Tagged: mlblogs

#5 ♥

Well, it’s been four days since the season ended. It’s been rough, that’s for sure. Especially since everyone who thought that the Padres were not going anywhere this season are back in full force saying, I told you so! It’s extremely frustrating, but what can you do. The only consolement I’m getting is that I believed all season and I didn’t give up. I was right there with my boys the whole time, and man they had an incredible season.

As the offseason goes on, I’ll be writing some season-rememberance stuff, but right now I kind of want to review my personal season of blogging.

Let me tell you, this year has been absolutely amazing. I didn’t blog as consistently as I have in years past, but this blog has really had a great year. In 2009, I was around the 20s in the Latest Leader list. This season I jumped up to number 10 and number 11. That’s where I was for most of the year until I jumped up to #6 in August and now, I was #5 in the top fan blogs list. I’m soooo excited!!!

If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you know that my all-time favorite baseball player is Kevin Kouzmanoff, whose number is 5. I’ve always wanted to be #5 on the list so that I could do a dedication to him and I’m soo excited that it’s finally happened!!

Since there’s a lot of recaps going around, I’m going to review Kouz’s season. I didn’t really talk about him much this season because I was so focused on the Padres’ first-place dominance, but I think it’ll be cool to see how he did after he was so sadly shipped away from the Padres.

Kouz was traded to the Oakland A’s on January 16th, 2010, in exchange for Scott Hairston and Aaron Cunningham.

He hit .247 with 16 homers and 71 RBIs. He played in 143 games, and of course, his back acted up near the end of the season and he was out for a few weeks.

His fielding stats, though, are no where near as impressive as last year. Remember that when he had three errors all season and a .990 fielding percentage and he didn’t get a Gold Glove? That was so sad. Man. But anyways, he had 12 errors this year, and a .968 fielding percentage. So, not too bad, but not as great as last year.

On another matter, he’s still as adorable as ever 😉

5kouz.jpg

I missed you a lot this season, Kouz. Definitely not the same without you, and your trade even effected my fanhood just a little. I’m glad you had a great season with the A’s, and I hope that someday you’ll be able to play in San Diego again. Love you!!!!!

Thank you guys sooo much for your great support. Thank you for getting me to #5. This blog would be meaningless if no one read it, so thank you so much for reading. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy putting it together. You guys are amazing!!!! 

GO PADRES!!! GO KEVIN KOUZMANOFF!!! GO #5!!!!

Happy 2nd Birthday, Unfinished Business!

First, I have to apologize for being so stupid that I didn’t even know my own blog’s birthdate. For some reason, I was completely convinced that it was the 28th of June until yesterday I dug all the way back in the archives and realized that it was actually the 23rd. Oops. So, this is a little late, but better late than never 🙂

This has been a very interesting year in my fanhood. Only about a month after this blog’s first anniversary, our ace and homegrown boy Jake Peavy was traded. I was extremely upset at the Padres for that, and it was a rough time to go through. Surprisingly, I can look back on that trade and say that it really was for the best. The team has gained a lot more than it lost.

It was also during this year that I lost my all-time favorite baseball player, Kevin Kouzmanoff. That was even harder than losing Jake. Even now, I don’t see a good, solid reason why they had to trade my baby. Obviously we did get some good players in return for him (Scott Hairston and Aaron Cunningham) but I think we could have gone without them. Sigh. We can’t change what happened but no matter where he goes, Kouzie will always be my favorite baseball player.

In the second half of the season last year, the Padres really picked things up. I don’t know what it was, but I think it had a lot to do with all the young guys coming up and getting consistent playing time. The youth movement worked really well.

We didn’t really leave our last-place standing in the NL West, but we were winning consistently, and that was good enough. All through the offseason, the big question was, are the Padres going to keep playing like that next season? Is this second half going to carry over? Is this winning thing really going to stick?

It was in this time of uncertainty that I really started to think about the nature of my fanhood. I’m a die-hard Padres fan. But as I saw all these San Diego icons leaving, I had to really examine what my fanhood was. And in that, I realized that I am a Padres fan. I am a fan of the team. It doesn’t really matter who the players are, as long as there are 25 guys on that roster, I cheer for them no matter what. Kevin Kouzmanoff was a HUGE part of my fanhood, but when he was taken away, what was left? It was just the team. It was just the San Diego Padres.

I think the Kouz trade really did effect my fanhood in a bad way, though. I have not been as motivated to listen to the games, or to blog, or to follow the Padres at all. Obviously, I am a huge Padres fan, but your fanhood is enriched so much more when you’ve got a special player to look out for and to cheer for. Ever since Kouz was kicked out, I haven’t had that. It’s kind of been rough, but I know that my fanhood will pull through and hopefully get a second wind. Hopefull I’ll be able to find a new Padres favorite soon. Lance Zawadzki was getting pretty close to that spot, but then the Padres sent him down. Boo.

This is my fourth year of being a Padres fan. Isn’t it amazing how fast time goes by? For two of those years I’ve been absolutely priveledged to be a part of the MLBlogs community. It’s been so much fun blogging here. I am so thankful that I got to be in this group of baseball lovers. I don’t think my blog would be doing as well if I was at an independant website. Being a part of this group is so much fun! I am extremely happy to be here and to be celebrating two years of blogging!

I expanded my horizons a little this year. Instead of promoting my blog exclusively in MLBlogs, I started connecting with some of the other Padres blogs out there like Gaslamp Ball, RJ’s Fro, and the Friarhood. I also extended into Facebook and Twitter for promoting.

I really would encourage you guys to “become a fan” of or “like” or whatever it is they call it these days on the blog’s Facebook page. Every time I put up an entry I post the link on that page. I think it’s helpful to people so that they don’t have to remember to go to my blog everyday, they can just see the link on their Facebook newsfeeds and go straight to it from there. 

I don’t really tweet that much, usually the only times I do is when I don’t have anything else to do and I’m listening to the game…which isn’t often. I don’t always post the links to my entries every day either, so the Facebook page would be the better place to go. But I’m going to try to be better about updating both consistently.

Okay, here’s some stats:

Rankings: MLBlogs Latest Leaders List (over the past two years): 44, 30, 21, 25, 24, 31, 23, 22, 36, 29, 31, 31, 21, 19, 15, 17, 21, 19, 22, 18, 10, 11, 11 

MLBlogs 2009 Leaders: #20 (out of 100)

Entries: 463

Comments: 2279 

Hits: I think I’m getting about 2,000 hits a week.

Here are a few of my favorite entries from the past year:

     Lamenting the heat and our losing trends.

     I was soooo upset about the Padres getting no-hit that I abandoned the them for a   weekend and fled to the Red Sox.

     The Padres were able to stay out of last place for quite a while, but all good things come to an end…

Thank you so much to everyone here at MLBlogs. I love this place and it’s been so much fun blogging with you all. Thank you for making this an amazing experience for me. I love reading your blogs!

Thank you so much to all the guys at Gaslamp Ball, RJ’s Fro, and the Friarhood. Your blogs are all so great and so much fun to read. I am extremely grateful to you guys for linking my entires and blog on yours. I know it’s helped my readership a ton and I can’t thank you enough!! It’s a pleasure to be part of such an elite group of Padres bloggers!

Thank you so much to my MLBlogs Padres buddies, Hyun Young and John!! Both of you, it’s so much fun to talk Padres on Facebook and Twitter. Hyun Young, it’s so much fun to hang out with you at Petco and your love of the Padres inspires me. I still want to meet Eck sometime! 

Thank you to all my readers. I’ve said it time and time again, but without you guys, there would be no purpose for me to write this blog. Thanks for putting up with me through the good times and the bad. Thank you for all the support and the comments. You guys are amazing!

Here’s a shoutout to everyone I personally know who reads this blog. You know who you are. Thanks so much for supporting my fanhood and this blog. It always thrills me so much when one of you comes up to me and tells me that you’ve been reading it. Thank you thank you thank you!

Thanks to my Twitter followers and my Facebook fans. Thanks to my amazing family and super amazing friends. I love you guys!

Thanks to my Heavenly Father, who has blessed me so much. Without You I am nothing. May I always give glory to You in everything that I do.

Happy birthday to you

Happy birthday to you

Happy birthday dear Unfinished Business

Happy birthday to you 

happybirthdayunfinishedbusiness.jpg Thank you all so much.

GO FIRST-PLACE PADRES!!

Thank You

First off, I am super pumped and excited about the huge feature on the front page of MLBlogs for me and my blog. It was after the game yesterday afternoon when I randomly checked the front page, and it totally shocked me. And I mean shocked. I’ve been the featured blog before, but this was just amazing! Thanks so much to all you guys for reading and supporting me as I blog about these tough Padres. You guys are amazing. I’m just thankful that God’s given me the ability to write and that I can be in this great community of baseball fans. Thank you!

Yesterday, the Padres did not do too well. I had the radio on for almost the entire game, but I really didn’t catch much of it mostly because I was chatting with Jeff Moorad (more on that later). 

Kevin Correia started, giving up three runs in five innings. The big blast was a two-run homer to Chris Iannetta. The bullpen wasn’t that great. Cla Meredith gave up three runs. Arturo Lopez made his major league debut and didn’t get an out. Luis Perdomo and Edwin Moreno pitched well, but the damage was done by then.

On the offensive side, all you can say is Aaron Cook and Adrian Gonzalez. Cook absolutely shut us down. He basically didn’t allow anything until the seventh. Adrian hit a solo homer, then Henry Blanco hit a two-runner later in the inning. In the eighth, Adrian hit his second homer of the day, this time a two-run shot. We got within two runs, but we lost 7-5.

adriantwohomers.jpgWith his eighth and ninth homers of the season yesterday, Adrian broke the Padres record for homers in April. But that doesn’t matter to him, since they didn’t win the game.

And yes, we were wearing the sand uniforms. I tried to warn them!! Those things need to be burned. Incinerated. Pulverized. Destroyed!!

Yesterday afternoon, Jeff Moorad particiapated in an online chat with a bunch of fans. I was one of them. I submitted nine questions and five of them got answered, so that was pretty cool. Jeff talked with the fans for an hour, which surprised me. Last time I did a chat, it was with Chase Headley and he did only half an hour.

Jeff got a lot of good questions, and he answered them pretty well. It was a lot of fun to participate in! But they didn’t give him my question about getting Trevor back…

My favorite part of the chat:

peavy44fan: Do you think the Padres could win the World Series?

j_moorad: I won’t rest until we do.

I love that about him. He’s totally commited to bringing a World Series to San Diego. It’s very cool. Here’s the chat trascript if you would like to read it: Padres CEO Moorad chats with fans 

moorad.jpgIt was a sad day for Padres baseball since we lost the game and the series to the Rockies, but we’re still in second place, only 2.5 games behind. It just amazes me that we can be so bad, play so terribly, and still be doing very well in the division. That’s the NL West for you. Colorado took the series from us, but they are still at the bottom of the NL West and still 2.5 games behind us. Crazy…

But now we are going to play the division-leading Dodgers for four games at Dodger Stadium. Maybe we can overtake them! Haha. That would be pretty cool, though. We have to get a series split at least. Tonight Josh Geer is pitching against James McDonald.

GO PADRES!!!!

(photo credits: mlb.com, padres.com)   

Bases Loaded

The game yesterday wasn’t the best. We lost to the Angels 10-5. Ugh. Cha Seung Baek gave up nine runs. I don’t think we want him as the third starter. At least I certainly don’t! Adrian Gonzalez got his first homer of the spring, so that was good. But yeah. Just another spring loss.

What I really want to write about is a book I just read, called Bases Loaded: The Inside Story of the Steroid Era in Baseball by the Central Figure in the Mitchell Report by Kirk Radomski. The only reason I picked up this book was because it was new in the baseball section at my library, and it’s really rare to get a new baseball book in there. But it also looked interesting, and I decided that I needed to be better informed about this steroid problem that is sweeping baseball.

radomskibook.jpgI have to admit that I haven’t really been interested in the whole Mitchell Report and all the hearings with Rodger Clemens and all that. I’m just a fan, and all I really care about is watching my Padres play some good baseball. If it was one of my players being accused like that, I would definitely be more interested, but it’s not like that. This book was captivating. I read it in about 5-6 hours over the course of two days. I am a pretty fast reader, but that’s still impressive.

Kirk Radomski was a batboy and then a clubhouse attendant for the New York Mets. He was really into bodybuilding and nutrition, so when the players started asking questions about their diets and what vitamins they should be taking and stuff, he would help them. It was natural to him to do whatever the players asked. When some of them started getting interested in steroids, he would get some for them. To him, it was just like getting some vitamins or running an errand for them. Just getting steroids for a player turned into a huge operation of supplying the majority of baseball with steroids and ultimately human growth hormone. When he was finally caught, he was the first breakthrough for the people working on the Mitchell Report. He supplied them with thousands of checks from the players and trainers who had bought from him. He also supplied them with a huge list of names.

This book is fascinating. What’s incredible to me is that he was able to supply players with juice for so long and nobody ever stopped him. With great storytelling, this book is a breeze to read through. At least, it was for me. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to look at baseball the same. I hate to think that any of my Padres have been or are taking juice, but I’m sure it’s happening. This guy is brilliant in terms of nutrition and the effect of steriods and HGH. He can tell when a player is juicing, and even what he is using by just looking at him. It’s pretty incredible.

This book isn’t for all baseball fans, but if you’re interested in the “steroid era”, I would highly recommend it. But if you’re not really that interested, there are better baseball books to read.

I am very excited that the Brewer’s A-Z ballpark guide is FINALLY up. I’ve been checking it everyday for days, and now it’s finally here! The reason I wanted it so badly was so I could get the Brewer’s fanmail address and send some of my tributes to Trevor. So, that will be fun to work on! I doubt that he will reply, but maybe he will read them.

I am also REALLY excited about the Fan Day!! Naturally, I’ve been thinking, planning, and daydreaming about it for the last 24 hours. It’s going to be sooooo much fun!!

Today the Padres are playing the Indians. Wow, how many times have we played the Indians? I think this is the third time this spring!!

  • CF Jody Gerut
  • 2B David Eckstein
  • RF Brian Giles
  • 1B Adrian Gonzalez
  • DH Cliff Floyd
  • LF Chase Headley
  • 3B Edgar Gonzalez
  • C Henry Blanco
  • SS Luis Rodriguez

Kevin Correia will be starting. Heath Bell will also pitch. Let’s see how the rotation candidate will do today. Maybe he won’t give up that many runs!!

Have a great day!

GO PADRES!!!!

(photo credit: nydailynews.com)  

A Letter to My Father

To my dearest father:

Dad, as you know, the Padres are having their Fan Day on Sunday, April 5, 2009 from noon to 4pm. As you also know, I would really really really like to go. But you have seemed kind of hesitant in making a decision about us going, so I decided to help convince you. 
the field.JPG

Wasn’t last year so much fun? We got to see the clubhouse, the dugout, and we even got to walk on the field. You don’t get that opportunity every day!

Let me start off by reminding you that last year we had to pay $5 per ticket. This time, there is no fee to get in, as in, it’s free! Of course, you say that it’s not really free, because we have to pay for gas and parking and time. But just think of the $5 you are saving! If we had to pay to get in, it would be a much more expensive trip!

There will be players and coaches signing autographs at this event. The Padres have a lot of young, upcoming players on the team this year. If I’m able to get their autographs, I promise that if this economic situation gets so bad that we’re desperate for money, I will consider giving up the autogrpahs to sell so we can get some food. Hopefully the economic situation won’t get that bad for a few years, so that these young players are famous by then. (Of course, if the economic situation gets that bad, nobody will be wanting to buy any autographs, but moving on…)

us-money-photo.jpgAnd yes, of course the Fan Fest will be trying to wrestle money from us in other ways. We can eat before so we don’t have to buy any food. And we don’t even have to go into the Padres’ Annual Garage Sale with game-used jerseys and batting helmets, even though the proceeds benefit the Padres Foundation for Children. I have enough Padres shirts. So, we can avoid those “tourist traps” at all costs.

This year, we would get to watch a special team workout. The players will be getting in last-minute shape for Opening Day, which will be the next day. I mean, how often do you get a chance to watch the players workout? Hey – maybe you can get some ideas to help condition my brothers better for baseball this year!

How long has it been since I was at the ballpark? Let’s see…about seven months! After that long, hard offseason, I think I need to get out the ballpark, see the new players on this team, and talk with other baseball fans. It’s been so long since I’ve been out to the ballpark, and I think I need to get out there to renew my hope for our Padres. I’ve been sitting here all offseason blogging about these Padres. I think it’s time to go to the scene, to get the scoop live. Plus, I need to interact with other baseball fans. Another Padres blogger here, Hyun Young, is going. It would be really neat to meet her and talk about our Padres! 

Of course, all my friends here at the blogosphere would love for me to go, too. We all pull for each other in stuff like this, and they all know how much I suffered in the offseason. I know they would love to see pictures and hear how my Padres are doing. Check out this great support I’ve recieved:

  • I hope you get to fanfest! – Julia
  • I hope you get to Fanfest! – Melissa (wow, Julia and Melissa are thinking the same thing!)
  • I hope you get to go to Fanfest, Kaybee. I bet you will. Then you’ll have great pix and posts to share with us! – Jane
  • Hope you have fun at the fanfest! – Bob (that’s the spirit, Bob!)
  • The fanfest sounds delightfully fun. Convince your parents, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see the 2009 Padres in person! – Caroline
  • I’m sure Fan Day would be a lot of fun! – Sue
  • Hopefully you can get to Fan day, I’m sure you’d have a ton of fun. – Canuck
  • I hope you can go Kaybee! – Julia
  • I really hope you can go the Fan Fest! It would be great to meet you in person. – Hyun Young
  • I hope you get to go. There’s nothing like meeting players and hanging out with baseball fans. – Jen 

           And Dad, if you say no, I’ll be OK with that. Of course, I will be disappointed, and maybe a little upset, but whatever you say goes. I know the timing is a little inconvenient because it’s a Sunday and the first one of the month at that. I understand if you feel that we should be sticking around at church to help out. Of course, we could get there a little late. We don’t need to be there right at 12. But if you say no, let’s just plan early for next year’s fan fest.

It just seem like a waste of a great opportunity. I mean, autographs, getting close to the players, having fun with other Padres fans, heading out to Petco Park. FREE! It would be so much fun! But as I said, it’s not the end of the world of you say no.

begging girl.jpgPlease, Daddy?

Oh, and Dad – the Fan Day is in two weeks. We don’t have much time left to decide!

I love you! Your dear doting darling daughter,

Kaybee

(photo credits: tree hugger.com, istockphoto.com)                              

Can’t Keep Up

UPDATE: Be sure to vote for me in Max Madness! Thank you so much!

  • 10-8 Mariners

We tried. I mean, the offense was great. But once again, in a trend that we’ve been seeing all week, the hitting just can’t keep up with the pitching.

Cha Seung Baek got a five-run lead before he even took the mound. For my Padres, that’s great! It’s always good to get a big lead early. But the pitching just can’t keep those runs in check. Baek went 4.1 innings, giving up six runs on eight hits. The Padres then sent Mike DeMark to the mound. I have never heard of this guy. I think he’s with Single-A Lake Elsinore. I don’t know why the Padres even had him in camp. This was DeMark’s first time facing major league batters, so maybe we can forgive him. But he gave up four runs. Ivan Nova, Cla Meredith, and Scott Patterson then had a scoreless inning each. But if DeMark hadn’t pitched, the score would have been 8-6 Padres. I mean, some other pitcher might have gone in who gave up even more runs, but I’m just saying. Oh well. I am pleased with the three guys who had scoreless innings, but Baek not so much. He has not been doing well this spring. I don’t want him in my rotation if he’s going to pitch like this!

We hit really well. As I mentioned, we got five runs in the top of the first. Catcher Eliezer Alfonso had two hits and two errors. Cliff Floyd went three-for-three. I am really excited about having Floyd off the bench. I think he will do very well for us. Adrian Gonzalez, playing for the first time since he got back from the WBC, had two hits! Jody Gerut and Luis Rodriguez also had two hits each. Our hitters are ready. That much is obvious. And I think the offense will be a lot better than it was last year. It’s the pitching that’s going to kill us this season.

Still no word if I can go to the Padres Fan Day, but I had a dream last night that I was going. It’s in two weeks!!

Today is the first day of spring!

daisy-3.jpgHere in San Diego, it’s really foggy outside. I think we might get rain this weekend. This happens like ever year. Yesterday, it was in the 80s. Today, it will be foggy all morning. It will probably clear up later, but it doesn’t look like spring out there right now. This San Diego weather is so funny…but I love it 🙂

Jake Peavy is starting the USA’s game against Japan on Sunday. I really hope he does well and doesn’t hurt himself. It’s going to be a great game!

Today we are playing the Cubs in Mesa. Kevin Correia will be starting for the Padres. Let’s see if the offense can keep up with the pitching today…

GO PADRES!!!

(photo credit: motherearthsgarden.com)

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)  

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!!!