DOWNTOWN PADRES

How Do You Know It Is Time To Give Up?

2008-07-17T20:05:00.000-07:00

It is the first game of the "second half," following the All Star break, and your team is playing the first of an 11 game road trip. Your ace is on the hill and you score one in the first and one in the third. Things are looking up.

Next thing you know it is the top of the ninth and they are down 4-2. Fortunately the other team's biggest weakness is their bullpen, so there is still a shot. Your second year third baseman rips a double to lead off the inning, and up comes the pride of the farm system. The rookie crushes a ball opposite field off of the wall, jogging into second to represent the tying run.

Then your sometimes power hitting shortstop gets pulled for a pinch hitter by the name of Brandon Myrow...there is your first sign things are not looking good for this team. He strikes out, swinging at a 3-2 pitch that bounces before the plate. Next up...Nick Hundley. Not Todd Hundley(who doesn't exactly give the last name power), but Nick Hundley. At least he advances the runner with his slow roller to second.

Now the tying run is just 90 feet away, and the closer is a little shaken, but there are two outs. We are obviously getting to the bottom of the lineup, so we should probably throw in our pinch hitter here. The problem is we just traded him for...I don't know what, the end of paying his salary?

So your pinch hitter in the ninth inning, with two outs and the tying run on first? Luis Rodriguez!!

Thank you Bud, Sandy, and Kevin, you made it much easier for me to give up. Now lets move on. We can look forward to the future with lots of Dominican players filling in around a great core...Kooz, Adrian, Edgar (I never thought I would say that about him), Chase (freaking beast), Jake, CY (if he ever recovers), and Heath. There are 7 really solid, young guys that give us something to build on. Let's sell the rest and move on.

Sorry Khalil.

Adrian, A-Rod and and the All Stars

2008-07-17T07:16:00.000-07:00

This was nowhere to be seen
at ARod's party

Another All Star game come and gone, and I can say I was thoroughly pleased. On Tuesday night I set the Home Run derby up to tape, so I got to see the Josh Hamilton show, but the scheduled time for the Derby only ran through the first round, so that is all I got...I think I should be thankful. This thing is too long and drawn out, it is such a great show to watch, but they need to re-work it.

Darren Smith and Philly Billy seem to think all they needed was Adrian Gonzales to fix it. My whole drive home from work I had to turn the station on and off as Darren kept giving his updates which was basically complaining about how crappy everyone was doing. I think Adrian would have been great in this, but let it go guys.

When it came to the real game, Adrian got his licks. With the game going so long, he got a lot more playing time then he was supposed to, which was great for all of us. When Uggla came up with one out and the bases loaded in the 13th (maybe), I was hoping he would get out and give Adrian the chance at being the hero. Uggla obliged, Adrian didn't. At least he got a hit and and RBI (on seperate occasions) and saved a poor throw by Martin that kept the game from ending in the 10th.

Meanwhile, A-Rod apparently threw a party after the game, and...well...nobody came. This little article from Yahoo made me realize how much my job sucks and how much better life is as a baseball player. I don't mean Josh Hamilton's life, because he gets excited about going out to dinner these days, but for guys like Jeter and David Wright?!

Overall, I thought it was a good All Star game. I have to admit that it was much more exciting when it went into extra innings, knowing that the winning league gets home field advantage. Without that, I don't know if it would have been as fun. I still don't like the rule, but Bud Selig managed to escape another tie incident that probably would have taken place an inning or two earlier. Although, we never know what would have happened if it went another inning or two with Kazmir and Lidge trying to close it out.

Snyder on DL for...A Fractured Testicle?

2008-07-02T12:12:00.000-07:00

It may seem impossible to wrap your brain around this one, but Chris Snyder, the Arizona Diamondbacks catcher, did just that when a foul ball off of Corey Hart's bat nailed him in the family jewels.

I think we can say this is in the books as one of the worst injuries of the year, and probably Snyder's life. I don't know if he has kids yet, but if he doesn't he may have missed his window.

Other injuries that are hard to talk about this year: Felix Pie went down with twisted testicle that required surgery, and Kaz Matsui suffered from anal fissures. I have no idea what that is and I have no intention of finding out.

Here is video from Fan IQ of the ball fracturing incident, but viewers beware, this is not for the weak stomached man.

BREAKING NEWS: Padres Actually Spend Money Signing 5 International Players

2008-07-02T09:03:00.001-07:00

Today, July 2, 2008, marked the first day of the year that Major League organizations can sign International players that will turn 17 after September 2nd. This basically means that teams will throw lots of money at 16 year old kids from other countries. This is a gamble, of course, because potential at 16 isn't necessarily indicative of how they will play as 20 or 25 year olds.

One would assume that the cheapo Padres would not spend much money on risky signings such as these, especially when you look at the past (i.e. Matt Bush). However, the Padres seem to be making the splash, signing four international players. The first three totaling a $4.4 million investment (I don't yet have the info on the fourth). All four players are considered to be in the top 5 for their position among international players based on ESPN Deportes rankings.

Pitcher, Adis Portillo of Venezuala is the headliner for the Padres, standing at 6'3" and throwing 92 at 16, is highly coveted and now a part of the Padres organization for $2.2 million.

Luis Domoromo, also from Venezuala, considered to be a five tool outfielder, Elvin Tavaraz, a pitcher from Dominican Republic, inflielder/outfielder Corey Adamason from Australia and shortstop Alvaro Aristy from Dominican Republic also signed with the Padres today.

According to ESPN.com, Portillo was rated the third-best Latino prospect. Domoromo ranked fifth on the list, Aristy sixth and Tavarez ranked 10th.

The Padres organization has been taking a lot of heat on its farm system, but it seems they are planning on getting a lot of support internationally. After spending over $8 million on a facility in Dominican Republic, they are now going out and signing the players to fill it up. When Tony Muser visit the clubhouse he said it was the nicest he has ever seen.

The average investment per ballclub on International players is around $1.8 million, so the Padres are playing this game like one of the big boys. I hope that most Padres fans become aware of this and realize that the Padres are investing their money to make the club's future better than its past.

For more info on each of the players, check out the article from mlb.

Just Play Better

2008-06-27T08:43:00.000-07:00

Now that we are half way through the season with 48 losses in 80 games, it is time to start thinking about the second half. Should we start throwing away our expensive short term pieces for younger potential (not like we have a lot of expensive pieces)? Things look pretty grim at this point, but even though we are 16 games under .500, we are still only 8.5 games back, a testament to how wonderful it is to play in the NL West.

Scott and BR tend to think there is only one way to look at the second half and spawned the perfect slogan for the second half of 2008: "Just Play Better." I couldn't agree more. I don't care how KT and John Moores look at the remainder of the season, as long as they keep us interested. Scoring runs would be great, winning would be better. Jake is back, and of course we lose 3-1 in his last start because we can't get wins for pitchers that give up 3 runs or less in an outing.

I don't think it is time to give up, not because I think we will come back and win the division, but because we do have a great pitching staff and as we have talked about before, all we need is for the bats to get hot for a bit. Last time that happened, we ran off 7 wins in 8 games. Then interleague play started and the far superior league has dominated to the tune of 10 wins in 12 games.

The other reason I don't think we should give up is because we don't have any huge salary guys that we need to get rid of. Sure, Maddux has a large salary and Wolf could could bring in some young guys and get rid of some salary, but it just doesn't seem worth it. You aren't going to field much for them being free agents next year, and I personally would like to have both on the team again next year. This franchise is not terrible, we are only acting like it is. The Padres easily have one of the best starting rotations, and they are just a few pieces away from fielding a winning team.

A big bat or two and a stronger bullpen (something KT has never struggling in building), and this team really could compete. I don't know if Advanced Scouting is a piece of that puzzle, but Phil Nevin and Darren Smith sure seem to think so.

What did everyone think of Darren Smith's on air debate with Sandy Alderson? If you haven't heard it yet, you absolutely need to.

Good Start for Henn

2008-05-13T07:24:00.000-07:00

I recently came accross a nice article about how terrible the Milwaukee Brewers' organization has been with examples by year. Well, in 2003:

Glendon Rusch starts 19 games. He wins once. Once. Let us repeat that: One win in 19 starts. One.

So I have decided this is actually a positive for the Padres. Sure, they gave Rusch another shot in the bullpen, but at least they didn't give him 19 starts. He was a bum, we all new it, so we went out and got Sean Henn to take his place. Henn got the call last night in a game already out of site for this offense (7-1) and proceeded to walk 3 give up 3 hits and 5 earned runs. Not ideal, but we won't judge on first apearances.

On a bright note, Gerut hit is first home run of the year (and as a Padre), in a 2 for 3 showing with 2 walks as well.

I am a little worried about Wolf after his 4th poor outing in his last 5 starts. The Pads actually led this one for a few minutes at 2-1 in the middle of the 5th, before things fell apart for Wolf and the cubs scored 6 in the bottom of the inning.

I enjoyed the two game winning streak, though, and it is still early May, so lets not mail it in yet. It would be nice if the Pads cared more about winning then having to pay Headley, but what can you do?

I will leave you with another quote from the Woe is the Brewer s article:

1990: The Brewers do stick to their guns. Brock is still playing first base even though he hits just .248 with seven home runs in 367 at-bats. Sheffield moves to third base and later accuses the organization of racism by choosing to play Bill Spiers at shortstop over him. He would later say, "The Brewers brought out the hate in me. I was a crazy man. … I hated everything about the place. If the official scorer gave me an error, I didn't think was an error, I'd say, 'OK, here's a real error,' and I'd throw the next ball into the stands on purpose."

Is This The End of The Line for Jim Edmonds?

2008-05-06T07:41:00.000-07:00

After what Jim Edmonds called the "worst April" of his career, we may be seeing the last of him in a Padres uniform...or any for that matter. He worked hard in the offseason to come back healthy and energized for another run, but couldn't even make it through Spring Training. That setback could end up costing him the season.

No one can say what would have happened had he been healthy all Spring Training, but you have to think he would have a higher average then .153 at this point and more than 3 extra base hits and 6 RBI.

On the Scott and BR show this morning, Kevin Towers told us that the Padres are going to be making some "moves" within the next few days, but that they would probably wait until after the Atlanta trip. He said that this is something they would rather do in person because this is a difficult situation and "could involve veteran
players." Sounds a lot like Jimmy.

He also said in reference to Edmonds that he has clearly "lost a step in the outfield," and I think we can assume that his hitting isn't pulling the wait.
KT was asked about Headley and he said he wasn't sure when he would come up, but when he did he would be playing every day. It sounds like things have been going well in the outfield even if his bat started out a little slow, but he said that "we know he will hit the ball, he is down there to play every day in the outfield."

Should we expect to see more of this
and less of the top photo?

I would say this move won't come yet, but probably won't be too far away.

Then we switched to Jody Gerut who Towers called "the hottest hitter we have right now," which seems like the obvious replacement for Edmonds, who I am sure would rather be cut then go to AAA. 14 year veterans don't get sent down to the minors.

As of yesterday, Gerut was hitting .326 with 8 doubles, 2 triples, 5 home runs, 21 runs, 16 RBI and 3 stolen bases. Sound like something we could use?

Towers also mentioned that Estes threw 7 solid innings and his fastball is up to speed. So we should expect to have him in the rotation within the next few weeks. I would guess that Germano will make his way to the bullpen and Ledezma may get a shot if Estes isn't quite ready.

There is still the possibility that Edmonds will stay with the team and Justin Huber or Paul McAnulty will go down, but it seems from KT's point of view like Edmonds is at the end of the line.

Padres Aren't Done Yet

2008-05-05T20:11:00.000-07:00

Things look pretty bleak, and I can't say that I have avoided the negativity (see last post), but the season is far from wrapped up. Thought the Pads sit dead last in almost every statistic, they still have one of the best rotations in the league. Jake Peavy is one of the top 5 pitchers in the league and he has Chris Young, Greg Maddux and Randy Wolf all pitching great behind him. Sean Estes looks like he could be coming back healthy and strong and you can't discount the fact that he could be fresh from two years off and ready to go. We aren't asking him to lead the rotation, we are asking him to be a number 5.

The Padres are already 9 games out of first place and 8 games below .500, but with the pitching staff that we have, if the bats get hot for a couple of weeks we could easily run off a huge streak. As cold as the bats were in April, they could get hot for a while and then just do ok for the another month and this team could be right back in the thick of things.

When a team has as good a pitching staff from top to bottom as the Padres do, they will never be out of it...at least not this early. If we turn those 2-1 losses into 4-2 wins (which isn't asking for much from the hitters) things could be sunny once again in San Diego.

"The Harder You Try, The Worse You Get"

2008-05-03T10:54:00.000-07:00

Adrian Gonzales pretty much summed up April for the Padres. Bud Black says that a hot team usually has five, six or seven guys swinging the bat well; a normal team has three or four guys swinging well, and the Padres have one or two guys swinging the bat well on any given night. One or two might even be a stretch.

The Padres have scored 3 runs or less in 18 of their 30 games, and 2 or less in 15 of those. 3 times they have been shutout and 9 times they have been held to one run or less. They haven't done this without notice, currently sitting in last place for runs, batting average, on base percentage and slugging percentage. They sit at 8 games under .500 and have the worst record in major league baseball.

They have lost 11 of their last 14 games and even when Jake or CY are pitching they are big under dogs, because they are still losing.

It is very rare when the Padres get coverage on ESPN, so I tend to get excited to see a story on the front page. Well its been a while, but they are back there with this story. I guess it is rock bottom when you are called "the Kansas City Royals of the National League." I guess Jim Edmonds wasn't exactly the big bat we needed in the off-season.

Peavy Drowns His Sorrows with Jager

2008-04-28T13:57:00.000-07:00

Jake Peavy got his first loss of the year yesterday after giving up only 2 runs over 7 innings. I don't know what more you can expect from your starter, but the Padres need more. They didn't even manage to get him a win in his 8 innings of shutout ball in the infamous 22 inning game where the Pads managed only 1 run.

Though Jake Peavy is on pace for a second straight CY Young, he may not get there unless he can get some run support. It looks like things may be getting to him as he has started drinking away the losses that keep mounting.

Ok, this isn't really after the game, but if I was him I would be doing this after just about every start. Only two teams in all of baseball have a worse record, and only the Giants in the NL are even close to the Padres in runs scored (both tied at 84).

Coed Magazine found and posted these pictures, so thanks to them...maybe someone out there knows where they are from.

Maybe the rest of the team needs to relax with some Jager and Jake to have his success rub off on them. Not only does Jake lead all Padre starters in ERA, but he is second in batting average (.308) behind fellow starter Justin Germano (.400-Adrian leads the rest of the team at .280) Maybe we should send a few cases of Jager to the clubhouse.

A drunk Jake Peavy is probably better than most guys sober.

Joe Thatcher: Bad Start or Bad Trade?

2008-04-23T08:13:00.000-07:00

This was a common image last night
Just about 1/8 of the way through the season and the Padres are sitting in third place, 3 games under .500 and 6.5 games out of first. The slow start isn't helped by the Diamondbacks tear through the first 20 games, picking up 15 wins along the way.

Meanwhile, the Padres bullpen has been failing to live up to expectations. The bullpen ERA for the Pads this year is 5.54, a far cry from previous years. Leading the charge for bad innings is Joe Thatcher. In 9.2 innings he has given up 15 hits, 5 BB, and 11 runs, resulting in a whopping 10.24 ERA.

Following last years trade of the Padres setup man, and the guy everyone expected to follow up as the closer when/if Trevor ever hung up his cleats, most Padre fans couldn't believe that we had gotten so little for a guy that had been a pretty steady pitcher. Joe Thatcher was the closest of the three minor leaguers to making the big show, along with Steve Garrison and Wil Inman.

Then Thatcher came out and threw some great innings at the end of the year and looked like another diamond in the rough that Kevin Towers had dug up. Maybe these other two guys would bolster our lineup some day too. KT has built so many amazing bullpens through no less than amazing scouting.

This one doesn't look to be shaping up too well. My question for you, is this: Was this a bad trade or is Thatcher just having a slow start?

After giving up 5 runs in his first 2 innings of work on the year, he settled down and allowed only 1 run in his next 6. That is what most of us expected from him. After last night, his second bad outing a row, he is starting to look less like a slow starter and more like an inconsistent reliever.

The last two outings, at least, were against very hot teams. The Dbacks and Astros have both been hitting the ball well.

Last year he finished his first stint in the majors with a 1.29 ERA in 22 outings. He inherited 20 runners and allowed a meager 4 to score. He held opponents to a .167 average and allowed only one HR in 21 innings. This means he has a high ceiling and it is far from time to give up on him, but lets hope hitters haven't figured him out and that his best is yet to come.

Longoria Signs with Rays For ever

2008-04-18T16:09:00.001-07:00

I feel like I am taking crazy pills or something. Did the not so devil Rays just sign a rookie, three weeks into the season to a 9 year contract? How do you do that? This guy hasn't played a full month in a season and already he has a better contract then half the guys in the league.

Cole Hamels doesn't have a long term deal yet, and the guy who I can't help but to call Eva Longoria already does.

I don't get it. Hopefully the Rays' fans do.

What does everyone else think about this?

6 Hours, 17 Minutes, 1 Loss

2008-04-18T08:03:00.000-07:00

The Rockies seem to have a knack for ripping out our hearts and rubbing dirt all over them. At least Willy Taveras touched home plate.

For the Padres, the story was the same, leaving men on base. The Pads had a player reach base in 8 of the 9 innings between the 9th and 17th, but scored only one run. In the 14th, when they did score that run, the had the bases loaded with one out and 90 feet from the win. Of course McAnulty couldn't get it done. Then again Mac hit a double to lead off the 13th, and nobody could get him in.

I didn't see that inning, anyone know why he couldn't score from second on Wolf's single, I mean aside from being fat?

Aside from this being another very exciting game with the Rockies, the Padres managed to use up 7 pitchers in loss, and this could have been much worse. Guys like Wil Ledezma and Glendon Rusch, who we don't depend on to pitch on a daily basis, ate up 8 innings, saving our starters' arms as well as the daily bullpen guys. Bell and Thatcher threw two, but that isn't out of the ordinary for those guys, who should be able to pitch in a day or two.

Of course it was just 1 loss in a 162 game season, and the Pads are still in second place. The Dbacks will come back down to reality some day, and Jake looked incredible again. We are sitting at 8-8 and the team has not hit a home run in 94 innings. I dont know what the record is there, but that sounds pretty bad to me.

Tejada Caught Lying...Again

2008-04-17T13:38:00.001-07:00

Miguel Tejada has had a tough go of it since the Mitchell Report tried to prove that he took steroids to gain an edge. I guess having that come from behind made him feel guilty about his past and helped him to admit another lie.

Tejada announced that he is actually 33, and not 31 as his records show. I'm a poor kid that wanted to sign," Tejada told the Houston Chronicle about how he followed a coach's advice in shaving two years off his age. "I'm feeling free now. It's something that I had in my mind."

Many players have been known to lie about their age when coming from the Dominican Republic, so this comes as no surprise, other than the fact that Tejada was able to convey his point in English.

Maybe this will convince more Dominicans to be honest, or maybe it will convince more that they can lie about their age to get in and apologize later. I can hardly blame Tejada for doing so as a 19 year old coming from his background, so I guess we should commend him on coming clean. It only took 14 years too!

This makes an even stronger case for the other Miguel who says he is only 25.

Is It Too Early To Join The Wolf Pack

2008-04-17T09:53:00.000-07:00

After a somewhat rough Spring Training I think most of us were still hopeful that Randy Wolf would find his form of a few years ago, before he started having shoulder problems. Everyone in the League knows that he was at least a very capable pitcher at one time, but his signing this year after his second straight surgery was a bit of a gamble.

I was happy to get one of his starts in Spring Training and enjoyed watching a pitcher that doesn't have anything exactly dominant, but knows how to dictate a game. He joined the right staff, in getting to work with one of the best pitchers of all time at squeezing as much success as possible out of the least amount of raw talent.

I didn't want to jump out with an article on the guy after just a start or two, and three isn't much better, but after his show on Tuesday, it was too much to resist. His first two starts were very similiar, giving up 4 hits, 1 run, 2 BB and 5 Ks, then 5 hits, 2 runs, 1 BB and 4 Ks but getting no run support. A 2.25 ERA with 9 Ks to 3 BBs and an 0-0 record is a good start and a good indicator that he is feeling good.

That is really all we can hope for is that he is feeling good, because we know he can get guys out. Tues, he showed what he can do when he is feeling really good, and that was 7 innings with 1 hit, no runs and 9 Ks. He gave out the free pass 4 times, which means he wasn't at his best, and if you ask me, that is a good thing. I look forward to seeing him when he is at his best.

Randy said it best when he said "it was fun to be out there, competing again and being healthy." That's all we can ask for. As for his new home with the Padres, it sounds like he is just as happy to be here as we are to have him here.

"The situation I'm in here, I'm more than happy here. The teammates I have, the city and everything. ...... It's been a great choice. Looking back on it now, I couldn't be happier," said Wolf, who is fourth in the Padres rotation, and pitching like the ace a lot of teams wish they could have.

Lets hope I didn't jump the gun, and this is just the beginning of a great thing.

Thoughts on Last Nights Game

2008-04-09T09:48:00.000-07:00

- Josh Bard had some great at bats last night. He showed great patience against Lincecum extending every at bat and drawing a walk, and then drew a walk in the 9th to get on base for the tying score.

- The Pads once again did a great job of getting on base and a terrible job of scoring runs. 13 hits and 2 walks and a grand total of 2 runs...that is terrible.

- Speaking of great at bats, Tony Clark got down right away in a 0-2 hole in the ninth, and he showed great patience getting it to 3-2 and ripped a double (or I guess single in the box score) to set up the tie.

- Hairston got screwed not only on the strike call, but on getting tossed. Would have been nice to have our late inning hero in an extra inning game.

- I feel like the Pads are getting a lot of Sac Flys, which is great. I recall last year that Carlos Lee was on pace to crush the record for sac flys in a year and that the number was suprising the small. I wonder where the Pads stand as far as their total thus far and how good that number really is...more to come on that later.

Down in The Farm

2008-04-08T12:24:00.000-07:00

Minor league Baseball has begun..some of the top pitching performances so far.

Josh Geer( no surprise) 7 IP- 1ER-1BB-4 K's
Wade Leblanc in his AAA debut only went 6 Innings allowing 1 run and 1 BB with uhh11 K's

Drew Miller debuted in High A with 4 shutout innings with 2 K's

But on a down note- Mat Latos has not yet been assigned to Fort Wayne or to a team due to maturity "issues"

EDIT: Not Padres related, but if you have a chance, try and catch a USD baseball game this seasonin which he starts. --> Brian Matusz. He's likely to go #1-3 in this year's draft..dude's filthy.

EDIT 2.0- Cesar Carrillo is back from injury, still trying to get a feel for his changeup but has been throwing his fastball in the mid 80's trying to regain his command.

Read more about LeBlanc at Gaslampball.com

Steroids: What's Your Excuse?

2008-04-08T11:16:00.000-07:00

During a mid day email discussion, a few friends and I got to thinking about how Jason Giambi took a lot of heat a couple of years back when he admitted to using steroids, but in hindsight he looks like the smart classy guy with all of the recent news on steroid use.

So what are the other guys' excuses when they get hit with it instead of admitting their guilt like Giambi?

So here you go:

Bonds’ defense “why does everyone hate me? Is this because im black? Blame the media”

Clemens’ defense “but my wife was doing it”

Rafael Palmeiro’s defense “tejada said it was a vitamin”

Tejada’s defense “me no understando”

Mike Cameron’s defense “I could’ve sworn when I read the bottle, it said ‘supplement’.” Stay in school kids, reading is fun!

Ed Hochuli’s Defense “I was not aware they started testing NFL officials”

Greg Maddux’s defense “look at me, I have a wine-gut. Im fat! You think im on steroids?” ***definitely not a steroid user.

Giles defense "I'm a leadoff hitter now"

M. Giles Defense "I'm too short and my chin was never as big as my brothers"

T Gwynn's Defense "Does KFC test their chicken?"

Lenny Dykstra "I thought it was chew"

Rosey Odonnell "I'm actually a man"

Benito Santiago "Its not illegal in Puerto Rico.......what? It's a US territory?........well i can still throw you out from my knees"

Chuck Knoblach’s excuse: “I couldn’t even throw it from second to first any more.”

Gregg Zaun: “Even Matt Wheatland was striking me out.”

David Justice: “At least I still made the People Magazine’s 50 most Beautiful people…you don’t see Sammy Sosa on that shit”

Eric Gagne’s defense “I took steroids and im still gay”

Rick Ankiel’s defense “I used to be a pitcher and now im a power hitter?!?! Oh screw it, ‘im Rick James Bitch!’”

Jose Canseco’s defense “Steriods is my middle name”

Bill clinton’s defense “I did not have performance enhancing relations with that drug, Viagra”

Allen Iverson’s defense “Are we talking about steroids? Steriods? Are we talking about a game or steroids?”

Don’t hate me for this one… but I think it’s the best so far…

Ken Caminiti’s defense “they said this stuff was better than coke, fuckin liars”

Got anything else?

Thanks to The Baseball Almanac for the Cartoon.

Maddux Model of Consistency in Giants Home Opener

2008-04-07T22:35:00.000-07:00

Greg Maddux had a rough start to the Padres first road game of the year, giving up a run on two walks and two hits before heading back to his seat in the dugout. The difference between Maddux and many other Major League pitchers is that he didn't get angry and in turn get worse.

Fortunately the one run was still less than Matt Cain allowed in his first and Maddux came back out in the second with his one run lead and cruised for the rest of the game. He retired 19 of the last 20 batters he faced, and finished with a 3 hits, 2 walks, 5 Ks in 7 innings.

Of course today, he got a little help from the bats as well. The Pads scored 8 runs on 13 hits for their highest output of the year. After scoring only 7 total runs in the three game series vs the Dodgers, they got much needed support from the plate.

Adrian Gonzales led the Friars going 4 for 5 with 2 RBI and 4 runs scored, making him a part of 6 of the 8 runs, including the two run homer that put the Pads ahead from the start in the first. Khalil Greene also joined the fun, getting two hits in his three at bats, one of which was a triple to deep right field in the 7th. Khalil also knocked in 3 runs between the triple and two sac flys.

Tonight Randy Wolf makes his second start as a Padre against second year starter Tom Lincecum. Wolf had a great first start at Petco going 6 with 1 run and a no decision. Lincecum got a win in hist first start and also gave up only one run, but let a lot of runners on base that failed to score. He only went 4 innings and gave up 4 hits and 4 walks before leaving in the Giants one and only victory of the year.

Hopefully the Padres won't let the same bug catch them and they can get those base runners home. They should be working the same mentality as yesterday described by Adrian Gonzalez. "We wanted to work the count deep so we could get him out of the game early," so that they can get to that Giants bullpen.

Did Peavy Cheat on Saturday Night?

2008-04-06T10:56:00.000-07:00

There has been a buzz about Jake Peavy using Pine Tar or some other substance on the ball Saturday night during his complete game dominance of the LA Dodgers. The picture below shows that he did have dirty fingers, but that is about it. The chances of it being pine tar or just dirt, sweat and rosin are probably about equal, and to me, it doesn't matter which.

Joe Torre did not want to broach the subject after the game saying he didn't “want to make excuses for not winning. I didn’t suspect anything (Saturday). It was the first time I’ve seen him pitch.” The Frequent Friar points out that not only has Torre seen Peavy pitch, but his Yankees saw Peavy throw 7 innings and giving up only 1 run on three hits in his Major League Debut.

First of all, this was only the first week of the season, and due to this picture surfacing, they will be paying close attention to his hands in future games, meaning it will not be an issue in the future. So if people want to complain about the Dodgers getting screwed out of one win in April, thats fine. Secondly, it is not like Jake has been struggling and needed a little help to get back on his game.

The man won the CY Young last year in what was hardly a race for the award, and in his first start of the year he went 7 innings giving up only three hits and 0 runs. Sure, you can argue he could have cheated in that game too, but what has this guy ever done to make people think he would be a cheater?

This reminds me of the Ladanian Tomlinson hysteria when he was unable to play in the AFC Championship game. Everyone doubted the seriousness of his injury and the seriousness of his desire to play and win. The problem is that he has made a whole career of playing hard, fast and every week. Why don't people look at a person's character in the past when things like this come up?

If you look back at Jake's career thus far, just like Tomlinson's, there is nothing there to lead you to believe that he is the kind of guy that cheats. So why can't we all just give him the benefit of the doubt and move on. He won't be able to do it now that he will be under the spotlight, so lets let his pitching do the talking for the rest of the year, as he works towards a second straight CY Young.

The story was first broken by The Big Lead.

Hoffman Bounces Back and Hairston Does It Yet Again

2008-04-04T12:27:00.000-07:00

Randy Wolf started his first game as a Padre and he looked good, all be it against a not so potent Astros lineup. Wolf threw a perfect first and got a little help from a Kevin Kouzmanoff two run blast in the bottom of the first. He left in the 7th after striking out 5 and handing over a 2-1 lead to the bullpen.

For the second day in a row, the bullpen gave up a run to tie the game, before Hairston brought out his late game heroics that is quickly becoming accustom to. With one out in the bottom of the 7th in a tie game, Hairston crushed a triple to right center and was brought in by a Tadahito single in the next at bat.

The bullpen only needed one more. Heath Bell gave up a two out double, then shut down the 8th, and Hoffman came in and showed no ill effects from the previous night. He induced three harmless groundballs and went into the weekend as a winner.

Hairston finished 3 for 3 in Brian Giles' leadoff spot with two runs scored and Kooz went 2 for 4 with two RBI and a run scored.

The Padres stay at home for their first NL West games of the year with Dodgers who are just a half a game back of MY first place Padres.

Justin Germano will start the first game of the series vs Hiroki Korudo. The first start of 2008 for both players, and the first in MLB for Korudo.

Where Does Hoffman's 64th Blown Save Put Him

2008-04-03T14:24:00.000-07:00

Trevor Hoffman blew a save for the 64th time last night, and I think most of us were very dissapointed. Most of us have been spoiled for a long time by the most prolific closer since the position became a mainstay. If we got to the ninth with a lead, we were going to win. Have things changed? I doubt it, but it probably isn't going to come quit as easy as it used to.

So now that Trevor has one save and one blown save in 2008, how does he rank with the other top closers of all time? That's a great question, right at the top. Goose Gossage, Rollie Fingers, Jeff Reardon, Lee Smith and Bruce Sutter all have not only more blown saves than the career leader, but almost twice as many. Lee Smith who is the second all time saves leader blew 103 saves.

The only player close to Hoffman in saves vs blown saves is, of course, Mariano Rivera who has 59 blown saves to his 444 saves. We won't get into the who is better discussion today with these two guys, we will come back to that one another day, but that puts him at 88.3%. Hoffy sits at a comfortable 89.1%.

Hoffman Blows First Save of 2008

2008-04-02T22:15:00.000-07:00

I had the headline and first paragraph all cued up for tonight's post game article, and it appears that I jumped the gun. It appears that Hoffman is not the sure thing that I have grown up with. Let's hope I am wrong and this is just the rare blown save. I mean the guy saved over 40 games again last year prior to his playoff push collapse, so there is no reason to start doubting him, but it is so easy to go down that path.

It may just be me, but with two outs and nobody on, it looked like Jose Cruz jr was looking for a fastball and just hoping to get a piece of a change up if that was what he got. Hoffy threw two change-ups in the zone, one Cruz whiffed badly, and one he just got a piece of. Why then, would he throw him anything but a change up. Make the guy earn it.

Well Cruz got his fastball and poked a single, one of three straight ground ball singles that brought in the tying run. At that point, it was all over.

Tonight was the opposite of the last two nights, as the bats got it done and the pitching didn't. Brian Giles went 3 for 4 with 3 RBI, including a great sac fly in the bottom of the 8th to take back the lead we had lost in the top of the inning.

Adrian Gonzalez got his first dinger and Hairston got his second in two nights. Justin Huber joined the party tonight making a nice catch to close out the 7th, but it wasn't quite enough.

The Astros got most of it done with uncatchable balls. Berkman, Lee, Blum (that bastard) and Wigginton all went yard, and though watching Blum hit a jack for the wrong team hurt, none of them hurt quite like the ball Berkman drove over the centerfield wall to put down the Pads for good.

On the brighter side of things, this is only the third of 162 games and the Padres get another shot at the Astros tomorrow to win the first of many series' in 2008. You can't win them all, but if win every series we will be in good shape.

Hairston The Hero...Again

2008-04-01T21:58:00.000-07:00

Well, it looks like Scott Hairston is going to start where he left off last year, as the Padres go to guy. There was a lot made of the competition for the job in left (especially by me personally), but when it came down to it, the job was Hairston's to lose and he kept it. Then he came out and hit a two run homer tonight in the second game of the year, which stood as the only two runs, and all they needed, for the Pads.

Chris Young could argue he was the hero as well, but he would have to share that award with the bullpen who pitched another 3.1 shutout innings. CY kept the Astros off the scoreboard, but he got away with 10 baserunners, 5 with a free pass.

Hairston had a base running blunder that could have brought in an extra run in the 8th when he over ran the bag at third, thinking Paul McAnulty was out at first, and was tagged out to end the inning. In the end, the run wouldn't have mattered as Hoffy came in and shut things down, and did so in proper form. 1 hit (which should have been the third out) and two strikeouts include complete domination of Lance Berkman to tie up win number 2 for MY first place Padres.

Peavy and Oswalt Injured Following Opening Day Game

2008-04-01T10:44:00.001-07:00

It was reported that Roy Oswalt would be staying with Jake Peavy during the Padres vs Astros Opening week series, and what sounded like a harmless idea turned ugly after the Padres 4-0 win, when the two got drunk and ended up fighting at Peavy's home.

Apparently upon returning from the game in which Jake Peavy outpitched (and outhit) Roy Oswalt, the two decided to throw back a few drinks. Peavy's wife reported that it started out with Jake giving Roy a hard time over getting two RBI's off of the Astros pitcher but took a turn for the worse.

"Jake was giving Roy a little bit of a hard time for losing, and Roy seemed a little upset. After about an hour, Roy brought it up again and this time he was much more angry."

The argument eventually turned into a short but dangerous fight when Oswalt started swinging at Peavy. Both ended up with injured hands, but Peavy seems to have suffered the worst when he heard a crack in his wrist upon landing a bunch to the back of Oswalt's head.

There is no news yet as to the seriousness of each injury, but due to Peavy's history throughout high school of wrist injuries, things look disappointing for a repeat of his Cy Young.

More news to come shortly.

Oh yeah, and none of that is true...April Fools...hope it gave you a short scare only.