Friar Watch

Greg Maddux: Another good outing by Maddux but in what’s becoming a trend the Padre offense failed to capitalize, putting undue pressure on the bullpen.

Maddux got into it with the umpire a little bit in the 5th inning. The 0-1 pitch was called a ball and Maddux wasn’t happy about it, especially when the next pitch was hit back up the middle for a single. With that in mind, a chart of called strikes and balls seems in order.

Blue=strikes
Orange=Balls
Yellow=the disputed pitch

The disputed pitch was borderline, it could have gone either way. I’m not sure what happened on those two outliers on the left. Either they were terrible calls or some kind of Gameday glitch. I’m going with a glitch, if they were really that far out of the zone there would have been an argument.

Let’s take a look at John Smoltz’s chart:

Interesting that neither pitcher benefited from an overly generous strike zone, despite the conventional wisdom that veterans get the calls.

Also note how Smoltz misses low in the zone (the best place to miss) and Maddux misses a lot up and in to a right handed hitter. My guess is that Maddux knows he needs to keep hitters honest, otherwise they’ll dive across the plate after his 85 mph fastball. Smoltz is just trying to keep the ball down and unlike Maddux he throws a curveball and a slider, both pitches that will end up down in the zone.

Cla Meredith: Cla came on in the 6th and got out of the mess he inherited from Maddux but once again proved vulnerable in the 7th. Cla left some balls up and paid the price, giving up 2 runs on 4 hits. Cla’s pitch chart reveals what happened;
Orange = base hit
Yellow = hit fair for an out
Blue = called strike
White = foul
Green = ball

A couple of the hits were on pretty good pitches but the two up in the zone were hammered. He elevated a couple of others and was lucky to get ground ball outs.

One thing I’ve noticed with Cla is he’s most successful when he throws pitches with tremendous movement and hitters swing at balls that end up out of the zone. When his pitches grab too much of the zone he gets hit and that’s what’s been happening lately. I’m sure Cla will work with Ballsley to figure out why this is happening and get back on track. In the meantime Bud Black may want to promote Doug Brocail or Kevin Cameron to Meredith’s role as the fire stopper.

Doug Brocail: Brocail has been pitching well of late and is deserves to come into games with a lead, not just when the Padres are behind. Another strong outing by Doug.