Results tagged ‘ bullpen ’
September/October Evaluation (Plus a Rant)
2010 season came to an end for the San Diego Padres which means it’s time for a final evaluation of the year. Padres finished the season with a 90-72 record and this team turned out to be one of the biggest surprises in baseball this season. Without further ado, I present to you the top 5 greatest moments of September/October for the San Diego Padres.
5. Snapping the 10-game losing streak
What more I can say? Losing ten in a row hurts. In fact, it’s so excruciating watching your beloved team lose ten games straight. Especially when that team has been playing solid baseball. This entry shows my frustration and a long letter for the Padres. On September 6th, Padres finally broke the lengthy losing streak against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Petco Park. Winning this game got the Padres back on track and the energy this team originally had started to grow again.
4. Rookie Cory Luebke’s First Major League Win
Two days later, rookie Cory Luebke earned his first major league win against the Dodgers. He tossed six scoreless innings and struck out seven batters. He was pick number 63 in the 2007 Major League Baseball Draft and started his professional career with short-season Eugene Emeralds. He was soon promoted to Class-A Fort Wayne Tin Caps and later promoted again to Class-A Advanced Lake Elsinore Storm. In 2008, he spent his time with the Tin Caps and Storm. Last year, he was promoted up to Double-A San Antonio Missions.
This season, Cory Luebke was part of the September call up and made a great impression to the Padres staff and the fans. He made his major league start on September 3rd but suffered with a loss. On September 8th, he earned his first major league win as his second start. He is a young pitcher but his potential to be the very best in the major league is very eye-catching and remarkable. I can sense that he will have a bright future with the Padres.
3. Chris Denorfia’s Walk-Off Double Against the Aroldis Chapman
On September 25th, Padres beat the Cincinnati Reds in an exhilarating fashion. On the bottom of the ninth, Chris Denorfia was in a battle with Reds’ young phenom Aroldis Chapman. Chapman’s 100-105 MPH pitches blow me away every time. However, Chris Denorfia was able to win this incredible battle and drove in the winning run for the Padres. The energy at Petco Park was intense and the atmosphere was breathtaking. The look of Padres’ faces really showed that they wanted to win this game badly. This team earned a big win against the Reds and proved that anything can happen.
2. Unsung Hero: Tim Stauffer
Personally, the player who deserves plenty of recognition is pitcher Tim Stauffer. Because of the struggles with starting pitching in mid-August, Tim Stauffer filled in and settled very nicely. This meant that original starting pitcher Kevin Correia was pushed back to the bullpen. Stauffer had few opportunities to pitch for key games such as games against the Giants and he did nothing but a solid job. He definitely did the best he can and I have to applaud him for the hard work he gave it all for the Padres. I hope to see him grow even more and hopefully settle himself into a starting pitching rotation next season.
1. 90-72 Record for the 2010 Season
Although this record did not allow the Padres to secure a spot in postseason, I’m really proud of my team for making it this far. This brings up to the next part of my entry, which is a rant about reflecting the wonderful 2010 season.
Padres Rant: Reflecting the 2010 Season
When this season began, there were countless amount of doubters who projected this team was going to finish last place. The show began in April and the Padres were getting better and better. There were young talent and veteran players who stepped up their games to help out the young players. Contribution was made by everyone. It wasn’t just from one player with “My stats. My role.” kind of thing but everyone made some sort of benefaction. From young arms to veteran arms, this team had great chemistry. Acquisitions of Ryan Ludwick and Miguel Tejada during the mid-season also impacted this team in a great way. Padres played gritty and solid baseball and remained in first place for almost the whole year. There were ups and downs but I personally think the main down side was the ten-game losing streak. Besides that losing streak, this team played nothing but great baseball.
However, everything came down to game 162 against the rival San Francisco Giants. Padres were down by 3-0 on top of the ninth inning and I was getting nervous and nervous every time Giants’ closer Brian Wilson made his pitches. When the Padres got the last out and the Giants gathered and celebrated, I was in absolute shock and tears came down to my face. It was absolutely heartbreaking how the last game of the season determined the faith of the Padres. After playing great baseball since April, it was unbelievable how one game can change everything. Padres are not in the playoffs this season and I am extremely dismal but at the same time, I am very proud of my guys for giving their all this season.
There were plenty of surprises from the Padres. The bullpen was absolutely dominating and young star Mat Latos blew me away. Heath Bell continued to serve his role as a closer very well. The leadership quality from players such as David Eckstein, Jon Garland, Matt Stairs and Miguel Tejada are remarkable. Watching young talents from players such as Will Venable and Aaron Cunningham are still rememberable. This team is filled with group of guys who are very fun to watch. I am very proud of every single guys in the 2010 Padres roster. This season was a wild roller coaster ride and I’m glad I was in it for 162 games. This season will be very memorable, despite the fact that Padres came extremely close to postseason. I can’t wait to see what 2011 Padres has to offer. I really believe that the force is still strong with the Padres.
VIP entrance, press box tour, conversation with the Ecksteins and Padres’ win in one day? Oh my!
First of all, I apologize that the title of this entry is incredibly long. However, this lengthy title does not describe everything I did at Petco Park on a gorgeous Saturday afternoon.
I was able to go to this game with Kaybee, John and my friend because the Ecksteins were so generous to offer tickets for me. If you read this entry, the same thing happened to me last year except that I went to the game with my brother. This year, I wanted to bring my friends but I received many, many requests that they want to tag along with me to go to the game. To be fair for everyone who entered my “contest”, I wrote all of their names and randomly picked three. So this is the reason why I invited Kaybee, John, and my friend. They were the lucky winners out of the bunch.
All of us gathered around at VIP entrance/media entrance/player will call before the game to pick up the tickets. I was astonished that all I had to do was simply tell the worker that a player left tickets for me and show my photo identification. My name was on the system so I had to be in charge of getting the tickets for us. Things went smoothly and two different workers at the VIP entrance really liked my David Eckstein poster, the poster which I will mention towards the end of this entry. So already, two people complimented my poster and it was a great way to start off the day at Petco Park.
The four of us went down to the field level to see what was going on for the Padres and their opponent of the day, the Diamondbacks. The first Padres player in action the four of us saw was Chris Young.
Kaybee was able to get Chris Young’s autograph. I already got his autograph from last year’s Padres Fan Day. All four of us were very impressed because he was so nice to everyone who wanted his autograph. Currently, he is on the DL and did not pitch since April this year. The return of new, healthy Chris Young is a must for the sometime in second half of the season.
Adrian Gonzalez was also signing autographs but again, I already got his autograph last year so no need to worry for me. Kaybee got his autograph but John was extremely close to getting his. My friend? Well, he doesn’t like waiting in a huge crowd trying to get autographs.
Later, we met Angela, the head of the photography crew of Petco Park. Angela contacted me through Facebook and asked me if I want to get a tour around the press box. You read it right. Press box. I responded back “Definitely!”. So Angela camed down to the field level to introduce ourselves and the journey began.
Personally, walking pass by securities felt pretty nervous but I love the fact that Angela was very calm and easy going that we made it to the press box smoothly. Since my friends and I did not want to look like bunch of super fans, I chose not to bring my camera. Plus we had to put our belongings in a room and my camera was in my bag. The reason why the pictures do not look great is because I took them with my phone. Also, people in the room looked busy preparing for the game and gave us a weird look. But I present to you, the press box of the San Diego Padres!
The second picture shown is where analyst Jerry Coleman does his job. It would have been fantastic if Jerry was present in his room but he was in New York, according to Angela. She was kind enough to take a picture of us in his room.
From this perspective, I really felt like Jerry Coleman. We had a very good look at his room and everything was just incredible. After looking around several more rooms, it was time for us to go back to our seats. We thanked Angela for a great tour and I hope to see her again in the future at Petco. She gave us t-shirts for each of us as well.
Also, we saw play-by-play announcer Dick Enberg and Padres radio announcer Andy Masur. We could not say anything to both of them because they passed by us in less than three seconds. It would have been amazing if they stopped by us and say hello. I even had several questions to ask for them. My goal was to have a quick interview with any broadcasters for the Padres but it didn’t work out. Someday I hope to accomplish my goal.
So already, it was about 4:20, which means we had time to relax and watch batting practice from our seats. About five minutes or so later, I saw pitcher Mat Latos’ girlfriend and her friend. Because I interact with them, I had to drop by and say hello. In order to do so, I had to ditch my friends. Sorry guys! I caught up with the ladies and it was so awesome finally meeting them in person. They were extremely nice and we had fun talking some Padres baseball.
After we parted our ways, I went back to my seats where my friends were waiting. About five minutes before 5, we decided to go back down to the field level to wait. Why and for who? David Eckstein signs every single day at Petco Park. For Saturday games, he signs around at 5. He came out from the dugout and started signing. I caught his attention by showing him the poster I made for him. He gave me his big, cute, “Hey!” and gave me a hug. I gave him a big thank you because he and his wife were the ones who provided the tickets for my friends and I. He was kind enough to sign the poster and take a picture with me. He loved my poster too!
This is my third picture I took with him but trust me, there will be more if I go to Padres games in the future. Of course I had to introduce Kaybee, John and my friend to Eck. He was so nice to everyone and made great eye contact. I appreciate him for everything he does to make Petco into a friendly place for the fans. The way he signs autographs everyday and doing his very best are only two reasons out of the bunch why he is my favorite player.
It was almost game time and I was reminded by Ashley, his wife, that she will be coming to our seats and say hello to us. When she came down to us, I was extremely stoked because I finally met her in person for the very first time. Trust me, I was about to scream.
First things first, she is so sweet and down to earth. The five of us had an incredible amount of fun talking with each other. I learned so much about the Ecksteins thanks to Ashley. It is impossible to remember every single thing we talked about but here are some of the great and funny ones that I remember:
1. David drives Ashley’s green Honda Civic, which I think it is adorable and funny. According to Ashley, David does not like anything flashy (If I remember correctly.) but instead, he likes simple things. People make fun of him driving Ashley’s car but I love the fact that he just laughs it off. What a great guy.
2. David watches WWE. That is all.
3. Ashley is the one who reads things off from the Internet. David does not want to read these because people can make up things that are not true. Especially rumors about players getting traded. So Ashley tells him directly about the things she reads. Therefore, David Eckstein does not read this blog.
4. Ashley has her clothing line for Star Wars. She has her website called, Her Universe. Please check it out! She works so hard to make her products for the female Star Wars lovers. She created her clothing line so the female Star Wars fanatics do not have to worry about purchasing Star Wars shirts that are made for guys. Everything Ashley created is gorgeous and chic and feel free to click here to see her creations.
5. Ashley calls David ”The grandpa of the Padres” because he gets along with his teammates but does not have a “best friend”. I think this is very cute.
At first, I was nervous because Ashley was right behind us. Meaning a row. It is not like everyday that a famous person sits right behind you so that was a really unforgettable moment. But because of her friendliness, she helped us to interact with each other smoothly and I thank her for the help.
Also, Ashley was supposed to sit in a different section but she was so nice to stop by us first before the game even began. Our conversation got longer and longer and I did not want this to end. She went to her seat in the middle of the game and she gave us a big hug. In the end, we talked to each other for about an hour, three innings in terms of a game. I did not pay attention to the game very well because I had a blast talking with Ashley.
I honestly don’t know how to explain this game very well so I’ll leave here some of the pictures I took.
On the left is Scott Hairston’s wife and on the right is Jerry Hairston’s wife. Stalker much? I think so too. But they were literally three rows in front of us.
So I am 3-0 this season. Meaning all of the games I went to this season so far, the Padres won all three games. Saturday July 17, 2010 marks the day as the best Padres game I went to in my life so far. When I go to more Padres games in the future this year, I hope to improve my record and stay undefeated. Meeting people and doing something new every time at Petco is always fun. What’s better than touring the press box, having a full conversation with the Ecksteins plus being 3-0 this season? Nothing.
First Half Recap of 2010
First half of the 2010 season reached its finish line but this San Diego team made a magnificent impression to the fans, analysts, and many others in the baseball sphere. Before and during the beginning of the season, there were so many doubters who thought the Padres will not have a spectacular season, play baseball under .500, and received more negative criticisms than positive criticisms. Sure, there were those who thought the Padres will turn up a notch or two but in general, these people were not so sure about the Padres. However, this team proved the doubters wrong even during spring training.
Spring Training:
Technically, spring training is not the first half of the 2010 season but it should be included in the first half because it is bonus baseball for the fans. March baseball can determine an outcome for the team and even how they will play throughout the regular season.
The Padres reunited on February 18th from the long off season and it was time to get back to business for everyone. Throughout the course of spring training, Padres and the fans discovered talent from the veterans and the youngsters. The start of spring training was shaky but this team never quit and bounced back to finish the training with a solid record of 18-10-2. The chemistry of youth and experience became successful and the Padres were prepared for a major test; bouncing back from an abysmal 2008 season and some what blooming 2009 season.
April: 15-8
Game 1 and opening day of 2010 took place in Arizona and unfortunately, Padres could not capture a win against the D-Backs and lost with a score of 6 to 3. Three days later, Padres hit the road again. This time, the duel took place in Colorado against the Rockies. Rockies celebrated their home opener on that day by beating the Padres 7 to 0. The six road games were shaky for the Padres. However, the Padres shined when they returned home for their home opener against the Atlanta Braves. Padres worked together as a team and beat the Braves with the score of 17 to 2. It was a great way to start off the season at home, especially with a jaw dropping score like 17.
As April rolled on, the Padres even had a huge eight game winning streak to stand alone on top of the NL West. On the 19th, David Eckstein, scrappy player who is not a home run hitter type of guy, sent everyone home with his walk-off home run of the season. That was when unrealistic became realistic.
You can check out my entry “April Evaluation” for top 5 greatest moments for the month of April.
May: 16-12, 31-20 overall
May was filled with ups and downs for the Padres. Kevin Correia’s huge loss made an impact for his game time and started to struggle ever since the day he came back from the bereavement list. He needs to check the time and realize that he is taking too long to come back. However, nothing but the best and luck go out to him whenever he is on the mound doing his job. Kevin Correia in April will be in the near future.
Mat Latos shined on May 13th when he tossed a complete game, one-hit shutout against the Giants in San Francisco. He was absolutely stunning on the mound and took the spotlight. Beginning of the season, there were fans who thought Mat should be sent to the bullpen and even be sent down to the minors because he is very young. Mat proved the doubters and haters wrong by showing his great performance and he is still proving, which is excellent. He is continuing to mature as a great pitcher and his future seems very familiar to a former ace, Jake Peavy. Is Mat Latos the next Jake Peavy? Could be.
Padres continued to work hard as a team and reached to the place they wanted to be at, which is first place. The doubts started to vanish little by little and surprises appeared from the fans. “May Evaluation” is also available.
June: 15-12, 46-32 overall
June was filled with interleague games and surprisingly, the Padres did a good job not getting dominated by the American League teams. We are not the best when interleague approaches. This year, the American League teams that played against the Padres consisted of the Mariners, Orioles, Blue Jay, and the Rays. Padres finished the interleague series with 7-5 record. It was very pleasant to see these boys turn things around during mid-June baseball from the previous ones, when they had difficult time playing against American League. One of the reasons why this year’s interleague was much different from the previous years was that the Padres took the series from the Tampa Bay Rays, a great looking team in the east. Overall, this series deserved two thumbs up.
You guessed it. You can check out “June Evaluation” to learn more about the month of June that the fantastic Padres had.
Current record of July: 5-5, first half record: 51-37
The last few games has been a downside for the San Diego Padres. In the beginning of July, Padres took three games out of four against the Houston Astros in the homestand. However, the Padres started to struggle, especially with pitching. Besides Mat Latos, the starting and relief pitchers did a below average job. Mat Latos was dominant and even awarded himself with his first career home run against the Nationals in game 3. He is young, but his pitching and performance is veteran quality.
Relief pitcher Luke Gregerson’s incredible slider did not slide very well against the Nationals and even against the Rockies. Luke is one of the best relief pitchers for the Padres bullpen and it was frustrating seeing him struggle. Two things that stood out were 1. Luke was used in so many games during the first half of the season. And 2. Luke is worn out and needs a break. Padres should not rely on Luke Gregerson all the time. He is a human and he needs to rest every once in a while. This All-Star break approached at the perfect moment and Luke will get his much needed break.
Another reason why the series against the Nationals and Rockies were so difficult is that not only the Padres lost two games out of three against Washington and Colorado, but also the four games they lost were in an extremely close fashion. All four games were either down by one or two runs. These games show that one or even two mistakes can cost the game and suffer the consequence with a loss. In order to avoid these devastating losses, mistakes should be avoided at all times.
So that will do for the first half of the 2010 Padres. Padres really proved so many that they do not back down and do not give up at all times. This team is unstoppable but they stlill have homework they need to do over the All-Star break. After the break, things are going to get more serious. The San Diego Padres, team with a great mixture of youth and veteran players, will remain in first place for a long period of time.
June Evaluation
Can you believe we are almost at the midpoint of the season? It seems like yesterday that we celebrated Opening Day of 2010. June has (almost) come to an end which means it is time for another evaluation of the San Diego Padres. This team is continuing to amaze myself, the rest of the Padres fans, and even other fans of different teams. Without further ado, I present to you the top 5 greatest moments for the month of June.
5. Taking the series at Tampa against the Rays.
It may not sound special to others but it is for the San Diego Padres. We all know the Rays have been on top this season. Taking the series from the Rays was very important for the Padres because we needed to get ourselves on top of the NL West and especially since the Rays are an American League team. Game 1 was all about Mat Latos and his gem. He is continuing to mature as a pitcher and doing a very impressive job on the mound. Could he be the next Jake Peavy? Padres fans are not sure but who knows for now? I am extremely proud of my boys for their effort they showed in Tropicana Field.
4. Trailing from 8-0 and coming back to 10-6.
Padres lost on Monday of June 28th but this game really meant something. The opposing pitcher was Ubaldo Jimenez of the Rockies, which means the Padres had to face a tall task. Starting pitcher for San Diego was Kevin Correia and he was all over the place, to be honest. His commend was off and he had a terrible night on the mound. Kevin had a solid April but started to fall apart in middle of May. Simply, he has not been very impressive. Ubaldo Jimenez was going for a no-hitter but it was broken by David Eckstein. I knew Eck can handle these types of situations. After Eck broke the no-hitter, Padres offense started to pick up and we scored 6 runs in the end. At one point during the game, the score was 8-6. Unfortunately, Padres lost with the score of 10-6 but this game proved to everyone that this team does not stop. I absolutely love the energy and effort this team brought to the ballpark and I really enjoyed it. What this team has that many others don’t is that we never give up. I believe that the chemistry of effort and not giving up really makes a difference throughout the season. If a team does show this chemistry, then that team will most likely have a great season.
Coming back from 8-0 to 8-6 really blew the Padres fans and even the Rockies fans away. I hope to see something like this from the Padres throughout the season. We simply do not give up.
3. The Pen-itentiary
Who is the pen-itentiary? Simple. The San Diego Padres’ outstanding bullpen. Our bullpen has been on top this season and even baseball fans know that we are one strong bullpen. Out of all, the three guys who stand out the most are Luke Gregerson, Mike Adams, and Heath Bell. Luke has been solid throughout the season so far as the 7th inning guy. Same thing goes out to Mike Adams, who is the 8th inning guy. Closer Heath Bell has been very consistent, as usual. Heath does scare the fans and shows a nail-biter games at times but that’s what makes the bullpen so interesting. These gentlemen show surprises. Pleasant surprises rather. I am digging the shirt that Mike Adams is holding in the picture shown above. If the Padres start selling this shirt, you bet I will purchase it.
Be aware of the San Diego Padres’ bullpen everyone. They actually do bite.
2. Sweeping the Marlins.
From the 25th though the 27th, Padres hit the road to Miami to play against the Florida Marlins. I have to admit that the Marlins are pretty impressive but it was the San Diego Padres who took the spotlight in Miami. We faced Marlins’ ace Josh Johnson on game 2 while we had Jon Garland on the mound. Jon Garland drove in the game winning run as a sacrifice fly. This series meant so much for us because we were ahead of the San Francisco Giants by 4.5 games, probably the biggest lead in NL West so far.
1. Still first place in NL West
That’s right. The San Diego Padres are still in first place in NL West. Beginning of the season, there were so many doubters who though the Padres are going to finish the season in last place. Guess what? June is almost over and the Padres are first place. This team does not stop but rather move forward. We take each game seriously and continue to stride. I don’t understand why there are still doubters who thinks some other team is going to finish first in NL West. I am not pointing fingers at them but do they not see this team in the spotlight? Yes, this season is pretty young. However, All-Star break is coming up and after the break, it is time for some serious business throughout the season.
So there you have it. The top 5 greatest moments for the month of June. I think the Padres are doing great but we still have so much to prove that we are the best in NL West.
Introducing… the 2010 San Diego Padres (Part 2)
(Continuation of section 3 of part 1)
Matt Stairs
He will be definitely added on the Padres’ 25-man roster on Sunday. Matt Stairs signed a minor league deal during the off season and I thought this move was great. He won a World Series ring with the Phillies in 2008 and I always love when the Padres acquire players who claimed the ultimate prize. He is obviously one of the vetrans of this club and I am looking forward to see him to play. Especially in pinch hit situations because Padres did not have a strong pinch hitter throughout the seasons. Matt Stairs can change that ’cause the first thing that comes up to my mind when I think of him is pinch hit situations. I will be definitely looking fowrard to that situation throughout the season.
Now for part 2.
5. Young and experienced players: pitchers
I would like to add more things from this entry because really, I mentioned about the five pitchers.
Padres pitching rotation looks like the following below:
1. Jon Garland
2. Chris Young
3. Kevin Correia
4. Clayton Richard
5. Mat Latos
Looks like a big name is missing. What is it? That’s right. It’s Jake Peavy. We don’t have Jake as the number one starter anymore. So what? Loss of an ace should not be an impact towards a disastorous team when we have players that are solid and stepping up their games. Now, don’t get me wrong. I still like Jake and miss him. Trading him away was heartbreaking but it was part of buisness in the baseball industry. Personally, this move was acceptable because now the young guys can push themselves even more to be the starter.
For example, Clayton Richard.
He was one of the pitchers we got from the White Sox. He pitched the day after Jake Peavy left and wow, Clayton blew me away. He made a great first impression to the Padres fans. To me, first impression is very, very important. Clayton accomplished it well and that is the reason why he is one of my favorites. Ever since that day, he looked strong on the mound and I am still having fun watching him pitch. He is one of the youngsters but he can pitch extremely well at times. I am looking foward to see him everytime he goes on the mound.
Padres have another young starting pitcher who is totally going to blew the fans away.
When Mat Latos made his major league debut last July, he also made a great impression. Even though he got the loss on that day, he continued to pitch well whenever he got the ball. He is a big deal so the hitters need to watch out. He has a great fastball and can domintate the opposing players by throwing consistenet amound of strikeouts. Congrats to Mat for making on the fop five. By the way, this guy can throw some serious gas.
The top three pitchers Jon Garland, Chris Young and Kevin Correia is going to continue to pitch well and help out the young pitchers. Jon Garland is known as an inning eater and having him as the number one starter was an excellent move. He continues to pitch well and he will be an impact for this team. Not to mention he is pretty dang hot.
Chris Young is 100% back and this is a big, big must for the Padres pitching rotation. He was unhealthy for the last two seasons and it was devestating. His absence made the rotation shaky and the Padres needed him so much when he was placed on the disabled list. This is 2010 and a brand new, clean season for Chris. I can’t wait to see him again on the mound and hopefully he can deliever great things like he did during 2007, his All-Star season.
Kevin Correia is one of my favorite because he totally stepped up his game last season and made a really good impression. Also, it was his best season of the career. I like this guy a lot and he is fun to watch. I hope he can improve the performance from last season and continue to impress me.
6. Bullpen and closer
Bullpen is a pleasant surprise with mixture of young and experienced pitchers.
One of the youngsters is Luke Gregerson.
He joined the Padres late Spring Training of 2009 and he is very consistent on the mound. Last year was his first full season in the majors but I liked this guy from the start. He looks strong and impressed me as well. I hope to see him healthy and solid this upcoming regular season. He is a key ingredient towards a strong bullpen.
Another bullpen pitcher that is capturing my attention is Mike Adams.
He is an amazing pitcher with very good numbers. He must stay healthy or the bullpen can become disastorous. Mike is a solid pitcher but one of the problems he have is injury. I hate when guys especially like him gets injured and impacts the team in a horrible way. He was once again injured last season and I really want him to not go near the disabled list. His stuff is nasty and will blew the batters away.
And of course, how can I forget Heath Bell?
Last year, Heath took a giant step by taking Trevor Hoffman’s spot. As a first year as a closer, he made an excellent impression for not only Padres fans but fans across America. He lead the National League in saves and this was great way to represent San Diego. I am really proud of this guy and hopefully he can deliever the same pitching like he did last year for this season. He even made into the All-Star roster for National League and it was a lot of fun watching him. Heath is not only a great pitcher but a freaking hilarious guy. His bright personality can definitely bring the club up, not down.
Wrap Up
I am so pumped for 2010 season to kick off on Monday. Get ready Padres fans. This is going to be a fun, exciting winning season for San Diego. I guarantee it. With mixture of youth and veteran players, this one heck of a team will surprise so many people and prove the haters wrong by consistency, power and most importantly, energy.
Gentlemen, drop your bats and gloves
2009 season for the Padres officially came to an end. This year wasn’t great but it wasn’t bad at all. Padres have a lot of young guys who are climbing towards the top to have the capability to become a solid baseball player. Part of achieving that is of course, getting big help from experienced players like David Eckstein and Henry Blanco.
This club bounced back from last season which was a disaster. Padres started off hot in 2009 by remaining first place for few weeks but cooled down in the middle due to ton of injuries. Last two months however, they turned things around and finished the rest of the season strong. What I’m looking for a team is a strong finish and the Padres did that. Even though they lost game 162, I’m just proud with all of them.
As I was mentioning earlier, group of young kids stepped up and proved to the fans they have the stong desire to play like an experienced player. When vetran outfielder Brian Giles hit the disabled list and never came back, two young outfielders stepped up their games and they did very nice jobs filling in the missing hole. They are: Kyle Blanks and Will Venable. Kyle can play firstbase as well, but he looks stonger in the outfield. I saw few actions from Will last year and he turned things around throughout 2009. When Brian Giles returns next year, I will be a little bit disappointed because he didn’t do much of a thing that helped the club. I would personally see Kyle Blanks and Will Venable getting more playing time. With Gwynn Jr. in the middle of course.
For the infield, it’s looking very strong and solid. We have: Adrian Gonzalez at firstbase, David Eckstein at second, Everth Cabrera at shortstop, and Kevin Kouzmanoff at the hot corner. I pay attention to middle infield very carefully and examine it while taking notes. With the mixture of youth and experience (Everth and David), this combo is going to remain next year and will amaze the fans by eye-popping plays. Kevin is straight-up gold glove candidate. If you don’t know much about him, please look at his numbers. He only made three errors in over three hundred chances. That is so amazing. Kouz is going to stay hot and I know it. As for Adrian, 2008 gold glove winner, impressed me as well and Padres’ firstbase is continuing to be strong.
Starting pitchers and bullpen has been the most shaky position this season. Kevin Correia was the only survivor from opening day’s pitching rotation. He started off slow but got better as the season progressed. I’m looking at him as a number two starter next year. He impressed me so much. For some reason, I had high expectations from him when he signed a minor league deal in spring training 2009. I will be thrilled if he comes back next year. When the Padres traded away 2007 NL Cy Young award winner Jake Peavy and talented outfielder Scott Hairston, they recieved total of seven, young pitchers. Not all of them are strong obviously, but pitchers such as Clayton Richard and Adam Russell is going to look great. Lefty Clayton made me so proud that I completely forgot about Jake Peavy few times. (Sorry Jake. I still miss you!)
The offseason began for San Diego but we already made a big move before the season’s end. Padres finally released general manager Kevin Towers. He was the GM for the Padres since 1996 and it was time for him to move on. I say this is the right move because I disagreed with him most of the time. We just could not agree with each other most of the time. Padres are defintiely going to have a brand-new GM by end of October. I hope the new general manager will bring mostly positive move to the club.
Padres season may be over but there are still plenty of major league baseball action in October. Twins became AL Central Champions and I applaud them for a win against the Tigers in dramatic walk-off style. However, I’m rooting for the Cardinals and I really hope they will be World Series winners again. Last time they won the World Series was back in 2006 and my dear David Eckstein was the MVP. 2009 postseason will definitely have twists and turns with nail-biting moments and eight remaining teams will fight to win the ultimate prize.
Overall grade: C+
Pardon my one day absence. But I’m here to share about games and Padres news in general. That’s my job in blogosphere really. Anyway, the first game against the Mariners was a pretty good one. Padres pulled off with a win thanks to Chad Guadin’s great effort and Padres’ offense was alive. Last night’s game was not so great. The bullpen, Edward Mujica to be exact, blew a game that was tied until the eigth inning. Kevin Kouzmanoff hit a two-run shot and Tony Gwynn Jr. drove in a run. For the Mariners, former Padre Russell Branyan hit a three-run homerun off of Josh Geer, number three starter for the Padres for now. Padre killer Franklin Guiterrez rounded the bases no thanks to Mujica. Final score on my brother’s birthday yesterday was Mariners 4, Padres 3. It was a tough game to lose for the Friars but they had oppertunites to get the lead back. They wasted them big time.
Game 3 was in the lovely afternoon at Seattle. Adrian Gonzalez took a breather on first base but was a DH. Big kid Kyle Blanks took time playing at first. Adrian got his first start as a DH while Kyle got his first start playing firstbase. Lefty starter Wade LeBlanc for the Padres was the man in charge today. He only lasted less than two innings and gave up four runs, all of them earned. As I was listening to that situation on my radio, I just wanted to turn it off and take a nap. Nah, I didn’t go to sleep. But what LeBlanc did was unacceptable because he made the bullpen go into the game deeper than usual. They did an OK job. Trios Josh Banks, Joe Thatcher and Cla Meredith gave up five runs, combined. It was definitely frustrating to hear that the pitching didn’t work out as I was expected. What was even more frustrating however, was that Scott Hairston and skipper Bud Black got ejected earlier in the game.
Clearly, both of them were not happy. Especially Scott since the homeplate umpire made a stupid call. Dear ump Marvin Hudson, he DID NOT strike out, ok? Tony had to took over for Scotty. I was not pleased by that. An apple pie I was eating didn’t taste so good anymore after what happend between the umpire and Scotty and Buddy.
The offense did their best but it wasn’t enough to get themselves in a comfort zone.
I give kudos to Chase Headley and Edgar Gonzalez for providing the only three runs for the Padres. Chase hit a two run homerun while Edgar went solo. My boys need to know that no offense means a lose. Everyone in the lineup for the Padres got one or two hits, except for Hairston and David Eckstein. I understand Scotty since he got ejected early, but ECK WAS 0 FOR 5!! Ugh. That was not so “eck”citing.
His seven game hitting streak ended today. Oh well. Things happen, especially for him since he’s a scrappy player. (Yes, it’s ok if you call him that.) But I understand since he’s just an overall awesome player.
(That’s my new favorite picture of him (: )
Like I already mentioned it on the title, Padres’ overall grade during the three-game series is a C+. It’s resonable since they only took one game out of three. Plus the lack of offense on game three, miserable pitching effort, the grade I gave them is just about right.
Padres are off to Texas to play against the Rangers. After those three game, interleague games are over!!! They definitely need to win some games or else my brother will not be very happy. Since Angels and Rangers are neck and neck, I, or the Padres rather, need to help him by beating Texas.
RANDOM MUSINGS
Friars are now 9 games under .500 and 15 games behind the Dodgers. LA just doesn’t seem to stop. I thank the White Sox for beating them in walk-off style however 
Dodgers will come to San Diego very soon and my boys need to sweep them!
All-Star votes update
I voted for Adrian Gonzalez and the Padres 25 times more. Adrian is nowhere near first place but the votes helped him a bit. I don’t understand why Prince Fielder is above Adrian. Clearly A-Gon deserves to be at least in third place.
Manny Ramirez is in sixth place still and it’s unacceptable. Enough said!
R.I.P. Michael Jackson, the King of Pop
Oh man. I can’t believe it’s true. It’s so sad how this happened when I was actually listening to his song before this happened. I am just shocked. Though this news is very tragic, the world will never forget him. My thoughts and prayers go out to his family. He is gone, but our respect and love for him will live forever.
What a wild game
They played against the Mariners in Seattle after a nice day-off on Monday. Padres hit the road and finished the first game out of six road interleague games with a sweet win. Things got off to a pretty rough start but there were the good, the bad and the scary sides so it was all good. I love games like these. It just gives me excitement yet nervousness at the same side.
Chad Guadin got another shot against the M’s. When the Mariners came to town, they snatched two games out of three from us. Chad Guadin pitched in one of the games but got a no decsion. On a gorgeous night at Seattle on Tuesday, he proved that he deserves a win, with bunch of run support from his teammates.
His performance was steller. All he needed to do was pitch seven innings with eleven strikeouts. Chad got jammed in the second with bases loaded but escaped it by getting Ichiro out with a ground ball. That was HUGE. It was definitely a nail biting moment just by watching him handleing that situation. He was great. He tied his career-high eleven strikeouts so he deserves a pat on the back.
Now Chad Guadin has a similar situation as Kevin Correia, the new number one starter. Kevin has been on fire on the mound. He knows what he’s doing and figured out his weakness. I know he doesn’t have eye-popping numbers like Tim Lincecum or Zack Greinke, but stats are not everything to me. Since he is Padres’ new ace, he got things back together. Kevin got his physical and mental minds combined which made him do his best when he is pitching. Kudos go out to him.
As for Chad, his last two outings proved that he fixed whatever he can. It worked! I’m proud of him for getting under control and not worrying too much about the pitch mistakes he threw. His two runs didn’t hurt the team since the offense were able to take care of it.
There were only two strikeouts for the Padres on that game! Almost all the friars got hits and they did that by taking advantages of the Mariners pitchers’ pitch mistakes. Like Adrian Gonzalez. He hit a monster shot towards right field to make it 24th homerun of the season.
Rookie shortstop Everth Cabrera continues to amaze me every day. Even hitting in the ninth hole, he did what he needed to do and finished the game by going 2 for 3 which included two RBI’s. My boy David Eckstein had a strong day and he was 3 for 5 with two runs batted in as well.
OF Scott Hairston was fresh back from DL and had a pretty good game. Scotty got an RBI which was very needed. Since he was off from the crowded disabled list, it was time for Brian Giles to flip-flop with Scott. Brian has a really bad knee right now, just like back in 2007 when he missed more than 30 games. Get better soon man, stinks when a knee is bugging you a lot.
8th inning was wild.
Padres bullpen just could not take advantage of the huge run difference. Greg Burke did most of the damage which included allowing a two run homerun to former Padre Russell Branyan. I didn’t want to bite my nails with my mouth ’cause… well, it’s disgusting and a bad habit. Burke allowed four runs so Edward Mujica needed to finish the tough inning.
Heath Bell did what he needed to do and got his 20th save of the season. He got a pretty rough start since he didn’t know he was going to save. At one point, the Padres were leading by seven runs. Unfortunately, the bullpen couldn’t finish strong. But hey, as long as the Padres win in any way shape of form, I’m cool with that.
Josh Geer for the Padres is looking for his first career win at road in the second game of the three game series. Good luck with that Josh. I’m hoping that he can overcome like Kevin Correia and Chad Guadin.
RANDOM MUSINGS
Kind of disappointed…
This is what former Padre had to say:
“Given my experience in San Diego wasn’t a great one, that left a bitter taste in my mouth,” Greene said. “It felt like the trust factor had been shattered. On the micro-level aspect of it, that didn’t involve the clubhouse, but I really felt soured by that. Here, obviously, they want me to contribute, but at the same time I felt a genuine sympathy for my well being. … I wanted to respond to that.”
As I was reading those words from Khalil, (credits to St. Louis website) he turned me down a bit. On the day he got traded, he specifically told that he would like to thank the Padres, city of San Diego and fans for the opportunity to play for this team for five-plus seasons. That just totally confused me ’cause I didn’t expect him to talk something bad like that when he was a huge favorite among the Padres fans. Definitely MY favorite as well. He’s weird. But he’s my weird guy.
I’m sorry. I still can’t get over with this thing and it’s been months. We are almost into second half of the season! Wow, time just flew by like a jet. So basically, I just want Greenie to be happy with whichever team he is playing for. That’s all I want from him. By the way, he needs 11 more homeruns to reach get number 100 of his career. I believe that he can do that by end of this season.
Tune in for…
my special entries which I will began writing next week. Since I’m leaving San Diego on Saturday night for two weeks, I won’t get to watch the Padres games and do recaps like for almost every single entries. So I want to try something different when I’m going to be away from Padres baseball that I’m really attatched to.
Walk-off victory!!
I missed EVERYTHING ’cause the game happened to take place when I was in school. Anyway, like I said, we won with a walk-off style The hero? My boy DAVID ECKSTIEN!!!!
I just had to put two pictures of David today. Since I was not able to hear or listen to the game, I have to get the facts from the website. So here it is:
Chris Young vs. Dan Haren
Chris Young was on the mound against Dan Haren. For some strange reason, Haren creeps me out. Anyway, Chris’ outing was OK. He lasted 6 innings, gave up 5 hits, 3 runs, 4 walks and struck out 6. He definitely got a no decision today. His overall ERA now is 4.76. That’s a pretty big number. I really hope he can bring it down.
Dan Haren also lasted 6 innings and gave up 3 runs. He struck out 4, gave up 8 hits and walked 2. So his performance was pretty much similar to CY’s.
Bullpen today…
Suprised the heck out of me! Edwin Moreno, Luke Gregerson, Cla Meredith and Heath Bell, of course, gave up no runs and struck four all together. Cla ended up getting the win. That is something I would like to see everyday. Heath is just a phenominal pitcher. His ERA is still ZERO! Zip, nada, none. Cla is 4-0 now. That’s more like a starter’s record! But anyway, that is a greta sign from him. We definitely need his arm.
A comeback
The Padres were trailing 2-0 and eventually tied the score in the fifth inning on two consecutive RBI singles by Edgar Gonzalez and Scott Hairston. After Arizona took a 3-2 lead in the sixth inning, the Padres came back in the bottom of the inning against Haren. I always love comebacks from my boys. That’s the sign that a team is not ready to give up.
Kaybee’s hero and my hero
As you guys know, Kaybee loves Kevin Kouzmanoff and I love David Eckstein. Today was a great game for both of them which means double the cheers and screams. Kevin got three hits today. Two singles and a double. He entered the game with .221 average but boosted up to .239 after those hits. So congrats to Koooz.
But the big hero of the day was David Eckstein! (How many times I said that now?) It was bases loaded for him in the bottom of the tenth with 1 out. He singled off to the right side off of D-Backs’ reliver Esmerling Vasquez. YAY!! This was a great at-bat from David. He was in a HUGE 2 for 27 slump. All he needed to say were “Slow it down, slow it down.”
Ready to face a “new” team
We didn’t face the Houston Astros so that’s what I meant by “new”. This game is going to take place in Texas. Chad Guadin is up against Wandy Rodriguez. Last time, Chad’s outing was not as great. He got the loss and is on the search to seek the 1st victory with the Padres. He has 5.06 ERA right now. That is an ugly number he definitely needs to bring down.
Rodriguez in the other hand is 2-2 with 2.19. He only lasted five innings on his last outing. If the Padres continue to play like today, then I can smell the victory. GO PADRES!!!
Quick note:
This is actually my 70th entry. And thanks to Emily, I now have 400 comments :)
Struggles everywhere
I am REALLY mad right now. Not to the Padres of course. I was writing and writng and I made a mistake while I was writing a link. My entry got vanished and I have to start ALL over again. ARGHHHH!!!
“Sigh” Here I go again.
The Padres’ losing streak extended to six. Last season, their highest was eight back in June. On road trip this past week, their record on road was 1-6, including a sweep in Los Angeles. I really wanted them to get back on track. It didn’t happen. Close, but not quite.
Oh yeah. Sunday’s game. I don’t want to get into too much detail ’cause I really don’t want to talk about the Padres’ “L”. To make a long story short, my boys lost by 7 to 3.
Recap
Rockies vs. Padres at Petco was disappointing. I thank this guy in the picture so much. He was the hero of the game by going 3 for 4 which included a three-run homerun, RBI single and a double. Scott Hairston was one triple shy of hitting a cycle. HUGE credits go to this man. His homerun actually gave a one run lead for the Padres! Unfortunately, it came to an end by Chris Iannetta’s grand slam off of Cla Meredith. One pitch made a differnece of the game. One. If Cla didn’t throw that pitch, we could have won. I swear. However, he was not charged with a loss. Edwin Moreno did. He deserved it because he was the one who gave up pair of walks and a double. Final score was 9 to 6, Rockies.
Kevin struggles
No, not Kevin Kouzmanoff He’s doing fine right now. I’m talking about Kevin Correia, a starting pitcher who was against the Rockies last night. He started off pretty strong but faded away by giaving up five runs with 8 hits. He needed 79 pitches just to get 10 outs. That should not happen when you are on the rotation. His performance as of now is pretty bad.
Bullpen blues
There’s an issue regarding the bullpen for the Padres lately. They blew at least two games! Guys like Duaner Sanchez and Edwin Moreno need to start packing up things. Speaking of bullpen, this man’s name came across my mind three seconds ago. The Padres fans should be familliar with him. So his name?
Mike Adams.
This guy was great last season.He was even on the list for 2008 TYIB’s setup man of the year! Mike finished the season by going 2-3 with 2.48 ERA and 78 strikeouts. He’s injured but he’s doing fine right now. The way bullpen is struggling lately, he need to come back and get back on track.
My thoughts
First of all, the Padres WILL get better throughout the season. I just don’t know when. My boys started off strong this season. But they are starting to lose thier wheels now. It’s frustrating especially when they were first place in NL West at one point! Now the Padres are 11-15 under .500 and 7 and a half games back from first place, the Dodgers. I need to put a sign around the Padres’ clubhouse that says
A “complaint” to those who are starting to give up
You guys don’t get it, do you? Why on Earth would you guys expect more than 100 loses this season already? As of today, the season is still young and there are plenty of baseball actions left. So I’m begging you guys, calm down, relax, and breathe. If you guys are thinking like that, I don’t get why you guys are Padres fans in the first place.
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