Tagged: mlb
Storify Stories
Thanks to my journalistic connections, I recently discovered this awesome website called Storify where you can pull content from all sorts of websites and make a story. It’s especially effective with Twitter. I made one for Opening Day today, and then made one for tonight’s game. Since Padres fans are such entertaining tweeters and Storify is so much fun, I might make a habit of it. Here are the two that I’ve done so far:
- Padres Opening Day 2012: http://storify.com/kaitybergquist/padres-opening-day-2012
- Padres Lose Again: http://storify.com/kaitybergquist/padres-lose-again
Enjoy!
GO PADRES!
My Opening Day Adventure
Padres pitcher Edison Volquez, who started Thursday's game against the Dodgers. (Photo credit Kaity Bergquist)
Opening Day is magical. When you’re in the ballpark. But when you spend over an hour looking for parking and dealing with horrible traffic before the game, it was hard to settle down and enjoy. But thankfully, we did.
Word to the wise: if there’s a 4:05 Opening Day start, you should probably leave for the ballpark around 8 a.m.
So that was miserable. We missed all of the pre-game festivities. We were sort of able to see the flyover, and we did see Jerry Coleman throw out the first pitch. But that was it.
We were also in the nosebleeds of the nosebleeds, and there were some very unpleasant Dodgers fans up there. Right behind us was a group that was extrememly loud and obnoxious for the entire game. It was miserable having to endure them the whole time. I do not appreciate the fans who come in here and think that this is their stadium, and that they can say whatever they want and insult people as much as they want. There was one guy who was literally insulting Padres fans for the entire last half hour of the game.
Thankfully, Colleen and I are going to be sitting in a classier section for tonight’s game.
The game itself was not good. I was really impressed with Edinson Volquez for the first three innings. He was spot on. But then he suddenly lost it in the fourth inning and walked in two runs. I was not happy.
Though this is a new season, I felt like I was watching last year’s team. Weak offense, somewhat strong pitching with a lot of weak moments, and pathetic defense. We had three errors. None of those helped the cause at all.
We only had five hits in the game. Cameron Maybin had two, one of which was a two-run homer. Jesus Guzman had one, and then the pitcher and a pinch-hitter each had one. That was it. None of our “big” players had any hits at all. Not that we really have any big players, but guys like Chase Headley, Nick Hundley, Orlando Hudson and Chris Denorfia did not contribute.
Hundley did have two exceptional defensive plays, though. In that fourth inning where Volquez was busy having a meltdown, Nick was able to get an out at the plate with the bases loaded. That was HUGE. He also caught a critcal runner stealing.
Pitcher Anthony Bass did well in relief, but Brad Brach did not. He allowed two runs in the eighth. Ernesto Frieri was also okay, but he’s soooo slow.
So overall, a very disappointing game with the 5-3 loss. Not what we were hoping for, that’s for sure. Hopefully we will be able to turn things around tonight.
GO PADRES!
One week until Opening Day!
(mistycabal/Flickr.com)
We are officially one week away from Opening Day. Padres vs. Dodgers. Petco Park. 4:05 first pitch. Be there.
Well, hopefully a lot of you will be there – the game is sold out. Thankfully, I have tickets for the game, and I am so excited because it’ll be my first time at Opening Day.
It’ll also mark the beginning of my sixth season as a Padres fan. Sixth! It doesn’t even feel like it’s been that long.
I feel like the team is in a lot of tumult right now. Our ownership is up in the air. We lost some good players over the offseason. Nobody really knows where any team will stand when we’re here at the beginning, but I feel like we REALLY won’t know how the Padres are going to do. We never do.
We’ve actually done very well this spring training, though. We’re 18-12 right now, which isn’t a bad record for games that don’t matter. I feel like our offense has been pretty strong. I’m SO excited to see how we do next week though. SO excited.
It’s been too long since we’ve had regular season baseball. I can’t wait.
On a small side note (okay not that small), I was at the Journalism Association of Community Colleges State conference last weekend and won first place in the sports competition. It was pretty sweet. We had to cover a women’s lacrosse game between Occidental College and Allegeheny College. I had never watched a lacrosse game in my life, and pretty much didn’t know any of the rules. There were about 60 writers in the competition.
We watched the game, had a press conference, got on a bus and drove back to the hotel, and then had an hour to write the story. I didn’t feel like I had done particularly well or terribly, and I ended up winning first place. So I’m pretty much the best community college sports writer in the STATE. So exciting!
GO PADRES!
Five Years
Where will the Padres be in five years?
Last night I met with a group of girls, and our leader asked us where we saw ourselves in five years. That got me thinking: where will the Padres be in five years?
Well, the big Padres news of the day is that Jeff Moorad is “awfully close” to buying a third of the Padres. The deal may go down as soon as this afternoon! Moorad’s group will have five years to buy the rest of the Padres. So, five years from now, which will be 2014, Moorad will probably be announcing that he’s bought the last share of the Padres. There will be rejoicing in the streets of downtown San Diego.
But it’s really interesting to think about, isn’t it? Will the Padres have a World Series by then?
How will the Padres be doing? Will they be losing 100 games at a regular rate, or was there a miraculous turnaround in 2009 (hint hint) and they went from worst to first? What will the NL West be like?
Who knows with the crazy NL West? In five years, Manny might (should) be retired. In five years, all these young prospects will be taking over the teams. All of the teams in the NL West have a lot of excellent prospects. We’re starting to see some of these guys in the Majors. In five years, all of these teams will probably be ruled by the young guys.
What will MLB be like by then? Will there be any change in the whole steroid situation? Will they start punishing players, making stricter testing? Will Bud Selig still be the commish?
Will I still be running this blog by then? I’ll be in college, so I might not be posting as much. But who knows how long this blog will even be here, you know. It’s gotta end someday, but I wonder how long I’ll be able to keep it up. Of course, I would love to do it for the rest of my life, but who knows what will come up.
Five years…five new World Champions…five seasons of baseball…so much could happen in five years. I see my Padres with a new owner, a new philosophy, and being highly competitive. With all the young prospects up here, we will be a solid team. A threat even. I’m going to go out on a limb here and predict (though I hate predictions) that my Padres will get a World Series sometime in the next five years. There it is.
Where do you see your team in five years?
Yesterday the Padres aquired pitcher Eulogio De La Cruz from the Marlins for cash considerations. Seems like a pretty good move. We need arms, we need pitching that can do well. Right now, I think the rotation will be Jake Peavy, Chris Young, Walter Silva, Shawn Hill, and Kevin Correia. I’d say just get Baek out of there. He’s been doing horrible.
Yesterday we lost 8-4. Kevin Correia allowed six runs. Cla Meredith hasn’t given up a run yet this spring (YES!!). Henry Blanco had a homer. David Eckstein went 3-for-3. Adrian Gonzalez had two hits.
Today we are off. Tomorrow we are playing the A’s. Our country boy Jake Peavy will be starting, followed by newly signed Shawn Hill. I’m excited to hear Jake pitch again. It’s been a long time!!
I can’t believe Opening Day is so soon! I mean, Jake will start again on Wednesday, I think, and then his next start will be Opening Day! And of course, the day before Opening Day is Fan Day!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHH!! It’s going to be here before I know it, seriously.
In some exciting news, I am going to get to go to a Padres game with my brother’s baseball team! It’s in May, and we’re thinking about getting field level seats! We can get a great discount, so that would be so much fun. I can’t wait! It’s going to be great to get out there and watch a game.
My ten-year-old brother had a game last night. I didn’t get to watch it, but I wish I had. My brother got an infield hit, and then the ball got thrown past first or something and he ended up at third. The next batter drove him in! I knew he would get his first hit when I wasn’t there! But they won 10-something, and my brother got the game ball! I’m so excited for him, and I’ll definitely be out there for his next game on Saturday morning!
Hope you all have a great day!
GO PADRES!!!
(photo credits: mlblogs.com, nothingbutballs.com, ryanagraves.com)
The Hope of the Playoffs
Well, in Padres news over the weekend, Jody Gerut signed a contract for 2009. This is pretty exciting because Jody was a very positive part of 2008. He’s a center fielder who was out of baseball because of surgery to both knees. Now he’s back, and he did an excellent job last year. This does make me wonder what our center field situtation will be. Obviously, I think Jody will get the majority of the time out there. But Will Venable showed us that he can play center very well when he was up here at the end of the year. But if he’s up here, he needs to be playing. It will be very interesting.
OK, as most of my readers should know, I really do not like football. But it has come to my attention lately that I need to broaden my sports knowledge, which means that I need to learn about America’s most popular sport, football. So I watched a little college football on Saturday. It was fascinating. I’m still learning, but it’s actually pretty cool to watch all these guys crash into each other. And I knew a lot more than I thought I would.
Anyways, I would like to talk about the San Diego Chargers. Believe me, I cannot stand the Chargers. The memorabilia is all over San Diego, and they are so much bigger than the Padres. I do not like it. BUT if anyone is following the NFL closely, they will know about this situation between the Chargers and the Broncos. Yesterday, the Chargers won 41-24 against Tampa Bay. The Broncos lost, so now the AFC West will be decided next Sunday in San Diego. I’ve already said that I don’t like the Chargers, but when the hope of playoffs comes here, all San Diego sports fans get excited. Doesn’t matter if it’s the Padres, the Chargers, the college teams. Successful playoff teams are so rare here in San Diego, and we get so excited about the potential playoff team. I am so excited about this game on Sunday! It’s pretty insane since I hate the Chargers and I’m not even going to be watching it. But I will be keeping track of the score on the Internet and the radio. Games like this are so exciting, no matter what sport. Whoever wins this game will go to the playoffs. Whoever loses will have the season over. The hope of a Superbowl is there if you just get to the playoffs. Same with the Padres. If they win the NL West, all fans see the far hope, the World Series. Now, I really don’t know if the Chargers have the talent or the pieces to win this game next Sunday. They’ve been pretty bad all year, but we’ll just have to see. It will be very exciting, that’s for sure. I’m looking forward to it.
Well, it’s raining again!! Sounds like we’re going to have big storms all week, which will be amazing. Only 3 days ’til Christmas!
Unfinished Business 
