Los Angeles is quite pleasant this time of year. Unless you're a Dodgers fan.
Oh well. At least the weather's nice.
Approximately 115 miles away, there lies a town experiencing the baseball equivalent of an old-timey revival. You might have heard something about that. But while this may be Southern California, it most certainly is not Hollywood.
You're not going to find a lot of marquee names on this team. Sure, anyone who pays the least bit of attention to ESPN or FOX Sports has heard the name Adrian Gonzalez. For the average fan, that's probably the extent of their knowledge concerning the team to beat in the National League West.
For most of the 2010 season, it seems there's been a collective anticipation that the other shoe could drop at any moment concerning the San Diego Padres. And while we wait, and wait, and wait some more, the Pads keep winning. Perhaps stranger still, their weapon of choice has nothing to do with producing prodigious piles of souvenirs for the Friar Faithful. This team is as concrete a representative of the new small-ball philosophy pervading the professional ranks as you're going to find, and man oh man, do they ever make it work. Pitching, defense, and the timely hit are the watchwords of the year in sunny San Diego.
In stark contrast to the long-ball launching days of recent vintage, there are no home run leaders to be found in this lineup. Adrian Gonzalez, who's spent much of the last four years lofting small leather orbs into a low Earth orbit, has "only" 27 this year. To be fair, there's been a noticeable shortage of the flying four-bagger in 2010, and as such, the stalwart slugger's relatively low total is far and away enough to lead the team. Indeed, the next highest total (12) is held by noted (ahem!) power bat and RF Will Venable. Perhaps just as well; there's many a moonshot in a losing cause. Just ask the Jays.
What sets this team apart from the crowd is classic, honest-to-goodness inside baseball. While speed isn't necessarily in surplus in this lineup, they make their runs count. Three runs is as good as 10 if you're only giving up a pair to the opponent. Their team defense is staggering (61 errors, .988 fielding percentage), and it truly is a team effort. Take the outfield, for instance: no fewer than 11 fielders have made contributions in patrolling that expanse, with Venable, Tony Gwynn, Scott Hairston, and Chris Denorfia taking the lion's share of playing time, in addition to recently acquired RF Ryan Ludwick (37 games). Denorfia's 8 outfield assists lead the team, accumulated in only 79 games.
The infield is no less adept. Gonzalez and his glove need no introduction; .996 fielding percentage. Enough said. At second, but certainly not second best, the diminutive David Eckstein has yet to suffer a miscue in 93 games at the keystone, and fellow utility veteran Jerry Hairston has but 1 as a second sacker. Most of Hairston's time has been spent on the other side of the diamond, where he's made a solid showing of it at short. SS Everth Cabrera and Baltimore import Miguel Tejada have kept the muffs to a minimum (9 errors in 94 games), and 3B Chase Headley has performed admirably and in relative obscurity at third, holding down the hot corner with a workman-like approach.
As strong as they are with the glove, their pitching is even more impressive. RHP Mat Latos (14-5, NL-leading 2.21 ERA) came into 2010 with only 50 2/3 IP in his fledgling ML career, and thus was 5 2/3 innings over the limit to qualify for Rookie of the Year, which he quite possibly would have won. The free agent signing of RHP Jon Garland has payed dividends (13-11, 3.52), and lefty Clayton Richard (12-7, 3.36) could yet turn out to be the better part of the Jake Peavy trade.
While their starting rotation is strong, their relievers are outstanding. Closer Heath Bell continues to dominate opposing batters to little fanfare outside of SoCal (1.67 ERA, 40 saves in 47 games finished, 12.1 SO/9), though his compatriots labor in far more obscurity. RHP Edward Mujica issues walks almost as often as the pitching machine (6 in 237 PA), and lefty specialist Joe Thatcher strikes out fully a fourth of the batters he faces.
Long story short, here are the facts:
Team ERA: 1st
Hits allowed: 1st
Walks allowed: 4th
Pitching strikeouts: 2nd
Team fielding percentage: 3rd
Do these numbers tell the whole story? Maybe not, but they certainly hit the high points. And come October, the only number that will matter will be the number one. Because number one is exactly where they will find themselves in the NL West.
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