Odds and Ends - May 31

I wanted to start by thanking everyone who has sent in emails or left comments on the blog. We appreciate the feedback.

Yesterday I got an email from Steve who wrote...

You guys keep referring to Kouzmanoff as a "rookie" as he plays for the Padres. At the same time talk about his first major league hit last year with the Cleveland Indians being a grand slam home run on the first pitch. How can he now be considered a "rookie" if he played for the Cleveland Indians last year?

Steve, here is your answer from Page 355 of the Padres Media Guide

A player shall be considered a rookie unless, during a previous season or seasons, he has (a) Exceeded 130 at-bats or 50 innings pitched in the Major Leagues; or (b) Accumulated more than 45 days on the active roster of a Major League club or clubs during the period of a 25-man limit (excluding time in military service or time on the disabled list)

I hope that clears that all up for you Steve. Again, thanks for taking the time to write and please keep the questions coming. We are working on an email link where you will be able to email me directly very soon.

I wanted to post a few notes about Chris Young's dominance over the Pittsburgh Pirates after last night's strong start. C.Y.'s career line against Pittsburgh now looks like this.

3-0 0.76 ERA 17 K 5 BB 7 H in 23.2 IP.

That's pretty ridiculous. Here are some other notes.

• Chris has pitched in all or parts of 24 different innings against the Pirates. He has allowed no-hits in 18 of them
• Last night's bottom of the 6th was the first time in Young's career that he has allowed multiple hits to the Pirates in the same inning.
• Of any pitcher with at least 20 innings pitched against the Pirates in this decade, Chris Young has the best ERA at 0.76. Amazingly, under the same criteria, the pitcher with the worst ERA is one of the guys the Padres traded to acquire Young. Adam Eaton. He has a 9.74 ERA against the Pirates over that stretch.

Seattle Pilots Jersey

For those of you who were watching on Sunday and heard Mud talking about the sweet Seattle Pilots uniforms, this is what he was talking about.

In addition, Matt and Mud were talking about the hat with the "scrambled eggs on the bill." Just like this one.

For a complete look at the history of Seattle Pilots/Mariners uniforms, head to the online exhibit on the Baseball Hall of Fame's website.

The Magic of the Shillela....Nevermind

Mud broke out the sheillelagh tonight for the 9th inning trying to get the Padres a victory but even the best laid plans don't work out sometimes. Still, the Pads need to push across a run here tonight and get a much needed win against the Reds. What do you, the Padre fan, like to do for good luck when the Padres really need a run? Let us know in the comments.

A Looper...You know, a Pro Jock

Tonight, Braden Looper is pitching for the St. Louis Cardinals.

Mud's act is nothing if not predictable.

With those two statements in mind, I am posting this preemptively, hours before first pitch, to explain what Mud is talking about when it comes to Braden Looper. When the name "Looper" is said aloud, Mud will say something about a "pro jock." What does this mean? Well, in case you haven't seen Caddyshack, here is Bill Murray's famous monologue about caddying.

So I jump ship in Hong Kong and make my way over to Tibet, and I get on as a looper at a course over in the Himalayas. A looper, you know, a caddy, a looper, a jock. So, I tell them I’m a pro jock, and who do you think they give me? The Dalai Lama, himself. Twelfth son of the Lama. The flowing robes, the grace, bald… striking. So, I’m on the first tee with him. I give him the driver. He hauls off and whacks one - big hitter, the Lama - long, into a ten-thousand foot crevasse, right at the base of this glacier. Do you know what the Lama says? Gunga galunga… gunga, gunga-galunga. So we finish the eighteenth and he’s gonna stiff me. And I say, “Hey, Lama, hey, how about a little something, you know, for the effort, you know.” And he says, “Oh, uh, there won’t be any money, but when you die, on your deathbed, you will receive total consciousness.” So I got that goin’ for me, which is nice.

70's Retro Day

I know, I know...I didn't dress up for retro day. I tried to make amends for it by throwing on the retro wig along with intern Kerri. The Award for best costume among Channel 4 employees went to Steve Quis in a landslide. If you didn't catch his white leisure suit on the Honda Dealers Pre-Game show, well, you missed some TV magic.

The bigger story last night was the performance of Jake Peavy as he made history with another double digit strikeout performance. Here's the Elias Sports Bureau to fill us in...

Jake Peavy had at least 10 strikeouts while throwing no more than seven innings for the fourth consecutive game. He's the only major-league pitcher since 1900 to have of at least 10 strikeouts in no more than seven innings in four straight games.

No pitcher has had four straight double-digit strikeout games regardless of his number of innings pitched since Randy Johnson did it for the 2004 Diamondbacks.

In addition, we now know that Peavy likes pitching in throwback uniforms. Last year on May 6th he went 6 strong innings against the Cubs while wearing a Padres uniform from 1948. Between the PCL uniforms and the 1972 Padres look from last night, Jake Peavy is now 1-0 with a 0.69 ERA while wearing throwback uniform. And that's the kind of hard hitting analysis you'll find on this blog.

Longest Name in Baseball History

Sorry there haven't been any posts in the last few days. I've been fighting with a health issue that is, thankfully, resolved.

Reader Ryan Morse asked that I post the "All-Long Names" Team that was on the broadcast May 8th in honor of Braves Rookie Jarrod Saltalamacchia.

ALL-LONGEST LAST NAME TEAM (min. 11 letters)

P William VanLandingham
C Jarrod Saltalamacchia
1B Frank Catalanotto
2B Red Schoendienst
SS Nomar Garciaparra
3B Lance Blankenship
OF Carl Yastrzemski
OF Juan Encarnacion
OF Jermaine Allensworth

Big Thanks to "Chyron Bob" Wehrsdorfer who does a great job creating many of the charts like this that you see on the broadcast.

Also, Ryan, you requested an email link on this page. That is something that we are working on and hope to have up soon.

Time to Shake it Up

The Padres haven't been hitting lately and when the players have to deal with a team-wide slump, they do some crazy things to try and break out of it. I talked with Mud about it and he brought up some of the following things.

• Don't Shave
• Change something be it your shoes/shirt/way you wear your pants/bat/pre-game meal
• "Wake up the bats" by slapping around all the bats in the bat rack

And last but not least, if you have the right type of team or pick the right guy, it might be time to play a prank. Mud told me the story of when he was in the Giants organization. When he was playing for the AAA Phoenix Firebirds, he was part of a bad team. When they were on a losing streak, Mud went along the locker room with a few other teammates and left some presents for other players. He left a plate in front of the locker of a wild pitcher with a note saying 'this is a plate, can you find it?' He wrapped the glove of an error prone middle infielder in foil to joke about ground balls clanging off his glove.

It probably hasn't reached that point for the Friars yet, but if the bats stay silent and guys continue to press, sometimes laughter can end up being the best medicine.