Hello Tejada and Goodbye Dodgers

July 30, 2010

Yesterday was a great day for the San Diego Padres. Not only did we win the series against the Dodgers with a walk-off, but we also aquired veteran infielder Miguel Tejada.

I just gotta talk about this trade for a bit here because I can’t believe how good it was. When I first saw that we had traded for him, I thought, great, we probably had to give up something big. Imagine my shock when I saw that all it took to get him was a Double-A pitcher named Wynn Pelzer. I think it’s a good sign when you’ve never even heard of that player. I hadn’t, so I figured that he wasn’t that essential to the Padres’ farm system.

I figured that if the Padres were going to make a move at all, it would be something slightly big but not franchise-shaking in terms of us losing something. I’d say that we got a great deal here. I’m really amazed, actually, about how good this was. I’m also really happy that the Padres were able to get right up there with lots of other big teams who wanted this guy, and we came up on top. If this was two, three years ago, we wouldn’t even try to go for this guy. He would be as impossible to get as a A-Rod for the San Diego Padres. But times are changing.

And I absolutely love what Miguel said yesterday: “Now I go into a situation where I can get a ring. It’s not easy to get a ring. It’s a lot of hard work. Now I’m going to have an opportunity.”

How cool is that!?!?!?!! I am so psyched that we would be looked at like that. Most of the time, it was the players who were leaving us who would say stuff like that. But now, players are saying that about us!! It makes me so happy 🙂

I think this was a great deal made by the Padres. Miguel will help us in the middle infield, especially with Eck out, and he’s still got a great bat. I’m really excited about having him on the team. Welcome to San Diego, Miguel.

The other great part about yesterday was beating LA. I got to watch the entire game for free, which was a huge treat. I loved being able to see my boys! It was a ton of fun to watch it.

Mat Latos started the game. He only went five innings, but he allowed two runs (one earned) while striking out seven.

In the bottom of the first, we got our first run on a Chase Headley single. Latos allowed a home run right away in the next inning, so that lead was short lived.

Then we took the lead again in the fourth. Chase Headley walk, Yorvit Torrealba double. Top fifth, Dodgers tied it again.

So we went on for a super long time without scoring. Our bullpen was great, no surprise there. Joe Thacher, Ryan Webb, Luke Gregerson. Heath Bell took the top of the ninth in a tie game.

In the bottom of the ninth, we got down to business. Scott Hairston singled, Tony Gwynn sac-bunted him over, setting up Oscar Salazar. It took eight pitches, but he finally was able to get the bat on one and sent it through the middle. Scotty scored, and we won!!

It was a great series, and I’m so happy that we won it! It’s always great to get two-out-of-three, but especially against the Dodgers. Our first-place lead is very safe and looking good as ever.

I was really pleased with the crowds we got during this series. Of course, I’m sure we were helped out a lot by Dodger fans, but that’s okay. It’s our home turf. Yesterday we had 42,000!!! Big shoutout to all the Padres fans for getting out there and supporting our boys.

I’m super excited about Padres baseball right now. We’ve got a three game series against the Marlins for the weekend, and then it’s off to Dodger Stadium for four. That’s going to be crazy!

Go first-place Padres.

GO FIRST-PLACE PADRES!!!!

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Written by Kaity Bergquist Posted in Dailies Tagged with chase headley, dodgers, mat latos, miguel tejada, oscar salazar, padres