Padres News Bits (Nov 17, 2007)

First off, San Diego Padres pitcher Greg Maddux has won a 2007 National League Rawlings Gold Glove Award. This marks the 17th Rawlings Gold Glove for Maddux, passing Jim Kaat and Brooks Robinson for the most won by a player.

Maddux becomes the eighth Padre to win the award, bringing the total number of Rawlings Gold Gloves won by San Diego players to 19. He is the first Padres pitcher to garner the award.

In his first year with San Diego, Maddux made 34 starts and posted a .986 fielding percentage, making one error in 71 total chances. He ranked among National League hurlers in total chances (second), assists (first, 51) and double plays (T-third, five). With his fourth straight Rawlings Gold Glove, Maddux has won 17 of the last 18 awarded to National League pitchers (Mike Hampton, 2003).

"It's cool to win again," Maddux said. "I'm fortunate to still be pitching at this level and honored to be recognized with this prestigious award."

The 41-year-old is the all-time leader with 529 putouts and 94 double plays as a pitcher. Maddux has a career .971 fielding percentage with 50 errors in 1,716 total chances. He was also named to the All-Time Rawlings Gold Glove Team on Aug. 22 of this year, recognizing the nine best defensive players of the last 50 years.

Presented annually, the Rawlings Gold Glove Award recognizes the best fielders at each position for both the American and National Leagues. Managers and coaches of each team select a squad of the best defensemen in their league, excluding their own team.

Congratulations Greg. You deserve it.

Second, another Padre pitcher wins an award.

San Diego Padres righthander Jake Peavy, who won the triple crown of pitching by leading his league in victories, earned run average and strikeouts, was a unanimous choice as the National League Cy Young Award winner in balloting by the BBWAA.

Peavy, 26, was listed first on all 32 ballots cast by two writers in each league city to score a perfect 160 points, based on a 5-3-1 tabulation system. It is the 12th time a pitcher in the NL has been a unanimous choice. It was achieved three times by Sandy Koufax, twice by Greg Maddux and once each by Bob Gibson, Steve Carlton, Rick Sutcliffe, Dwight Gooden, Orel Hershiser and Randy Johnson. There have been eight unanimous elections in the American League.

Peavy's 19-7 season featured a 2.54 ERA and 240 strikeouts in 223 1/3 innings but no complete games. He joins seven-time Cy Young Award winner Roger Clemens as the only starting pitchers to win the award without pitching a compete game. Clemens did it twice, in the AL with the New York Yankees in 2001 and in the NL with the Houston Astros in 2004.

Arizona Diamondbacks righthander Brandon Webb, the 2006 winner, was second this time with 94 points, based on 31 second-place votes and one third. He and Peavy were the only pitchers on all ballots.

Peavy is the fourth Padres pitcher honored, joining Randy Jones (1976), Gaylord Perry (1978) and Mark Davis (1989). Webb is the second NL pitcher to be the Cy Young runner-up the year after he won. The other was Tom Glavine in 1992

Congratulations Jake.

Padres Announce 2008 schedule (Nov 17, 2007)

The Padres also announced home-and-home exhibition games against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. San Diego will host the AL West Champions Friday, March 28 at 7:05 p.m. PST at PETCO Park. The Friars will then head north to Angel Stadium for a final spring tuneup at 6:05 p.m. PST the next evening. The games in each respective city will include pre-game recognition of emergency responders involved with the recent Southern California wildfires.

The schedule calls for two ten-game homestands. The first is May 19-29, when San Diego hosts St. Louis, Cincinnati and Washington. The second is June 2-12 and features visits by the Chicago Cubs, New York Mets and Dodgers.

Next year will mark the first season San Diego has opened and closed the regular season at home since 2003.

Tentative 2008 Season Schedule is here: http://sandiego.padres.mlb.com/schedule/tentative.jsp?c_id=sd&year=2008