Oh, Doctor! April 2, March 28, February 27

04-02-2007

The PADRES ADD TWO WISE MEN

Jake Peavy, the ace of the staff, pitches the opener Tuesday at San Francisco and is followed by Chris Young and Clay Hensley. All three are young, promising arms who are going to get better.

Then the Padres' two veterans -- there are throwers and there are pitchers, and Greg Maddux and David Wells are pitchers -- take the mound for the first two home games at Petco Park Friday and Saturday against the Colorado Rockies.

What's not to like about that pitching rotation?

Peavy, Young and Hensley are young arms who will benefit from being around the examples of professionalism and experience that are set by Maddux and Wells. Maddux has 333 career wins and four Cy Young Awards. Wells has 230 career wins and threw a perfect game in 1998.

I like to say Maddux is a professional. He doesn't have a lot of gas on the ball, throwing in the 90s, but he's exceptional. Padres fans who appreciate the art of pitching will enjoy watching Maddux work on the mound this year. He knows how to set up hitters, get them out of sequence and hit ground balls.

Maddux won his Cy Young Awards in four straight seasons -- from 1992 to 1995 -- so he long ago knew as a young pitcher how to set up hitters. He hasn't lost that ability. Last year he was 5-3 with a 2.15 ERA in his last eight decisions with the Dodgers.

Wells adds to the staff the same experience and knowledge of how to pitch. Trevor Hoffman, the Padres' closer, is the same way, too. He doesn't have a blinding fastball, but he knows how to pitch and get batters out. His 46 saves was the second most of his career and he is baseball's career record holder with 482.

I expect big things from Peavy despite last year's record of 11-14 and 4.09 ERA. He has led the National League in strikeouts and ERA and has posted four straight 10-win seasons. He knows what he's doing, but what he has to do this year is cut down on the number of pitches he throws.

Of course, you have to be concerned about their age. Maddux turns 41 on April 14 and Wells turns 44 on May 20.

But these two guys are professionals. They make the Padres' rotation better when they're on the mound and they make the Padres' young pitchers better with their presence on the team between starts.

You have to have pitching to win in this game, and the Padres have a strong rotation ready that is to start the season.

03-28-2007

THE MAN IN BLACK IS READY

Bud Black's first spring training as the Padres' new manager is almost complete, and I give his team an excellent chance of defending the Padres' back-to-back National League West titles.

A lot of things impressed me about how Bud worked with the team. He's handled things well in team meetings. It's not easy to replace a long-time manager like Bruce Bochy with the success and reputation he established in San Diego. But if you liked what Bochy did here, well, then I think you'll like Bud Black. They're similar in a lot of ways.

Bud is a very intelligent person and he understands the game. He's been a pitching coach and he pitched in the Major Leagues.

I think Bud has a good feel for the team. The players like him, and that's important in baseball. I haven't heard any complaining from players at all during the spring. He spends a lot of time on the field with the players, but I also like how he delegates authority. I don't think a manager can have his hands in everything. The guy in Texas, Buck Showalter, tried to control everything, and he's not the manager anymore.

Another thing I liked about spring training is what I saw from rookie third baseman Kevin Kouzmanoff. He's an excellent third baseman. When the Padres traded Josh Barfield for Kevin, I heard from some people in baseball that he couldn't play. But from what I've seen in spring training, he can field and hit.

With Kouzmanoff at third and Khalil Greene at shortstop, it could be a lot fun this year on the left side of the field. Those are two guys who can field and hit.

I also think we'll see a lot more double plays this year with Marcus Giles at second base. I really like what I've seen from him in the field. We'll have to wait and see how he handles batting leadoff.

The key to being a good leadoff batter is knowing where the stike zone is. On-base percentage is important. It's funny, because Brian Giles, his brother, would make an perfect leadoff batter with his .400 on-base percentage. But he's not a runner, and you want to use his power.

One concern I have from watching spring training is the pitchers allowed too many stolen bases, but that's something I think will be corrected. That puts pressure on the pitcher when the runner is getting three steps. You have to understand who is on first base and what the score is. All those things are important. You don't want to give a jackrabbit a lead off first.

But it's only spring training, so it's still early. You can't be sure how a season will turn out based on spring training. It's a long season and injuries can change things. Let's hope Mike Cameron's hamstring is OK and he stays healthy this year in center field.

The games don't start counting until the Padres open the season April 3 at San Francisco when Bud Black makes his managerial debut against our old friend, Bruce Bochy, and his Giants.

02-27-2007

AH, SPRING TRAINING HAS ARRIVED

Spring training is finally here, gang. The Padres players (and broadcasters) are back in Arizona to prepare for the 2007 season and to defend the franchise’s second straight National League West title.

These days, players report to camp in shape. They make enough money during the season that it’s their job to work out and report to spring training in condition. And they better be in shape if they want to remain in the big leagues.

But it used spring training was a time when the player began his conditioning to get in shape. On the Yankees, I remember every year Hall-of-Famer Joe DiMaggio would have blisters on his hands for the first week or two from hitting in the batting cage. I can still see his blisters. But someone like Yogi Berra could fall out of bed and get a hit that day.

In those days, players had to work an off-season job to make ends meet. You didn’t have much time to work out. Even with the World Series checks the Yankees earned, I still had to work off-season jobs.

When I was a younger player, I would return home to San Francisco in the off-season and work from November until mid-February when it was time to leave for camp. I worked jobs in a warehouse and even a slaughterhouse. I knew a guy in San Francisco who was able to connect with me with a lot of jobs.

But once I had been with the Yankees a couple of years and lived in New York year-round (New Jersey, actually), I worked for men’s furnishing stores.

Mostly, I just talked baseball with the customers, which was fine with the store owners and managers. It was a form of promotion for the store, and I worked all day Saturday and Sunday.

That’s one major difference between spring training today and from when I played. It’s another example of how big money has changed the game. Today’s players don’t have a clue of what life was like for ball players before free agency.

Another way ball players would try to earn money in the off-season was through speaking engagements. I’d try to pick up a couple of hundred dollars for a trip to a town in upstate New York.

Sometimes, when a storm would hit while I was driving, my pay per-hour took a big hit. Instead of getting home in a couple of hours, I’d drive all night until the sun was coming up.

One time I spoke in Glens Falls, which was normally about a two-hour trip. I got done speaking at about 10 p.m., and the storm hit shortly after I got on the road. I was younger and dumber then, and I drove all night instead of getting a hotel. I didn’t get home until 6 in the morning.

Many times I drove through blizzard conditions. This was on a two-lane road, too, and I remember one time being blinded by the snow for about 10 seconds.

Some players spent their off-season playing in winter leagues in the Caribbean. I didn’t play in the winter leagues -- one year I was offered $500 and I said I wanted to $2,000 to price myself out of a job -- because I think you need a break from the game.

Unless you have some part of your game you need to work on in the off-season, I don’t think it’s good for a ball player to play 12 months a year.

By November, I needed a break from baseball. By mid-February, I needed a break from driving in blizzards. I was ready to get back under the warm sun of spring training to prepare for another baseball season.