Tagged: cliff floyd
Can’t Keep Up
UPDATE: Be sure to vote for me in Max Madness! Thank you so much!
- 10-8 Mariners
We tried. I mean, the offense was great. But once again, in a trend that we’ve been seeing all week, the hitting just can’t keep up with the pitching.
Cha Seung Baek got a five-run lead before he even took the mound. For my Padres, that’s great! It’s always good to get a big lead early. But the pitching just can’t keep those runs in check. Baek went 4.1 innings, giving up six runs on eight hits. The Padres then sent Mike DeMark to the mound. I have never heard of this guy. I think he’s with Single-A Lake Elsinore. I don’t know why the Padres even had him in camp. This was DeMark’s first time facing major league batters, so maybe we can forgive him. But he gave up four runs. Ivan Nova, Cla Meredith, and Scott Patterson then had a scoreless inning each. But if DeMark hadn’t pitched, the score would have been 8-6 Padres. I mean, some other pitcher might have gone in who gave up even more runs, but I’m just saying. Oh well. I am pleased with the three guys who had scoreless innings, but Baek not so much. He has not been doing well this spring. I don’t want him in my rotation if he’s going to pitch like this!
We hit really well. As I mentioned, we got five runs in the top of the first. Catcher Eliezer Alfonso had two hits and two errors. Cliff Floyd went three-for-three. I am really excited about having Floyd off the bench. I think he will do very well for us. Adrian Gonzalez, playing for the first time since he got back from the WBC, had two hits! Jody Gerut and Luis Rodriguez also had two hits each. Our hitters are ready. That much is obvious. And I think the offense will be a lot better than it was last year. It’s the pitching that’s going to kill us this season.
Still no word if I can go to the Padres Fan Day, but I had a dream last night that I was going. It’s in two weeks!!
Today is the first day of spring!
Here in San Diego, it’s really foggy outside. I think we might get rain this weekend. This happens like ever year. Yesterday, it was in the 80s. Today, it will be foggy all morning. It will probably clear up later, but it doesn’t look like spring out there right now. This San Diego weather is so funny…but I love it 🙂
Jake Peavy is starting the USA’s game against Japan on Sunday. I really hope he does well and doesn’t hurt himself. It’s going to be a great game!
Today we are playing the Cubs in Mesa. Kevin Correia will be starting for the Padres. Let’s see if the offense can keep up with the pitching today…
GO PADRES!!!
(photo credit: motherearthsgarden.com)
Pounded by the Sox
- 15-4 White Sox
Oh boy. What a nasty game! Our pitching did terrible, and I hate it when our pitching does terrible. Without good pitching, we can’t win. It’s a simple as that. And so, because we had bad pitching today, we did not win.
Chris Young started and threw three innings. He only gave up two runs, but his stuff was not the best. Mike Ekstrom gave up six runs. Mark Worrell gave up his first two runs of the spring. Greg Burke gave up four runs. And Joe Thatcher, the pitcher who canot pitch, gave up another run. Tsk tsk. He really shouldn’t get a spot in the bullpen. Scott Patterson had the only scoreless inning of all the pitchers.
Our hitters didn’t do the best. Cliff Floyd hit a solo bomb. Nick Hundley and Luis Rodriguez each drove in a run. Cedric Hunter has two hits and drove in a run.
It was very cool to listen to the game and hear about all these White Sox players that I’ve been reading about for so long on Jen’s blog. It was like, an amazing moment when I heard AJ Pierzynski’s first at-bat. I have heard SO much about him, and then suddenly he was there, on the same field as my Padres. It was pretty incredible. I predicted that he was going to kill us, and though he didn’t hit a bomb, he had two hits and drove in a run. Jen’s other favorite, Josh Fields, had three hits in three at-bats and drove in a run.
Tomorrow is a split-squad thingy. I’m guessing that all our “regulars” will stay in Peoria and play the Indians. Cha Seung Baek is starting that one. The other game will be against the Giants in Scottsdale. Cesar Ramos will start that one. It will be very interesting…wouldn’t it be cool if we won both games? 🙂
I watched the last half hour or so of Star Wars Episode II last night. You know, those movies are incredible! The first three are not the best, but they are still amazing. I absolutely love the Attack of the Clones, mostly because of the love story part of it, but it’s so cheesy! (“I’ve been dying a little bit every day since you cam back into my life.” “I thought we decided not to fall in love. That it would destroy us.” “It looks like we’re about to be destroyed anyway.”) I really noticed that last night. But I love it! The third one was really good, I loved it, but it was so sad. Yeah, I’m feeling kind of random tonight 🙂
As I’ve mentioned, some friends of mine got to go to the Spring Training game last week. I would like to share a few of the pictures they took. A lot of them are really excellent. They had great seats, so these are nice and close. Enjoy!
KOOOOOOOOOOOZ!!!!
KOOOOOZ again!!
Cliff Floyd getting hit-by-pitch. You can see the ball above the umpire’s head.
Cla Meredith pitching the day before his little girl was born!
Well, I hope everyone has a great weekend! GO PADRES!!
UPDATE: Here’s the lineups for today’s games:
Game against the Indians in Peoria
- CF Drew Macias
- 2B David Eckstein
- RF Brian Giles
- DH Cliff Floyd
- LF Emil Brown
- C Eliezer Alfonso
- 1B Chad Huffman
- SS Luis Rodriguez
- 3B Travis Denker
Cha Seung Baek starting, followed by Arturo Lopez, Joe Thatcher, Cla Meredith, Justin Hampson, Chris Britton.
Game against the Giants in Scottsdale
- CF Jody Gerut
- 2B Chris Burke
- 3B Kevin Kouzmanoff
- 1B Kyle Blanks
- LF Chase Headley
- RF Will Venable
- C Nick Hundley
- SS Everth Cabrera
- SP Cesar Ramos
Jae Kuk Ryu, Ivan Nova, Will Inman, and Walter Silva will also pitch.
Manager Bud Black will be with the Scottsdale team. GO PADRES!!!
(photo credits: Star Wars: impawards.com. Spring Training: big thanks and credits to Ski, Pipski, and the Ninja!)
All Tied Up
- 2-2 tie
Shoot, I just lost my whole entry. Oh well. Here I go again…
Well, the Padres played pretty well today. Starting pitcher Kevin Correia went the first two innings and gave up one home run. Heath Bell had a good inning, much better thatn Thursday’s. Hopefully he has found his groove. Meredith, Worrell, Britton, and Patterson each had a good inning. But in the 8th, Oneli Perez ran into Ross Gload, or rather Gload ran into one of Perez’s pitches. That tied up the game after the Padres had had a 2-1 lead for a while.
On the offensive side, the Padres did pretty well. Adrian Gonzalez drove in a run with a double. The next batter, Cliff Floyd, went first pitch (again) and drove Adrian in. Will Venable, Chad Huffman, and Jody Gerut also had a hit each. We also walked seven times.
Today Andy Masur and Ted Leitner were not on the broadcast (probably because of basketball duties), but new TV play-by-play guy Mark Neely joined Jerry Coleman to call the game. It was very interesting to hear Neely doing the play-by-play on the radio when he will usually be doing it on TV. Obvioulsy, TV and radio are very different animals, but I though Neely handed the radio very well. For his first time working with Jerry and calling Padres baseball, that is. I was impressed. He kept us up to date on the score, inning, batter, etc. It was very interesting, and it will be cool to see him working with the other Mark (Grant) this year on Channel 4.
But one thing that I am wondering about is why they are using a commercial that features calls by former Padres play-by-play guy Matt Vasgersian. Isn’t that kind of rude to Neely? Well, Mattie has been here for a long time, so maybe those were the only clips they had. But they should have used clips from the radio! Oh well. I’m sure Neely doesn’t really mind.
Tomorrow, we are playing the Cubs back in Peoria. I could hear a lot more Padres fans in the stands today, but I know there will be a ton tomorrow. Jake Peavy will pitch the first two innings, and then head out to Florida to start training for the WBC. We will miss you, Jake, but make us proud as you represent the USA. Wade LeBlanc will pitch the next two innings. GO PADRES!!
#36
In the Lastest Leaders yesterday, (wow, was it only yesterday?) I got #36. Definitely not my best, but not my worst either. As I can’t think of any Padres who wore the number 36 in recent years, I decided to dedicate my number to a Padres minor league player. I didn’t even have to research it though. Big thanks and shoutout to Carl of Crystal Baseball, who found me a player before I could. So, my dedication this week goes to #36, Robert Woodard!
I don’t expect any of you to know who on earth this guy is, I didn’t until yesterday. But I’m probably going to watch him through the system after this 🙂
Anyway, Woodard is a pitcher, currently with the the Padres’ Single-A affiliate, Lake Elsinore Storm. But he might move up or down sometime after Spring Training. Looks like he’s been up and down the Padres system a bit. He’s been in Fort Wayne, Portland, and Lake Elsinore. We signed him out of the University of North Carolina in 2007 after the draft.
There’s not that much info on him out there, but he had a 3.77 ERA last year with the three levels. He seems like a pretty good pitcher, and maybe we’ll see him with the big league club in a few years.
In other news, the Padres have signed DH Cliff Floyd and pitcher Scott Patterson. Patterson had three scoreless appearances with us last year, but had to be shut down due to an injury. Floyd will be our left-handed bat off the bench, as well as DH during interleague play. I think these are very interesting signings, and hopefully they will be good for the team. But guess what? The Padres are going to have 35 pitchers in Spring Training this year. Wow. It’s going to be very interesting…
(photo credit: flickr.com)
Unfinished Business 