So as if the Ryan Braun Home Runs weren't bad enough, now Dick Enberg is "hoping to see Milwaukee get a few baserunners, so we can see Braun again" No Dick. No. No true Padres fan wants to see this. None of them. We'd prefer to see the ball go somewhere in his face. Or, like most of baseball, prefer to see his cheating ass serving a 50 game suspension. Or more.
I'm disappointed. It had seem Enberg was making progress, coming around to actually showing distaste for the Dodgers and getting a bit excited for the Padres win. I have defended him often the last month. I can't defend that. Do us a favor Dick. Retire. Let Andy Masur take over from here. Maybe you and Ryan go take a few (say, 50?) games off together on some romantic getaway. I don't care. Just get it way from here.
Monday, April 30, 2012
Bitter
All I can do now is just laugh at the absurdity of this game, and the utter failure on just about every front from the Padres so far this season. Ryan Braun, at the time of this writing (game still in progress) has hit 3 HR, 2 of them among the farthest seen at Petco at night. Can't tell me he's clean. No Way. Not with THOSE shots. Stupid FedEx.
Bitter Post is Bitter.
Bitter Post is Bitter.
Thursday, April 26, 2012
Watching is Fun- So is Winning!
The biggest perk of my new job is getting to be home at nights (well most of them, anyway) for Padres games. Tonight was my first game getting to watch from first pitch to last this season. I also had the chance Sunday, but slept to late and missed the first inning. But same result- WIN. Clearly, I must watch the games more often.
It looked like typical 2012 Padres again today, with a strong pitching performance seemingly go to waste. Edinson Volquez pitched 7 innings, and had 7 Strikeouts, just 1 walk, 3 Hits, with one bad pitch resulting in a Jason Werth HR that landed near Kaity and Colleen. Through the first 7 innings, the Padres stranded 10 runners, including an awful stranding of runners on second and third with no outs in the 4th inning after a Hundley single and Alonso's second double of the night. His first double, incidentally, also landed near Kaity and Colleen. Hudson followed the double with a strike out, before Maybin was walked intentionally to face auto-out Bootlett ...er...Bartlett, and then Volquez grounded out to end the innning. I've ranted before about the importance of scoring when you have no outs and a runner on third. It is simply unacceptable not to score in that situation. Period. Hudson had a triple in his next at bat. As great as that is, it stings that he struck out when it mattered most.
Fortunately, the Padres didn't give up. They got runners on base with 1 out in the bottom of the 8th, when Pinch Hitter Mark Kotsay ripped a double in the right-centerfield gap, scoring 2 runs, changing the mood at Petco Park. I've seen a great deal of dislike for Kotsay among Padres fans. Yes, he's not a good player anymore, and is aging, but he's a threat off the bench. It might be a small sample, and perhaps it will be his only good thing he does this year, but I'm glad to have him aboard. Especially tonight.
Next up for the Padres is a three game set in San Francisco. Cory Luebke faces Eric Hacker, making his first start for the gints. Also going to San Francisco is Avenging Jack Murphy, and the traveling Jersey for the Sisterhood of the Traveling Jersey. In other SotTJ news, GLB user "IPutTheYinTony" logged his journey to the latrine.
It looked like typical 2012 Padres again today, with a strong pitching performance seemingly go to waste. Edinson Volquez pitched 7 innings, and had 7 Strikeouts, just 1 walk, 3 Hits, with one bad pitch resulting in a Jason Werth HR that landed near Kaity and Colleen. Through the first 7 innings, the Padres stranded 10 runners, including an awful stranding of runners on second and third with no outs in the 4th inning after a Hundley single and Alonso's second double of the night. His first double, incidentally, also landed near Kaity and Colleen. Hudson followed the double with a strike out, before Maybin was walked intentionally to face auto-out Bootlett ...er...Bartlett, and then Volquez grounded out to end the innning. I've ranted before about the importance of scoring when you have no outs and a runner on third. It is simply unacceptable not to score in that situation. Period. Hudson had a triple in his next at bat. As great as that is, it stings that he struck out when it mattered most.
Fortunately, the Padres didn't give up. They got runners on base with 1 out in the bottom of the 8th, when Pinch Hitter Mark Kotsay ripped a double in the right-centerfield gap, scoring 2 runs, changing the mood at Petco Park. I've seen a great deal of dislike for Kotsay among Padres fans. Yes, he's not a good player anymore, and is aging, but he's a threat off the bench. It might be a small sample, and perhaps it will be his only good thing he does this year, but I'm glad to have him aboard. Especially tonight.
Next up for the Padres is a three game set in San Francisco. Cory Luebke faces Eric Hacker, making his first start for the gints. Also going to San Francisco is Avenging Jack Murphy, and the traveling Jersey for the Sisterhood of the Traveling Jersey. In other SotTJ news, GLB user "IPutTheYinTony" logged his journey to the latrine.
Changes
I haven't written in awhile, and this will also be a short post. My running diary of the season is a short post to say we've lost 3-1, and 7-2 in the first two games against a Washington Nationals team that looks like it could be VERY good, facing two of the best young pitchers in the game in Gio Gonzales and Jordan Zimmerman. Yes, our hitters were shut down, and looked downright craptacular yet again, and our defense is terrible. Our worst offenders seem to be Jason Bartlett and Will Venable. At least Venable is partially redeeming himself at the plate. Bartlett, has been nothing short of useless this year. At least Hudson is on a hitting streak, going 9 for his last 29 and homering today, while playing solid defense. Bartlett has committed several errors, and has done nothing at the plate as of late. He needs to get it together, or get going. Our bullpen had been pretty decent this year, holding the NL's lowest ERA. However, they gave up 5 Runs today, taking us completely out of the game. Joe Wieland had another solid start, going 6, allowing 2 Runs with 4 Ks and 3BBs (one of them Intentional) I hear there were some long fly balls, so Petco may have saved him a bit. Still want to move those fences in?
Bud Black came out today in favor of bringing in the fences, saying it eats at the players. I'm not sure the fences are the answer to better offense. In fact, I'm pretty certain that even if or after the fences come in, the offense will be just as bad, or possibly worse, as it will supress doubles and triples while adding just a marginal amount of homeruns. The biggest problem is the environment- Or so I've seen a few "experts" say. We shall see. With the talk about it, I would probably be surprised if they AREN'T moved before 2013.
Speaking of Changes, I've had a key one on the personal front. Starting Monday (officialy), I will be the Recreation Program Coordinator for Youth Instructional programs with the City of Yuma Parks and Recreation division. It comes with a significant pay increase, and will give me a great chance to expand horizons, and actually get to be home most evenings, and start SEEING some Padres games. It's been exciting for me and has been a anchored buoy in a storm of negativity. The Padres season looks like it could be long and will certainly test the faith. That will make the wins that much sweeter, and I'm not giving up that they can turn this around and approach respectability.
Bud Black came out today in favor of bringing in the fences, saying it eats at the players. I'm not sure the fences are the answer to better offense. In fact, I'm pretty certain that even if or after the fences come in, the offense will be just as bad, or possibly worse, as it will supress doubles and triples while adding just a marginal amount of homeruns. The biggest problem is the environment- Or so I've seen a few "experts" say. We shall see. With the talk about it, I would probably be surprised if they AREN'T moved before 2013.
Speaking of Changes, I've had a key one on the personal front. Starting Monday (officialy), I will be the Recreation Program Coordinator for Youth Instructional programs with the City of Yuma Parks and Recreation division. It comes with a significant pay increase, and will give me a great chance to expand horizons, and actually get to be home most evenings, and start SEEING some Padres games. It's been exciting for me and has been a anchored buoy in a storm of negativity. The Padres season looks like it could be long and will certainly test the faith. That will make the wins that much sweeter, and I'm not giving up that they can turn this around and approach respectability.
Monday, April 23, 2012
Not talking about off days.
I just got home from working, and as has become custom logged on to blogger and got ready to "wrute" It was an off day for the Padres (literally, they were off. Not figuratively saying they were off because they committed 3 errors and struck out 13 times or something) and as I looked on the sidebar to see what other blogs had blogged about, nearly all of them had made reference to being a day off. So guess what. I'm not going to talk about it being an off day. Nope. Not at all.
Okay, maybe a little. Truth is, I work evenings during most games, and I like to follow on my At-Bat app, and talk with fellow fans on twitter. It helps the night go quicker, even on days the Padres really are laying an egg. It was tonight that really drove home the point harder why I like following baseball so much; the camaraderie. Talking or tweeting with other fans, or posting on GLB's open threads, are always fun. Tonight, so many that I tweet with weren't as active or were talking about things I had little to know knowledge and/or interest in. Made for a long evening, with a couple notable exceptions.
Joe, aka TheThinGwyn, and author of friarsoncardboard, tweeted about Eric Show. It was the second time in a week I had thought about Show. When the Padres lost to Jamie Moyer, I was saying how it wasn't a big deal, as he will likely get more wins this season, and be older in doing it. Someone had reminded me it will be the win people remember because its the one in which he passed the milestone. That's when I likened it to Pete Rose, and although he ended with several more hits than Ty Cobb, people remember him getting the record breaker off of the Padres and Eric Show. TTG invited me to write about different past Padres sometime, so on one of these off days (or maybe a game day) I'm going to go through my card collection, and see what I can dig up on a Dennis Rassmussen, Bruce Hurst, or Andy Hawkins. Or someone I'm not even thinking of now.
Also tonight, Padres organist extraordinaire, B Cres, Bobby Cressey (bobbycressey.com) had discussed how he was bummed when blogs he liked to follow stopped updating. I invited him to check this one out, and in the course of discussing it, I had to admit, it's easy to start and keep going the first few days- Then Life happens, one gets busy, they hit a writing bloc, or they just feel like no one is really reading or caring. I've hit these obstacles often in just the short period I've been reading, so my challenge is to keep chugging along. So I'll try not to bum you out B Cres. Or any of you other readers that may enjoy coming here. It's not always easy. Some days I have zero motivation, and some days the words just won't come out the way I want them. And then there are Off Days.
Okay, maybe a little. Truth is, I work evenings during most games, and I like to follow on my At-Bat app, and talk with fellow fans on twitter. It helps the night go quicker, even on days the Padres really are laying an egg. It was tonight that really drove home the point harder why I like following baseball so much; the camaraderie. Talking or tweeting with other fans, or posting on GLB's open threads, are always fun. Tonight, so many that I tweet with weren't as active or were talking about things I had little to know knowledge and/or interest in. Made for a long evening, with a couple notable exceptions.
Joe, aka TheThinGwyn, and author of friarsoncardboard, tweeted about Eric Show. It was the second time in a week I had thought about Show. When the Padres lost to Jamie Moyer, I was saying how it wasn't a big deal, as he will likely get more wins this season, and be older in doing it. Someone had reminded me it will be the win people remember because its the one in which he passed the milestone. That's when I likened it to Pete Rose, and although he ended with several more hits than Ty Cobb, people remember him getting the record breaker off of the Padres and Eric Show. TTG invited me to write about different past Padres sometime, so on one of these off days (or maybe a game day) I'm going to go through my card collection, and see what I can dig up on a Dennis Rassmussen, Bruce Hurst, or Andy Hawkins. Or someone I'm not even thinking of now.
Also tonight, Padres organist extraordinaire, B Cres, Bobby Cressey (bobbycressey.com) had discussed how he was bummed when blogs he liked to follow stopped updating. I invited him to check this one out, and in the course of discussing it, I had to admit, it's easy to start and keep going the first few days- Then Life happens, one gets busy, they hit a writing bloc, or they just feel like no one is really reading or caring. I've hit these obstacles often in just the short period I've been reading, so my challenge is to keep chugging along. So I'll try not to bum you out B Cres. Or any of you other readers that may enjoy coming here. It's not always easy. Some days I have zero motivation, and some days the words just won't come out the way I want them. And then there are Off Days.
It wasn't the cleanest game, at least at the start of it, but the Padres ended up dominating the Phillies, winning 6-1, with a 2 run homer from Nick Hundley capping off the scoring. Hudson tripled, once again showing signs of life, giving credence to the idea that the DFA talks have lit a fire under him. The Padres struck out a season low two times today (1 each from Kotsay and pitcher Anthony Bass) and despite 3 errors, looked like a team poised to compete.
I've liked seeing the intensity and all around better baseball the last 2 games. It seems as if they are a different team then has played the previous 2 weeks. They have a day off Monday, followed by a 3 game set against the Nationals. I'm hoping to see more of what we've seen this weekend. The Padres have won only 5 of their first 17 games this season, but their Pythagorean theorem suggests they should have won 3-4 more games thus far. They have been in most games this year, but sloppy play and little contribution from certain areas (that means you Bartlett, Hudson) have led to early futility. Lets hope what we have seen from them this weekend is what we will see more of.
I've liked seeing the intensity and all around better baseball the last 2 games. It seems as if they are a different team then has played the previous 2 weeks. They have a day off Monday, followed by a 3 game set against the Nationals. I'm hoping to see more of what we've seen this weekend. The Padres have won only 5 of their first 17 games this season, but their Pythagorean theorem suggests they should have won 3-4 more games thus far. They have been in most games this year, but sloppy play and little contribution from certain areas (that means you Bartlett, Hudson) have led to early futility. Lets hope what we have seen from them this weekend is what we will see more of.
Saturday, April 21, 2012
You never know...
Baseball is certainly a funny game in which anything can happen. On a day when Philip Humber threw Major League Baseball's 21st Perfect Game (earlier in a season than any other Perfect Game in history) for the White Sox, the Padres were going up another hurler who had thrown a pefrecto himself in Roy Halladay. It's no debate that Halladay is one of, if not the best pitcher in the game. The Padres are one of, if not the worst offense in baseball, particularly in their home yard. Throw in the fact that the Phillies had beaten the Padres the previous 13 times at Petco Park, it seemed highly unlikely that the Padres would muster much, if any offense, and many would have assumed this another loss, especially considering our middle infield was another Hudson and Bartlett day. A funny thing happened on the way to that loss. They Won.
The Padres got on early with the help of some uncharacteristic wildness from Halladay, as he walked 3 players in a row for the first time in his career, followed by an RBI groundout from Hudson in the bottom of the 2nd inning. While some would assume this would be the last chance at striking richness, they would have assumed incorrectly, as the Padres got the bats working with a two out rally in the third with singles from Chase Headley and Nick Hundley, followed by an RBI Double from Yonder Alonso. The Padres also added 3 runs in the bottom of the ninth with surprise contributions from the middle infielders. The whole team hit, top to bottom, with the only starters not to get a hit were Kotsay, who reached on a walk, and pitcher Cory Luebke. Luebke was the star of the night, throwing 8 innings of shut out ball yielding just 2 hits and 2 walks, while striking out 5. He mixed his 2-seam and 4 seam fastballs well, with an occasional breaking pitch and a changeup that's been improving.
I cannot say enough about Luebke. He dominated tonight. He is demonstrating Ace stuff, and has been a bright spot in a season sorely missing them. THis was overall the best win of the year so far. They approached a game that 99% of baseball fans, including Padres fans, would assume the Friars would lose. I admit, I too wasn't very confident about this game. I'm not going to say this WILL be a turning point. It could be. It could be a shiny coat of wax on an otherwise junky car. I think its somewhere in the middle. The team isn't as bad as they've been playing, and they're also not as good as we would want them to be, or hoped they would be. But It's baseball. Anything really can happen at any given time. If tonight wasn't proof of that, I don't know what is. So don't despair Padres fans. There is always hope.
The Padres got on early with the help of some uncharacteristic wildness from Halladay, as he walked 3 players in a row for the first time in his career, followed by an RBI groundout from Hudson in the bottom of the 2nd inning. While some would assume this would be the last chance at striking richness, they would have assumed incorrectly, as the Padres got the bats working with a two out rally in the third with singles from Chase Headley and Nick Hundley, followed by an RBI Double from Yonder Alonso. The Padres also added 3 runs in the bottom of the ninth with surprise contributions from the middle infielders. The whole team hit, top to bottom, with the only starters not to get a hit were Kotsay, who reached on a walk, and pitcher Cory Luebke. Luebke was the star of the night, throwing 8 innings of shut out ball yielding just 2 hits and 2 walks, while striking out 5. He mixed his 2-seam and 4 seam fastballs well, with an occasional breaking pitch and a changeup that's been improving.
I cannot say enough about Luebke. He dominated tonight. He is demonstrating Ace stuff, and has been a bright spot in a season sorely missing them. THis was overall the best win of the year so far. They approached a game that 99% of baseball fans, including Padres fans, would assume the Friars would lose. I admit, I too wasn't very confident about this game. I'm not going to say this WILL be a turning point. It could be. It could be a shiny coat of wax on an otherwise junky car. I think its somewhere in the middle. The team isn't as bad as they've been playing, and they're also not as good as we would want them to be, or hoped they would be. But It's baseball. Anything really can happen at any given time. If tonight wasn't proof of that, I don't know what is. So don't despair Padres fans. There is always hope.
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