Kennedy’s Home vs. Away Anomaly
By Bill Center
By Bill Center
Even with the fences moved in, Petco Park is considered a pitcher’s paradise.
Such places as Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati, Miller Park in Milwaukee, Marlins Ballpark in Miami and Nationals Park in Washington, D.C, favor the hitters.
Which is why it is hard to decipher the early-season statistics for Padres right-handed starter Ian Kennedy.
In four road starts this season, Kennedy is 2–1 with a 2.88 earned run average. Away from Petco Park, Kennedy has allowed 21 hits and five walks with 23 strikeouts in 25 innings. Opposing hitters in their own parks are hitting .228 against Kennedy. The Padres are 3–1 in games that Kennedy starts on the road. In three of those four road start, Kennedy allowed one run over six or seven innings.
But at home, Kennedy is 0–5 with a 4.42 ERA. He has given up 38 hits and nine walks in 36 2/3 innings. Opposing hitters are batting .266 against Kennedy at Petco Park. The Padres are 0–6 when Kennedy starts at home. Over his career, Kennedy is 7–7 with a 3.09 ERA in 18 career starts at Petco Park.
Of course, it makes no sense. It’s baseball. Which is why, as Padres manager Bud Black likes to say, “it’s why we play the games.”
Kennedy Tuesday night allowed four runs on six hits and two walks in 6 2/3 innings against Minnesota in the opener of a six-game homestand. Kennedy is scheduled to pitch the finale of the homestand next Sunday afternoon against the Cubs.
PADRES PUZZLER: More than a quarter of the way into the season, second baseman Jedd Gyorko and outfielder Seth Smith share the Padres home run lead with five apiece. How many times in Padres history has the club’s home run leader had fewer than 20?
BEYOND TWIN KILLINGS: The Padres have lost seven straight interleague games to the Twins. The last time the Padres beat the Twins was June 19, 2005, at the Metrodome in Minneapolis in one of the bigger upset wins in Padres history. With American League strikeout leader and reigning Cy Young Award winner Johan Santana starting for the Twins, then Padres manager Bruce Bochy decided to hold scheduled starter Jake Peavy and pitch him two days later in the opener of a homestand against the Dodgers. Left-hander Darrell May, whose ERA was two runs higher than Santana’s going into the game, started for the Padres. Final score: Padres 5–1. Padres bench coach Dave Roberts homered off Santana and Damian Jackson hit a three-run double for the Padres, who walked a season-high four Padres while striking out three. May allowed one run on three hits over six innings.
CLOSE CALLS: Thirty of the Padres first 46 games have been decided by two runs or less. That’s the highest total in the Major Leagues. The Padres are 15–15 in those games, 9–6 in one-run decisions and 6–9 in two-run decisions. The Padres are 10–2 when they score more than four runs in a game and 17–6 when they score three or more runs in a game. But they are 4–19 when they score fewer than three runs — the alarming figure there being that the Padres have scored fewer than three runs in half their first 46 games. “The pitching is fine, we’ve got to score more runs,” Padres manager Bud Black said Tuesday night’s 5–3 loss to the Twins.
WORKING AROUND CASHNER: Right-hander Donn Roach will likely make his second start in Andrew Cashner’s slot Saturday night. But Black is hopeful he can skip the spot twice before mid-June due to days off. After Saturday, the Padres need a fifth starter on June 3 and June 14. Black said Roach will get the starting assignment Saturday unless he is needed in long relief Wednesday night against the Twins.
GETTING WARMER: Gyorko had only his fourth multi-hit game of the season Tuesday night and only the second since April 8. He is 4-for-13 over the last three games with two doubles and a RBI after going hitless in 19 straight at-bats.
PUZZLER ANSWER: Seven times, including the strike-shortened seasons of 1981 and 1994. The lowest home run total to lead the Padres in a full season was 11 by Ryan Ludwick in 2011.
