Friar Watch

These East Coast games in stadiums without Enhanced Gameday really make it hard for me to post anything meaningful. A few highlights:

Game 1: Maddux was ok, not great, but there was a lot of chirping about the umpire. We’ve got three guys in the rotation (Maddux, Wells, Germano) who are almost entirely dependent on location. If the umpiring isn’t consistent for those guys it affects them a lot more than it affects a Young or Peavy.

Also in Game 1, Meredith’s struggles continued. He struck out Crawford on three pitches out of the zone but again left too many pitches up in the zone where hitters have done damage all year long.

Game 2: I’ve been concerned about Peavy’s ineffective slider, something that often indicates arm problems. I wasn’t able to watch much of the game but from what I did see he seemed to be more effective. 8 Ks in 7 IP is a good indication his slider was working but 3 BB is a little troubling. On at least one of the walks he missed badly with a fastball for ball four, something Jake doesn’t normally do.

Cameron and Hampson got into the act since it was a blowout and both pitched well. At some point Black needs to realize both these guys are pitching better than Meredith and Brocail. I’m not saying they should switch roles but it’s ok to work the youngsters into the mix a little more often. Cameron in particular could benefit from more work, he’s always had command issues and sitting around for weeks on end isn’t going to help him.

Game 3: Justin Germano bounced back from a his worst start to have one of his best: a season high 4 strikeouts against only 3 hits and one walk in 6 IP. We’ve talked about his lack of strikeouts before but if he can continue at this kind of ratio he should be fine.

Heath Bell worked the 7th, giving up two walks but striking out the side.
Brocail worked the final two innings and did what was needed. He did give up a solo home run but you can live with that when you have a 5 run lead.

Next up: The Padres journey to the Friendly Confines for a three game series against the Cubs. All three games are monring starts so I don’t know how much I’ll get to see but I’ll try to get a post up for each game.