SB Nation User Blog: sdsuaztec4

SS Chris Burke headed back to San Diego

sdsuaztec4 — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 03:27:44 -0000

SS Chris Burke headed back to San Diego

RT @FollowThePadres SS Chris Burke on way back to San Diego. He was with Seattle's Triple-A team.

Stephen Strasburg's Line 4/17/09 @ New Mexico

sdsuaztec4 — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 04:13:51 -0000

Stephen Strasburg's Line 4/17/09 @ New Mexico

Stephen Strasburg W (8-0) 9 IP 7Hs 0Rs 14Ks 1BB

"We're going to play hard. We don't have a bunch of stars. We don't have a Jimmy Rollins or a David...

sdsuaztec4 — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 16:42:11 -0000

"We're going to play hard. We don't have a bunch of stars. We don't have a Jimmy Rollins or a David Wright. We're just a bunch of sandlot players, playing hard."

Heath Bell is poetic

"I saw John Kruk on 'Baseball Tonight,' and he said, 'They're playing real well, but I don't...

sdsuaztec4 — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 13:40:26 -0000

"I saw John Kruk on 'Baseball Tonight,' and he said, 'They're playing real well, but I don't believe in them,' " Bell said before Monday's game. "And I saw ESPN's promo for tonight's game. They mention the Mets are opening Citi Field, they mentioned the starting time, but nowhere did they mention the Padres. That gave me the (expletive)."

"I truly believe ESPN only cares about promoting the Red Sox and Yankees and Mets – and nobody else," said the closer, a former Met. "That's why I like the MLB Network, because they promote everybody. I'm really turned off by ESPN and 'Baseball Tonight.' When Jake Peavy threw 8 1/3 innings on Saturday, they showed one pitch in the third inning and that was it. It's all about the Red Sox, Yankees and Mets."

Heath Bell on ESPN

Another brilliant first round pick by the Padres.

sdsuaztec4 — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 19:17:05 -0000

Another brilliant first round pick by the Padres.

During his freshman year at Rancho Bernardo, Dykstra suffered a hip injury on the basketball court. Soon after, he developed avascular necrosis in his right hip – the same affliction that ended Bo Jackson's athletic career...But the hip is still a challenge, so much so that Dykstra's agent, Scott Boras, said last month that he wouldn't be surprised if Dykstra must accept a designated hitter role in a number of years.

Great shot after today's game.

sdsuaztec4 — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 04:52:42 -0000

Great shot after today's game.

Stephen Strasburg's (6-0 1.49 ERA) 8th start of the season @ UNLV tonight.

sdsuaztec4 — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 23:35:32 -0000

Stephen Strasburg's (6-0 1.49 ERA) 8th start of the season @ UNLV tonight.

Live audio and gametracker available. Game starts at 7 PM PST so it will be a late night for you east-coasters. Go Aztecs!

The Strasburg Files Episode 5- Petco Park!

sdsuaztec4 — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 09:16:02 -0000

(ed. note - "In case you missed it this weekend...Here's sdsuaztec4's latest report on Strasburg's latest start...)

Hello Nationals fans! I for one had a rough Friday. Got to the ballpark at around 2:00 PM and sat in my usual seats behind home plate and watched Stephen Strasburg and the Aztecs dominate UC Davis in a 14-0 hit barrage. After that game ended, I got to watch the Padres and Angels battle it out for the Southern California exhibition game championship, which is something I just made up. I have some presents for you but you'll have to wait until the end. Ok fine, you can have one to get you started.

The Warmup

Does anyone know if MLB mounds are bigger than NCAA mounds? They must be different because both starters struggled with it. They both struggle with their command and at least Stephen lost a little velocity. Either way, he looked damn sexy pitching at Petco Park. I wish there was something I could do that would make it his new home.
Stephen definitely got a test in this one. The umpire was squeezing him a bit, he walked a couple guys, the fielders made some questionable decisions; he wasn't his best game but still managed to get it done. The Aggies were making a lot of contact, didn't see many swings and misses which was odd. He hung in there though and got the outs. All three singles he gave up with weakly hit and I don't think any of them made it out of the infield.
With the double header sweep of the Aggies on Saturday, the No. 21 Aztecs move to 22-10 overall and 6-3 in conference ahead of No. 18 New Mexico and No. 22 TCU.
Post game Interview can be seen here.
Game highlights can be seen here. The Aztec hitters don't seem to have any problems hitting the ball out of Petco Park.

The Stats

Aztecs 14 Runs on 15 Hits and 1 Error

Aggies 0 Runs on 5 Hits and 2 Errors

WP: Stephen Strasburg (6-0)

LP: David Popkins (0-1)

Stephen Strasburg

6 IP 3 Hits 0 ER 0 R 2 BBs 24 Batters Faced 6 Ks

0.00 ERA 0.83 WHIP 9 K/9 9/2 K/BB Ratio

Season Stats

(6-0) in 7 starts. 48.1 IP 27 Hits 8 ER 10 BB 94 Ks

1.49 ERA 0.77 WHIP 17.5 K/9 9.4 K/BB

Don't forget to check the SDSU Universe season tracker for updated season statistics.

Analysis

Stephen Strasburg pitching at Petco Park? That IS delicious! Like I said before, I think the mound bothered him to the point that his control was off and he lost a little velocity. He hit 98-99 a few times but the Petco gun had him sitting around 94-96. The problem wasn't the velocity however, because it was his fastball which he could not control all game. At one point, he practically abandoned the fastball completely and relied on his breaking pitches which he was able to control much better. Mind you, his breaking pitches sit at around 84-88 MPH as well which is faster than a lot of MLB fastballs. I think the reason that he had so few strikeouts is because of his inability to locate the fastball which he usually uses to setup the hitters for the offspeed. The result was a lot of contact and very few swings and misses. Fortunately, this is Stephen Strasburg who's offspeed pitches are good enough to hold them to 3 infield singles and zero runs. I suppose it could have just been an off day but I'm sticking with my mound theory.

Tony removed him after 6 innings and 93 pitches. Obviously he could have gone longer, but Tony is trying to limit his pitch count to around 100-110 for you guys and we already had an 11 run lead at that point, no reason to risk anything. He was able to get all of the freshman in for a few innings. A freshman relief pitcher even got a RBI double! Altogether, I think this was a good learning experience. Some days, one of your pitches might not be working and you need to have others to rely on. Stephen proved that even on his off days he can dominate. Mind you, UC Davis is awful but I think the point stands.

Inning by Inning

1st- First batter ruined the no-hitter with an infield single which probably should have been turned into an out. Next guy moved him over to second with a 1-3 grounder. A walk put two men on but fortunately he was able to get his fastball going enough to K the DH. The 5 hitter grounded out to end the threat.

2nd- Groundout. The next two batters made some good contact but both were turned into outs by the outfielders.

3rd- Three quick groundouts put a quick end to this inning.

4th- The first batter reached on an error by the shortstop. He quickly struck out the next two batters but he put another man on first and moved the runners over when he spiked a curve ball. Oh well, just freeze the next hitter with the sharp breaking ball.

5th- A single led off the inning but a quick groundout and GIDP ended the inning with only 5 pitches thrown.

6th- He seemed like he was finally starting to get used to the mound this inning but it would be his last. He cracked the first hitter on the elbow with a 96 MPH fastball. I'm sure that felt good. Struck out the next guy, but a single from the following hitter put runners on the corners with only 1 out. Another strikeout looking and and 53 ground out ended the threat and Stephen's night.

The rest of the Aztec bullpen had little trouble the rest of the game surrendering only 2 more hits in subduing the Aggies.

Next Game

Next home game is April 24th against No. 22 TCU. Ok, here are some presents for you. First, check out the up-to-date list of awards that Stephen has won this year so far.

March 25 - CollegeBaseballInsider.com West Regional Player of the Week
March 25 - College Baseball Hall of Fame National All-Star Lineup (weekly)
March 24 - Pro-Line Athletic National Pitcher of the Week (by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association)
March 23 - Louisville Slugger Collegiate Baseball National Player of the Week
March 23 - Mountain West Conference Pitcher of the Week
March 17 - College Baseball Foundation National All-Star Lineup (weekly)
March 16 - Louisville Slugger Collegiate Baseball National Player of the Week
March 9 - Louisville Slugger Collegiate Baseball National Player of the Week
March 9 - Mountain West Conference Pitcher of the Week
March 9 - College Baseball Foundation National All-Star Lineup (weekly)
March 9 - RecruitingCloser.com National Pitcher of the Week
March 4 - College Baseball Insider West Region Player of the Week
March 2 - Louisville Slugger Collegiate Baseball National Player of the Week
March 2 - College Baseball Foundation National All-Star Lineup (weekly)
March 2 - Mountain West Conference Pitcher of the Week
March 2 - RecruitingCloser.com National Pitcher of the Week

Here are some pictures I took. Unfortunately, the stupid camera focuses on the net behind home plate instead of the player you are trying to take a picture of. What are you gonna do?

via i180.photobucket.com

Jeff Garcia signs with Raiders

sdsuaztec4 — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 08:48:14 -0000

Jeff Garcia signs with Raiders

Will be backup to Russell until they realize Jamarcus sucks.

4/3 Angels at Padres SoCal Exhibition Series. Are you ready for 2009?

sdsuaztec4 — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 11:32:45 -0000

Sooooooooo I was at the Aztec and Padre double header on Friday and I took some pictures and I suppose somebody around here might want to see them. Unfortunately the camera focuses on the net behind home plate instead of the players on the field so some of them didn't come out that good. If you want to see the pictures and report of Steven Strasburg's day at Petco, head on over to FederalBaseball.com to check it out. That post is much better because the SBNation editor tools are pretty cool. Hint Hint.

Is anyone going to Fan Day today? I have nothing else to do on a Sunday afternoon so I'll probably head down there even though I don't really even want any autographs from the current Padres. Click after the jump to see the pictures.

via i180.photobucket.com

That one was for Jbox.

via i180.photobucket.com

Padres signing autographs.

via i180.photobucket.com

Heath Bell attacking some young kid.

via i180.photobucket.com

Jody Gerut avoid a pitch.

via i180.photobucket.com

Kouz trying to figure out how to field a ground ball.

via i180.photobucket.com

Eck doing a dance to the music.

via i180.photobucket.com

Giles Awaiting the Pitch.

via i180.photobucket.com

Pre Game Warmups

And now, a sequence of events that I like to call "The Heater".

via i180.photobucket.com