Hey Padres... wear these hats instead of the camouflage

I think it is good to honor the military after taking down Osama Bin Laden.And the Padres are doing so by wearing their military camouflage uniforms, which I have already made clear that I am not a fan.Why not the Red White and Blue hats?It is a day for all Americans to feel at least a sense of justice and closure regarding that awful day. There will no doubt be flag waving, so why not have the

I am going to get grief for my old camouflage post

To honor the brave soldiers who took out Bin Laden at his hideout Mansion in Pakistan, the San Diego Padres will wear their special camouflage uniforms.Last year I wrote a blog post where I trashed the uniforms. I took great pains at the beginning of the article to make it clear that I understood they were honoring the military and that I knew the Padres do a lot for the many locals who are in

Cameron Maybin finds a nice way to win over his new team

He was recalled too quickly by the Tigers as a rookie and underachieved with the Marlins after the Miguel Cabrera trade.Now Cameron Maybin needs to produce in San Diego before wearing the "bust" label.Well making a highlight reel catch in the first and hitting a 2 out 9th inning game tying home run on the road is a nice start.Now keep that up over the season and maybe the Padres will have made a

San Diego pays tribute to Trevor Hoffman

Here Trevor Hoffman says good bye and thank you to San Diego and the Padres organization.And by the looks of this picture, he is doing in front of a crowd about the size of a Padres game during the pennant stretch.Before any of you Padre fans give me grief, I was in San Diego for Labor Day, 2010. Not only was the stadium half empty, but the team wouldn't take my money!Show up to the games.And

Fare thee well, Trevor Hoffman

I admit that I've been rough on Trevor Hoffman on this blog.I don't think he is a Hall of Famer.I don't think he was one of the elite closers.I think he was a fine pitcher who compiled saves when it was easy to do so and blew way too many big games to be in Cooperstown in my book.Yes, he is the All Time Saves leader.Lee Smith was as well. Is he a Hall of Famer?Jeff Reardon was as well. Is he a

A Christmas gift for Padres fan: Optimism

This Christmas, some baseball fans should already be pessimistic about their teams chances in 2011.The Pirates are obviously not going to be good and their losing season streak will no doubt reach a shameful 19. The Royals waved the white flag with the Greinke trade. The Mets and Cubs are a year away from a massive relief of bad contracts expiring. The Diamondbacks should have another year

I'm really looking forward to playing with Adrian Gonzalez. Wait, what did you say?

This picture was taken at the exact moment that someone informed Orlando Hudson that he signed a contract with a rebuilding team.Don't worry O-Dog. Play well in 2011 and you'll be traded to a contender by August 1.

I am thrilled about Adrian Gonzalez but...

One element of it is sad and one element worries me.Of course the greedy Red Sox fan in me couldn't care less about the Padres. But the baseball man in me wonders why the Padres, with a staggeringly low payroll and revenue sharing, couldn't sign Adrian Gonzalez to a 5 year extension.A great hitter and San Diego native could have been the face of the franchise like Joe Mauer is to the Twins. A 5

Johnny Podres was a Padre?

How did I not know that before tonight?He was a member of the 1969 Padres.... their first season.And I am convinced the GM signed him for the Abbott and Costello esque confusion of "Who's pitching for the Padres?" "Podres." that must have happened that year.It's a tragedy that Billy Brewer never played for Milwaukee.

Bruce Bochy - Hall of Famer?

Don't laugh... Bruce Bochy already has a pretty amazing resume as a manager. If he wins 4 more games as a manager this year, it might be time to start whispering his name around Cooperstown.Don't believe me?Well first of all he has already padded his resume with some solid credentials.He took over a Padres team after the 1994/1995 strike/lockout.Remember the Padres were a team lost in the woods

I can’t call the Padres chokers

I know it would be easy to call the Padres choke artists… heck you might even have the numbers to back it up.On August 25th, the Padres looked like a team of destiny. They improved their record to 76-49. They were up by 8 games in the loss column over San Francisco with 37 games to play.The Padres had a better record than anyone else in the National League by 5 games in the loss column and were

IF THE PLAYOFFS STARTED TODAY... October 3, 2010

Here we are... the last day of the season... and not one single Division Series match up has been set.The Yankees played a combined 20 innings yesterday and very well might have lost the Division in the wee small hours of the morning. And the Twins may have lost homefield advantage in the Division Series and ALCS with a poorly timed losing streak.But that is NOTHING compared to the potential

Are the Giants and Braves drunk?

Seriously... did they start celebrating when they realized all it took was one Padres loss and they'll be October bound?The Giants are playing with the urgency of a temp checking their Facebook page.The Braves got shut down twice by the Phillies and haven't yet faced a starting pitcher named Roy.The only Phillies pitcher the Braves offense has gotten to was Mike Zagurski, who not only won't be on

NOBODY can blame Freddy Sanchez

Normally when someone gets doubled up at first on a fly ball in the 9th inning of a potential clinching game with your team down, you get pissed.But I can't get pissed at Freddy Sanchez. Everyone on the Planet Earth thought that was a triple in the corner. Why the hell Ludwick was playing there I have no idea. So instead of a run in and they tying run at third with nobody out, it was 2 outs,

Remembering September 28th, 1987

23 years ago today, a great moment happened in San Francisco Giants history... and I would be remiss if I didn't pay tribute to it.In 1987, my family moved from the Boston area to the San Francisco Bay Area. I was still smarting from the 1986 World Series when I saw my new local team make an unlikely trip to the post season.The Giants (or the "Hum Babies" based on manager Roger Craig's

IF THE PLAYOFFS STARTED TODAY... September 27, 2010

The playoff picture is a little clearer than it was yesterday...Going into yesterday there would have been a one game playoff whose outcome would determine BOTH National League Division Series match ups... and Red Sox fans had some hope.Well going into the final week of the season, three teams can clinch a playoff spot on Monday. Actually the Phillies already did clinch a spot today, but if they

IF THE PLAYOFFS STARTED TODAY... September 25, 2010

Things are shuffling around on the deck of the SS Playoffs... teams are being added and others dropped and playoff match ups are being mixed up.Frankly I wouldn't mind this exact playoff set up in the National League to be the final one. And the top of the American League has three teams with identical win totals and 1 game separating the three in the loss column.Let's see the current match

IF THE PLAYOFFS STARTED TODAY... September 23, 2010

It's that time of the year when there is no longer any need for analysis. Games are played and you never know what pitching match up will fall apart.Just ask Ubaldo Jimenez, who lost his shot at a 20th win and probably took himself out of the Cy Young race by getting clobbered by the Diamondbacks... not exactly a powerhouse.It's also a crazy time where one minute the Padres are on the outside

The Padres look like champs... against the Dodgers

If Giant fans are looking for any silver lining about this rancid night of baseball for them... they lost another low scoring game and the Padres took over first place because the Dodgers just... don't... care... they can find comfort knowing that tomorrow night, the Padres reign of dominance ends.You see for the past month or so, the Padres are incapable of putting together a winning streak,

NL West race is going to top ROCKY II

It is appropriate that one of the teams involved in the NL West race are called The Rockies, because I am reminded of one of the Rocky films when I look at how the division is winding down.Each team, the Rockies, Giants and Padres, get a breather today.That’s bad news for the Rockies (who have an extra day to mull how they blew a 6 run lead and a chance to force a 3 way tie in the loss column.)