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The San Diego Padres host the New York Mets for a four-game series beginning this evening. The opening showdown should be a good test of the Mets, going up against All-Star starting pitcher Jake Peavy, and trying to either recover from injuries or at least find a better way to plug their holes than they did in their last two games against Atlanta — A pair of losses that saw the Mets go .105 / .150 / .175 // .325. But I’m not here to talk about the Mets, so much as their enemies, so let’s never mention that again.
Matchups:
Tonight: Steve Trachsel (1-1, 4.09 ERA) vs. SD: RHP Jake Peavy (1-2, 5.50 ERA)
Friday: Mets (Brian Bannister, 2-0, 2.50 ERA), at Padres (Woody Williams, 1-0, 4.50 ERA), 7:05 p.m. PT
Saturday: Mets (Pedro Martinez, 3-0, 3.66 ERA), at Padres (Chris Young, 2-0, 2.95 ERA), 7:05 p.m. PT
Sunday: Mets (Victor Zambrano, 1-1, 9.00 ERA) at Padres (Clay Hensley, 0-1, 6.00 ERA), 1:05 p.m. PT
Who is hot?
Peavy’s last effort was much like Tom Gavine’s yesterday — a great showing with nothing to show for it as his team got shut down by Atlanta, in his case being on the wrong side of a 2-0 shutout by John Smoltz. That game really got Atlanta’s starting pitching off the skids before facing us, and for that we should hate all San Diegobatters. Jake is 3-1 with a 3.55 record against the Mets in six career starts.
Vinny Castilla is like Ralph Malph, in that he’s still got it, long after you’re certain that he’s lost it. He had four freakin’ hits Wednesday, is 14 for 34 (.412) over his last nine games, all of which you’d write off as an aberration, a small-sample size, the glorious result of a random distribution of success. You’d say that if he hadn’t historically hit .347 against Steve Trachsel with five homers and four doubles in 49 at-bats. Watch Vinny tonight.
Big league legacy Josh Barfield has gone .375 / .385 / .667 // 1.051 the last week, including his first career homer against Colorado. Padre manager (still) Bruce Bochy moves him up in the lineup against lefties and down against righties. He is competing with the Blessed Brian Bannister (they should play “Freeze Frame” for him, if they’ve got to play anything) as an early leader for Rookie of the Year, so root hard against him through your TV sets.
Who is not:
Mike Piazza appeared to be coming out of something with two doubles on Wednesday, but then was rested Thursday for this series. Those two knocks just brought him up to .188 / .188 / .313 // .500 on the week though. They’ll use Mirabelli to spell him regularly.
Fellow vet Eric Young is.154 / .154 / .231 // .385 on the week. Still, he has hit Trax in the past.
Injury update: Mike Cameron, who strained his left oblique coming out of training camp, is just starting a re-hab assignment and, at last check, doesn’t know when he’ll be ready for big-league duty. Don’t expect him for this series, but still expect at least one disappointed columnist to use the memory of his collision with Carlos Beltran at this scene last season to be his frame story.
Also failing to break camp and yet to appear in 2006 for the Padres have been Shawn Estes (strained left elbow), Doug Brocail (recovering from a coronary angioplasty in March), and Ryan Klesko (strained left shoulder).
You notice a lot strain there. Still, they’re probably healthier than the Mets.
Who to watch: Watch that dude, Khalil Greene, the Caucasian shortstop of the Padres, who one half expects to be a man of color playing split end for the Jets. He, even more than his fellow-shorty Reyes, is in a time-to-move-forward time in his career. He’s a productive guy, but with all the tools, he never seems to have them all firing at once. He could be Kevin Elster, he could be Shawon Dunston, but some folks out there are still looking for him to be Ripken. (OK, maybe not so much anymore.) You know something about this former College Player of the Year? The silly Cards scouted him out of high school and wanted to develop him as a catcher? Maybe that’s not so silly. We’ll see. Anyhow, I posted an interesting piece about him below, featuring fun comments by Dave Magadan. If you’re Vic Sage, avert your eyes.
Old enemies: Peavy came up through the minors with Xavier Nady, and he recently offered this bit of sugar to his old friend, "X is going to be a very good Major League player," Peavy said. "He's gonna be an All-Star. I couldn't be more proud for him."
Apart from him, Sandy Alomar coached several years for the Pads, giving them first crack at his much more talented sons.
Old friends: This marks Mike Piazza’s first time Mets fans look at him as the enemy since early 1988. Aside from him, fellow righthanded sluggers Mike Cameron and Shawn Estes (at least when Clemens is pitching) will be there in wounded spirit. Manager Bruce Bochy and hitting instructor Dave Magadan have worn good-guy clothes.
Brian Giles plays for the Padres, and shares a name with an ex-Met. I've got to go. Enjoy the gameage.
Shortstop has undeniable talent that he'd like to display more consistently
By Tom Krasovic
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
April 11, 2006
He walks into the Padres clubhouse looking more like a college student than a major league ballplayer. He often wears a backpack, and favors old-style Chuck Taylor canvas basketball shoes.
On the field, Khalil Greene stands out by what he doesn't wear: his emotions. He is blank-faced after home runs and strikeouts. Whether he makes an error or a defensive gem, his blue eyes give little clue to his emotional state.
Greene's understated exterior makes him a throwback to the 1940s and 1950s, when stoicism was the norm. But the 26-year-old shortstop is a pivotal figure in the future of the Padres.
The Padres have no top-drawer shortstop prospects in their farm system, and Greene, now in his third season, is entering the typical prime years of a ballplayer's career.
The returns the first two years have been solid, sometimes exceptional, yet mixed.
As a hitter, Greene has outslugged the average National League shortstop, yet also has suffered strikeout jags and prolonged cold stretches.
As a defensive playmaker, he was strong as a rookie and still impresses scouts with his footwork and instincts – but by other measure he is average, and he is a former collegiate third baseman whose ability to stick at shortstop was doubted by successful scouts such as Grady Fuson.
As a daily presence, Greene has shown stamina and toughness that surprised manager Bruce Bochy – but two finger fractures and a toe fracture put him on the disabled list three times.
The big question now is, what next?
An above-average career certainly is within Greene's potential, said Padres right fielder Brian Giles and hitting coach Dave Magadan, two baseball veterans who tend to be conservative in their projections.
“We haven't gotten to see a full season from Khalil Greene,” Giles said. “I'm curious to see what kind of numbers he would throw up if he is healthy for a full season. He's got some of the quickest hands you'll see as a hitter and on defense he has some of the softest hands.”
Said Magadan: “He's got the capability of being a consistent player offensively and putting up very consistent numbers. It's in him.”
Greene's career path could hinge on whether the powerful right-hander becomes more consistent with his hitting, specifically a stance he has tinkered with for years.
The former Clemson hitting star said he endeavors to “know his swing” in the way veterans such as Mark Loretta do. By sticking with one approach, he figures he'll stay in hot streaks longer.
“There are few times where you feel like everything is great,” Greene said. “But whether you are feeling your best or not, you still have to be productive, I guess, most times. I think I'm making strides at it.”
He has tried nearly every hitting posture imaginable: open stance, closed stance, square stance, upright, crouched.
“I don't care if he goes up there and stands on his head, if it works for him,” Magadan said. “But I'd like for him to stay with one approach.”
Greene has said he enjoys defense more than offense because it's more “creative.” As a hitter, he's trying to temper his creative urges.
“I've got the ability to be more consistent than I've been,” he said. The goal: “To be able to carry out the times where I do swing the bat extremely well and I feel like I'm hot. I seem to get in those (for) a week, or maybe a week and a half. I still think I've got (that) potential. Whether it comes to fruition or not is another thing.”
Of course, any quest for consistent hitting form will be hindered by repeated trips to the disabled list. It's impossible to know if Greene's bones are more brittle than, say, Cal Ripken Jr.'s.
After Greene suffered his first finger fracture, while trying to field a ground ball in September 2004, the Padres prescribed calcium pills. He fractured another finger last year, when it was struck by an errant throw. Later, he fractured a toe diving to catch a ball. Meantime, he has continued to gobble the calcium.
“He's taken (the pills) to toxic levels,” trainer Todd Hutcheson joked.
Giles said he could think of no other young player who is as externally unflappable as Greene. Magadan said Greene calls to mind a former Mets teammate, Kevin McReynolds. Both bland exteriors, Magadan said, mask a competitive fire that exceeds that of some ballplayers who slam helmets and scream at umpires.
“Khalil cares about winning,” Magadan said. “Kevin was an unbelievable competitor – card-playing, golf, baseball – he played to win at all costs.”
Has Greene ever lost his cool on the ballfield? Yes. He admitted he said the wrong words to an umpire and was ejected from a Double-A game.
“I was feeling frustration,” he said. “Now, looking back, I feel almost embarrassed by it, I guess, to a degree. I think I learned from that, even though it was one incident. I never really was one to argue with umpires at any point in time. I'm kind of of the belief that I don't think it's anything personal, really.”
He believes in being centered. He said his spiritual walk in the Baha'i faith helps make it happen, allowing him to better cope with a sport where failure is commonplace.
“He's the same if he's 5-for-45 or 5-for-5, and that's a good thing,” Giles said. “He's very consistent and you need that kind of personality in this game.
Said Magadan: “Not only is he a deep thinker, he's a man of deep faith. He's perfectly happy to stay in his hotel room and read or listen to music, or to go the mall with his girlfriend. He's not a guy who will be running the streets. He's very mature for his age.”
Greene's calm exterior and surfer look intrigue fans and add to his public appeal.
“He's so popular that if he hits a home run and we congratulate him, fans are mad if we hit him too hard on the helmet,” Giles said last summer.
Padres broadcaster Tim Flannery said he's heard from angry fans who inferred criticism of Greene where none was intended. Even Flannery's mother e-mailed him to that end.
“My mother calls him her spiritual little shepherd boy,” Flannery said. “Fans love him.”
When music is the topic, Greene becomes more animated than when discussing his baseball exploits. He writes hip-hop lyrics that impress, among others, Flannery, a balladeer who has produced a few CDs.
Greene was a de facto DJ for pitcher Adam Eaton and other teammates last year, selecting Nirvana tracks and other tunes to be played on Petco Park's sound system.
Greene, who spent most of his childhood in Key West, Fla., grew up in a musical household. He came to share a grandfather's appreciation for Johnny Cash and his father's love for the blues. He can tell you of his mother's favorites, such as soundtracks from the “The Sound of Music,” “Mary Poppins” and “Fiddler on the Roof.”
Greene, who played tenor saxophone as a boy, sees merit in Flannery's notion that playing baseball well requires a certain musicality – a rhythm and looseness.
“If you attempt to stay rhythmic, I guess it allows your body to be a little more free and loose,” he said. “I don't think anybody plays better when they're tightened up and kind of stiff.”
Greene mentioned fellow shortstop Omar Vizquel, a 10-time Gold Glover who Wednesday stole a hit from Greene. “Watch someone like Vizquel and how loose he is when he plays defense,” Greene said. “It's almost like he's in batting practice just shagging balls. You've got to be loose and react. The best players are like that.”
On a baseball field, Greene has occasionally riffed with improvisational brilliance. Now if only Greene's bones will stay whole, Giles and others will see bigger numbers.
“We'll see,” Greene said. “Hopefully I can play 150 games and we'll find out. I feel if I could just get everything going and I am healthy and just get my swing down and be able to build on that for a couple of months at a time without getting injured, I feel like I could put up some decent numbers. I'm not going to project myself to be any mind-shattering statistics, but I think I'll be all right. |
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