Morning Coffee with Mark Whelan: Some Padres History by the Numbers

Ken Caminiti. Harry How/Getty Images

I recently downloaded a database of Padres statistics from a Sabermetrics course I’m taking. I’ve found a few interesting tidbits of information. So if you’re not a stats fan, you might want to skip this one today. Wait a minute, you’re a baseball fan. You must like stats! So let’s go look at some Padres History by the Numbers.

The Padres have stolen 4,997 bases in the team’s history. That means the 3^rd SB we see beginning tonight will be the 5,000^th in team history. I wonder if they’ll make a big deal out of it. I wonder who’ll steal that 5,000^th base. I’m going to guess Alexi Amarista. He’s got a half dozen steals on the season, and he’s in the lineup every day. Plus I think he’d get more of a kick out of it than a lot of other guys. Maybe he’ll pull a Rickey Henderson and take the base out of the ground and hold it over his head. That would be fun. I love it when Alexi hits a home run or gets a clutch hit. He seems to get such enjoyment out of it.

Tyson Ross (214) and Ian Kennedy (227) are both on a pace to strike out more than 200 hitters this year. The Padres have never had two 200-strikeout guys in the same season, and in fact, 200 Ks has only been done five times in the team’s history. We might be seeing numbers 6 and 7 this year. Jake Peavy (3 times), Kevin Brown, and Clay Kirby are the only Padres hurlers to have accomplished the feat.

How about 15-game winners? That’s been done 21 times in team history. Eric Show (3 times), Andy Benes, Bruce Hurst, Jones, Peavy (twice each) and Gaylord Perry, Andy Hawkins, Andy Ashby, LaMarr Hoyt, Tim Lollar, Ed Whitson, Joey Hamilton, Brown, Kirby, and Brian Lawrence (once each). Since 2005, only Peavy had done it. With nobody on this year’s team having more than 7 so far, it doesn’t look like we’ll be adding to that list this year

Remember when Tyson Ross threw that 3-hit shutout a week or two ago? If he throws another shutout this season, it will be the first time since 2005 a Padres pitcher has had two in the same season. Only Peavy and Lawrence have accomplished that since the turn of the millennium.

On the hitting side, I’ve been talking this season about how the Padres need to get some actual power hitters, guys who can go deep 30 times pretty much every year. This lack of power has been a problem for as long as there has been major league baseball in San Diego. In 45 years, the Friars have only had a player hit 30 bombs in a season 18 times. 40 has only been accomplished 4 times (Greg Vaughn, Adrian Gonzalez, Phil Nevin, Ken Caminiti). Four times in 45 years! It has happened 259 times in major league history. Seth Smith, the Padres leader this year, is on a pace to hit 17.

I’ll keep digging, and see what else I can find. In the meantime, games start again tonight. I’m looking for an entertaining and more productive second half of the season. Let’s go Padres!