Padres 2007 Season Recap

The 2007 season for the San Diego Padres was fun to experience as a fan. We attended about 24 games in person and watched about 120 other games on TV.

In the end, the team just wasn't quite good enough. There were stretches where the offense couldn't score runs. There were stretches when the starting pitchers did poorly, and other stretches where the relief pitchers did poorly.

The bottom line is - if the team had scored another 0.5 runs a game, they could be world champions even with the pitching they got, which had the best ERA in the National League.

You can get an idea of how the team fared from the 10-game blocks of the season:

10 Games (4/12): 6-4 record, Runs 34-30
20 Games (4/24): 12-8 record, Runs 95-80, BA 0.263, ERA 3.72
30 Games (5/5): 16-14 Record, Runs 136-120, BA 0.243, ERA 3.59
40 Games (5/15): 21-19 Record, Runs 168-142, BA 0.236, ERA 3.16
50 Games (5/28): 29-21 Record, Runs 210.167, BA 0.241, ERA 3.00
60 Games (6/8): 36-24 Record, Runs 262-196, BA 0.243, ERA 2.88
70 Games (6/20): 41-29 Record, Runs 316-238, BA 0.246, ERA 3.04
80 Games (7/1): 46-34 Record, Runs 348-271, BA 0.243, ERA 3.03
90 Games (7/15): 50-40 Record, Runs 385-314, BA 0.242, ERA 3.11
100 Games (7/25): 54-46 Record, Runs 415-371, BA 0.243, ERA 3.39
110 Games (8/5): 60-50 Record, Runs 472-418, BA 0.243, ERA 3.51
120 Games (8/16): 65-55 Record, Runs 526-466, BA 0.244, ERA 3.51
130 Games (8/27): 71-59 Record, Runs 579-516, BA 0.249, ERA 3.59
140 Games (9/8): 76-64 Record, Runs 629-568, BA 0.249, ERA 3.67
150 Games (9/19): 83-67 Record, Runs 671-597, BA 0.249, ERA 3.62
163 Games (10/2): 89-74 Record, Runs 741-666, BA 0.251, ERA 3.70.

After 163 games, the Pads were:

15th in batting average (0.251 - 0.250),
8th in runs scored (741-666),
7th in home runs (171-119), and
1st in ERA (3.70 - 4.14) in the National League. They had:

322 doubles (opponents had 270),
31 triples,
55 SB,
92 errors,
704 RBIs (opponents 647),
557 BBs (opponents 474), and
1229 K's (opponents 1136).

Not enough hits, too many strikeouts, decent power, too many men left on base.

Batting statistics of the regulars include (BA, OBA, AB, R, H, 2B, HR, RBI, BB, SO):

Milton Bradley (LF): 0.313. .414, 144, 31, 45, 5, 11, 30, 23, 27
Brian Giles (RF): 0.271, 0.361, 483, 72, 131, 27, 13, 51, 64, 61
Adrian Gonzalez (1B): 0.282, 0.347, 646, 101, 182, 46, 30, 100, 65, 140
Josh Bard (C): 0.285, 0.364, 389, 42, 111, 27, 5, 51, 50, 58
Kahlil Greene (SS): 0.254, 0.291, 611, 89, 155, 44, 27, 97, 32, 128
Mike Cameron (CF): 0.242, 0.328, 571, 88, 138, 33, 21, 78, 67, 160
Geoff Blum (2B): 0.252, 0.319, 330, 34, 83, 21, 5, 33, 32, 52
Kevin Kouzmanoff (3B): 0.275, 0.329, 484, 57, 133, 30, 18, 74, 32, 94

The starting pitcher statistics (W-L, ERA, G, IP, H, ER, BB, SO):

Jake Peavy: 19-6, 2.54, 34, 223.1, 169, 63, 68, 240
Chris Young: 9-8, 3.12, 30, 173.0, 118, 60, 72, 167
Greg Maddux: 14-11, 4.14, 34, 198.0, 221, 91, 25, 104
Justin Germano: 7-10, 4.46, 26, 133.1, 133, 66, 40, 78

The regular relievers statistics (W-L, Saves, ERA, G, IP, H, ER, BB, SO):

Joe Thatcher: 2-2, 0, 1.29, 22, 21.0, 13, 3, 6, 16
Heath Bell: 6-4, 2, 2.02, 81, 93.2, 60, 21, 30, 102
Kevin Cameron: 2-0, 0, 2.79, 48, 58.0, 55, 18, 36, 50
Justin Hampson: 2-3, 0, 2.70, 39, 53.1, 48, 16, 16, 34
Trevor Hoffman: 4-5, 42, 2.98, 61, 57.1, 49, 19, 15, 44
Doug Brocail: 5-1, 0, 3.05, 67, 76.2, 66, 26, 24, 43
Cla Meredith: 5-6, 0, 3.50, 80, 79.2, 94, 31, 17, 59.

You can compare these statistics with the stats after 140 games here. Over the last 23 games, the leading hitters were:

Kevin Kouzmanoff (0.249 to 0.275, 3 HR, 15 RBI),
Josh Bard (0.267 to 0.285, 2 HR, 8 RBI),
Kahlil Greene (0.251 to 0.254, 7 HR, 20 RBI),
Adrian Gonzalez (0.281 to 0.275, 4 HR, 14 RBI)
Mike Cameron (0.250 to 0.242, 2 HR, 3 RBI)
Brian Giles (0.293 to 0.271, 3 HR, 10 RBI)

Kouzmanoff and Bard really improved, Gonzalez and Greene hit for power, and Giles and Cameron hit poorly.

What do the Padres need for 2008?

* A center fielder. Cameron is fine defensively, but strikes out too much, has average power and doesn't hit for average. He is a free agent at age 35.

* A catcher who can throw out runners occasionally. Bard is OK offensively and defensively, but can't throw out runners. Barrett was terrible hitting until the last week of the season.

* A left fielder. Bradley was great, and Hairston was too. But Bradley has anger problems and is injury-prone, and is a free agent. Hairston would be great as a backup and pinch hitter.

* A #4 starter and #5 starter that can give the team innings and a decent won-loss record. Tomko had flashes in the last month. Maddux is gradually failing to win.

* Better bench players. The pinch hitters (Sledge, Ensberg, Clark, Mackowiak,) were not good.

Go Padres in 2008!!