Tagged: kevin towers
It’s Over
On Sunday, the San Diego Padres’ 2009 season came to an end. My boys’ record was 75-87, 20 games behind in the NL West. They ended with a sad loss to the Giants, but this season on the whole was not a loss. Some amazing things happened here in San Diego, and it’s definitely going to be a season to remember.
I can’t believe it’s really over, man. Over the last two months of the season, I was so busy that I wasn’t able to listen to as many Padres games as I would have wanted to. Now I can’t listen to any Padres baseball until March. It’s kind of sad. It was really weird for me to be able to just sit there and listen to the game on Sunday. It had been a long time since I had been able to sit down and really listen to a game. I love listening to the games. It’s kind of sad that it’s over.
Our season ended when Kevin Kouzmanoff struck out in the bottom of the tenth with two runners on. It was a long, crazy game. The Giants took an early lead, 3-0. We didn’t score until the bottom of the sixth. David Eckstein came up with a runner on. He hit his second homer of the year to pull us within one run. Eck is obviously not a home run hitter, but his value to this team in unmeasurable. You don’t see it in his numbers, but he’s been just incredible this year. I don’t think this team would have the postitive outlook on next year that we have if we didn’t have David Eckstein. He’s brought so much to this team! Both of his homers were in essential situations this year. His first was against the Mets in the bottom of the ninth. We had two runners on, but two outs. I think we were down to our last strike, trailing by three runs. Suddenly, Eck hit a three-run homer to tie the game. Even thought we lost the game later, that was just huge. The one on Sunday was pretty much the same.
We tied the game in the bottom of the seventh on a wild pitch by Randy Johnson. Unfortunately, neither team was able to get anything until the top of the tenth.
Earlier in the game, the Padres had intentionally walked Pablo Sandoval in a situation when the Giants could have scored. But for some terrible reason, they didn’t walk him in the top of the ninth. It cost them their season. Sandoval hit a solo homer, and the Padres were unable to capitalize in the bottom of the inning. Thus ended the Padres’ 2009 season.
It was kind of frustrating that we ended the season on such a bad note. I mean, we won practically every series in the month of September, and we just had to go and lose to the Giants. It puts a sour taste on the season to end like that, you know? We could have at least won the last game! Oh well. What’s done is done.
It’s going to be a really interesting offseason for the Padres as changes are made. The changes actually started before the end of the season, when General Manager Kevin Towers was fired on Friday. I’m still not sure what I think about that. KT was an incredible GM. He made a lot of great deals. He got us Trevor Hoffman, he drafted Jake Peavy, he got Adrian and CY in a very lopsided trade, and he even got a treadmill for a catcher once! But then, of course, we have to look at the negatives. We only won four titles under him. We only got to one World Series. His number one draft picks all ended up terribly. He kicked Trevor out, he traded Jake away. He’s an expert at making a team with very little money. But what I think it comes down to is the championships. Sure, he built some great teams, but he didn’t get them to the Big Show. Thanks for all the years, KT.
Trevor Hoffman re-signed with the Brewers yesterday. How rude. Trevor’s got 591 saves now. Oh my. I just thought of something very sad. He’s going to get his 600th with the Brewers! Aw man. I miss him, I really do. It kills me that he’s going to get such a big milestone with the Brewers. TREVOR!!!!
Now I need to talk about my dear Kouz, who has had an outstanding season. He only had three errors in 309 chances. That’s a .990 fielding percentage! Incredible. So incredible, in fact, that the Hall of Fame has asked him for a glove that he used during the season. He said he won’t give them his “gamer,” but they will be getting a glove that he used in this amazing season. Will he win a Gold Glove? Probably not, but I think he’s starting to get some notice around baseball. This dude is incredible, people. Believe me, I know 🙂 Love you Koozie!!
Well, we’ve got a big playoff game tonight. A Game 163, to be exact, between the Twins and the Tigers. I can’t believe that there have been three of those in three years! That’s amazing. I feel bad for you Twins and Tigers fans ’cause these games are so stressing. Just make sure you dude touches the plate in the bottom of the thirteenth, and everthing will be good…
I’m wearing my Red Sox shirt today, and I’m ready for these playoffs to start. It’s going to be great!! I can’t wait.
GO RED SOX!!!
Always Belong to Us
As some of you may have heard, LaDanian Tomlinson signed a restuctured three-year contract with the San Diego Chargers last week. To be honest, it really went under my radar. I heard a snippet in the morning news on the radio, but that was it. Then again, I don’t listen to sports radio, so I probably missed it. After the Chargers lost in the playoffs, I realized that I had jumped on the bandwagon, and once they were done, I jumped right off. Now I don’t want anything to do with football. It’s baseball time. So, I am not here to talk about LT that much. Yeah, I’ve gotta talk about Trevor…again.
Trevor Hoffman and LaDainian Tomlinson are two major San Diego sports icons. Trevor was here for sixteen seasons. LT has been here for eight years. In fact, he was drafted by the Chargers. Now, there’s no doubt that both of these men have made huge impacts on the city of San Diego, both on the field and off. I don’t know if it’s just because they don’t like the Padres, but people are comparing Trevor to LT and saying that Trevor has less class because he left.
On Sunday I read the weekly letters to the editor in the sports section of the Union-Tribune. Aw man that drove me nuts! First off, there’s one from a man who lives in San Diego and says that, “…in the end he (Trevor) did not demonstrate the class of the athlete we had thought we knew so well.” This guy is talking about the fact that Trevor “takes the bigger money to leave town.” Uh, correction! Trevor was kicked out of San Diego. He didn’t have a choice but to leave. Sure, he could have taken the $4 million, but the Padres’ front office didn’t want him back. That was obvious. I mean, $4 million, no options. Not good enough. The front office did not treat him with the respect he deserves and has earned over all these years in San Diego!! Trevor’s brought so much to this city, and to this team! It was one of the worst things the Padres’ front office has ever done.
Tony Gwynn spend twenty years in a Padres uniform. He was never part of another team. He certainly took less money to stay in San Diego. And guess what? Trevor has done that too. The last time Trevor was a free agent, the Indians offered him a great contract. He could have been gone years ago. But he stayed with the Padres, with a much lower contract. He did that because he loves San Diego, just like Tony Gwynn. He would not leave it if he could help it. Trevor did not leave San Diego willingly this offseason. He was forced to. You can’t sign with a team if they don’t want you. Merely hours before his signing with the Brewers, he contacted the Padres again, to see if there was any hope of negotiations. The Padres said no. THEY DON’T WANT HIM!!! I don’t know why. I’ve been struggling with this all offseason.
So now he’s with the Brewers. He still loves San Diego. It is my hope that he will be back here to pitch again for his team next year. But Trevor didn’t sign with the Dodgers. He could have. The Dodgers look like they are going to be very good this year. They have a chance to go deep into the postseason. Plus, they were just up the road. But he know what that would do to Padres fans. He wants to be here, but to make it easier for the San Diego fans, he signed with the Brewers. It also helped that the Brewers pursued him. Probably more than LA did.
Another letter in the Union-Tribune said: “Tim Sullivan’s column, ‘CEO Spanos makes it clear…’ was so very nice, and right on. For the first time ever, he made me cry. Specifically, his line, ‘LT might play for some other team, but he will always belong to us,’ brought tears to my eyes. Trading LaDainian Tomlinson to another team at this stage of his career would be akin to the Padres trading Tony Gwynn to the Dodgers…” etc etc. Do you see it? You could use this letter to perfectly describe Trevor! “Trevor might play for some other team, but he will always belong to us.” “Trading Trevor Hoffman to another team at this stage of his career would be akin to the Padres trading LaDainion Tomlinson to the Raiders…” I think you get the point.
Trevor is as good of a person and a player as LT. And though the city of San Diego gets to enjoy watching LT play for at least three more years, we’re not going to have our all-time saves leader here, at least not yet. Padres GM Kevin Towers has said that he would at least like Trevor to sign with the Padres, get one save, and that would be enough. I agree. We would love to have him here longer, like a whole season, but if that’s all he’s got left in him, we will settle with one game. Just to see him again in that Padres uniform, to hear Hell’s Bells ringing through Petco Park for one last time, to see him pitch, would be incredible. I want to be at that game.
So, that’s what we true die-hard Padres fans are longing for. We want our closer back. Maybe one more game. Maybe one more season. We just want him back in San Diego. He will always belong to us. And we want him back where he belongs.
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Be sure to check out the Max Madness that’s going on over at the Max blog. My turn will be coming around sometime in the next few days, and I would really appreciate votes! I’m going up against another popular blog, so it will be a battle to see who comes out on top. But it’s all in fun, so I would love to move up, but if not, I won’t boycott MLBlogs or anything 🙂 Thanks for the votes!
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Today the Padres are playing the Los Angeles Angels in Peoria. I have no idea who’s starting. All I know is that the game is at 1 pm and that Kyle Blanks will be playing first.
UPDATE: Corey Brock posted his entry just after I posted mine, so I now have the lineup:
CF Jody Gerut
2B David Eckstein
RF Brian Giles
3B Kevin Kouzmanoff
1B Kyle Blanks
LF Chase Headley
C Eliezer Alfonso
SS Luis Rodriguez
SP Josh Geer
Followed by pitchers Greg Burke, Scott Patterson, Ivan Nova and Mark Worrell. Geer is supposed to go five innings.
Looks like Team Mexico got eliminated last night, so the Gonzalez boys and Scotty Hairston should be back in camp soon. That will be good. But tonight is a do-or-die game for Team USA. That will be very interesting. Team USA is dealing with a lot of injuries right now. This is pretty concerning. These guys need to be ready to play in the regular season!
Also, I’d like to welcome back Friar Fan, who started a Padres blog late last year and is now getting back into it. It’s so great to get all these Padres bloggers here! I am very excited. This blog never really got welcomed into the community, so go say hi!
Well, today is St. Patrick’s Day. I’m pretty sure I have some Irish blood somewhere from my parents, but a holiday isn’t a holiday if you don’t get work and school off. That’s what I think. And plus, I don’t like the color green. So, I’m a big St. Patrick’s Day humbug, but Happy St. Patrick’s Day anyway!
GO PADRES!!!!
(editor’s letters quotes credit to the San Diego Union-Tribune)
We’re Saved!
Yesterday, the Padres announced that current owner John Moores has agreed to sell the team to Jeff Moorad. Moorad will only buy one-third of it for now, but over the course of five or so years, he will eventually get majority control. Moores will stay in an ownership postion until Moorad takes full control. Moorad will become the CEO once the deal gets done. Current CEO Sandy Alderson will then step down.
This is pretty much the best Padres news we’ve had this off-season. Like I’ve said before, a new owner equals new hope for Padres fans. We now have a new person who is gaining control. He will do things differently from Moores. He will have different and hopefully better ways of doing things. The way he helped the Diamondbacks was amazing. I mean, he could really help us out of this pit. I truly think that with him here, we will eventually get our payroll up, and that we will have a winning ballclub here. Within five years, I think we will be very competitive. We’re going to be building from bottom up. Our best prospects are starting to come up. As the years go on, more and more of our highest prospects are going to be coming up here and making a difference. This is so exciting!
And I do want to give credit to John Moores, Sandy Alderson, and Kevin Towers, though. Moores did a lot for this club, some good, some bad. He got us into Petco Park, and that was huge. But he drove Trevor out of San Diego. That was not good. But these guys did a lot for the Padres, though everything fell apart at the end. Moores will still be around the organization, but Alderson will be stepping down. I don’t know what KT will be doing, but he will probably stick around for a while.
Most Padres seem very happy about this. I know I am. Some of them are wary because Moores will still be around, but this is just great. We are taking a big step in the right direction. I am very excited. Padres fans have hope for the future. It’s going to be great!
I got #36 today in the Latest Leaders. I don’t think I’ll be able to find a prominent Padres player who had 36…so I dedicate it to whoever wears 36 in our minor league system! Haha, I’ll do more research on that…
(Photo credit: padres.com)
Padres sign two players, etc
Yesterday, Trevor Hoffman officially signed a one-year, $6 million deal with incentives with the Milwaukee Brewers. Wow, that picture looks so weird! Anyways, I wonder if there will be a press conference. Trevor probably doesn’t want all the attention, but the Brewers might want it. “Hell’s Bells” will be playing in Miller Park this year. We are going to miss him.
For those who recommened that I send my entry Why Trevor? to the Padres’ front office, it’s in the mail right now. I have no idea if they will ever get to it, but it was certainly worth a try. Last night I remembered that General Manager Kevin Towers never watched Trevor when he went out to get a save. KT was too superstitous. New theory: since KT has never seen it, he doesn’t know how much it means to Padres fans! Right…
In other Padres news, we signed two players! Last year, we signed pitcher Mark Prior to a one-year deal. He got hurt, had surgery, and didn’t throw a pich for us even in a Spring Training game. Now the Padres have given him a second chance. It will be very interesting to see if he can come back after all his rehab and do well for the Padres. He has not piched since 2006, but I hope he can do well. Depending on his spring, he might be in the rotation. Let’s see: Jake Peavy, Chris Young, Cha Sueng Baek, Mark Prior, and Kevin Correia. I like it! But I think there will be a bit of a competition for those last two spots. Josh Geer and Wade LeBlanc might be in there, too.
We also signed second baseman Chris Burke. This is a bit strange, since we have Edgar Gonzalez, Travis Denker, Matt Antonelli and possibly Luis Rodriguez in the mix for second. But Burke is very versatile. He’s played first, second, shortstop, third, and even outfield. He will probably get a look at shortstop. Maybe he will be platooning with Rodriguez?? We’ll have to see.
Also, this a bit late, but Jim Rice and Rickey Henderson got elected to the Hall of Fame on Monday. I wasn’t around during their careers, but from what I’ve heard, they both deserve it. Henderson did play with the Padres for a few years, and he seems like quite the character. Congratulations to both of these guys!
Just wanted to thank you all for your great response to my tribute to Trevor. I actually wrote that when I first heard that he became a free agent in early November. I am going to find the Brewers’ fan mail address and send Trevor a printout of that page. It’s the least I can do for the all-time saves leader.
Jake still a Padre (for now)!!!
For the past three months, the Padres have been trying to trade Jake Peavy. A deal with the Atlanta Braves fell through, and now a deal with the Cubs has fallen through. They talked all through the Winter Meetings, but yesterday the Cubs withdrew from the deal. So, we are still burdened by Jake’s $11 million salary for next year. There is a little talk about the Angels being interested, but I think Texiera and Burnett need to get signed before Jake can move. Kevin Towers said that if Jake didn’t get traded by the end of the Winter Meetings, they will most likely pull him off the block, for the fans’ sake and for his. If a deal’s going to be made, it’s gotta be made soon. This is very unfair to the fans, the team, Jake and his agent to keep it going. Let me tell you, I am so relieved that Jake didn’t get traded yesterday. I wasn’t able to check all day, and eventually I panicked, convinced that he had been traded. But then I got to check, and it was soo relieving to see that the deal was off. But I still can’t relax, cause Jake might very well still be going somewhere.
The Padres got two players in the Rule 5 draft. Ivan Nova, a pitcher, and Everth Cabrera, a shortstop. Both guys look like very good players.
The MLBLOGS leaders for the year came out this week. I got #74 and #90. Hmmm. Well, it is really cool to be on the list, I have absolutely loved blogging here. It’s pretty cool.
The weather next week in San Diego is going to be in the 50s. I am so excited, because I abslolutely love cold weather. It’s going to be amazing.
Well, the Winter Meetings are over. But things are happening like crazy. Lots of deals are going to made in the next few weeks. GO PADRES!!!
Unfinished Business 