Friars and Rox

Getting set for a nice weekend of baseball and so a few notes...

Tonight the Padres come to town to take on the Rockies with Chris Young facing Josh Fogg. I'll have to admit that mentioned in the BP2K7 all things considered Fogg turned in a better 2006 season than most would have predicted. Once again though he was still hit hard by lefties to the tune of .309/.388/.512 and fell apart in August and September. Some of that can no doubt be attributed to bone chips that he had to have removed from his elbow after the season. Of course he does get groundballs with his sinker (I happened to attend his masterpiece against the Mariners at SafeCo Field last season that lasted all of 1 hour and 52 minutes) and yet he still struggled mightily at Coors Field. The Rockies management really like his approach and attitude and since Byung-Hyun Kim has struggled, it appears the fifth spot is Fogg's to lose. This will be his third start of the season although he did appear in relief last Monday against the Giants.

Interestingly there have been only 6 homeruns hit at Coors Field this season ahead of only Camden Yards for fewest per game this season. Unfortunately most of that poor showing can be attributed to the Rockies hitters who also have only hit 39 extra basse hits all season ahead of only St. Louis, Washington, and Cincinnati and have been shutout in extra base hits 4 times this season. And not surprisingly the Wrigley Field has seen only 6 homeruns in 495 at bats as well.

As far as the Padres are concerned they come into tonight's game with Heath Bell and Cla Meredith each having thrown 10.3 scoreless innings out of the bullpen. They also have rookie Kevin Cameron who has thrown 9.0 innings of scoreless relief to start his career (most for a San Diego pitcher to begin a career since Clay Condrey worked 14.3 innings in August and Septemebr of 2002 - aren't you glad you know that?). Trevor Hoffman has also thrown six scoreless innings and overall Padres relievers rank second in the NL with a 2.15 ERA (15 ER in 62.7 IP) behind only the Mets (1.51, 7ER/41.7 IP). They've held opposing hitters to a .181 average and have 47 Ks to boot.

Tomorrow there will be an interesting SABR meeting before the 6:05 game. Should be a fun weekend.