Tagged: opening day
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!
The Eve of Opening Day
Tickets for Opening Day!
There are a million cliches about Opening Day that I could probably use in this post. Things like the playing field is level (in terms of standings), everyone is in first place, anything can happen, it’s a clean slate. All of them look forward to the future, to the long season, but ultimately, to the playoffs. The playoffs and then the World Series is the ultimate goal, and the journey starts tomorrow.
From my perspective, it is really a new slate for the boys. We have a new team. We lost so many solid guys over the offseason, and now we have a patchwork of players who aren’t proven. Yet. Tomorrow it begins.
I’m excited. It’s against the Dodgers, which adds a whole new level of intensity to any game. But put Opening Day on top of that…man, it’s going to be intense.
I’m excited beyond belief. Getting to wear my new Padres jersey, to hang out at Petco Park, to be apart of all of the festivities and to watch a game of Padres baseball. It doesn’t get much better than this.
GO PADRES!
P.S. I will be tweeting quite a lot tomorrow: @kaitybergquist
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!
Happy New Year!
2011 is officially over, and 2012 has begun. With that comes a new beginning to the San Diego Padres season. We’ve said our goodbyes to Heath Bell, Jed Hoyer and Mat Latos, and we’ve welcomed Huston Street, Carlos Quentin, Edinson Volquez and of course, Mark Kotsay. There still might be some moves to be made, but it’s time to put the business aside and get down to the game.
We are about three months away from Opening Day.
As usual, I look ahead to the season with excitement, but also a lot of questions.
Are we going to hit? Is our rotation going to be okay? How’s the bullpen going to pan out? Will we still have Anthony Rizzo by the start of the season? And when will the Padres sign Kevin Kouzmanoff already? (He’s currently a free agent.)
Truth is, I have no idea how this team is going to look on Opening Day. I have a good idea of what players will be there, but there are a lot of new guys. I don’t know how well the team will play together or how strong of a team we’ll be.
I don’t think we’re going to do exceptionally well, but we might not do terribly either. It’s all up in the air right now. This year’s team is already looking a ton different from last year’s team.
As always, it’s going to be an adventure.
GO PADRES!
Opening Day Domination!!!!!
Opening Day: there’s nothing quite like it.
Sure, the Padres’ season started last week in St. Louis, but things really started today as the Padres opened at Petco Park. It was an incredible day.
Most touching for everyone in San Diego was Trevor Hoffman throwing out the first pitch. It was a hard couple years, having him gone in Milwaukee. That should have never, ever happened. But no matter what, Trevor is and will always be a Padre. No doubt about it. Trevor ran in from the bullpen to Hell’s Bells to throw out the first pitch. Absolutely breathtaking. We love you Trevor!!!!
Aaron Harang started the game, and seemed to struggle a little in the first few innings. He only gave up one run though, and got out of some jams. He left after six innings, only giving up six hits and two walks with six strikeouts.
The Padres finally broke out with a huge third inning. Nick Hundley led off with a single. Harang bunted him over. Jason Bartlett then walked. After that, Orlando Hudson singled. Jorge Cantu hit a sacrifice fly that should have been a bases-clearing double, but it did drive in a run.
Ryan Ludwick walked to load the bases again, followed by a walk to score a run to Chase Headley. Madison Bumgarner was very helpful in this inning, that’s for sure.
Chris Denorfia singled to bring in our third run of the inning. It was so great. We were gritty, really patient at the plate, and that was rewarded.
Luke Gregerson threw the seventh inning. Mike Adams followed him in the eighth and went 1-2-3.
Let me just say, Cameron Maybin is a beast. It looks like he’s actually going to be able to play in Petco’s outfield, which is so great. I’m loving this guy already.
Nick Hundley was HOT today. He went 3-for-4 with a double and a run scored. He also threw out a potential base stealer at second. It was LEGIT. His batting average right now is .533.
Chris Denorfia also has two hits. I love this guy. He doesn’t get much attention, but he sure contributes a lot to the team.
Heath Bell came in to get the save, and got it easily. It was so cool to start off the game with Trevor and Hell’s Bells and to end the game with Heath Bell.
I am so excited about this win!!!!! It was soooo great to come home and show everyone what we can do. Especially against the Giants. We definitely have a bit of unfinished business with them from last year, so it’s great to start out with such a dominating win like this. I can’t wait for tomorrow’s game!!
My boys are amazing.
GO PADRES!!!
(Photos: ESPN.com/Donald Miralle/Getty Images, Getty Images)
PADRES WIN OPENER!!!!
Besides the fact that I didn’t recognize any of our Opening Day lineup (it’s so different from last year!!), I love the look of the 2011 Padres so far.
Will Venable is an incredible outfielder. He definitely saved the game for us in the top of the 10th inning with a huge grab.
We also turned four double plays, which was key. We didn’t get as many hits as the Cardinals, but we got the same amount of runs, so I guess that’s all that matters.
Our pitching is still getting there. I felt like Tim Stauffer wasn’t all the way on top of his game, but he still did pretty great. He threw six innings, allowing two runs on nine hits. He was followed by Luke Gregerson, Mike Adams, Chad Qualls, and Pat Neshek.
Newcomer Cameron Maybin saved the day with a game-tying home run in the top of the ninth. We kept the Cardinals shut down in the bottom of the ninth, and then went into extra innings.
We then scored two runs in the top of the 11th, thanks to an error by the Cardinals that allowed Chase Headley to score. Nick Hundley then singled in our second run.
Heath Bell came in to the game to get his first save of the season, which he did, 1-2-3.
I’m SOOOOOOOO excited that we won our first game. I know it doesn’t really matter yet so far, but man it feels good. It’s always great to start off the season with a positive win filled with so many great things.
Man, it feels so good to be back. I have a feeling that this is going to be a great season 🙂
GO PADRES!!!!!!!
Ready to Go
It’s only 14 days until Opening Day, and I can’t wait!!!
Tonight’s game against the Rangers made me really excited for the season to start, because I can’t wait to see how we do.
We won 15-5, which always makes me happy. I love it when we have big blowout games like that. I mean, you can tell that it’s going to be a good game when you score your first 12 runs within the first three innings. Yeah. That definitely gives you a good feel for how the game is going to go.
We are opening the 2011 season two weeks from tonight. Two weeks!!!!! Do you have any idea how long I’ve been waiting for this?? Man, last October feels like forever ago!! Finally, we’re going to get back into Padres baseball.
We’ve got a lot to prove this year. I don’t think that people believe in us, even after what we did last year. I guess we weren’t good enough, but compared to what we were in the years past, last year was amazing. I just don’t get it.
Hopefully Padres fever will catch this city again. We’ve got the Best Aztecs Team Ever (GO AZTECS!!!) playing right now, and man, I hope they go all the way. That would fire up this city like nothing else. I think this is exactly what San Diego needs. We need to get fired up about our sports, and if we can get fired up about the Aztecs, I know that we can get fired up about the Padres.
I can’t wait to see how my boys do. Every team has a blank slate at the beginning of the season. Every team has an equal chance. It’s going to be such a good season. I CAN’T WAIT!!!!!!!!!
This is kind of random, but I wanted to put out a quick plug for The Telescope, Palomar College’s student-run newspaper, which I am working on. There’s all sorts of sweet stuff on the website, but especially check out the Watercooler, which is our Palomar sports blog. There is some great stuff there, including the exploits of a certain sports editor competing against a certain women’s track and field team. Keep an eye out for that video, you are not going to want to miss it.
GO PADRES!!!!!!!
#4 = Top Padres Fan Blog in MLBlogs!!
I’ve been here at MLBlogs for man, almost three years now, and I am just so excited and humbled about where this thing has gone.
February’s MLBlogs leaders came out today, and Unfinished Business is #4. That’s the highest that I’ve ever been, and I’m sooooo excited that so many people are passionate about Padres baseball from this fan’s perspective.
This makes me undoubtedly the most popular Padres fan blog on MLBlogs.com. That means so much to me, and it’s kind of amazing.
So thank you. Thank you for consistently reading. I don’t get many comments, but this list is evidence enough that there are lots of people who are reading and enjoying. I’ve probably never met most of you, and I may never meet you in this life, but I want to thank you for reading this blog and being so supportive of my efforts on this blog. I’m so thankful and so excited.
It’s almost time for Padres baseball! Spring Training has been going pretty well, I think. We haven’t won all of our games, but we’re getting back into the swing of things. Lots of people are getting a chance to play. Opening Day is going to be here before we know it!!!
Thank you again. It really means so much.
GO PADRES!!!!!!
Be sure to “like” my blog on Facebook and follow me on Twitter!
17 For The Padres and Top 10 For Me
Yesterday was a great day for Padres fans and all of San Diego. It was Opening Day, it was raining (sort of), and it was so much fun that I could be laughing my head off right now if I really wanted to. Because my Padres, at Petco Park, that pitcher’s park as it’s so often called, scored 17 runs. 17. Yeah, you read that right.
The start of the season on the road wasn’t that great, and definitely not what I was expecting. But then, once we get home in front of a home crowd of 42,843, things really turned on. I think the boys were a little frustrated about their start and everything really came out yesterday.
To start it off, Colbie Caillat sang the National Anthem and Phillip Rivers threw out the first pitch. I’ve heard a lot of theories that one or both of these people sparked out offensive bombing.
Then, as I talked about in yesterday’s entry, Kevin Correia went out there and threw amazingly solid. If he hadn’t been on his game like he was yesterday, things would not have been as pretty. But as it was, he was incredible. He threw 5.2 innings, only allowing two runs, two hits, four walks, and three strikeouts. Doesn’t look like much, but he was solid.
Take a look at the Braves’ Jair Jurrjens’ numbers: He only lasted 3.1 innings, allowing eight runs!! BWAHAHAHAHA!
Going into the bottom of the fourth, we had already scored a run on a Nick Hundley single in the second. But in that fourth inning, things really clicked for the Padres as they sent the Braves’ pitchers down the drain.
It all started with a Chase Headley double, a Will Venable single (then steal of second), and a Nick Hundley walk. I was very excited because we had bases loaded with NO outs, and we just had to get some runs in that inning. If only I’d known.
After that, T-Gwynn walked to drive in our second run. Up next was Kevin Correia, the starting pitcher, and guess what he did? He hit a two-run single!! I was laughing, it was so funny. I mean, you wouldn’t expect the pitcher to come up and actually help himself out, but that’s what happened!
A few batters later, Adrian hit a ground rule double to bring in yet another run. The Braves had seen enough, so they made a pitching change. Little good that would do.
Kyle Blanks doubled in two guys, and then Chase Headley singled in Kyle. Will Venable hit a two-run homer. Kevin Correia finally ended the inning by striking out. All in all, we scored ten runs and got seven hits in that fourth inning. And it was only the fourth inning!
I could not believe what was happening there. It was just so amazing, and so unlike what I’ve been seeing for the last week!
In the bottom of the fifth, Kyle Blanks hit a three-run homer. It was about this time when I realized that Will Venable had had three hit so far in the game: a single, a triple, and a home run. And then I started getting really excited. Like breathing-hard-overwhelmed-with-excitedness excited. Like it could be actually possible that the Padres would get their first ever cycle.
Well, it didn’t happen. Turns out that both Will and Kyle were one hit away at the end, and neither of them got it. But that’s okay. I know (at least I’m hoping) that we will hit for a cycle someday. Even though it’s already been 40 years and it hasn’t happened. It will.
Even though they didn’t reach that goal, they both had incredible nights at the plate. Kyle Blanks had three hits and drove in five runs. Will had three hits, drove in two runs, and scored four runs. Other standouts in this game are David Eckstein, who had three hits, and Chase Headley and Nick Hundley, who each had two hits.
Overall, it was an incredible game. We were 10-for-17 with runners in scoring positon. And hey, we had 19 hits and 17 runs. IT WAS SUCH A SWEET GAME!!!
Another thing that was super exciting for me was when the Latest Leaders list for MLBlogs came out yesterday. I’m #10 on the list!!!
I’m sooooo excited!!! It was totally unexpected and completely uplifting. I’ve been blogging here for almost two years now, and the closest I’d ever been to the top of the list was #15. I’ve always been okay with wherever I was on the list, but it’s just really cool to know that people are reading my stuff and enjoying it too!
I know that I owe big thanks to a few people whose influence is definitely part of this ranking. Gaslamp Ball has been linking my entries on their blog for a while now, and I know that that’s helped me a lot. Thanks so much guys!! RJ’s Fro has also been linking by entries, and I know that that’s had a lot of influence too. I am so grateful to you guys! Thanks so much!!
Thank you also to websites that I’m not aware of who are linking my blog. It always excites me to discover you guys, and thanks so much!
And a HUGE thank you to all my readers. If it wasn’t for you guys, I wouldn’t even have a purpose for blogging here. Thank you so much for getting me to where I am today. I have a blast doing this, and I hope you love reading and I much as I love putting all this together. THANK YOU!!!!!
The Padres have an off-day in the middle of the series, which is a little odd, but I guess they deserve it after that amazing game yesterday. Man, we scored 17 runs!! So cool.
That’s my boys.
GOOOO PADRES!!!
Unfinished Business 