Managerial Mayham

With sharks circling Bud Black's locker with ever-increasing anticipation that they may get a meal, FF continues to feel the burden of this unacceptable season lift. We think Black should go. After being reasonably happy with him as Bruce Bochy's successor in 2007, we lost patience very early this season. Let's be clear - Bud Black was just a rebound relationship for Friar fans. After common law marriage with Bochy, we were all happy to embrace a new model that wears a normal hat size. Now that we've had our post-Boch fling, it's time to find a managerial relationship we can stand by. Below is FF's suggested list of items for the front office's personal ad, hopefully it will help lead this next foray to the alter:

• Black has recently lamented not having his starting catcher this season. He has nobody to blame but himself for that one. He rides catchers into ground. The next Friar manager has to recognize the demands of baseball's toughest position and give these guys the rest they need to span the season. Bochy was better.


• Black, in the previsouly linked U-T article, isn't happy with pitching, in general nor the bullpen:

  “We kept trying to find the right guys in the bullpen and we never got the right combination from the start of the season. That is something we need to address.”

  Were there more than two or three relievers in the bullpen? I guess FF was confused, because it seemed like Black just trots the same guys out over and over until he's worn them down as well. Bochy was better.


• Black's team never stole bases. In fairness, they played American League style ball - station-to-station, waiting for the "big hit". Great strategy on these teams. In fact, there seems to be a pattern forming here - AL ball doesn't work in the NL West. Bochy over-managed, Black has under-managed. Let's avoid the characteristics of managerial predecessors on this one.


• Three hitting coaches in two years isn't Black's fault. This is actually the primary problem in Padre-ville. The front office has created defacto dysfunction with whomever it cozies up to in the form of an outlandish home. It's time to fix Petco. Good pitching is good pitching - we don't need a brutally unfair park to "make" pitchers good. It should neither play like Death Valley nor a bandbox. A balanced park will give the team a chance when pitching and defense isn't perfect.

FF hopes the front office catches us a hottie.

Friars Top Nevin Look-alikes

The Friars scratched their way to a rare victory, toping the Bucs 6-5 in a game full of oddities. For starters, former Padre super-prospect Xavier Nady, ostensibly exiled by former Padre manager Bruce Bochy for not being a veteran, was traded from the Nevins to the hated Yankees after one at-bat, vacating the 5-hole in the process. Additionally, despite a horrible tag by rusty Josh Bard,who collected a pair of hits, a Brian Giles to Edgar Gonzalez to Bard combination erased a runner at the plate. This out proved to be crucial as Heath Bell would eventually have a bad outing, continuing his recent streak. The Friars also collected a double play at third and second, taking advantage of overly aggressive Pirate baserunners. To extend the oddities, Trevor Hoffman looked like his old self. FF has to say that this is the first game in some time that has kept our attention. Let's all hope for a few more like this one.

Friar Factoids:

• With just 2 more wins, the Padres will ensure that win at least 25% of their games this season.
• Scott Hairston's hot streak is very officially over - he earned the golden sombrero batting leadoff. That said, his hard baserunning prevented a double play, so we still give Scotty a thumbs up for the evening. He also made a good catch in the eighth to save Heath Bell from accumulating addtional earned runs.
  

Ryno Calls It Quits

Former Padres All Star, Ryan Klesko, officially retires after a solid 16 year career. Klesko spent the first 8 years of his powerful career with the Atlanta Braves and had a very productive 7 seasons with the Friars before he followed Bruce Bochy to SF last season. Klesko enjoyed his only All Star season as a member of the Padres in 2001 when he smashed 30 bombs with over 100 RBI.

Ryno ended with 278 home runs and just 13 RBI shy of 1000.

Peavy Off, But Singles Lead the Way

Jake Peavy clearly didn't have his best pitches Friday night, but his mindset pushed him through his third quality start - and win - of the season. The offense picked up Peavy with a barrage of singles and a lone double to plate seven runs. Six Friars amassed multiple hit games with Kevin Kouzmanoff leading the way with a trio out of the cleanup spot. Callix Crabbe showed his impact in the eighth innings while pinch running for the ever-reliable Tony Clark. He easily stole second, then scored on Tad Iguchi's dribbler through the 3.5 hole. Given the continued struggles of future hall of famer Trevor Hoffman, who was again touched up for a run, despite earning a save, these kinds of insurance runs cannot be understated. The bullpen's other slow starter, Joe Thatcher also coughed up another run.

Tossed
Scotty Hairston threw a strike to Josh Bard to erase Dodger Russell Martin, who came into the plate with a half-hearted shoulder. Bard and Martin exchanged pats on their midsection and butt, respectively, to show no ill will.

Coach Hill Would Be Proud
Iguchi continues to impress FF by playing ball the right way (for you PLHS alumni out there, that means Coach Hill's way). On a run-and-hit, Iguchi practically threw his bat to protect flat-of-foot Brian Giles at second.

The Ghost of Bruce Bochey
Bud Black was momentarily possessed by Bruce Bochey at Dodger Stadium, instructing Jake Peavy to forgo a sacrifice bunt attempt to instead ground into an inning ending double play in the second.

This Bud's For You

The San Diego Padres extended the contract of manager Bud Black through the 2009 season on Tuesday. As a rookie skipper last season, Black lead the Friars to a 89-74 record, and earned a spot in a one game playoff for the NL Wildcard. Black provided longtime Padres fans a breath of fresh air last season highlighted by his handling of rookie Kevin Kouzmanoff, who got off to an extremely rough first month of the season; Kouz came on strong down the stretch and ended as the 3 hole hitter in the Friars lineup. In years past FF has continually seen ex manager Bruce Bochy stick with unproductive veteran players and bury the younger players on the bench (with the exception of Sean Burroughs).

Black made the transition from the American League (where he was the pitching coach for the California Angels of Anaheim in LA) to the NL and handled double switches and pinch hitting situations well. The former MLB hurler handled his pitching staff as well as could be expected while he and pitching coach Darren Balsley helped Jake Peavy realize his full potential and garner huge returns from Mets castoff Heath Bell.

FF is happy to see Buddy Black on the top step of the Padres dugout for a minimum of 2 more years. We are sure that many former big league hurlers are also excited as Black helped dispel the notion that pitchers do not make acquit mangers.

Comparing Padre Managers

Geoff Young over at Ducksnorts.com recently posted a comparison of Bud Black vs. Bruce Bochy. His post uses a lot of statistics from the Bill James Handbook 2008 (haven't received my copy just yet). Some of the main differences outlined were (FF reaction inlined):

• Bochy used more than 3 times the number of pinch runners in 2006 than Black did in 2007. I'd attribute this to two things. First, Bochy chronically over-manages. Second, the '06 team (as well as many before it) had a number of veterans nearing the end of their careers that Bochy was infatuated with, seemingly for their experience and their ability to provide an excuse that would indulge his propensity to over-manage (i.e., Mike Piazza, Ryan Klesko, Vinny Castilla). Advantage: Black.
  
• Black pulls his starters faster and uses more relievers on consecutive days. Black seems happy to take a strong outing and rely on the bullpen - at least his favorites. Keeping the only part of the team that is truly strong intact was probably a wise move, but FF wouldn't be surprised to see Heath Bell's arm fall off on his 20th consecutive day of use in the 2008 campaign. We'd like to see him balance out the 'pen a bit more, but prefer Black's approach to Bochy's "use 'em cause we got 'em" approach that seemed to frequently pair a shaky reliever with a tenuous situation. Advantage: Black
  
• Black uses many more pitch outs than Bochy. In all fairness, he was probably just trying to slow down the racetrack that was the base paths. If Bochy was good for something, it was that he seemed to get the most out of catchers - not a huge surprise given his background. Disadvantage: Padres front office for disregarding the defensive skills of catchers in their selection of backstops.

Overall, FF enjoyed the first several seasons of Bochy's reign, but grew tired of his tinkering and increasing reliance on veterans over the years (did you not cringe to see Mark Bellhorn repeatedly trotted out when younger guys watched him strikeout from the pine?). Bud Black did a nice job overall. One of the bright spots for 2007 was Kevin Kouzmanoff - he'd probably be playing for Pittsburgh with Xavier Nady right now if Bochy was still in San Diego.