Seattle @ San Diego

Bay_Areas_Finest · Post #1 » by **Bay_Areas_Finest** » Sat May 21, 2011 4:39 am

Bedard = Beast.

Our starting pitching has been unstoppable. All of our starters have ERA's under 4.00. Thats ridiculous.

Would have had a shutout but Ryan's boot-me at SS ruined it. Oh well. Love the win. Keep it up tomorrow!!

Bay_Areas_Finest · Post #2 » by **Bay_Areas_Finest** » Sun May 22, 2011 5:44 am

Just give Michael Pineda the ROY already.

7 IP. 2 hits. 9 K's.

BEEEEAAAAASSSSSTTTTT.

Post #3 » by **Sweezo** » Sun May 22, 2011 6:24 am

Bedard's looking stronger and Pineda is damn near unstoppable. Who cares if the offense is mediocre? Each night one of our starting pitchers gives a legit chance to win. We're only 1.5 games out of first place, and it's mind-boggling. Twice now I've pretty much had this team written off, and then the team rattles off an impromptu winning streak to get right back into the race.

The LF tandem of Wilson/Peguero has been fun to watch. The overall numbers aren't there but damn if those two haven't made big plays the last two games that were instrumental in getting the win.

Post #4 » by **Sweezo** » Sun May 22, 2011 10:43 pm

And we're taking the Padres behind the woodshead again. Holy cow. Felix has 13 K's and Peguero's come through with the bat once again.

Saunders defense is far better than either Wilson's or Peguero's, but at least those two can punish a hittalbe pitch. Saunders just fouls them off.

Bay_Areas_Finest · Post #5 » by **Bay_Areas_Finest** » Sun May 22, 2011 10:55 pm

Peguero has such a dangerous bat. I love having him in the lineup, but his defense is atrocious. Saunders is awesome in the field but I'll take Peguero anyday as an every day player.

Felix is the man. 13 K's. Wow.

Post #6 » by **Bulltalk** » Sun May 22, 2011 11:22 pm

As putrid as our hitting oftentimes is, as up and down as our bullpen can sometimes be, we have a world series starting rotation.

And here we go again...the little engine that could...we approach the threshold of .500 at 22-24. interleague play has seemed just what the doc ordered. Somewhat astoundingly, we're only 1.5 games out of first place, as no team can yet create separation at the top. *deep breath* Will we actually still be contenders at the allstar break? Is that thinkable?

The reason for this thought (still far from a reality) is in how our upper management would handle such a thing? What if we are near the top as we reach the end of June/early July? Are we then in the trade market for a hitter or two? Do we make a run at the Prince? Or some other hitters? Who might we deal on the farm if we do?

I wonder when Ackley gets his shot up here? Does he get the call in June? He certainly started slow in AAA ball.

And the draft approaches. Anthony Rendon or the highest rated pitcher we like in the draft. It seems, again, like Pittsburgh makes the choice for us.

At least it's still interesting.

Go M's.

TTown · Post #7 » by **TTown** » Sun May 22, 2011 11:27 pm

I know it's just the Padres, but incredible starting pitching this weekend. Thanks, Major League Baseball, for force feeding us this rivalry!

Three @ Minnesota coming up.

Post #8 » by **bennith13** » Mon May 23, 2011 5:17 am

Even if we are in contention at the all star break I hope we don't do something foolish and forget about the big picture. We want to be good, world series good, for a prolonged period of time. Giving up good players when we have a few down on the farm doesn't seem wise to me. I guess I would be ok trading someone like Triunfel or some of the Bavasi prospects. I just don't want management to do anything foolish. Hopefully Ackley can be our midseason spark that a contending team normal gets from a trade.

TTown · Post #9 » by **TTown** » Mon May 23, 2011 5:55 am

Re: theoretically contending in the West this year.

What's Pineda's max inning count this year? I imagine we'd shut him down around 150-60, wouldn't we?

Bay_Areas_Finest · Post #10 » by **Bay_Areas_Finest** » Mon May 23, 2011 2:23 pm

TTown wrote:What's Pineda's max inning count this year? I imagine we'd shut him down around 150-60, wouldn't we?

Are you serious? If we are in contention and Pineda isn't complaining of arm trouble, I have the kid out there every 5 days until the season is over.

TTown · Post #11 » by **TTown** » Mon May 23, 2011 4:13 pm

Willis already said he's on an inning cap, I was just wondering what that number was. I'm sure the organization didn't figure on the West being this close when they made the decision to shut him down at a certain point, but I'm also sure they also don't want to blow his arm out going for an 87-win division title. He's never gone over 139 IP in a season before. Perhaps the cap is closer to 200 IP than 150-60?

I actually think Texas will start to go on a roll when Hamilton and Cruz get back so it may not matter.

Post #12 » by **Sweezo** » Mon May 23, 2011 5:19 pm

Bay_Areas_Finest wrote:Are you serious? If we are in contention and Pineda isn't complaining of arm trouble, I have the kid out there every 5 days until the season is over.

I have to agree with TTown...keep Pineda on an innings limit. The kid's only 22 years old, throws nothing but gas, and he had elbow issues a couple seasons ago.

Post #13 » by **bennith13** » Mon May 23, 2011 5:52 pm

I would bet his cap is around 180 IP.

Bay_Areas_Finest · Post #14 » by **Bay_Areas_Finest** » Mon May 23, 2011 7:52 pm

Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that I'd be okay with Pineda going crazy and throwing something around 220+ innings this season. That's excessive. But; I do want it in the range of 180-200, especially if we are still in the mix. He's been our best starting pitcher this season. I'm ofcourse wanting to keep him healthy long-term, but so long as we aren't obviously wearing his arm out by keeping him in games too long, we have to let him try and carry us.

140-150 innings is way too low. If Pineda starts complaining about pain or the staff notices something, then thats different.

TTown · Post #15 » by **TTown** » Mon May 23, 2011 8:16 pm

Wedge has been working Pineda with remarkable consistency (and Pineda's performances have been perhaps even more remarkably consistent), as Pineda has 9 starts under his belt and every single one them have fallen between 6 to 7.1 IP. Consider a (very) loose projection of 5 starts per month at 7 IP/per:

End of May: 65.1 IP
End of June: 100.1 IP
End of July: 135.1 IP
End of August: 170.1 IP
End of September: 205.1 IP

Obviously, expecting an even 7 IP/per is unrealistic, even with his incredibly consistent first two months. But the projection probably isn't too far off. Tracking Pineda the rest of the way will be very interesting: if we're well out of contention by the time September rolls around, I think he'll certainly be shut down. 170 IP is roughly 30 more than he's ever pitched. If we're contending and want to ride him to a potential division title, he'll obviously cross the 200 IP mark, if not closer to 220 taking into consideration any months he goes 6 times instead of 5.

And then there's the matter of what we do if we actually make the playoffs, and advance. We'd have committed to a postseason run, and it would seem weird to pull him from the rotation once we get there. But any advancement would be putting him 230+ plus, which is bonkers. Then again, we'd be in the playoffs, so that's probably a problem we'd all welcome to discuss further in October