A View Of Spring Training

The PCI Blog's intrepid reporter, JJ Geleaux, captured this photo yesterday afternoon at the Pittsburgh Pirates' Spring Training facility in Bradenton, FL.

And today the Pirates announced that Kevin Correia will be their Opening Day starter against the Cubs at Wrigley.

Things are all coming up Bucco!

Kevin Correia ... How About A Ballgame

I know tonight is the last night of August, but I'm hoping Kevin Corriea pitches like it's September.

Last September/October, Kevin sparkled on the mound. He started 6 games, won 3, and posted a 1.71 ERA. He threw 42.1 innings, including a complete-game shutout at Arizona. His strikeout-to-walk ratio was a respectable 4.71, and hitters only batted .228 against him.

He was, in a word, an ace.

Frankly, if the Padres are going to hold the Giants and Rockies at bay, they're going to need Kevin to approach his performance from last September.

Six weeks ago, on July 18, Kevin pitched against the same team he'll face tonight, the Diamondbacks, in the same park he'll play in tonight, Petco Park. He went 6 innings, gave up 3 runs, and K'd 9.

Let's do that again, Kev.

[Update: Needless to say I had this wrong. The game was not at Petco, it was in Phoenix. And the game was gross.]

Three Games In Twoston

The Padres open a three-game series in Houston tonight, and I'm going to take this opportunity to predict three straight wins for the Padres.

Tonight, in Game 1, the Padres put up Mat Latos (1-3 5.47) who is due for a nice outing. I predict a W.

Tomorrow, in Game 2, we're looking at a Jon Garland (3-2 2.06) - Felipe Paulino matchup which translates to one letter for the Padres: W.

And on Sunday, in Game 3, the Padres offer Kev Correia (4-2 3.97) against the Stros' Roy Oswalt. Though the Padres have yet to beat an opposing team's ace all season, I'm thinking they'll make an exception in this case. So, W.

Kev Correia's Final Start ... A Season of Good

Tonight is Kevin Correia's final start of the 2009 season.

It will be interesting to see how history will remember this Padres team, but here are the handful of things on my mind right now that may or may not form a part of what I think of when I think of this Padres team 5, 10, 15 years from now:

- Giles' horrendous start and injury that strangely sidelined him for the entire season;

- the CY and Peavy injuries that guaranteed the team would not be competitive;

- the weird but glorious 10-game winning streak in May;

- the trade for Tony Gwynn, Jr.;

- the promotion and solid play of rookies Everth Cabrera, Kyle Blanks, Will Venable and Mat Latos;

- the strong bullpen work of Luke Gregerson, Heath Bell, Joe Thatcher and Mike Adams;

- the Scotty "Bombs" Hairston trade that netted three power arms;

- the Peavy trade that netted four arms, including Clayton Richard and Adam Russell, who played key roles down the stretch;

- A Gon's ridiculous first half and strong overall season to net 40+ bombs;

- Headley's strong to quite strong August and September;

- the return of Tim Stauffer;

- the outstanding play of the team overall from July 28 to season's end; and

- Kevin Correia's absolute surprise/beast season that makes him the current Drino ace.

Honestly, if the Drinos were suddenly named the Wild Card team tomorrow, I'd like their chances to win a series more than I liked the chances of the 2005 and 2006 Padres.

I'm going to enjoy the playoffs over the next month because I am a fan of baseball generally, but the real excitement will be the Padres front office marshaling its assets and working the Hot Stove this offseason in preparation for Spring Training.

Bring on 2010.

A Word On The Padres

And that word is "good."

Yes, the Padres are good. They are now 14-7 in September with games against Arizona, LA and San Fran left to play. They just took two of three from Colorado. Since they turned the corner in late July, the Padres have won series against the Reds, Milwaukee, the Mets, Milwaukee again, the Cubs, Atlanta, Florida, Washington, the Dodgers, the Giants, Colorado (twice) and the Buccos. They've only lost to the red hot Cardinals (twice), the DBacks and Atlanta.

Quite a run. The only good team they haven't played is Philly, and Philly can't close out anything right now.

Bottom line is that if the Padres were inserted into the NL Wild Card, I'd bet they'd make a run. The Cardinals would, of course, be quite a hurdle, but the Drinos have shown they can compete with just about everybody for the past two months.

Kevin Correia on the mound tonight against the Snakes.

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.

Always Have A Back Up Plan

Together with my advisors Tatt Mareeco, Geleaux and Father D.P. McGillicutty, I was planning on taking the subway out to Yankee Stadium tonight for a little Mark Buehrle - CC Sabathia action. Alas, the forecast is calling for heavy rains throughout the evening.

Luckily, the Yankee game isn't the only thing happening in New York City. Instead of slogging out to the Stadium, we have decided to hit a few midtown watering holes, followed by a dinner consisting of red meat, potatoes and a token green vegetable. You know, stuff you can only do in Manhattan.

I'll try to monitor our boy Kevin Correia's start against the Mahlins, but I can't make any promises.

I can guarantee, however, full attention to tomorrow night's Bolts-Falcons pre-season tilt. That's going to be choice.

Kev Correia v. Chris Carpenter

Tonight the Padres send their, um, ace, Kevin Correia, against the Cardinals ace, Chris Carpenter.

Man that sentence had a lot of commas.

Kev, how 'bout sending a message to the playoff-bound Cardinals by outpitching their ace tonight? I would like that very much.

Beat The Mets

Something about the New York Mets always makes me think of the 1960s. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact the Mets began as a franchise in 1962, were terrible, and then turned it all around and had a World Championship in the bag by 1969.

If that turnaround doesn't lay claim to consideration as Team of the Decade, I don't know what will.

Of course the assocation with the '60s might also come from my many trips to Shea Stadium the past five years. That old park was built in 1964 and, until it was torn down earlier this year, always felt a bit like walking into a time machine each time I passed through its gates.

Not that any of this nostalgia changes the main point I want to convey this evening.

That is, I hope Kevin Correia dominates the Mets tonight and Kyle Blanks, Adrian Gonzalez and the boys send our old friend OP to an early shower.

Game on.

The Padres Have Diapers And May Still Be Breastfeeding

The Padres are really rolling out the youngins this evening against the Rockies.

Here is tonight's lineup and their respective ages:

SS - Everth Cabrera (22)
CF - Tony Gwynn, Jr. (26)
1B - Adrian Gonzalez (27)
3B - Kevin Kouzmanoff (27)
RF - Will Venable (26)
LF - Kyle Blanks (22)
C - Eliezer Alfonzo (30)
2B - Edgar Gonzalez (31)
P - Kevin Correia (28)

I'm no mathemetician, but that's an average age of 26.5. That may not seem too young on first glance, but when you delve a bit deeper you can see the inexperience in this lineup. The two oldest dudes - Edgar and Eliezer - are journeyman who have never held down regular jobs. Edgar, in fact, was a 30-year old rookie just last season. Then you have Venable, a 26-year old rookie, and Gwynn, who at 26 has never spent a full season in the Bigs. Blanks and Cabrera are wee babes. Only Kouz and Adrian have legitimate big league track records.

Query if Bud Black has any passafires in the dugout.

The Padres Starting Rotation

Trust me, Monkey, I know how you feel. That's the exact reaction I had this morning when I woke up and read the news that the Padres were calling up Walter Silva and Wade LeBlanc to replace the injured Jake Peavy and Chris Young in the starting rotation.

I knew this was coming ever since news broke of the Peavy-CY injuries, but to actually see it in print this morning had me taken aback.

Just take a look at the five men making up the Padres starting rotation as of this moment (career numbers in parentheses):

Kevin Correia (17-27, 4.58 ERA, 1.47 WHIP)
Chad Gaudin (30-31, 4.62, 1.53)
Josh Geer (3-3, 5.04, 1.35)
Wade LeBlanc (1-3, 8.02, 2.06)
Walter Silva (0-0, 6.52, 1.76)

Doesn't exactly call to mind the 1971 Orioles. In fact, it barely calls to mind the 1971 Padres (I'd give my favorite merino full zip sweater for a little Dave Roberts and Clay Kirby right now.)

But I digress. I don't want to take anything away from these five "Gentlemen of the Mound." I'm sure they'll do the best they can and, obviously, I wish them well. In fact, when Geer throws this afternoon against the M's, I'm going to do him the honor of stopping work immediately and devoting my full attention to his outing on mlb.tv.

I figure that's the least I can do to show support for young Mr. Geer.

Good luck today, Josh.

And Monkey, relax. At least you have a sweet green turtleneck to wear.

Best,
Bevormo

Correia v. King Felix

Currently watching Kevin Correia duel the Mariners' King Felix Hernandez in the bottom of the 6th at Petco Park. M's lead 1-0, each pitcher has given up just one hit.

This must have been what it was like watching Sandy Koufax duel Juan Marichal back in '66.

Sneaky Reason Why The Padres Could Win The World Series

What's that sneaky reason, you ask? It's that the Padres might have the two best players in any short series they play against any other team in baseball.

Those two players of course are David Eckstein and Kevin Correia.

. . .

I kid you.

Of course those two players are Adrian Gonzalez and Jake Peavy.

All I'm saying is watch them play. If those two players are on their games they might be the best in baseball. Sure, Johan Santana could stake a claim to being the best pitcher in the NL, but does anyone really think the Mets have a better hitter than AGon when push comes to shove?

Of course not.

What about in the AL? Josh Beckett may have a better postseason record than Peavy, but who in the Red Sox lineup can honestly stake a claim to being a better hitter than Adrian? I know who. The ghost of Manny Ramirez.

Exactly.

And what about Manny and the hated Dadgers. Well, sure, Manny is a beast, but those Dadger pitchers are smoke and mirrors my friends.

Smoke. And. Mirrors.

Peavy could put Billingsley, Kershaw, Kuroda and the rest in his back pocket.

So that's all I'm saying. The Padres are probably going to win the World Series because they have Peavy and AGon.

What a coupla beasts.