.00 (3.12)
Dustin Moseley: 1-1 3.75 (1.99)
Clayton Richard: 0-2 8.64 (3.82)
Mat Latos: 0-1 4.63 (4.98)

After today every starter will have made two starts this month. But other than Tim's choice start against the DBacks last Friday, none of the guys has improved on his April numbers (Mat's middling improvement can hardly be counted). Aaron had a good start against the DBacks on Sunday, but that has to be paired with a disastrous outing against Pittsburgh on May 2. Moseley likewise had a great outing on May 1 against the Dadgers, only to be rocked Saturday against Arizona. And Clayton has been just bad, albeit the victim of some poor defense in his May 4 start against the Buccos.

If this up-and-down trend continues, Tim may be due for a dicey performance today. But I hope that doesn't happen.

How's that for an inspirational pregame speech?

Shutout Shutout Shutout ... Shutout Shutout Shutout

One mistake pitch to Ryan Howard was all that separated Clayton Richard's loss from Cole Hamels' win last night. In effect, Clayton had the better performance. After all, he had to pitch to the Phillies lineup while Cole just had to toss batting practice balls to the Padres AAAA lineup.

The good news is that, according to Baseball Reference, the Padres are 8th of 16 NL teams in attendance this season. So at least a reasonable number of folks are going to the games.

Life Lesson: If You Don't Win When You Have A Chance To Win, You Will Lose

Last night the Padres had many many chances to beat the Reds. But an inability to get big hits with the bases loaded in the 9th and 10th innings, a crucial throwing error by Clayton Richard that led to a Reds run, and two outstanding Reds defensive plays (one by Scott Rolen and one by Brandon Phillips that, incidentally, was one of the best plays I've ever seen by a second baseman), conspired to defeat the Padres in a game they really should have won.

The Padres have now lost 5 of their last 6 and are in danger of being swept away by the Reds later this afternoon.

It's up to Timothy James Stauffer to right the ship. I for one think he can do it.

"They call me Mister Double Play."

I can't say enough about Albert Pujols and his three double-play performance on Opening Day. I also can't say enough about Cameron Maybin's two-out game-tying homer in the ninth, or Tim Stauffer's solid start, or Pat Neshek's crafty relief performance.

And, now that I've said that I can't say enough, I think I'll sign off and get ready for today's rematch. Clay Richard goes against Jake Westbrook.

(Also, great photo by Chris Lee of the Post-Dispatch. People do things well in St. Louis.)

When Last I Saw The Padres In Frisco

It's no secret that, after Petco and PNC, Pac Bell is my favorite ballpark in baseball. The location downtown is choice, the views of the water are epic and the food and beverage options are plenty.

San Francisco is a fantastic town in general and I've had the luck to visit it often in the past few years, most recently in July 2009 when I took in a Buccos-Pirates game in between days of the California Bar Examination. Matt Cain and Zach Duke dueled in a 0-0 tie through 9 (Boch let Cain pitch the full 9 innings, 111 pitches) before the Gints won it on a Randy Winn single in the 10th. The stadium was packed and it was a gorgeous, sunny day.

Rewind about 22 months earlier when I was in town on a Monday night and my visit coincided with a Drinos roadtrip. If you'll recall September 2007, the Padres were in the midst of a pennant race and fielded an excellent team, but had just been swept by the Rockies at home (a haunting preview in retrospect), including, the day before, a loss in the infamous "Milton Bradley Game," where Bud Black accidentally tore up Milton's knee while trying to prevent him from murdering an umpire. Milton had homered in that game, his 11th in 169 plate appearances as a Padre, but would never bat again that season.

It was under that gloomy cloud that the Padres took the field at Pac Bell on Monday, September 24, 2007. My specific memories of the game aren't many, but I do recall a few details:

- Before the game I had a few beers at a sports bar near the park - I think it was O'Neil's, but it may have been Kate O'Brien's or even the Brickhouse - and watched the MNF pregame show. It was a Saints game and I remember thinking that Brees likely wouldn't lead the Saints any further than he had the previous season when the Saints lost to the Bears in the NFC Championship game. I remember having that exact thought. So much for predictions.

- Right before game time, I scalped three seats in the 200-level club section just to the right of home plate. The tickets cost surprisingly little and my two friends - both students at Berkeley at the time - were pleased with the price. We housed many gourmet food items throughout the game.

- The game itself is murky, likely because the Padres got rolled. I do remember seeing Klesko in closeup on the jumbotron, and, looking at the boxscore now, he did have a solid game (2-5, 2 runs scored, a ribeye). For the Padres, of course Adrian doubled and had 3 hits, and Brady Clark, taking over for Milton Bradley, had 2 hits, one of them a double. I was probably hopeful at that point that Brady was the answer for the stretch run. So sad.

- CY got rocked in this game, which was not a good sign. I also see the Padres ran out Cla Meredith in relief. It's a nice feeling to know that, as marginally good as Cla was in his seasons with the Padres, he would be the worst relief pitcher on this year's squad. That thought gives me comfort the Padres can pull this thing out this season.

That's all I remember at the moment. I won't be in Frisco for the series this weekend, but I'm more or less certain the Drinos can get it dun without me. Tonight Clay Richard leads the charge against Jonathan Sanchez and crew.

It's safe to say that Sanchez will be eating his words by night's end.

Don't Like Losing To The DBacks

Losing to the DBacks always leaves me with a bad taste in my mouth. I'm not a huge fan of all things desert, and DBacks announcer, Deron Sutton, is insufferable. And I can't stand Kirk Gibson, the DBacks current manager, for obvious reasons.

Tonight is a must-win game for the Padres. They can't lose to Rodrigo Lopez and this heinous DBacks team twice in a row.

Clayton will pitch well, of that I have no doubt. But let's get the bats rolling - I'm looking at you Ludwick and Tejada - and put these Snakes in their place.

Padres Go To L.A. For Four

The Dadgers are on the precipice, hanging on for dear life in the NL playoff picture. I like to imagine them balancing on the thin edge of the "D" in the Hollywood sign, ready to spill forward and plunge down the escarpment at the slightest push.

I hope tonight the Padres - led by our boy Clay Richard - can get that nudging started with a win at Chavez Ravine. Tonight's game starts a four game set that, if the Padres sweep or take three out of four, could knock the Dodgers out cold.

On the other hand, the Dadgers could salvage their season if they win three of the four, a move they may be positioned to do with Kuroda, Ted Lilly and Chad Billingsley scheduled to pitch in the series.

Meanwhile, one casts a wary eye East, to Denver, where the Gints and the Rockies start a two game series tomorrow night. The Rockies have won four straight, while the Giants are winners of three in a row. Both teams fancy themselves competitors for the NL West lead the Padres have held since April.

Things could not be more critical these next four August nights.

Drinos In D.C.

Back in the day I was a student in the great city of Washington, D.C.

One of my favorite spots in the city was the Jefferson Memorial. On the right night - think any night of the year when it's not raining or 100 degrees - you could walk over to the Memorial, sit on the steps by the water and surreptitously drink wine, beer or booze that you'd packed in your backpack. I mean, that wasn't necessarily "allowed," but it is what I did on a couple of occasions.

Those were good times.

I honestly can't think of a better spot to surreptitiously drink booze in public than the Jefferson Memorial. (Note: Obviously I'm not including here the best spot in the world to drink booze in public, which is the hills of the Albaicín in Granada, Spain looking back at the Alhambra. But public drinking is legal in Spain so there is no need to be surreptitious.)

All of this is just a long way of saying that the Padres are in D.C. this week for three games against the Nationals. I've been to a solid handful of Drino-Natty games in the District, but alas won't be heading down this year.

No doubt Clayton Richard can get the series off to a good start tonight without me.

Padres Need To Get Back On Track

First of all, I have to thank my advisor Father D.P. McGillicutty for having the Bevormo family out to his house in Southampton on Friday night. I also need to thank master designer PKOH for inviting the Bevormo family to his wedding on Saturday night.

Of course, I thank these two individuals not just for the excellence of both events, but for the fact the events worked to distract me from two disappointing losses to the Dadgers over the weekend. Unfortunately, I had time to watch Sunday's loss live and in color, but that's my own fault.

A few thoughts from the weekend's games:

- Tony Gwynn had that Kemp bomb on Friday night. If he makes that catch the Padres might have the momentum to sweep the series.

- Speaking of Friday night, how soon things turn. After the first inning Friday night - maybe around 7 PM PDT - the Padres had just swept the Giants and Adrian Gonzalez had just smoked a monster bomb. Just 48 hours later the Padres had lost three straight games and it looked like no Padre hitter would ever hit a HR again. Or any other type of hit for that matter.

- Wade LeBlanc. Pure monster. Through 35 innings across 6 starts he's sitting at a 1.54 ERA, 1.31 WHIP, and a .337 BABIP. I'm no statistician but that high BABIP tells me that, if anything, LeBlanc has been unlucky in his first 6 starts. (Of course I don't understand BABIP so that could be an entirely incorrect conclusion.)

Tonight, the domination of the Giants will hopefully continue under the steady hand of Clayton Richard. But Matty Cain stands on the mound in the bottom half of each inning so a win could be a tough road to hoe.

Up In San Fran

Last night's game between soft-tossing lefties Wade LeBlanc and Barry Zito felt interminable. And that last inning when Heath Bell kept throwing breaking pitch after breaking pitch to the immortal Eli Whiteside aged me about 14 years.

That's right. I'm now 47.

Another thing I didn't like about last night's game: Scotty "Bombs" Hairston making the final out of the 2nd inning at third base, leaving Adrian standing in the on deck circle. C'mon, Scotty. You've got to stay at second there and let Adrian blast you in.

A thing I did like about last night's game: after Kyle Blanks looking horrendous on Ks in his first two at bats, the camera cutting to Adrian talking to Kyle on the bench. Kyle walked in his final three at bats and took noticeably more aggressive swings. Nicely done, Adrian.

Tonight we've got Clayton against Matty Cain. If the Drinos pull this one out too - and I'm at the point where I almost expect the Padres to win every night - then I'll continue to be very pleased.

Opening Day For The Drinos: Richard

Hey Clayton Richard,

You 4th starter who pitched well last season after coming over from the White Sox in the Jake Peavy trade ... how about having a year, huh?

In a few days you'll get to start proving you are legit #4 starter in the Bigs and start helping Padres fans forget about that guy from Semmes, Alabama who's named rhymed with Make Meavy.

So get out there and start missing bats with your crafty, lefty stuff.

Best,
Bevormo

Tim Stauffer + Clayton Richad + Kevin Correia = Nats Dominance

Tim "Stouffer". That's what Nats announcer Rob Dibble called Tim Stauffer on Monday night. Apparently no one in the Nats' broadcasting truck bothered to correct Dibble, because he must have said "Stouffer" about 16 times.

That's okay. I always liked Norm Charlton better anyway.

But I digress. More important than any name calling was the performance by the starting Padre pitchers during the series against the Nats. Tim, Clayton Richard and Kevin Correia all dominated. Their individual lines looked this:

Stauffer: 6.2 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 5 Ks
Richard: 6.2 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 Ks
Correia: 7.2 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 5 Ks

Yes, this all happened against the Nats, and while playing at Petco Park. But life's too short to discount good pitching performances. I'd rather spend my time celebrating them.

Nicely done, boys.

Tonight There Is A Padres Game

Clayton,

I've made a list of goals for you tonight:

- strikeout many Cardinals
- don't walk any Cardinals

That is the list.

Regards,
Bevormo

Clayton Richard ... On The Mound ... Soon

My boy Clayton Richard takes the mound tonight for the Padres against the ultra-soft lineup of the New York Metropolitans.

I smell a gem.

To whet our collective appetites, let's take a quick look at Clayton's last 3 starts across the two leagues:

July 21 v. Tampa Bay: 8.0 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 7 Ks

July 26 at Detroit: 8.0 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 Ks

August 1 v. Milwaukee: 5.2 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 5 Ks

In a word, nice. For those playing along at home, that averages out to 7.1 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, and 5 Ks per start. That's a .14 ERA and a .85 WHIP.

I shouldn't have to tell you that the Ray, Tiger and Brewer lineups are not peopled with slouches.

Ger r dun, Clayton.