Phillies/Padres Preview

The Phillies, having dropped two of three games to the NL West leading Dodgers, head down I-5 to take on the San Diego Padres, who are just one game behind the Dodgers.

For a little background on the Padres, we turn to one of the longest tenured baseball bloggers around, Geoff Young of Ducksnorts...

Here in Philadelphia, we struggle with how much the hitter-friendly home park affects our teams chances of being successful.  We ask questions such as "Is it too much of a strain on the pitchers?  Is it just a matter of finding pitchers who have the right mental and physical approach to the game and using the park to their advantage?"  Since the Padres and their park (very pitching-friendly park with a pitching-rich roster) are almost polar opposites of the Phillies and their park, what is your perspective on this dymnamic?  Is Petco an advantage to the Padres? 

I think a team's home ballpark can be an advantage if the team figures out how to use it. The Padres are getting there, but the first couple of years at Petco, we heard a lot of grumbling from some of the power hitters who weren't used to seeing their fly balls die on the warning track. My gut tells me it's probably easier to build a winning team in a park that favors pitchers, but that's based mainly on watching the Rockies struggle to remain competitive over the years. For the Padres, I think it's been a combination of finding the right players (athletic outfielders who can cover a lot of ground, line-drive hitters who don't get so much loft on the ball) and just not being intimidated by the environment. Sure, it's hard to score runs at Petco, but it's hard for both teams. The Padres have done a better job recognizing that and making it work for them over the past season and a half. 

In hindsight, should the Phillies and Padres have done the Aaron Rowand/Scott Linebrink deal that was rumored in the spring?

Linebrink almost single-handedly cost the Padres a win Wednesday night against the Mets, so it's tough for me to be objective right now. That said, he's been pretty consistent since coming to San Diego and I think he'd be harder to replace than many people realize. A Rowand/Linebrink deal could have helped both teams, but as a Padres fan, I like giving up a minor-league reliever for Milton Bradley even better.

Justin Germano.  Did the Phillies drop the ball on this one or is he really a AAAA pitcher who had a career start?

Germano originally was drafted by the Padres in 2000 and was the
organization's pitcher of the year in 2002, so he has some talent. His
stuff is fairly pedestrian, but he has a good feel for pitching -- changing speeds, hitting locations. Although Germano probably is playing a little over his head right now, he's been a life saver for us this year. I don't know if the Phillies dropped the ball, but I do find it
surprising that they couldn't find room for him on their roster.

The Padres second draft pick a few weeks ago in the amateur draft was none other than Kellen Kulbacki -- Pennsylvania born and played for the greatest institute of higher learning in America, James Madison University, where he won numerous awards as a slugger.  What kind of a start has he gotten off to for the Padres and where to you see him fitting in long-term for the Padres?  How does his game fit Petco Park? 

Kulbacki is hitting .269/.392/.385 as I write this, which sort of looks
like Brian Giles, with whom he sometimes is compared. I haven't seen
Kulbacki play, so I can only go by numbers and scouting reports, but my sense is that he'll hit. The question is whether he'll be able to handle the large outfield at Petco Park. You can't really hide a mediocre defender in left field here like maybe you can in other parks. There's a lot of distance between Short-Season ball and the big leagues, so maybe Kulbacki's defense will develop to the point where he can make it work here. Either way, my guess is that with his bat, he'll have a big-league career somewhere. 

Do the Phillies have any hope for the Wild Card or is it going to be a consolation prize for a team in the NL West?  If so, which one?

I think they have some hope, but it will be difficult. Right now there
are four teams in the NL West ahead of the Phillies, to say nothing of
the Braves and surging Cubs. As for the West, everyone has been talking about the Padres and Dodgers, but I've had my eye on Arizona since before the season started. It bothers me that they're staying right in the thick of things despite getting very little production from their talented young hitters. My feeling is that those three teams are going to fight till the end for the division, and that one of the other two teams will make the wild card. In spring training, I thought it would be the Diamondbacks and Padres, respectively. Now? I think it's up for grabs.

What's it like to watch highlights every night on Channel Four narrated by Champ Kind? 

It would be cool if they could get Steve Carell in the booth. 

Good point, Brick Tamland brings a lot to the table. 

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If this were a talk-show, and Geoff was sitting on the other side of a cardboard desk from me, this would be where I would hold up the book he wrote and encourage you to get yourself a copy. 

Thanks Geoff!