Post by Commissioner Erick on Jan 10, 2023 8:07:01 GMT -5
San Diego Padres (70-73) @ San Francisco Giants (83-60)
SD: Jake Shirey (8-9, 3.58)
SF: Shane Baz (15-5, 4.10)
Padres 3 Key Stats:
1: Padres winning series in their history: With a 12-7 finish, the Padres could achieve just their second winning season in history, and a more modest 11-8 gets them to an even .500. The Padres have been pretty moribund in their history, but have done a lot of good things this year.
.307: Jake Shirey’s Career OBP against: Jake Shirey hasn’t been exceptionally effective before this season, but he’s been good at keeping runners off the base paths with a low OBP against. This year, he’s been terrific though, with a .299 OBP. Shirey doesn’t get many strikeouts, but he limits home runs at a solid rate, allowing just 19 in 173.1 innings. He’s allowed 14 of his 19 homers on the road, but that’s inflated by 10 homers in Arizona, Colorado, and Texas, perhaps the three most hitter-friendly parks in baseball. In a park like AT&T Park, he may be more effective.
42: Mike Fitzgerald home runs: Fitzgerald has already set a Padres best 42 homers this year in a special campaign. He has 92 RBIs and after his average dipped to .190 on June 1, he’s hit a respectable .264 to raise his average to .240. Fitzgerald has to be less of a free swinger as he hit 35 homers with a .300 average two years ago in a breakout season, before his average fell apart this year. He’s shown he can hit for huge power, and he’s shown in the past that he can hit for a nice average. The Padres need him to marry the two to be a real force.
Giants 3 Key Stats:
.320: Tomaz Espassandim’s average: Cannibal was an offensive force for the Mets with back-to-back years hitting for a high average with strong power. Despite making the minimum, the rebuilding Mets traded him to San Francisco where he’s helped pace the Giants’ offense. His average is currently second in the league, and he has 16 homers and 28 doubles to boot. Despite winning a Platinum Stick in 2027, he hadn’t quite been a household name. That’s changed this year.
14: Strikeouts for Shane Baz against the Padres on May 11: Baz has only pitched against the Padres at home once this year, a gem of an outing in early May. Baz went 6 innings and allowed only one run on three hits. He was dominant though, striking out 14 hitters without a walk, and generating four ground balls for the other four outs. It was a masterful outing for Baz, despite the Padres winning 3-1 due to a lack of run support. Baz hasn’t been as prolific with swings and misses as he was when he struck out 295 hitters in 2024, nor has been as prolific a ground ball pitcher as he was when he led the league last year at 58%. He showed on May 11 though, that he still has moments when he can be utterly untouchable.
39: games for Nelle Willemsen: San Francisco’s roster is so deep, that stars like Zipper Willemsen have barely been able to see the roster. Willemsen has only appeared in 39 games, hitting .190 in a small sample. With the roster so deep, Vic Black didn’t wait for Zipper to tighten up, Black just sent him to Triple-A for 77 games, where he’s currently playing in the Pacific Coast League playoffs. 3.5 back of the NL West title, it would be an incredible disappointment for San Francisco to have this much talent and not win the NL West.
Questions for the GMs:
For Creig McBride, what’s your future with San Diego? You’ve been itching for a big budget job for some time now, but San Diego has also been competitive and has a lot of young pitching on its team, highlighted by Tom McCracken’s No Hitter earlier this month. Is this your last year in San Diego?
Your team is still in the bottom half of the league in hitting. Will Jordan Milbrath return as Hitting Coach next year?
You played with 27 guys on the roster last week. Will you play with 28 this week, and if so, who is the new call up?
For Vic Black, you’ve had to demote a lot of young talent because of the depth of your roster. What’s the future for guys like Zipper Willemsen and Frazer McWhir on your team?
Rule-V pickup Bobby Sheesley has had a small role this season, but he’s crushed lefties. Will you give him a look today against Shirey, and in the playoffs against lefties?
You’ve been playing with 26 players the past couple of weeks. The Sacramento River Cats will be playing for a Pacific Coast League Championship, but could we expect to see a couple of them called up today? If so, which ones?
TRIVIA: What team has the club’s single-season home run leader be the least of any of the 30 PBA teams, and who is that team’s single season home run leader?
SD: Jake Shirey (8-9, 3.58)
SF: Shane Baz (15-5, 4.10)
Padres 3 Key Stats:
1: Padres winning series in their history: With a 12-7 finish, the Padres could achieve just their second winning season in history, and a more modest 11-8 gets them to an even .500. The Padres have been pretty moribund in their history, but have done a lot of good things this year.
.307: Jake Shirey’s Career OBP against: Jake Shirey hasn’t been exceptionally effective before this season, but he’s been good at keeping runners off the base paths with a low OBP against. This year, he’s been terrific though, with a .299 OBP. Shirey doesn’t get many strikeouts, but he limits home runs at a solid rate, allowing just 19 in 173.1 innings. He’s allowed 14 of his 19 homers on the road, but that’s inflated by 10 homers in Arizona, Colorado, and Texas, perhaps the three most hitter-friendly parks in baseball. In a park like AT&T Park, he may be more effective.
42: Mike Fitzgerald home runs: Fitzgerald has already set a Padres best 42 homers this year in a special campaign. He has 92 RBIs and after his average dipped to .190 on June 1, he’s hit a respectable .264 to raise his average to .240. Fitzgerald has to be less of a free swinger as he hit 35 homers with a .300 average two years ago in a breakout season, before his average fell apart this year. He’s shown he can hit for huge power, and he’s shown in the past that he can hit for a nice average. The Padres need him to marry the two to be a real force.
Giants 3 Key Stats:
.320: Tomaz Espassandim’s average: Cannibal was an offensive force for the Mets with back-to-back years hitting for a high average with strong power. Despite making the minimum, the rebuilding Mets traded him to San Francisco where he’s helped pace the Giants’ offense. His average is currently second in the league, and he has 16 homers and 28 doubles to boot. Despite winning a Platinum Stick in 2027, he hadn’t quite been a household name. That’s changed this year.
14: Strikeouts for Shane Baz against the Padres on May 11: Baz has only pitched against the Padres at home once this year, a gem of an outing in early May. Baz went 6 innings and allowed only one run on three hits. He was dominant though, striking out 14 hitters without a walk, and generating four ground balls for the other four outs. It was a masterful outing for Baz, despite the Padres winning 3-1 due to a lack of run support. Baz hasn’t been as prolific with swings and misses as he was when he struck out 295 hitters in 2024, nor has been as prolific a ground ball pitcher as he was when he led the league last year at 58%. He showed on May 11 though, that he still has moments when he can be utterly untouchable.
39: games for Nelle Willemsen: San Francisco’s roster is so deep, that stars like Zipper Willemsen have barely been able to see the roster. Willemsen has only appeared in 39 games, hitting .190 in a small sample. With the roster so deep, Vic Black didn’t wait for Zipper to tighten up, Black just sent him to Triple-A for 77 games, where he’s currently playing in the Pacific Coast League playoffs. 3.5 back of the NL West title, it would be an incredible disappointment for San Francisco to have this much talent and not win the NL West.
Questions for the GMs:
For Creig McBride, what’s your future with San Diego? You’ve been itching for a big budget job for some time now, but San Diego has also been competitive and has a lot of young pitching on its team, highlighted by Tom McCracken’s No Hitter earlier this month. Is this your last year in San Diego?
Your team is still in the bottom half of the league in hitting. Will Jordan Milbrath return as Hitting Coach next year?
You played with 27 guys on the roster last week. Will you play with 28 this week, and if so, who is the new call up?
For Vic Black, you’ve had to demote a lot of young talent because of the depth of your roster. What’s the future for guys like Zipper Willemsen and Frazer McWhir on your team?
Rule-V pickup Bobby Sheesley has had a small role this season, but he’s crushed lefties. Will you give him a look today against Shirey, and in the playoffs against lefties?
You’ve been playing with 26 players the past couple of weeks. The Sacramento River Cats will be playing for a Pacific Coast League Championship, but could we expect to see a couple of them called up today? If so, which ones?
TRIVIA: What team has the club’s single-season home run leader be the least of any of the 30 PBA teams, and who is that team’s single season home run leader?
