Planet Padres goes to Lake Elsinore

On May 3rd 2008, Planet Padres took it's first farm roadie. We were granted our Media Credentials and together with Todd Kaufmann, a beat writer for Scout.com, we headed up to the Diamond.

The parking lot was filled with the smells and sounds of tailgating. Dads and kids played 3 flies up while they waited for the BBQ to be hot. A crowd started to swell down the main walkway leading to the front gates listening to live music and preparing to enter the ballpark. It's little league day and kids of all ages in their team jerseys were running excited all over the place somehow avoiding the rest of foot traffic as the weave in and out of masses.

Must be MINOR LEAGUE BALL !!

There truly is something different/special about minor league baseball that sets it apart from the bigs. I tried to put my finger on it, and what I came up with is that if feels more like a family outing than a structured event. It's smaller, more intimate, you are close enough to many of the players to actually make eye contact, prices are realistic for entire families to go and enjoy more than once a season, and the sounds remind us of playing, not just watching. For many of us this type of venue also takes us back to a time and level of play that we got close to, even if never achieved, and that makes it feel as if we almost share or have something in common with those players on the field.

I entered the ballpark, and was met with a picture perfect baseball fan scene. Freshly cut green grass, players warming up down each foul line, vendors offering their goods, the smell of the BBQ in RF and the thrum of the masses quickly moving to the bottom of field level hoping to catch a glimpse or maybe an autograph of their favorite player/prospect.

Kellen Kulbacki, recently up from Ft. Wayne, got the start in RF and also recorded his first hit of A+ ball. In the 3rd inning he took a fastball off the Rt/Cf wall for a double, missing a HR by maybe a foot. In the few AB's I saw during this game I really liked his approach, and swing. I will keep an eye on this kid as he progresses, and continue to report on him on my next trip out. He appeared to be able to handle RF, but to be fair he really wasn't tested either in fielding or with his arm, so again I'll keep my eyes open regarding this guy.
Nath Culp was on the bump for the Storm. He's a
very solid left hander who threw a fastball ranging between 85-86mph and had offspeed pitches he mixed in well in the 73-75mph range. For the most part he kept hitters in check and off balance. To the left is a series of pictures showing his approach on the mound. I must have taken 4 separate series like this, and it was nearly impossible to see any difference, as his windup and follow through were very consistent.

-In the 3rd High Desert broke through on a double off the bat of Bonilla, who then stole 3rd and came home on a throwing error by Mitch Canham.
-In the bottom of the 4th the Storm tied it up on a bomb to LF off the bat of Sam Carter his 4th of the season.
-Unfortunately that would be the end of the scoring for the Storm, and High Desert would tack on 2 more runs for the 3-1 win this night.
-Mitch Canham was removed in the 4th inning, but there was no discussion as to why.

-Eric Sogard singled in the 7th and continues his onslaught of A-ball pitching. He's now got his stats up .402ba /.510obp /.556slg, in 117 AB's. Keep your eyes out for this guy to get a promotion to San Antonio soon.

So to say the least the trip was outstanding, and I would recommend to anyone/everyone to make it a point to get out to see the Lake Elsinore Storm play at least once this year. If you don't you're truly missing out on what baseball is supposed to be.

I want to send out a special thanks to Steve Smaldone (Dir. of Public Relations), and the Storm staff that I had the pleasure of visiting with. They were very helpful, nice, courteous and made my visit to their little home away from home memorable. So thanks again Storm, we'll be seeing you soon.

By T. Pichierri

Final	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
High Desert	0	0	1	0	0	1	1	0	0		3	5	2
Lake Elsinore	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0		1	8	1

Recap Box
W: A. Cotter (1-0, 3.45); L: N. Culp (2-1, 3.44); SV: M. Wagner (2)
HR: HDM: C. Minaker (4). LAK: S. Carter (4).

Play Ball !!!

Portland Update

Portland is the Padres AAA affilate, and is home right now to a few excellent prospects including two considered by many to be as "can't miss" as it gets, and they are Chase Headley and Matt Antonelli.



Chase Headley turned into a bluechip prospect last year in AA, and was named Texas League POY among other accolades. He was considered one of the top 3rd base prospects in all of MiLB, and due to the emergence of Kevin Kouzmanoff on the big league club, the decision was made to move him to LF. He was told that he would be given a chance to earn the starting role out of spring training if he won the job outright. By every account he did, leading the Padres in virtually every offensive category, and showing that he could patrol LF even though it was brand new to him. However when the team broke camp, Headley was sent to AAA to refine his defensive skills in LF before he was brought up. Reports from many who have seen him play since then suggest that he might have been less than happy with what he considered a demotion of sorts. This has taken a toll on his overall performance thus far, and his offensive #'s are far from what Padre fans have come to expect from him.

Headley is currently hitting .226ba/.309obp/.369slg but don't get too discouraged, most of his recent hits have gone for extra bases, suggesting that he's staring to come out of his funk. His strikeouts are also starting to curb, so we'll keep track of him over the next few weeks to see if this positive trend continues.

Matt Antonelli was another of our 3rd base prospects that changed positions, however this position change took him from a bubble prospect at 3rd base, to the #1 2nd base prospect in the nation last year. His combination of speed, command of the strike zone, power, and ability to handle the bat has vaulted him onto the scene, and he's very close to being ready to break through to the ML level. He projects as a top of the order hitter, maybe a leadoff guy, who should have a high OBP, have the ability to steal some bases and create havoc on the base paths, hit for some power, and drive in some runs even from the top of the order.
If Tad Iguchi continues to struggle, it's entirely possible that Antonelli could see the big leagues sooner rather than later.

More updates coming soon, so keep checking back.

Play Ball !!!

Padres lose opener to Philly

Padres lose 7-4

#350 remains elusive for Maddux as he goes a strong 6 1/3 innings and has to leave the game after what many are calling horrible positioning of fielders. Maddux was visibly upset more than once culminating in a verbal tongue lashing of Bud Black. Exactly what was said remains up in the air, but it was clear that Maddux wasn't happy with the total lack of support he's been getting, and the way the fielders behind him were positioned on more than one occasion. Quite frankly he's got a good beef, as he's received 3 runs of support over his last 4 starts, and that's just not going to get it done. This while trying to win his 350th career win.

Positives:

Maybe the lone bright spot today was Scott Hairston playing in CF. He replaced Edmonds, hopefully for an extended period, and played great on both sides of the ball. Hairston was 3-4 with 2 HR's, a double and 3 RBI in the loss. He also made a spectacular diving catch in th e right centerfield gap to rob a double and save multiple runs.
This effort should at the very least earn him starts in the next two games, and hopefully for a long time to come. One hot bat can get contagious, and you never know maybe this will lead to other guys turning things around also.

Negatives:

San Diego

IP

H

R

ER

BB

SO

HR

ERA

Rusch	0.1	1	2	2	1	1	0	6.28
Cameron	0.2	3	2	2	0	0	0	4.32

Both Rusch and Cameron combined for 1 IP & 4 ER in a horrid performance and another bullpen meltdown that we're becoming all to accustomed to seeing.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
San Diego	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	2		4	7	0
Philadelphia	1	0	1	0	0	0	1	4	X		7	12	0

Padres lose 2 of 3 to Dbacks

Well Friar faithful it isn't pretty lets be honest here for a minute. The one shining spot of this entire team so far this year is the starting pitching, and you can't win a shutout if you score zero ! While they aren't pitching shutouts all the time, they sure are pitching lights out overall, and this offense is just so bad they can't even eek out minimal run support, or worse yet the normally rock solid Padres bullpen implodes.

Peavy lost his first game of the year yesterday after tossing 7 innings, giving up 4 hits, allowing 2 runs and K-ing 9, and this offense can't push across a few runs to support him ? Oh and did I mention Peavy had the ONLY Padre extra base hit yesterday.................uh........something is wrong here ??

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
Arizona	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0		2	4	1
San Diego	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0		1	5	0

POSITIVES :

The lone bring spot yesterday other than another outstanding Peavy start, in this writer/fans opinion, was Heath Bell. The possible heir to Trevor Hoffman was outstanding yesterday going 1-2-3 in his inning of duty. Below is a quick snip it I took of him in the bullpen, and gives you an idea of what his breaking ball looks like from behind. Oh FYI squatting for Bell in the bullpen was Michael Barrett. He was catching him, but had a guy standing next to him to make the throws back to Bell, so his arm still isn't up to snuff.

Mark Prior UPDATE: Mark Prior pitched a bullpen session yesterday at Petco, but his timetable could be pushed as far back as July 1st now. One thing they are not going to do is rush him back, especially since rotation is the least of their concerns.

I will be giving more updates soon including a look at our farm system and future prospects.

So come back soon






Play Ball !!

Padres lose opener to Giants in extras

Padres lose 3-2

Padres and Giants battled all night in a pitchers duel ( or just total lack of offensive ability), and the Padres had the lead and Greg Maddux was poised to win his 350th game........then..........Hoffman blew his 2nd save of the season. With 1 out in the 9th inning, and two strikes on him, Molina got a ball out of the strikezone, low and inside and used his 5 iron to golf it over the LF wall.

This sent the game into extra innings, and in the 13th the Giants finally pushed across two runs to take the lead, before the Padres could stop the bleeding.

In the bottom of the 9th it appeared as if the Padres were going to pull out a miracle, and had the bases loaded.......but as has been the case all year so far, hitting with RISP is something this team is failing to do miserably. The Padres managed to push one run across, and with 2 outs, the winning run at 2nd, Josh Bard grounded out weakly to SS to end the game.

KT was on the radio this morning, and said to the effect, that if things don't turn around there will be changes made. He's on his way to Portland next weekend to watch guys like Headley, Antonelli, LeBlanc & Hundley to see where these kids are. The way it sounded was that if he felt any/all were ready, they just might be seeing a roster spot on the big league club before long.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13		R	H	E
San Francisco	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	2		3	11	0
San Diego	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1		2	9	0

Stay tuned for sure Friar faithful


Play Ball !!!

Padres swept in mini series

Padres fall 11-7

Peavy pitched ok, didn't have his best stuff, but the offense didn't show up for him anyway. Peavy leaves the game on the hook for the loss and the offense shows up and bails him out, in fact they took the lead with a wild rally that only a bandbox like Minute Maid could produce. Then the bullpen implodes again, and even our rock Heath Bell gets touched up for the first time this season. When the dust settled the Astros had taken both games of the 2 game short series.

Adrian Gonzalez hit his 4th HR & was a single away from hitting for the cycle.

Paul McAnulty hit his 2nd in the losing effort.

San Diego	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Peavy	6.0	7	4	4	2	2	2	2.00

Thatcher	0.2	4	3	3	0	0	0	10.24
Rusch	0.1	0	0	0	0	0	0	6.75
Bell (L, 0-2)	1.0	4	4	4	2	1	0	3.55

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
San Diego	0	0	0	0	0	3	0	4	0		7	8	0
Houston	1	0	0	1	0	2	3	4	X		11	15	0

Play Ball !!

Houston we have a problem

Padres get hammered 10-3

Justin Germano blinked in the 1st inning, and before he opened his eyes it was 5-0 Astros. It didn't get better from there. He was hit hard, and often as the Friars lose the series opener in Houston. Germano went 3 1/3, gave up 10 hits, walked 3, and gave up 10 er, before Bud Black finally pulled the plug on him. It was by far and away his worst start of the season, and hopefully not a sign of things to come. How he bounces back in 5 days is going to be very important in this young mans season. I think he's got the stuff and shouldn't have much of a problem, as even in this rout he showed poise, didn't get flustered, and just kept trying to go about his business.......problem was that the Astros were going about theirs at the same time. Toss this game out Friar fans, we didn't stand a chance......time to reload and go after them tomorrow.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
San Diego	0	1	1	0	0	1	0	0	0		3	8	0
Houston	5	2	0	3	0	0	0	0	X		10	13	0

Play Ball !!