Friar Watch

David Wells: Not a good outing for Boomer. He had trouble with his command and when that happens he can be very hittable. He still managed to keep it from getting totally out of hand, 5 IP, 8 H, 5 ER, 2 BB and 3 K. After pitching so well last game […]

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Based on an earlier graph I speculated that Trevor Hoffman might be pitching from the far edge of the rubber. While at the game last night I confirmed that he stands on the third base side when pitching to lefties and the first base side when pitching to righties. This graph shows his […]

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David Wells: The Padres needed Wells to go deep into the game tonight after yesterday’s marathon and Boomer did the job. He gave up two runs over 7 innings, and both of those were in questionable circumstances. He had good command of both his fastball and his curve, retiring 16 in a row […]

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Greg Maddux: Started off strong with the usual good movement and location but the Cubs caught up to him in the 5th and Bud Black opted to go with Cla Meredith to start the 6th. 3 runs in 5 innings should have been enough for the W given the bullpen performance and number of […]

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Inspired by this article at Baseball Analysts I’ve started digging through the XML data in the MLB.com Gameday archives. What you’re looking at here is a graph of the release points of the three Padre pitchers last night, Chris Young, Cla Meredith and Trevor Hoffman:
A few surprises here, at least to me. Despite […]

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Chris Young: Young looked even sharper than in his debut. He truly has no-hit potential every time he takes the mound. He looks like he’s growing more confident in his curve (he threw some real nasty ones) but his command of that pitch is still inconsistent. 7 very strong innings for the Princeton […]

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Jake Peavy: Jake looked strong in his second start of the season. Not overpoweringly dominant but he only gave up one run in 7 innings, 5 hits, one IBB but only 3 strikeouts on 103 pitches. There’s been talk of Jake trying to pitch to contact and not strike everyone out and so […]

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David Wells: The epitome of the wily veteran, Wells relies on excellent control and a variety of breaking balls to keep hitters off balance. Wells gave the Padres 6 2/3 strong innings despite another night of questionable umpiring. Matt Vasgersian mentioned that Wells threw 90+ pitches and only 4 of those were swung […]

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Chris Young: One of the most interesting pitchers in the big leagues, Chris Young is a power pitcher who is lucky to break 90mph on his fastball yet routinely blows guys away with the high heat. He uses his height to maximum advantage with a big leg kick and raises his glove hand almost […]

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