90 Game Padres Report

After 90 games (72 remaining), my Padres lead the National League West by 2-1/2 games with a 48 wins, 42 loss record. That's the good news.

The bad news is that just when the hitting started to come around, the pitching went bad and Petco Park became a homer haven - and we have fly ball pitchers.

In the last 10 games, the Pads lost 3 in a row, won 5 in a row, and lost the last 2, ending with a 5 win, 5 loss record. The Pads scored 52 runs in these 10 games, but gave up 62. The record is 23 wins, 26 losses at home, 25 wins, 16 losses on the road. The team is 11th in HR and batting average in the National League, which are improvements over just 10 games ago. The team ERA is 4.02, second in the league to the Mets, but up a bit from 10 games ago (was 3.89).

The scores for Games 81 to 90:

1-4 (10 innings), SF here, Williams started
2-6, SF here, Young started
5-6, at Phi, Hensley started
6-3, at Phi, Peavy started, Trevor saved
5-3, at Phi, Park started, Trevor saved
3-2, at Wash, Williams started, Trevor saved
5-2, at Wash, Young started, Trevor saved
10-9, at Wash, Hensley started, came back from 7-1 deficit
12-15 (11 innings), Atl here, Young started
3-11, Atl here, Park started (worst game of the year?)

Trevor saved 4 games in 4 days on the road trip, then blew the All-Star game save and the save in the first loss to Atlanta.

Overall grades for the 90 games:

Starting Pitching -- B (will it right itself?)
Relief Pitching -- B (faded recently)
Infield Defense -- B+ (pretty steady)
Outfield Defense -- A- (real steady)
Catching -- C (decent but can't throw runners out)
Base Running -- C+ (not much speed)
Hitting for Average -- C (improving weekly)
Hitting for Power -- C- (improving weekly)
Coaching -- B (addition of Rettenmund seems to have helped hitters)

Doug Brocail came off the DL this past week, and Scott Cassidy was sent to Portland. It appears to me that Brian Sikorski will be sent out when Alan Embree comes off the DL. My guess is that Ben Johnson will go down to Portland when he comes off the DL. Who knows what will happen when Ryan Klesko comes off the DL in August? I can't see anyone wanting him for any reason until he demonstrates he can hit for power. He can't play anywhere in the field. A pretty expensive pinch hitter. Who would we trade or cut or demote to bring him back on the roster?

Will the Pads trade for a third baseman with pop? Maybe. Morgan Ensberg, Joe Randa, and several others are available, but at what cost? Everybody seems to want relief pitching, but I say don't trade Hoffman, Linebrink, Adkins, Meredith or Sweeney out of the bullpen. It is one of our strengths.

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