Chase Headley’s son Colt encouraging his dad to get healthy and hopefully back on the field next week!
What’s one of the best ways to fight the dog days of spring training? Win your Cactus League contest convincingly, and that is exactly what thePadres did today in taking down the Angels 4-2.
Another piece of the starting rotation looked solid today, as Eric Stults went 5 innings, allowing only 3 hits, and 1-run, while punching out 4. After working with Daren Balsley during his side session on keeping his weight back just a little bit more to allow his arm to get where it needed to be, the results spoke for themselves today. Much better FB command down in the zone, and better action and deception on the off speed were the result of giving is arm a chance to catch up to the body and stay on top of the ball. He needed a feel good outing like that for his confidence after not fooling too many batters his first three outings.
The offense came back from its hiatus of yesterday, thanks to Nick Hundley who got the Friars on the board all by himself with a solo HR to tie the game 1-1 in the 2nd. The Pads took the lead for good in the 4th with Tommy Medica continuing his torrid spring reaching on a single. Xavier Nady, who’s also been swinging the bat well recently, then singled to set up Hundley. Nick came through with his second hit and RBI of the day, and then Ryan Jackson followed suit driving in the 2nd run of the inning on a base hit up the middle to put the Friars up 3-1. Jedd Gyorko would hit a HR in the 5th to give the Pads their 4th run, and all the offense they would need.
After Stults, the bullpen kept the lead intact. Blaine Boyer, posted his 7th scoreless inning of the spring, followed by Patrick Schuster and Tony Sipp who also put up zeroes. The battle of the lefties continues to stay interesting as both southpaws threw well in their different styles – Schuster with sinking fastballs to his arm side and sliders, Sipp going at guys aggressively with his firmer stuff. Dennys O’Graddy let 1 cross in the 9th but the youngster kept the damage to a minimum and closed it out of his first save of the spring.
So what did we learn today?
- Eric Stults should be fine for opening day. After not looking all that sharp in his first three outings of the spring this was a huge step forward for him going 5 strong. Slight mechanical change may have helped, and maybe also as a “feel” guy just getting that touch on the CH, SL, and CB that simply takes time after the winter.
- Tommy Medica has a force-field around him that prevents any ball from being hit to him in the outfield. I don’t think he’s had a single put out in his last 16 innings played in left field. Not good for him getting practice in before the season starts, or for evaluating his capabilities out there. He appears, however, to have been taking clean routes to the balls that have been in the left-center gap, but in each case the CF has called him off, but at least he was in the vicinity. I guess the good news is that if he does indeed have the power to keep balls from being hit to him it could be a powerful meta-physical equalizer to be used to neutralize right handed power hitters throughout the league. May the force grow strong in this Padawan.
- Ryan Jackson can flat out play the game of baseball. But I guess that’s not something new that we learned today, because every single day he is on the field he helps the Padres either with his glove, his arm, his bat, or simply his ability to execute and play fundamentally sound baseball. This organizaton is better for having him a apart of it, regardless of whether he breaks with the team on opening day or not.
- The battles for the final bullpen and bench spots are thankfully contests between players who are performing well to try to take the jobs, and not disappointing best of the worst, flame out situations where no one grabs it but someone is handed it by default of the other guy being even more inept. Hope it stays that way forcing difficult decisions up until the final day.
- The IR Technology better be more up to date during the regular season than it was in the Cactus League today! According to the the MLB edict each press box booth will have a speaker connected directly to the umpires and the MLB IR Central Command room to hear directly the announcement of the challenge call. Great idea…unless you have a speaker that looks like it was commandeered off a Russian sub from the cold war, and sounds like it’s still submerged in the icy waters of the Atlantic. It was useless as Buddy had his first taste of a call reversal victory on his challenge today of a close call at first base. Was happy for the Pads, and the IR system as a decision on the play was quickly and properly rendered…just wish we could have heard what it was.
We also learned from Buddy today that Huston street will throw in a minor league game tomorrow as he recovers from a slight groin strain. Chase Headley was able to do some running yesterday, and all indications are he came out of it fine, and is expected to be in games hopefully middle of next week. And finally that cappuccinos are half milk, half foam with espresso, while a latte is steamed milk and espresso, topped with light foam…ok, Buddy didn’t teach us that, but it’s still something good to know.
After a couple days off we are back on the airwaves tomorrow bringing you all the action live and in color on the Mighty 1090. It may be Ted Leitner bringing you the PBP with me doing the color if the Aztecs were to lose tonight to UNLV. But we KNOW that won’t happen (I believe that we will win !!!) so look for Uncle Teddy to be still hanging with his Aztec hoops friends tomorrow while Jesse Agler and myself share the broadcast duties. Either way, Padres radio goodness coming your way tomorrow at 1:05 PST vs the Dodgers. Look forward to talking some ball with you!
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