http://www.yardbarker.com/content/team/23 Recent articles about the San Diego Padres en-us Get the latest Red Sox news at The Bottom Line blog... Sox claim Giles... Youkilis: x-rays negative... Sox, all smiles, now that Manny is gone. Thu, 07 Aug 2008 15:23:50 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/302626 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/302626 This spring, the San Diego Union Tribune had an article about the profit margins for beer at the ballpark. The article listed the price of beer at Petco Park as $8.50 a beer, and said the stadium buys their kegs for $76. This results in a profit of $842 per keg for the Padres. The [...] Thu, 07 Aug 2008 12:56:13 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/302545 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/302545 The Red Sox have claimed Padres outfielder Brian Giles off the waiver wire. Giles is 37 years-old and is putting up some pretty good numbers: .296 AVG, with a .391 OBP. Unfortunately the Sox more than likely did this just to stop the Angels and Rays from getting Giles (they're the only 2 teams with better records.) The Rays would probably try to get Giles to fill their needs in the outfield and add a healthy dose of OBP to their lineup. If this isn't the case and the Red Sox are trying to add another outfielder to their roster (Bay, Ellsbury, Drew, Crisp, AND Giles?), they'll have some hurdles to overcome. The first is that Giles has a no-trade clause in his contract that includes 10 teams, with Boston being one of them. Once you get past that, adding him to the already crowded outfield creates a huge logjam. It just doesn't make much sense for the Sox to actually work out a trade for Brian Giles. In any case, the Padres and Red Sox now have 48 hours to try and work out a potential trade. Thu, 07 Aug 2008 11:37:23 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/302493 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/302493 Kyle Kendrick became the second Phillies pitcher this season to reach the double digit mark in wins, and Ryan Howard hit his 32nd home run of the season as the Phillies beat the Marlins 5-0. Kendrick (10-5, 4.37), pitched six shutout innings allowing four hits and an uncharacteristic four walks. Although it would appear this wasn't Kendrick's strongest performance of the season, I would disagree. Despite the fact he had trouble locating his sinker, he beared down and pitched though every jam like a ten-year veteran; not a pitcher only making his 43rd career start. When he did allow runners to reach base (every inning but the fifth), he refused to give in to the Marlins hitters, squashing any hope of a Marlins rally. Most notably in the 4th. After retiring the first two batters, Kendrick walked John Baker and Anibel Sanchez. Hanley Ramirez followed with an infield single. Jeremy Hermida stepped to the plate with the bases loaded. Only to hit and inning-ending line out to Jimmy Rollins. With tonight's win Kendrick's career record moves to 20-9. This game was about more then Kyle Kendrick. The Phillies bats came alive, and while they still did leave 11 men on base, they got big hits when they needed it, led by Ryan Howard. Howard finished 2 for 5 with a home run and a double off the top of the left field wall (literally inches from his second home run). It wasn't just Howard who hit the ball well last night. The Phillies got on the board early. In the bottom of the first, after Shane Victorino walked, he scored on a Chase Utley double, giving the Phillies an early 1-0 lead. They added two more runs in the second, making it 3-0, on a double by Eric Bruntlett (who went 2 for 3), and a ground out by Kendrick. Capping the scoring might have been the most exciting run of the night. At least for the guy who hit it. Rookie Mike Cervenak picked up his first major league hit and RBI, pinch hitting for Kendrick in the 6th inning. Cervenak, a ten-year minor league veteran, laced a Doug Waechter fastball to left field, which scored Bruntlett. It came in Cervenak's third major league at-bat. With this win, the Phillies move two-and-a-half games over the Marlins, and three games over the Mets, who lost to the San Diego Padres. Cole Hamels takes the mound this afternoon, attempting to rebound from back-to-back poor starts, as the Phillies look to win their fourth consecutive series and extend their lead in the NL East. Thu, 07 Aug 2008 05:19:34 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/302321 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/302321 Ken Rosenthal at FoxSports.com is reporting San Diego Padres rightfielder Brian Giles has been claimed off waivers. Wed, 06 Aug 2008 20:42:54 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/302185 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/302185 Donruss says Tim Flannery "Enjoyed another fine season as Padres' No.1 utility infielder last year." Tim hit .228 in 1987 with 0 HRs. Another fine season indeed. Wed, 06 Aug 2008 11:19:58 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/301857 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/301857 In the past week or so there have been some really bad performances by closers around MLB. That being said, this may be one of the best years ever for the elite closers. Wed, 06 Aug 2008 08:36:34 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/301757 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/301757 FBHOF begins the process of ranking the best 200 fantasy players of all time. Wed, 06 Aug 2008 05:58:27 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/301701 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/301701 30. Its a number that seems to suit big pro sports leagues in America. The NBA has it. Ditto for the NHL. And yes, MLB has it. Currently, only the NFL is the exception at 32. The number of markets at 30 is manageable. The NFL has the advantage of being highly centralized (revenues are shared more evenly across the franchises), and exceptionally popular. Even with that, there are strains (note that the owners recently opted out of the CBA) with the added teams. Of all these, it is MLB that was the last to expand (1998). NHL? 2000 with the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Minnesota Wild. NFL? 2002 with the Houston Texans. NBA? 2004 with the rechristened Charlotte Bobcats. And, when you look at MLB historically, the stretch in-between expansions currently is the second longest since, well… the Expansion Era: a decade. There are reasons for this, of course. The rapid period of expansion in the ‘60s occurred shortly after Walter O’Malley and Horace Stoneham moved the Dodgers and Giants to the West Coast. The moves in 1957 showed that with air travel, markets west of the Mississippi could be tapped that had never been considered before. When coupled with the growth of television, untapped revenues could be accessed. The AL and NL were also very much separate leagues vying for markets. Now, most all the prime large markets have been sucked up, and television, once simply an over-the-air matter, is a huge factor given regional sports networks. Below is a listing of markets, along with their respective leagues from the time the Dodgers and Giants relocated, till 2008. Expansion or Relocation in the Modern Era Team Year League Angels 1961 AL Senators relocate, become Twins 1961 AL Senators (Part II) 1961 AL Mets 1962 NL Astros 1962 NL Milwaukee Braves relocate to Atlanta 1966 NL KC Athletics relocate to Oakland 1968 AL Padres 1969 NL Expos 1969 NL Royals 1969 AL Pilots/Brewers 1969 AL Second Senators relocate to Arlington (Rangers) 1972 AL Mariners 1977 AL Blue Jays 1977 AL Rockies 1993 NL Marlins 1993 NL D-Backs 1998 NL Devil Rays 1998 AL Expos relocate to DC (Nationals) 2004 NL Select Read More to see the Top 10 Markets for Relocation or Expansion Wed, 06 Aug 2008 04:21:19 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/301690 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/301690 Phil Hughes could be called back to the majors soon, and John Halpin says he'll make an impact when that happens. See who else he recommends picking up on the waiver wire for your fantasy team. Wed, 06 Aug 2008 02:00:42 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/301662 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/301662 The Phillies come in to this week's series against the Florida Marlins two and a half games up in first place and are looking to extend that lead to a possible five and a half games. They begin Tuesday by sending out Marlins' killer Jamie Moyer (10-6, 3.79) to face off against Josh Johnson (1-0, 4.18). Johnson has four starts this season since coming off Tommy John surgery, and despite only having one win, the Marlins have won all four games. He got his first win his last time out when he went 6 2/3 innings, giving up four runs against the New York Mets. In his other start against the Phillies this season, Johnson gave up two runs in 6 2/3 innings, but got a no decision. Moyer, on the other hand, has just completely filleted the Marlins in 10 career starts against them, going 10-0 with a 3.03 ERA. Not only has he factored into the decision every time out, but has gotten the win. His last time out against Florida he allowed two runs over six innings and hasn't allowed more than three runs in a game since June 1. Wednesday night's game is the battle of the young righties, pitting Kyle Kendrick (9-5, 4.59), age 23, against Anibal Sanchez (1-0, 3.18), age 24. Sanchez's last time out was his first start in almost 15 months, in which he went 5 2/3 innings giving up two runs on six hits. According to the Phillies website, Sanchez retired six of the first seven batters he faced, threw first-pitch strikes to 15 of the 25 hitters and left the game with the bases loaded and two outs after throwing 95 pitches — 56 for strikes. Prior to a rough sixth inning, Sanchez only allowed three runners to reach scoring position. Kendrick is coming off his second straight quality start after facing the Nationals on Thursday. He went 6 2/3 innings and allowed two runs on seven hits. The Phillies are now 15-7 this season when Kendrick takes the mound, tops on the team. That being said, the last time Kendrick faced the Marlins he had perhaps his worst outing of his career, allowing seven runs on three home runs in 4 1/3 innings. He has since rebounded nicely, winning his next two outings. The final game of the series is a 1:05 PM start and pits the struggling Cole Hamels (9-7, 3.37) against Chris Volstad (2-2, 3.25). Volstad has four major league starts in his career and had his worst outing to date on Friday against the Rockies. The 21-year old rookie gave up five runs in just five innings of work on eight hits. He struck out six and walked three. Phillies' ace Cole Hamels has had his share of troubles over the past couple weeks and has not recorded a win since July 3 against the Atlanta Braves, starting with his last start against the Marlins. Hamels actually went into the eighth in that game, and only gave up two runs, both on home runs. The second run came off a Cody Ross in the eighth inning and Hamels has looked shaky ever since. This a pivotal series for the Phillies, as they look to put some serious distance between them and the Marlins and give themselves a little breathing room. They need to take at least two games from this series because the Mets are facing the struggling Padres and will in all likelihood win at least two of their own games and the Phillies need to do everything they can to keep some distance between them and the rest of the division. Tue, 05 Aug 2008 15:01:57 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/301369 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/301369 Sometimes the posts write themselves... From Sign On San Diego, via Deadspin: "(Khalil) Greene said after the 7-3 defeat to the Diamondbacks that he was in "excruciating pain" after fouling a ball off his shin during the seventh inning. After the at-bat ended with Greene's 100th strikeout, Greene went to clubhouse tunnel. There, Greene said, his frustration got the best of him and he drove his left hand into a storage chest." And, predictably... (Click Below to Continue Reading) Tue, 05 Aug 2008 13:23:57 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/301313 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/301313 Screaming Sports' Phil Yoon goes over a week of upcoming matchups and determines who you should sit, who you should start and why. Surprisingly, there are three pretty big names that should be riding the pine this coming week. Tue, 05 Aug 2008 07:04:15 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/301105 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/301105 This is supposed to be an easy stretch of the schedule the next few weeks for the Mets. Yes, they do match up against the Phillies and the Marlins, but the rest of the games come against the Pirates, Nationals, Braves, Astros, and Padres. Well, we saw how the team played against the Astros last weekend, and we've seen what they can do against the Padres (if you need a refresher from 15 seconds ago, the Mets were swept by both teams). To me, it always seem like the Mets play down to their opponents level. Instead of truly beating up on teams that they should trounce, they seem to want to make it interesting and play a close game and/or lose. If the Mets want to contend this season, these are games they need to win. Tue, 05 Aug 2008 06:01:50 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/301086 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/301086 It was finally a good week for the Phillies, who start this week in first place in the National League East standings, two and a half games up on the second place Florida Marlins and three games up on the third place New York Mets. The Phillies won five out of six games this week, including a three game sweep of the last place Washington Nationals. The Phillies have succeeded in large part due to an effective balance of timely hitting and efficient pitching. In the past week alone, formerly dormant Chase Utley has three home runs with six RBIs, batting .364 during that time. Likewise, outfielders Pat Burrell and Shane Victorino have six RBIs each, as well as a number of clutch hits, including the go ahead four runs in Sunday's victory over the St. Louis Cardinals. Slugger Ryan Howard is batting .333 over the past week, as is struggling outfielder Geoff Jenkins. Brett Myers had two starts this week, and finally looks like he has his "swagger" back, going 13 innings while only giving up two runs and one walk. Newly acquired Joe Blanton looked equally as impressive in his last start, going seven innings, giving up just one run on four hits. Ageless Jamie Moyer continued his streak of holding his opponents to three runs or less, something he has done in every start since June 1, getting the win against the Nationals. Since playing one of the ugliest series of the year against the Mets last week, the Phillies have been on a tear and have started to put some distance between them and their NL East rivals. While the Phillies have won five of six, the Mets have lost four in a row and the Marlins lost two of their three games. The Phillies need to continue to build on their recent success and capitalize on the struggles of the Mets and Marlins. They face off against Florida in a three game set this week in Philadelphia and can look to build on their two and a half game lead and put some real distance between them and their upstart rivals. They need to take at least two out of three this series because the Mets are playing the struggling San Diego Padres and will most likely take at least two from the Pads. In other Phillies related news, the baseball trade deadline came and went with no additional pickups by the club. Even more significant, however, was that neither the Marlins or Mets made any significant deals. The Mets made no moves, while the Marlins actually got worse by acquiring veteran reliever Arthur Rhodes from the Seattle Mariners. This doesn't mean, however, that the Phils won't be acquiring any other players, as GM Pat Gillick is notorious for being more active after the non-waiver trade deadline then he is before it. Phillies' reliever Rudy Seanez has been placed on the disabled list, as was third baseman Pedro Feliz. In basketball news, the Sixers' signed point guard Lou Williams to a new, five year contract. He has averaged 7.2 points, 2.2 assists and 1.5 assists in 171 games over three pro seasons. Continue to check back as we bring you the latest from Eagles' training camp, the Phillies attempts to build their lead atop of the NL East standings, and the progress of contract negotiations between the Sixers and forward Andre Iguodala. Mon, 04 Aug 2008 21:59:53 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/300977 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/300977