Bring on the Ram Head!

"That's it, I'm going to bed."

Said that to myself last night at least a half a dozen times. The only time I listened was around 1:20am, when Glendon Rusch looked at a called third to end the longest game in Padres franchise history.

22 innings, 6 hours and 16 mins and 3 (YES 3!) seventh inning stretches later, two throwing errors lead to the Rockies scoring the first run for any team since the 14th inning to win, 2-1.

So let's go through some of the wackiness that was April 17/18, 2008:

- 22 innings: longest in either teams franchise history. Only 9 games in major league history have lasted longer. 4 more innings and we would have had a MLB record!

- 6 hours and 16 mins missed the franchise record for time of a game by 1 min. If Rusch gets on base...

- 658 total pitches thrown. 5 innings of relief were thrown by Ledezema, good enough to register for the win in a normal game!

- Not only did the game last 22 innings, the game did not have its first run until the 14th inning. The Rockies scored first with a bases loaded walk. Cameron had pitched himself into some trouble but appeared to had pitched himself right out of it. Inducing an infield fly for the second out, on a 2-2 pitch Cameron threw a fastball that according to my Gamecast and my own eyes, was right down the middle. Called ball 3. Next pitch walked him and on we went. This inning came one inning after the Padres had squandered a chance to win it. Paul McAnulty hit a scorching line drive down the first base line to lead off the bottom of the 13th inning. After an apparent bobble in right field, PMac went for third. Was he sent by Glenn Hoffman? Replays showed PMac staring Hoffman down as he rounded second and chirping at him after he was thrown out. Either way, poor baserunning again cost San Diego a run.

- In the 18th inning, and for reasons I yet don't understand, members of the Padres (including Jake Peavy) found a stuffed dead (if its stuffed I hope its dead) rams head that they taped to the dugout...I got nothing on this.

- The Padres have now gone 94 innings without a home run. According to Baseball-Reference.com, the longest such streak by any team is 20 games, or, assuming none of those games went extra-innings, 180 innings. The Houston Astros hold this dubious distinction, a record that was set between 9-2-1979 through 9-23-1979. Put another way, those Astros went 686 AB's without a HR. They went 9-11 in those 20 games.

- Lost in this game was the work of Jake Peavy, who threw 8 innings last night of shut-out ball and struck out 11. That's 25 strikeouts on the year so far and an ERA of 1.20. I'll save the "over-working Jake in April" rant for another time.


Coming Up:

Somehow the Padres now have to go play the scorching Arizona Diamondbacks, beginning a three-game series tonight in Phoenix. Greg Maddux will go for win 350 tonight against Dan Haren; Chris Young gets his start pushed back a day and will go on Saturday against Edgar Gonzalez; and on Sunday, Randy Wolf goes up against the Big Unit. It is likely that Colt Morton will get his first start tonight at catcher, considering Bard went all 22 innings last night.

I have no earthly idea how to handicap this series. Let's just hope for the best.

I'll leave you with two final thoughts. Petco stops serving beer after the 7th inning, or, 15 innings before last nights game ended.

3 7TH INNING STRETCHES!

To sleep, perchance to dream.

The Return of Rocktober

There exists in the world only five games that I consider to be so heartbreaking that I both can't forget them and want only to forget them. They are, in no particular order:

1) Arizona vs Illinois, Elite Eight, 2006 - Arizona blows a double digit lead with 4 mins to play.
2) Chargers vs Patriots, Divisional Round, 2007 - Another blown lead late, erasing a 14-2 season.
3) Padres vs Yankees, Games 1-4, 1998 World Series - No one wants to be swept
4) Padres vs Brewers, Game 161, 2007 - Trevor blows the save, Tony Gwynn Jr. hits a triple.
and number 5....
5) Padres vs Rockies, Game 163, 2007...

Game 163 was perhaps the most nervous I had ever been watching any sporting event, live or on television. The entire day, all I could think about was the game. As confident as I was on the outside ("Peavy's on the mound, its in the bag!") I was a ball of nerves inside. I didn't relax at any point during the game, counting down the amount of outs that were left. Peavy didn't have his ace stuff and the Padres fell behind early. I woke the neighbors when Adrian hit his grand slam to make it a new game, screamed at the t.v. while watching Brady Clark "play" center field, and was ready to pop the bubbly thanks to Scott Hairston's 13th inning home run. For a game with so many ups and downs, it seemed that the Padres had finally stuck the dagger in the heart of the Rockies. Or so I thought...

When you have watched Trevor Hoffman for as long as I have, you know when you're in for a long night. You can tell from the beginning of an inning. A hard hit double that you try to convince yourself doesn't matter because you lead by 2. But you know, he doesn't have it tonight, and you hope they hit it at someone. And then there was the now infamous slide. Did Matt Holliday touch home? Well, you know my answer to that.

So here we are, April 15th, 2008, and for the first time since that night in Denver, the Padres play the Rockies. Does it have the feel of a Padres/Dodgers series? Not quite, but there are enough Padres fans out there who have a very bitter taste in their mouth from Game 163 and the controversial way it ended. So perhaps we should look at Game 163 for the positive it has created...a new rivalry in the NL West. It may be too early to say this is a big series, but this is a big series.

- ESPN The Magazine has a great article on Greg Maddux in which this story was recounted (paraphrased): As a member of the Dodgers, Brad Penny believed that Maddux knew Penny's pitches better then he did. So one night Penny had Maddux call the entire game for him. Penny would glance into the dugout between pitches, get the sign, and throw. And he did throw, 7 innings, shutout.

- Speaking of ESPN The Magazine, Bill Simmons (aka The Sports Guy) wrote in his column this month that Barry Bonds was the "best hitter since Ted Williams." Now while the article had to do with the deafening silence that has met the news that Bonds is unemployed currently, I would like to draw a bit of an issue with the term "best hitter since Ted Williams." .338 Lifetime BA, 8 Batting Titles, over 3,000 hits and 19 consecutive seasons over .300 beg to differ with that title being given to Barry Bonds. Need further proof? SI already crowned such a person in this cover:




This is the Best Hitter Since Ted Williams. Consistent, a student of the game, and, to use Ryne Sandburg's term, he did it "the right way."









- Rockies fans are not afraid of Trevor Hoffman and are convinced Holliday was safe as evident here: http://www.purplerow.com/

- The Padres offense has managed only 2 runs in their last two games. More will be needed to beat a very potent Colorado lineup.

- Pitching Matchup for the Series: Jimenez vs Wolf; Redman vs Germano; Francis vs Peavy

- Bud Black has this to say about the recent struggles of Trevor Hoffman (who, it is worth noting, still has 4 saves already in this young season):
"Like I've said, it looks like his overall stuff is there," Black said. "For whatever reason the location is off 3-4-5-6 inches. ... He's hitting the glove. He just must be off a little."

- Finally, the pick. I'll take Peavy over Francis on Thursday, Wolf has looked good so far so let's take him on Tuesday and Germano has yet to give up a run. Wednesday he gets his first win of the season. Padres sweep and drink from the glass of revenge!

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Dodger Stadium

So, I'll take the push on my parlay. Padres did win 2 of 3 but I picked the wrong pitchers. A great sign on Friday night to get the win when Peavy didn't have his ace stuff. That's a huge win. As for Saturday, what is there to say other than "mama said they'd be days like this."

Chris Young right now cannot find the strike-zone. His 12 walks so far in 2008 is good enough (or would it be bad enough?) for the third highest walks allowed total in the Majors. It's worth mentioning he has some good company at the top of that list in Fausto Carmon, Dice K and Matt Cain. The short term problem of these walks is what happened on Saturday night. Hitters counts, base-runners on and a 3 inning outing the results in a Padres loss. The long term problems are a bigger concern. Chris Young's pitch counts have consistently been high since his been a Padre and he rarely if ever makes it into the 7th inning. This resulted last year in a DL stint in the midst of a Cy Young campaign. Needless to say, CY's next start will be viewed at closely at LCB as Young has walked more than 3 batters in his first 3 starts.

Sunday was not for the casual fan. 1-0 win for the Padres with the lone run coming on a sac fly. Hey, whatever it takes right? A win is a win. Maddux notched win number 349 for his career by throwing 5 innings of shut out ball. Maddux only threw 67 pitches in the game (42 for strikes) and likely could have gone longer if not for the need for some offense (requiring a pinch-hitter) and, I have to think, the temperature. For those not living in Southern California, high 90's were the call of the day here. Not conducive for a 42 year old pitcher.

Khalil Greene was the number 5 Web Gem tonight in Bristol and well earned. That play is why it's ok that he hits .250...well, the homeruns don't hurt either.

Padres have an off day on Monday and then the Rockies head to town for the first time since Number 163...full preview on Tuesday.

Big Thanks to Ashley and Jay for grabbing us a Padres flag at last weekends game. The flag flies proudly in North Park today!

And one final note: Scared Hitless is your inter-school softball champions. The number 3 seed pulled off the upset in come from behind fashion on Sunday. That leaves the Little Blue Pill season, who is on bye this week.

Tony Gwynn Heads to the Hall, pt. 3

First, apologies for the delay in a new post. I had guest in town and was not able to get to a new post. That said...Welcome to our final installment of Tony Heads to the Hall. A lot to get to regarding Tony Gwynn and the Padres so let's dive in.

This past weekend at Petco Park was Tribute to Tony Weekend, a weekend that reached it's apex on Saturday with a pre-game ceremony and the unveiling of the first statute at Petco Park.

There are a handful of players that have been honored in such a way. Stan Musial, Willie Mays, monument park in Yankee Stadium, to name a few. To have a statute built in your honor, it's big. Bigger than a street named after you, bigger than having your number retired. It's an iconic gesture reserved for only the greatest of players and people.

Of the many accomplishments Tony Gwynn achieved throughout his career, two notable numbers stick out the most. One is 5. 5 Gold Gloves, perhaps the stat that Tony Gwynn was most proud of as a player. He was not an excellent fielder at first, he had to work at it. And work he did, and work, and work. And in typical Tony Gwynn fashion, he worked at it until he became the best at it, at least for 5 seasons.

The second number is 20. Tony Gwynn played 20 seasons in the majors, all 20 with San Diego. In today's era of free agents and big contracts, 20 seasons with one team is a remarkable stat. Tony Gwynn had chances to play elsewhere, to make more money. Certainly he was worth it. He didn't. The most Gwynn ever made was $6.3 million in a season. Compared to the salaries of today, that's a fraction of what he was worth.

He is the most beloved player in San Diego sports history. On Sunday, he will become one of the immortals of baseball.

"The only thing I want people to say about me is that I played the game the way it should be played." - Tony Gwynn

"If you work hard, good things will happen." - Charles Gwynn Sr.

News and Notes

- The Padres have run across hard times recently. Dropping 3 of 4 to the Phillies and 2 of 3 to the Rockies. In the meantime, the Padres bullpen has an ERA of 8.87 in the last 6 games. Linebrink and Meredith blew the hold opportunity on Monday by giving up a 3 run HR to Holliday to tie the game followed by a 2-run shot by Hawpe.

- The Padres have lost 8 of their last 13 games since the All-Star Break. It may be time to realize that the lack of offense is beginning to wear on the pitching staff. Sup-par performances by Wells and Germano recently have shown that the Padres cannot recover from a poor pitching performance. Coors Field is usually the ointment for what ails a fledgling offense, however, the Padres only mustered 2 runs today and only 12 runs over the 3 games.

- As I was writing this and about to lament about the struggles of Linebrink, struggles that have been going on since June, news broke that the Padres have traded Scott Linebrink. Linebrink was the talk of the trading deadline a year ago but hardly a word this year, a sign Linebrink says tipped him off that he may be on his way out. Linebrink was traded today to the Milwaukee Brewers for 3 minor leaguers, one of which, Joe Thatcher (1-0, 0.55 ERA at Double-A Huntsville) is expected to be with the club as they head to Houston this weekend.

- What the Padres will probably need to make move for is a starting pitcher. Wells is due to be suspended soon and yesterday Chris Young was removed in the 3rd inning with a "left oblique strain," an injury that kept Cameron out 17 games last season. Regardless, Wells has been far from stellar and teams have begun to figure out Germano who has lost 5 of his last 6 starts. With limited help in the minors (Mike Thompson, Clay Hensley, and Tim Stauffer, all of whom have struggled in the majors) the Padres will be in need of a starter. They will also need more bullpen help with the departure of Linebrink and one name that hasn't been named but makes some sense is Octavio Dotel. The closer of the Royals is on the block and may fit nicely in the 7th or 8th inning role.

- A lot of bad in Friarland so let's end with some positive:

- Milton Bradley is raking right now. A bright spot for this offense.

- And finally, Sunday is the big day for Tony. If your in San Diego, come out to Petco Park at 10am to watch on the big screen. If not, watch from home and enjoy one of the finest Hall of Fame classes we will see for quite some time.