Friar Watch

Padres win 7-0 over the Giants. Great job by all three Padre pitchers and the team as a whole.

Jake Peavy: Jake is looking to bounce back from an uneven 2006 and if today’s game is any indication he’s well on his way. He made some great pitches, including a slider that got in on Bonds’ hands (it dribbled through the vacant left side of the infield for a single) and a filthy back door slider for a called third strike on Randy Winn (why was Winn batting 8th?).

The first Bonds AB was interesting because Peavy quickly got two strikes on him and then tried to get Bonds to swing at a pitch out of the strike zone. That’s Pitching 101 and isn’t a bad way to pitch most guys but Barry Bonds isn’t most guys. He just flat out will not swing at balls out of the zone. I think it’s just wasted effort to pitch Bonds like that. Peavy got him out on that great slider in on the hands, a pitch that probably looked like a strike until the last second.

Jake’s velocity and command were both good through all 6 innings, he didn’t seem at all tired but Bud Black chose to go with Cla Meredith to lead off the 7th due to the score and the fact that it’s the first game of the year.

Cla Meredith: Cla picked up right where he left off last year. His sinker had a ton of movement and even though he gave up a couple of singles he was easily able to induce a double play from Ryan Klesko. Cla was a little shakey in Spring Training but it looks like he’s in mid-season form already. Cla worked the 7th and gave way to Heath Bell.

Heath Bell: I was interested to see Heath Bell, he put up great numbers in the minors but had trouble in the big leagues last year. His velocity was ok but what impressed me was the movement on his slider. Bell did a good job over the final two innings, alllowing two hits and no runs while striking out one with no walks. Bell has great stuff, hopefully he will learn to harness it under the tutelage of Darren Ballsley and Bud Black.

I don’t intend to comment on opposing pitchers very often but since Barry Zito signed a huge contract with the Giants I wanted to comment on what I saw. He’s got that great curveball but if he’s not throwing it for strikes and the hitters realize that and lay off it they can sit on his mediocre fastball. He reminds me a little of Trevor Hoffman in that respect, if his specialty pitch isn’t spot on he’s very hittable. On the positive side he’s very durable and has demonstrated excellent command over his career so he should at least give the Giants a consistent league average 30+ starts for the next 7 year.