Join the congregation all season long and enjoy great deals on Padres tickets. Click here for our event schedule.
If you are a Padres fan and live outside of San Diego you are not alone! Check out our Friarhood Chapters, and find other Padres fans in your area.
| The Basement Tapes: Week 2 |
|
|
|
| Voice of the Fan - Sac Bunt | |
| Written by Ray Lankford | |
| Monday, 11 April 2011 12:59 | |
|
Welcome to the new weekly edition of The Basement Tapes. Let's get started before this becomes a monthly thing.
Play of the Series: Giants
Headley's bases loaded walk, Tuesday, third inning (+12.6 WE)
Ah, the bases loaded walk. What a dubious achievement. Driving in a run without doing anything. Of course, you and I know that drawing a walk is a bit more than doing nothing, but it does seems like something of an apt metaphor for the Padres offense. Less is more, or something like that.
Anyway, in front of a sell out crowd on Opening Day, the team got off to slow start, allowing the Giants score to first on an RBI groundout by Huff. In the third, the Padres tied the game, then took the lead on Headley's walk. Denorfia would be awarded a single (and not an error) on the next play to pad the lead and the team never looked back.
Misplay of the Series: Giants
Posey's home run, Wednesday, first inning (+15.4 WE)
Posey's first inning homer was the filling of what turned out to be a rather disgusting cake on Wednesday afternoon. In that game, Posey's home run was one part (one quarter, to be exact) of San Francisco's team cycle, which was completed one batter later when Pablo Sandoval lined a single to left. By the end of the inning, the Giants had built themselves a three point lead, which would last them the rest of the game.
To say that Stauffer had a bad home debut would be an understatement. Fresh off of his impressive season debut on Opening Day, Stauffer was pulled in the fifth inning, leaving a 6.74 FIP for the game behind. He'll have to do better than that (OBVIOUSLY) (duh) if he's going to help the Padres win his next start, against a better Reds offensive.
Play of the Series: Dodgers
Hundley's two-run home run, Sunday, sixth inning (+18.0 WE)
Did you know that Hundley and his 263 wRC+ is second best in the National League (he's behind only Miguel Montero)? Better yet, he's 107 points ahead of the second best Padre, Cameron Maybin. Actually, that's probably a bad thing, but it takes nothing away from what Hundley's done. Sample size, on the other hand, is something else altogether, but I'll focus.
On Sunday, with the Padres already up two to one, thanks to an earlier home run from Ryan Ludwick, Hundley came to the plate with the aforementioned Ludwick on first base. Hundley then took an Ely offering into the Padres bullpen for his second home run of the season, putting the Padres up four to one and on cruise control.
Misplay of the Series: Dodgers
Gwynn's go-ahead single, Friday/Saturday, eleventh inning (+38.2 WE)
They say that revenge is a dish best served cold. Tony Gwynn, Jr. has never heard that song. In his first game back in San Diego, under the watchful eye of his father's statue, AJ (as I'll always know him) delivered a big blow against his old team, the biggest of his career in fact.
On Saturday afternoon, following a rain delay and almost a full 24 hours after the first pitch was thrown, Gwynn roped a single to right, bringing in Juan Uribe for what would be the game-winning run. He picked up right where he left off a couple of hours later, going two for five in Saturday's scheduled game. He also patroled the outfield with the grace we knew and loved here in San Diego. Or, at least, we loved it before he started doing it in Dodger blue.
MVPadre of the Week: Nick Hundley, C (+0.216 WPA)
I'll have what Hundley's having, amiright? And send some to the rest of the team. Put it on my tab.
LVPadre of the Week: Pat Neshek, RP (-0.365 WPA)
Neshek saw action in three games this week, throwing 0.2 innings against the Giants and 1.2 against L.A. He struck out four, only walking two, and he gave up no home runs. In a vacuum, he did pretty good. In reality, however, he was on the wrong side of AJ's comeback tour. In the eleventh inning on Saturday afternoon, Neshek came in with one out and runners on first second, and he immediately struck out Rod Barajas for the second out. Then AJ lined his single to right, driving in one, with Neshek picking up another run for the Dodgers with a wild pitch. He would go on to get out of the jam, with runners still on the corners, but the damage was done.
Neshek's been a solid pickup for the team and he's tied, with Gregerson, for the pen lead in appearances. While LVPadre honors are nothing to aspire too, don't give up on Neshek yet. Just because he looks like Edward Mujica doesn't mean he is. Probably.
This week, the Padres face Cincinnati (6-3) at home and Houston (2-7) on the road. If you don't mind, I'm going to show some self-control and refrain from analyzing these two teams. I'll just say that one team is pretty good and one team is not very good at all, but I'll let you figure out which one's which.
GLOSSARY
In lieu of writing a proper glossary, I'm going to provide links to more complete explanations of what's what. It's just easier this way. Teach a man to fish and what have you.
WE (win expectancy): http://www.fangraphs.com/library/index.php/misc/we/
WPA (win probability added): http://www.fangraphs.com/library/index.php/misc/wpa/
wRC+ (weighted runs created): http://www.fangraphs.com/library/index.php/offense/wrc/
FIP (fielding independent pitching): http://www.fangraphs.com/library/index.php/pitching/fip/
|