After 1st month, Padres are tough to truly analyze
The Padres, the National League’s version of the A’s, were the great unknown of the NL West heading into the season. Like the A’s in the AL West. One month in, we still don’t have a good handle on the rebuilt Padres, who’ll make their 2015 debut at China Basin on Monday, the start of a three-game series. Are the Padres the team that started 10-5? Or are they the same ol’ Padres who have dropped seven of their past 10?
Like the A’s, the Padres have a roster full of new bodies, though a lot more recognizable and accomplished than Oakland’s. Also like the A’s, the Padres are having massive defense and bullpen problems.
Last week, the Padres were swept by the Astros right after the A’s were swept by the Astros. In each case, Houston exposed its opponent’s flaws, taking advantage of Oakland’s and San Diego’s sloppy defense and shoddy relief during a 6-0 California swing.
The A’s have 21 errors (tied for most in the AL through Friday), the Padres 19 (tied for third most in the NL).
Before Saturday, the A’s had a 4.56 bullpen ERA (worst in AL), the Padres 5.25 (second worst in NL).
On the other hand, the teams have scored plenty of runs: The Padres are leading their league with 123. The A’s (thanks to several early blowouts) are tied for second in theirs with 124.
This isn’t necessarily a surprise for the A’s, who were supposed to be a work in progress with so many of general manager Billy Beane’s newcomers relatively foreign to big-league soil: Marcus Semien, Josh Phegley, Mark Canha, Kendall Graveman, Jesse Hahn and R.J. Alvarez.
Meantime, the Padres marketed themselves as a playoff contender after rookie GM A.J. Preller brought in James Shields, Craig Kimbrel, Matt Kemp, Justin Upton, Wil Myers and Derek Norris.
Again, it’s one month, but the Padres need to clean up their act for the long haul. They can’t have more games like Wednesday’s. Andrew Cashner struck out his first six batters and had 10 Ks in seven innings, but catcher Wil Nieves’ passed ball led to the tying run, and Kimbrel surrendered a career-high three runs.
Cashner has given up 17 runs in five starts, and eight were unearned, thanks to six errors and two passed balls. He’s 1-4. And 0-3 at Petco de-
spite a 1.80 home ERA. DH-less: Bruce Bochy wants no part of the designated-hitter rule in the National League, a debate that re-emerged after St. Louis pitcher Adam Wainwright tore an Achilles tendon running from the batter’s box.
“I hope they never change our league, the National League,” Bochy said. “There’s so much history in the game, I just don’t want to see that change. I like the fact the leagues are different. I like the strategy in the National League.”
It’s speculated the Wainwright injury could lead to a rule change, just as the 2011 Buster Posey injury helped prompt the no-collision rule at home plate.
“Apples and oranges,” Bochy said. “I know it’s called the Buster Rule, but there were so many collisions. I’ve talked I don’t know how many times about it with (examples of ) previous catchers. I wanted to see it changed.
“You’re talking about put- ting a player in harm’s way. I don’t feel that way with a pitcher swinging a bat. You prepare him in spring training. He’s part of what has been required by a pitcher since the game’s started.” A’s crowds: Wednesday’s White Sox-Orioles game played in front of zero fans — amid civil unrest following the death of Freddie Gray while in police custody — prompted mentions of the Mariners-A’s game in 1979 that had a “tickets sold” count of 653.
The actual Coliseum crowd was more like 250. Why so small? Owner Charlie Finley cared less about his ’79 team than any other. Free agency was created a few years earlier, and he lost or dumped players who brought three titles in the mid-’70s. Trying to sell the team, he put little effort into winning and didn’t attend a game all season.
Not only was it bitterly cold April 17 but fans could watch it on TV.
“The weather was brutal that day, and I remember people saying it could be rained out — the first locally televised game rained out,” A’s longtime clubhouse manager Steve Vucinich said.
The A’s won 6-5 on Jim Essian’s walkoff single. They averaged 3,984 that year, but things improved quickly. Rickey Henderson broke into the majors, joining an up-andcoming cast, and Finley hired Billy Martin to manage in 1980 and sold to Walter Haas.
By 1981, the average attendance soared to 25,721.
“It was unbelievable to do that in two short years,” Vucinich said. “Billy came in and changed the whole attitude.”
Before the White Sox-Orioles game, the smallest crowd in the modern era was 66 for Tigers-Browns in 1911, according to SABR’s Phil Lowry. Around the majors: A year after collecting just 10 RBIs, none in his four-game joyride with the Giants, Washington’s Dan Uggla drove in eight runs in a three-game series against Atlanta, which is paying him about $12.2 million this season. ... The Blue Jays have used Josh Donaldson at leadoff, and the Twins are considering doing the same with Joe Mauer. ... With the A’s last season, Norris caught just 12 attempted basestealers. In his first month with the Padres, he has thrown out nine. ... The Cole Hamels sweepstakes could get heated with the Cardinals losing Wainwright and the Dodgers losing Brandon McCarthy. The Red Sox still have a need.