vaticanplum
08-15-2006, 01:55 PM
Well, I'm starting to lose it, and I don't want to think about the Cardinals anymore. So I have decided to familiarize myself with the Reds' big competition (up to ten teams in the division and wild card races at this point, I'd say; some more likely than others). The NL West, in particular, I could usually give a crap about, so I am trying to learn more about them in effort to either put my mind at ease about the teams or at least give me numbers to put behind my reasons to fear them.
This is just the basic information that I've gathered from my head and a few easily accessible sources. What I'm looking for is your opinions on these, your addendums to things that I may have missed or that are misleading on paper. Help dispel the fear!
Today we are looking at the San Diego Padres.
Current Record: 60-58 (.508)
Standing: 2nd in NL West, 2.5 games behind Los Angeles Dodgers; 2nd in Wild Card, 1 game behind Cincinnati Reds
Remaining Schedule: Padres fans (all three of them) must have more frayed nerves than Reds fans in terms of their remaining games. With the exception of the Pirates, whom they will meet for one series at the end of September, every team they play from here on out is a division or wild card contender and can be considered their direct competition. They have 6 games against the San Francisco Giants (55-63; 7-6 against the Padres this season); 13 games against the Arizona Diamondbacks (59-59; 5-1 against the Padres); 7 games against the Los Angeles Dodgers (63-56; 3-8 against the Padres); 6 games against the Colorado Rockies (58-60; 8-5 against the Padres); 6 games against the Cincinnati Reds (you know their story…just kidding, 61-57; 0-0 against the Padres); 3 games against the Pittsburgh Pirates (46-73; 1-2 against the Padres); and three games against the St. Louis Cardinals (62-55; 1-2 against the Padres).
Scary: They started abysmally but had a bang-up May Their starting rotation is pretty middle-of-the-road in my opinion. They show flashes of brilliance but strike me as too inconsistent. Nevertheless, Jake Peavy is still a scary pitcher when he dominates. Trevor Hoffman is still about half-scary with a 2.22 ERA and 31 saves; Linebrink is semi-scary as well, with a 3.83 ERA but one of their most reliable pitchers, in my opinion, and a very good setup man to have. Adrian Gonzalez is pretty much their scariest hitter this year, with a .342 OBP and .514 slugging, 127 hits and 20 home runs as a left-hander in the small planet that is Petco Field.
Not so scary: The mean average age of this team is 102. They are 12-18 since the All-Star break. I paid a compliment to Peavy up there because I happen to like him, but the truth is that he was a huge part of the team’s unscary postseason run last year with his 2.88 ERA (it was even lower in 2004 at 2.27). If he can’t regain form I think the Padres are hard-pressed to win without him. In fact, their pitching since the All-Star break has been notably unscary. Chan Ho Park just came off the DL, where he spent some time hanging out at death’s door as far as I can tell, so props to him, but that does nothing for his 4.66 ERA. Chris Young is really their scariest pitcher this year but has trouble going far into games, and their bullpen (now featuring Scott Williamson!) is not very scary. Brian Giles, Mike Cameron, Mike Piazza, and the newly acquired Todd Walker – these are all good, solid names, but none have really distinguished themselves this year. Khalil Greene is a favorite of mine, but he is as breakable as Kal Daniels.
Overall fear factor: A very unfamiliar team to me, but in breaking it down, I have determined that the Padres are not very scary, at least on paper. I think the Reds can outhit, outpitch (!) and outscrap them (despite the Padres boasting Dave Roberts, who as we all know is half bunny). The combined with the strength of the Padres’ remaining schedule makes it very unlikely to me that they can make the playoffs; their four series (13 games) with the Diamondbacks, who have played very well against them this season, increases the Diamondbacks’ scary factor more to me. I don’t think the Padres have the depth they need to make a great run at this point, so it would take a pretty big collapse by a fairly decent amount of teams for them to take the NL West or even the Wild Card. If the Reds do not at minimum split their six games with them, then the Reds are tools. Plus, they only play any other team in the NL Central once (those three games with the Cards), so if the Padres are as unscary as they look to me on paper, they won't help out our division rivals too much.
I feel better!
This is just the basic information that I've gathered from my head and a few easily accessible sources. What I'm looking for is your opinions on these, your addendums to things that I may have missed or that are misleading on paper. Help dispel the fear!
Today we are looking at the San Diego Padres.
Current Record: 60-58 (.508)
Standing: 2nd in NL West, 2.5 games behind Los Angeles Dodgers; 2nd in Wild Card, 1 game behind Cincinnati Reds
Remaining Schedule: Padres fans (all three of them) must have more frayed nerves than Reds fans in terms of their remaining games. With the exception of the Pirates, whom they will meet for one series at the end of September, every team they play from here on out is a division or wild card contender and can be considered their direct competition. They have 6 games against the San Francisco Giants (55-63; 7-6 against the Padres this season); 13 games against the Arizona Diamondbacks (59-59; 5-1 against the Padres); 7 games against the Los Angeles Dodgers (63-56; 3-8 against the Padres); 6 games against the Colorado Rockies (58-60; 8-5 against the Padres); 6 games against the Cincinnati Reds (you know their story…just kidding, 61-57; 0-0 against the Padres); 3 games against the Pittsburgh Pirates (46-73; 1-2 against the Padres); and three games against the St. Louis Cardinals (62-55; 1-2 against the Padres).
Scary: They started abysmally but had a bang-up May Their starting rotation is pretty middle-of-the-road in my opinion. They show flashes of brilliance but strike me as too inconsistent. Nevertheless, Jake Peavy is still a scary pitcher when he dominates. Trevor Hoffman is still about half-scary with a 2.22 ERA and 31 saves; Linebrink is semi-scary as well, with a 3.83 ERA but one of their most reliable pitchers, in my opinion, and a very good setup man to have. Adrian Gonzalez is pretty much their scariest hitter this year, with a .342 OBP and .514 slugging, 127 hits and 20 home runs as a left-hander in the small planet that is Petco Field.
Not so scary: The mean average age of this team is 102. They are 12-18 since the All-Star break. I paid a compliment to Peavy up there because I happen to like him, but the truth is that he was a huge part of the team’s unscary postseason run last year with his 2.88 ERA (it was even lower in 2004 at 2.27). If he can’t regain form I think the Padres are hard-pressed to win without him. In fact, their pitching since the All-Star break has been notably unscary. Chan Ho Park just came off the DL, where he spent some time hanging out at death’s door as far as I can tell, so props to him, but that does nothing for his 4.66 ERA. Chris Young is really their scariest pitcher this year but has trouble going far into games, and their bullpen (now featuring Scott Williamson!) is not very scary. Brian Giles, Mike Cameron, Mike Piazza, and the newly acquired Todd Walker – these are all good, solid names, but none have really distinguished themselves this year. Khalil Greene is a favorite of mine, but he is as breakable as Kal Daniels.
Overall fear factor: A very unfamiliar team to me, but in breaking it down, I have determined that the Padres are not very scary, at least on paper. I think the Reds can outhit, outpitch (!) and outscrap them (despite the Padres boasting Dave Roberts, who as we all know is half bunny). The combined with the strength of the Padres’ remaining schedule makes it very unlikely to me that they can make the playoffs; their four series (13 games) with the Diamondbacks, who have played very well against them this season, increases the Diamondbacks’ scary factor more to me. I don’t think the Padres have the depth they need to make a great run at this point, so it would take a pretty big collapse by a fairly decent amount of teams for them to take the NL West or even the Wild Card. If the Reds do not at minimum split their six games with them, then the Reds are tools. Plus, they only play any other team in the NL Central once (those three games with the Cards), so if the Padres are as unscary as they look to me on paper, they won't help out our division rivals too much.
I feel better!