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.

Opening Series vs Houston

Well, the 2008 campaign is underway.

Here's a rundown of Opening Day from the view about 10 feet to the right of the Western Metal Building in the upper deck.

- Settle down with the beer prices Petco! $9 for a premium beer, $8.50 for a domestic. Yikes

- There is nothing, and I mean nothing, like the Garlic Fries at Petco. It has been a long winter without you Garlic Fries.

- So, I'm sitting in Sect. 327 in the second row. In front of the first row is about a 50 ft drop. In front of me in the first row is a 4 year old girl which seems to have no problem hanging on the railing, jumping on her seat, and all in all giving me a panic attack. No worries, her mom was as calm as can be, enjoying her beer and chatting with friends.

- Checked out the block party for Opening Day, pretty cool to add some festivities to the neighborhood. Had a distinct Wrigleyville feel.

- Onto the game: Peavy, after a shaky first inning, seemed to settle in. The guy threw a shutout, how much more can you ask for? How about 2 RBI to help his cause? Some areas of concern, the Padres left 12 runners on, had double digit hits and only 4 runs to show for it.

- PMac looked pretty good at the plate in the first two games (NOTE: with Wandy Rodriguez pitching tonight, PMac was given the night off as a left-handed hitter.)

- Wednesday night the bats came to life with Adrian going yard (after narrowly missing on a home run Opening Night. That Michael Bourne can run!) Scott Hairston is swinging a hot bat right now and I love the approach Kouz is taking at the plate.

- Some obvious concerns: 1) Heath Bell was nowhere to be seen tonight in an obvious set-up situation. I thought it was odd when Bell came in on Opening Day in a 4-0 game considering the concern the team had of his workload last year. 2) of potentially bigger concern? Hoffman, after looking great in Game 2, blew his first save of the season. It was an odd sequence. Hoffman got the first two batters out, relatively easily. Then an inexcusable walk to Jose Cruz Jr., a line drive by Hunter Pence JUUUUSSSSTT out of the reach of Adrian at first and then a 3-1 pitch to Berkman that was simply grooved right down the middle. A 6-5 win became a 9-6 loss in the matter of moments.

Now, one can only assume that tomorrow on 1090 and in the UT the Hoffman Haters will be out in force. Calls saying he's done will no doubt rain down tomorrow. And I would be lying if I don't get a bit nervous these days when I see Hoffman in there. But I know that his change-up is working (see Game 2...filthy) and tonights game was a bit of an anomaly. Count me as a Hoffman Believer. Look, you don't step on Superman's Cape and you don't tell a future Hall of Famer and the second most prominent player in your franchises history that he's done. He tells you. He's earned it.

Discovered today that we are being linked by Ducksnorts.com! Great website about the Padres as well with a TON of statistical analysis. Cool stuff, check it out.

Final thought. Thought it was very classy of the Friar Fans to give Geoff Blum, Doug Brocail and Jose Cruz Jr. and nice round of applause on Opening Night. Wouldn't mind seeing more fans at the games though! It's not that cold San Diego, let's go!

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.