Padres Fans Since '76

Gaslamp Ball down

2005-07-24T07:37:00.000-07:00

So I dusted this thing off. There's no ETA on when Gaslamp Ball will be back. It's a shame really as we were getting a lot of visitors. Padres fans wanting to know about the trades. Orioles fans wanting to know about Nevin. Cubs fans wanting to know about Sosa. Reds fans wanting to know about minor league pitchers.

Oh well. If it stays down for too long, then I guess I'll have to actually write something here. In the meantime, we wait for Nevin's answer regarding the trade...

Just a reminder...

2005-04-05T13:10:00.000-07:00

If you're looking for new Padres Fans Since '76 posts, you can find them at Gaslamp Ball. New address... Same Padres fans since '76.

Anonymous thinks I'm an Idiot re: Petco Park

2005-03-30T09:25:00.000-08:00

Anonymous says:

Are you guys complete idiots?
I completly disagree with you review on the park.
First of all:
#5. There isn't much unique to San Diego about the park. Couldn't they have given it a mission theme or something?

What the heck, did you guys not notice the tile represents the cliffs of torrey pines, the white steel (oppose to other parks green/grey) represents our skies and white water ocean, the unique foods like rubios, Anthonys, Oggis, that only SD has. The friar bell (mission), the beautiful san diego wildflowers growing all over the park?...

I don't like those employees holding signs to make you wait to go to your seat between pitches either.
...Every ballpark has this, it's a courtesy and not mandatory!

9. So many Ads, it was worse when it first opened. The scoreboard was so distracting.
Well, they pay for the park inorder for you toenjoy the Padres, I agree it looks like someone let a 3 year old color all over the park, but they're paying good money and it makes everything cheaper in the end. It's a new park, deal with it.

Not sure how I missed all that. White steel = skies and ocean... check. Egyptian Tile = Torrey Pines... check. You are really stretching here. To be honest Mission Federal Credit Union looks more San Diego then the ballpark.

The signs are still dumb.

The tax payers paid for a nice big chunk of this park so I don't owe Moores any favors. What's that Ad money really done for us? NOTHING has gotten cheaper. The ballpark looks tacky and Moores hasn't increased our payroll. The ticket prices and food prices have doubled or tripled. The Padres and Moores have plenty of money. It is a new park and I have dealt with it, in my review.

Burroughs and Nady

2005-03-24T08:28:00.000-08:00

I remember watching that Channel 4 one on one with Burroughs and he was roommates with X. Nady at El Mirage Apartments in Mission Valley. I wonder if there is any trouble at home with the two of them fighting for the same position at 3rd base. I bet Burroughs will refuse to take out the trash or pay the electric bill because he knows X. Nady hates that.

Ducksnorts has moved!

2005-03-23T09:12:00.000-08:00

Ducksnorts has moved to a new site. I like the lay out of the new site a lot better. Well done Geoff.

That being said, did anybody hear Flan call it a "duck fart" last night? Jerry was so disappointed in him. He wouldn't even repeat it. What a gentleman. He requested that Tim Flannery call it a "Flare".

I wonder if Geoff considered calling his site "Duckfarts". It's catchy.

Oh yeah we've moved too, but PFS76 will still be around too.

We got the call... We goin' to the show, man... We goin' to the show...

2005-03-21T23:05:00.000-08:00

Well, in an amazing turn of events... Blez from Athletic's Nation has asked us to blog for SportsBlogs Inc. Actually, he apprently asked Kevin, at Padres Nation then Geoff from Ducksnorts before finally, he got tired of rejection, and asked us.

Now you may say to yourself... (ahem, Jon and Sheona)... You may say to yourself that being the third choice out of like 5 choices ain't all that great. Well, I say to you, we're really easy. Easy to almost the point of being skanky. And while some baseball fans may like their blogs intellectual and thought provoking... Other fans like skanks. (That reminds me of a good story, from an opening day I went to with Jon. I'll post it on the new site, but suffice to say it ended with a slightly overweight, slightly skanky woman saying to me, "I got some free Cracker Jack right here." I don't know what that means either.)

So, if you want to read more about how we feel about Ted Leitner shaving his pubic hair or why jbox doesn't like the Pad Squad. Then come on over! We'll hold a spot for you.

Update: We'll be at Gaslamp Ball. Update your bookmarks accordingly.

Ugliest uniforms in baseball history

2005-03-21T13:27:00.000-08:00

In the latest Astros Q&A on the official site, somebody asks what the worst uniforms were in modern baseball history, Astros or Padres. They ask Astros broadcaster, Jim Deshaies:

...most definitely, the Padres yellow and brown combination from the 1970s was worse than the Astros' orange-yellow-purple-red pattern.

"The mustardy-brown combination they had going on was really ugly," Deshaies said. "They've been good in recent times but that stands out to me."

Deshaies kind of liked the rainbow uniforms.

"They were ugly, but they were ugly/cool. The Padres thing was just ugly."

You know who else wore a rainbow on his shirt? Captain EO. Now you may think that rainbows are prettier than mustard and brown, and that's OK, but at least we didn't dress like Captain EO.

2005-03-21T10:57:00.000-08:00

I watched a bit of the game yesterday on channel 4. I missed the broadcast the week before so this is the first I saw of it, but Bochy's got a sick goatee going. That's a good lookin' dude with that goatee. It somehow adds definition to his face. He always looked a little bit emotionless when they'd show him on TV, but now, he looks gritty and vivacious. Like a mountain man. I'm sure it will really do well with guys like Klesko, Nevin and Giles who can appreciate a well groomed man.

Also, jbox and I had a Guy's Night Out (GNO) on Friday and hit the bookstore and Jack-in-the-Box. Our normal GNO would have included a trip to Target, but this was abbreviated as Jon wasn't with us. I picked up a copy of San Diego Padres 1969-2002 A Complete History. Not very well titled I suppose. I've read up to 1978 so far. I'll post a review when I'm done, then let jbox read it. There's some great trivia questions though. I love trivia.

Finally, it looks like there's an active competition for third base. Nady at third would be awesome. Especially for my wife's cousin Sara. At the games she could shout from her family's seats at Nady and yell things like, "Yoohoo!" and "Tall dark and handsome! Over here!" Then when she catches his eye, she can bat her lashes a little bit and wave a little white hanky. When he gives her a wink in response, it will set her heart aflutter. Sara, it's true. Don't even deny it.

Former Padre Ego Retires

2005-03-20T08:53:00.000-08:00

I don't think any former or current Padre had one the size of Roberto Alomar (dude, I'm talking about his ego here) who announced his retirement yesterday. I remember back in my husky days getting this guy's autograph on his rookie baseball card.

Afterward, I realized that I probably devalued the card by doing this. Turns out it didn't really matter as Alomar's on-the-field antics and fading career took this card's value with it. Adios Senor Alomar!

Padres Preview

2005-03-20T07:49:00.000-08:00

Geoff from Ducksnorts has posted his Padres Preview at the Baseball Think Factory. I just finished reading it and there shouldn't be too many surprises if you already read his site. What I'm high on this season is our bench and bullpen. Last season was the first where I remember thinking, gosh we're kinda deep. This year should also be awesome as long as Sweeney keeps his entrance music.

We'll have to do our own preview and predictions. I can't imagine it being anything as informative as Geoff's, considering the kind of stuff we usually write about, but maybe we'll get lucky. I'm sure it will include predictions like, "Klesko will grow his hair out long again and return to previous form, a la Samson. This will also spark his return to shaking his head luxuriously after removing his batting helmet to get his golden locks out of his eyes." So be on the lookout!

In other news...
Brian Hiro of the NC Times profiles Aki Otsuka. Aki's not getting the attention he was and is starting to feel it:

"I'm sad," Otsuka said this week, laughing. "I want more attention."

Bochy better curb that. That growing ego will help no one. Ben Davis, Ruben Rivera... Aki Otsuka?

The anatomy of a fairweather fan

2005-03-19T09:58:00.000-08:00

Here's the ingredients for creating your very own fairweather fan:

1. Expansion team - Since we came about in '69, only relatively recently have there been people who can claim themselves as a Padres fans, born and raised. And even more rare still is the fan who can claim "Padres fan, born and raised, and so was my mom and dad". And the guy who goes back two generations doesn't exist. This leads to...

2. Different allegiances - Quick count, how many people do you know count the Padres as their second favorite team. Our transplants may root as loud as anybody at the games for our Friars, and genuinely will want the Padres to win, but just wait till the Cubs/Cardinals/Reds/Pirates/Dodgers/Giants come to town. You grill these once "diehard" fans on why they're wearing the visiting team's colors and all they can reply is, "but I was born and raised this way."

3. Pessimistic local media - Personally, I think it's annoying when the Padres are losing and I hear Leitner refer to them as "your Padres". Then, when they're winning, it's "my Padres". I know some people think it's endearing, and it's Leitner being Leitner, but those people are the ones who have different allegiances. People who can say, yeah the Padres lost, but at least my Cubbies won. What about us fans, born and raised? How does that sound to us? Are you with us or against us? Well, sometimes I'm with you, and other times your on your own. I tell you, it's confusing. And some wonder why historically, fans haven't shown up when the Pads are losing. People listen to a loss and you get the announcer blaming the loss on you. Who wants that?

All that said, this news becomes a test. A test of faith. Listen to your buddies for the next few days. See how many of them see the possibility of Peavy losing time and say, "Well, it's just like the Padres." Then, read this and forget about what a jackass Bush was last year (Matt Bush my sensitive Republican friends). Forget about that, and try to think good thoughts. Happy, positive thoughts. I'll try to do the same.

The Fighting Boy Geniuses of San Diego

2005-03-18T20:27:00.000-08:00

These posts recently have been so mean spirited. I think I'm taking in roids by osmosis from c-span and espnews, but the only effect I'm feeling is the rage part. Jbox too. That Gwynn post was mean.

Thankfully... Our fantasy teams have been picked! I have to go over my team a bit and see about making some moves, but check out my rotation and bullpen: Peavy, Ollie Perez, and my own personal coup: ALL THREE HEADS OF THE THREE HEADED MONSTER!

That's right, even though my offense looks amazingly weak - my best hitter is Berkman, and he's out for a little bit - I have the Padres dream 1-2 punch of pitchers and the heart of (in my humble opinion) the league's best bullpen. If we could have had Ollie and Peavy this year as they both mature... Oh I salivate at the thought. Luckily, thanks to the magic of fantasy baseball, they can be together not only in our imaginations, but on my team... The Boy Geniuses.

And the Three Headed Monster. I know it was silly to bump up Linebrink and Otsuka when it probably cost me all kinds of hitters, but I have to think about the confidence these guys will instill in the rest of my rotation. You having trouble in the 5th, boys? Don't worry. Three headed monster to the rescue.

By the way, I almost had the opportunity to meet Scott Linebrink while Jess and I were in Austin. We went to the Round Rock winter banquet. I shook Nolan Ryan's hand and had dinner with Reese Ryan and his lovely wife. Reese is a hearty eater. Not an especially big guy girthwise, but man, he can put the food away. It wasn't until later in the dinner did the MC mention that Scott Linebrink was in attendance. My offseason addled mind, combined with the delicious dinner and watching Reese Ryan literally inhale his food, prevented me from registering that it was the Scott Linebrink until after the dinner and we were in the parking lot.

A shame, really. I would've liked to have met him as he turned me into a fan after last season. At least he's on my fantasy team now. I'll be able to treat him to a fat contract with all the perks.

Now, I just better check out my competition...

Oh, a funny story about Nolan Ryan. The whole reason we were at the winter banquet was because Jess's brother was MVP on the Round Rock Express last season. We were guests of some distinction! Which, I guess, was why they trusted our rag tag group to sit with Nolan's son (I'm talking about my in-laws, wife and Brooks' better half, also a Jessie).

Anyways, it was up to Brooks to introduce us to Nolan, but having only met the Hall of Famer once, he was a bit flustered. Going down the line, he introduced his wife, Jessie, as "my wife Jessie" and his sister, also named Jessie, as "my wife Jessie". Then he introduced me as "Dex". So, as far as Nolan Ryan could tell, the MVP of the baseball team he owns is a bigamist with a fondness for Jessies and has a man servant. Nolan, to his credit, just kinda nodded sheepishly and shook all our hands like he's always meeting perverts like us.

OK, story time over. I gotta check out my team!

Gwynn should be investigated

2005-03-18T09:32:00.000-08:00

People make such a big deal about how McGwire and Bonds were real skinny then turned into the hulk later in their career. They believe that this is proof that they used steroids.

I have a theory that Tony Gwynn has been using Weight Gain. I mean seriously look at the evidence. Is this stuff illegal in MLB? Well it should be!

THE EVIDENCE:

+

=

Congress should really look into this. I'm just kidding Gwynn, but you deserved that after you got real cranky at that autograph signing I went to. Now we're EVEN!

Flashback:
I always like this ESPN article

Baseball vs. Congress

2005-03-18T08:49:00.000-08:00

Professional baseball players sure look awkward when they are out of their element. That was my first thought when watching the replay on CSPAN last night.

McGwire was an embarassment. His comments were ridiculous. He looked funny with those reading glasses and weird skinny neck.

Sosa didn't know how to use the microphone and I didn't realize how badly he speaks english. I wonder if it was a defense mechanism. Like the some congressman asked him a question and he replied "I don't how to question..." and then starts shaking his head, like he doesn't understand anything. I wish I could find a transcript, all his answers were really strange.

Rafael Palmeiro looked insanely smooth. Like a big bottle of lotion. He had a nice denial and I was tempted to believe him. Maybe it was the smoothness.

Schilling looked the least like a professional athlete. I thought he was pretty stupid thinking that MLB could clean up it's own problem. I expected him to be smarter. I heard about him using all these computers to study hitters and such, so I thought he'd be kinda intelligent sounding. Turns out, not so much. (This from a guy who writes articles about the Pad Squad).

Canseco is just funny because he sincerely believe that he's smart. The way he really tries to put nice sentences together but they just never seem to work out.

They should give all these guys a night in jail for being dumb.

Back to business...

2005-03-18T08:40:00.000-08:00

(Jbox, here's some wine snobbery for you.)

Someday, when we all become rich from blogging, I'm going to buy a winery in wine country, and I'll produce a grape. A grape that produces a slightly yellow wine. It will be very wet and sloppy and yet extremely bitter. Occasionally, the wine will do something nice for you, but the immediate aftertaste will leave you annoyed. I'll force people to drink my wine, even though they may not want to. I'll be able to do this because I'll have a no trade clause in the wine's contract. I'll call it... (did I wait too long for the punchline?).... the Klesko!

It's good to know that after yesterday's hearings, we can go back to what Padres fans have come to expect... more whine! Klesko style!

"It's not just the dimensions. The ball hangs up in the salt air. I was surprised when I saw the park, but what are you going to do?

"Will they admit that they were wrong? No. Will they bring in the fences? No.

Can you taste the bitterness? The wetness? Keep in mind, this is a very expensive wine that prevents you from buying something truly refreshing, like a Dr Pepper.

On Yoga:

"I like the program," he said. "It's a great way to start the morning. The stretching has a reason. You can feel that. It's the right type of stretching. I will continue to use the yoga. My back has felt great."

Well, we're all glad that his majesty approves.

New leadership for baseball

2005-03-17T18:10:00.000-08:00

Sorry about my previous outburst. I'm all better now. These hearings were fascinating. I especially liked the insinuation that perhaps there should be some wholesale changes happening in baseball's leadership. I never really liked Bud Selig myself.

And what was up with the gapped tooth guy constantly rolling his eyes and shaking his head and audibly muttering under his breath. Man, that guy had a pair. I was waiting and waiting for a congressman to walk over and smack him, but it never happened. Why doesn't cool stuff like that happen?

I remember in college, when I used to have a subscription to Maxim, reading an article about a bodybuilder on roids. Or maybe it was in Stuff. Details? Whatever. In any case, the article was really disgusting, because the roids ended up giving him such bad constipation, he literally tore himself a new one to relieve the pain. Does anybody else remember that article? I mean, dude tore himself a new one.

If they want to have a PSA video that really works, you just have a reenactment of that scene. Ask a high school kid if he wants to go through that. I mean shrunken testicles is one thing. Roid rage? Please! Their coaches encourage aggressive behavior. But having to tear yourself a new one because you haven't been able to go for 2 weeks. Ummmm... yeah... I think I'll be playing golf this spring...

We gotta get regular baseball talk going again. This is getting distasteful.

I officially hate Mark McGwire

2005-03-17T13:29:00.000-08:00

Who does this guy think he is? I'm watching the CBS Feed. Every answer McGwire gives is, "I'm not here to talk about the past. I'm here to turn this into a positive."

When asked what led to him eventually using Andro, McGwire goes on with, "I'm not here to talk about the past. I only want to turn this into a positive."

A positive!? Hey McGwire, you prick. You scumbag. You two faced red haired jerk. Ain't no POSITIVE on this subject. It infuriates me to listen to this LYING CHEATER take the fifth and talk about "positives".

(I said I "hate" him... I've gone to the dark side.)

What Did Jerry Do Today? Vol. V

2005-03-17T12:51:00.000-08:00

He got up.

He went to the ballpark at 8 o'clock. He called somebody in San Diego about an article on him. Eventually, to avoid excess conversation, he faxed over his biography.

Today was also a wash day. Left the dryer running.

For breakfast, he was in the mood for bacon, but it was gone by the time he got to breakfast. He accused the "snuffers" of eating all the bacon before he could have some.

Before getting to the park, he discovered that somebody was in his parking space. Number 116. When he eventually got the space for his car, a lady came up and gave him grief for taking her space. They had words.

Baseball's solution to the steroid problem

2005-03-17T11:30:00.000-08:00

From ESPN

Eliot Pellman, Major League Baseball's medical advisor, likened steroid use to an "insidious, contagious disease," but defended baseball's current program. Pellman said that a new video will be shown to players, who will also have access to a special hotline.

WOAH THERE! Slow it down, buddy. Maybe we should start with a few fliers and a web page. A special hotline and video is pushing the budget just a tad. No need to do more than we have to!

I would love to have seen the forehead slaps that followed this statement. This sounds like a little kid trying to come with an answer to the timeless parental question, "How do you think you should be punished?"

"Ummm... I guess I could skip watching Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles at 4 o'clock and only watch Mucha Lucha..."

I mean really, a video and a hotline? Pellman... You're sitting in a CONGRESSIONAL HEARING! Nobody wants to hear about your crappy video and phone counselors. Jeez.

Steroid Hearing Today

2005-03-17T08:55:00.000-08:00

Is there someplace to listen to this live? I'm not in front of a TV. I'm looking at the ESPN.com scorecard. It looks like it'd be interesting to listen to.

[Tom Davis (R-Va.)] cited studies that suggest that high school athletes think steroids are less harmful and that the number of high school athletes that have taken steroids has tripled over the last decade.

To be honest, I don't think it matters that that athletes think steroids are less harmful than before. Malcolm Gladwell talks about cigarette smokers in his book The Tipping Point. When smokers were asked how many years they thought they were losing due to smoking, the average was 9 years. In reality, studies estimate smokers are, on average, losing about 6 years of life due to smoking. So the people who smoke think it's more dangerous than it actually is, and yet they continue.

To paraphrase his conclusions (perhaps badly), people smoke because it's cool. The promised chance of death and exclusion from non-smoking prudes only makes it that much cooler.

What does that mean when it comes to steroids? It means that obviously, if something's not actively killing you, people don't care about what happens down the road. It also means that steroids have apparently become kinda cool which is really unfortunate for the integrity of the game as well as the health of our children.

Your children, really. I'm concerned about your children. I don't got kids yet. If a son of mine decided to use steroids, ain't no roid rage gonna save him from the whoopin' he'll get when his dad gets to him. He'll have to call his huge yolked out Arnoldesque buddies to pull me off him.

Loretta having a Gwynn Like Year

2005-03-16T14:56:00.000-08:00

Here's a nice yahoo article on Loretta acting all Gwynn-like. I'd like to thank my secret source for the link.

Red Sox and QEFTSG

2005-03-16T13:17:00.000-08:00

Yahoo news brings the Red Sox outta the closet.

Although I think the Billy Bean the former Padre was the first MLB player to come out after his retirement.

Here's an interview with Klesko and Towers about the prospect of an openly gay active player.

“It’s one of those things; no matter what, you’re going to have your guys that aren’t going to be happy about it,” Padres first baseman Ryan Klesko told the Times. “Obviously you shower together and do a lot of stuff together. For a lot of guys, they would be somewhat tentative about it.”

Through the magic of the internet...

2005-03-16T12:18:00.000-08:00

...I'm able to listen to the game, while chatting with Kev and my brother, even though we're all in different places. And furthermore, I pass this information on to you. Magically! Like unicorns. Oh and Ted Leitner's taking a break day even though he had one yesterday. Lazy bum. We get a full 9 innings of Flan wherein we can judge him.

Update 12:54PM: They're talking schmack about our Padres over at Athletics Nation. I tried to create a user account real quick to defend our boys, but it takes 24 hours before I can comment. Those guys have thought of everything. Here's what they're saying in their mock play by play:

Brawl

Khalil Greene tries to take Beane down, but Billy just swats him off like a mosquito. And now Ryan Klesko has grabbed Beane's dog! And he's... oh my God... this, this can't be... he's dry humping Billy Beane's dog!

Man, I hope Jess's 12 year old cousin and his prospective 11 year old girlfriend aren't reading this. They talk nasty up in Oakland. And besides... everybody knows Burroughs is the dog humper on the team.

Update 1:13PM: So the A's open up a big inning on a couple errors and a homerun by Byrns. No joke, here's what Kev chats to me (I'm busrider):

Kev says:
i love that Burns [sic] guy
...
busrider says:
ah jeez
busrider says:
look at kev dude
Kev says:
at the A's games, they play Burn Baby Burn when he comes up to bat
busrider says:
already rooting for the other team
Kev says:
i'd take Burns [sic] over Greene any day
...
Kev says:
i forget they spell it Byrnes
Kev says:
i wish we had that kendall guy

When you hear about fairweather Padres fans, they're talking about Kev.

Update 12:35PM: Well, the A's won. I turned it off for a bit at 12-1 or something, and just checked in to verify. Haces la vida.

Fantasy Baseball Notice

2005-03-16T10:00:00.000-08:00

If you have a team for the Padres Fans Since '76 Fantasy Baseball League, then this is your second notice that we'll be drafting the teams this weekend instead of the 28th. The first notice was on the Yahoo discussion board for the league. There's already been accusations of collusion between QuakerLaner and Death to Infidels and the Tijuana Tequilas have threatened to call Don Fehr (as in "fear") to mediate.

In short, it's a good preseason when it starts with some scandal.

So get your draft list ready by St. Patrick's day, cause the draft will run sometime after that!

Padres and Yoga

2005-03-15T20:59:00.000-08:00

Anybody know the difference between Yoga and Pilates? Thankfully I don't either.

Do you remember stories about Ted Williams swinging an axe all off-season? Or swinging three weighted bats until he couldn't lift his arms?

What's happened to today's baseball players and especially the Padres doing both Yoga and Pilates?

I didn't even read this article I was so disgusted. I'm sure it's much better for you and helps and all, but come on! I like my baseball teams like I like my coffee, HOT! I guess if yoga and pilates is gonna help with that then I'll let them slide... for now.

Uhhh yeah... lemme throw the focus on Klesko quick:

But the consensus is that yoga will help the 2005 Padres.

"I love it – all the guys love it," said left fielder Ryan Klesko, who joined the pitchers for yesterday's session. "It's been good for my hips."

You would love it Klesko! Stop talking about your hips, dude. Nobody cares!

Spring Cleaning

2005-03-15T11:59:00.000-08:00

No game today, so I did a little tidying up around here. Spring cleaning if you will.

First off, I finally removed that poll on the sidebar there. I think it had ceased to work for some time now. Peavy won, in case you were wondering. I also added some links. First off is David's blog. He's said really nice things about us and comments regularly. He also offers opinions on baseball. That's always good.

The other link there is a PFS76 project. I've finally decided to harness my annoyance towards Ted Leitner in a useful way. Maybe you've noticed the What Did Jerry Do Today? posts. If you didn't know, Ted Leitner likes to ask Jerry Coleman what he does from day to day. Now, Jerry Coleman is no longer a young man, and though he does lead an interesting life, his day to day stories are droll at best, banal at worst. I thought it would make for interesting reading to gather them all together. I was doing it here whenever I had the chance. I think I got four... out of 11 games or so. I've come to the conclusion that they're too tough to keep up with. Between doing other things, watching the game on TV or in person, and just not paying attention while listening to Leitner drone, I'm positive I'll miss them and I'd like to be more complete in the regular season. So I'm going to try to remedy by creating a new blog that gathers together his daily items. If you notice that I missed a day, and you feel so inclined, post a quick description in the comments there. It would be very helpful.

Finally, by popular demand, I signed us up for a vanity e-mail address at Padres.com. If you need to get a hold of us, and are too shy to comment anonymously, you can e-mail us there. Or I guess if there's some bit of news that we miss, or if you want us to make an appearance at a birthday party for some reason, you can state your intentions there as well.

Queer Eye For the Karaoke Cowboy

2005-03-14T12:52:00.000-08:00

This will be a good episode. What's great about this is if Yankee fan gives BoSox fan grief about getting makeovers from gay dudes, BoSox fan always has this.

By the way, I know a reader of this blog who's way into Queer Eye. I won't say his name, but he lives in St. Louis. As for me, I always work hair products in from back to front.

Morning news

2005-03-14T08:42:00.000-08:00

I wish people associated with the Padres would shut up about the steroids thing.

"I don't see how Bud could've done a better job," Moores said. "How could he? Bud has been on top of the steroids issue. He was on top of it before the yahoos in Congress had any thought on steroids, and I think that's how it's going to shake out."

Here's the thing, Moores. Screw when Congress caught wind of it¹. That's not who you should be accountable to. If I can remember having debates with my buddies, for years now, about who's on steroids and people are writing about it in books and scouting reports on guys basically beg them to juice up ("solid defense, but could use more power")... Then maybe waiting until the government "yahoos" have decided to call you on your problem isn't exactly being "on top of it".

"He's getting abuse for some reason," added Moores. "Selig gets treated like a punching bag – and it ain't fair."

Considering that the knock on Selig is that he owns a team while acting as commissioner, I guess it's no surprise that an owner would come to back his play. I just wish it wasn't our owner.

In other news... The third item down mentions how Burroughs sharpened his defense last year. I remember on at least two occasions last season, Burroughs diving for (and muffing) balls hit to the left side that Khalil could have gotten to standing up. I bet if Burroughs just stood there like third base Garvey, our infield would be better off. I'm only half kidding.

1 - Jbox pointed out that it sounds a little like I'm telling people when to have intercourse. What I'm trying to say is that it doesn't matter when Congress caught wind of the steroids thing. You people can have intercourse whenever you want.

Pads Beat the A's 5-1

2005-03-13T14:46:00.000-08:00

I'm almost postive that was the score, but I turned off the game towards the end. Matt Vasgersian and Mudd were buggin' just a bit. It'll be nice when T. Gwynn gets in the booth for Channel 4 this season. This was the first televised game of the year.

Anyway, Nevin actually had a good game. Apparently he's ready to lead the team this year (in something besides whining). Actually this article is funny because it talks about how Nevin is always in a bad mood and just a crusty irascible cantankerous curmudgeon. There are a lot of good quotes in here, a good read.

It's a little thing called irony. A ray of sunshine, he is not.

"We nicknamed him 'Sunshine' because he could always find something wrong," says Padres manager Bruce Bochy.

For his first six years with the Padres, and actually before then, Nevin's personality could be seen as more of a dark cloud than a sunny day. He could carry a scowl as intimidating as his swing and toss around some serious verbal venom, be it in the clubhouse or occasionally even into the stands. No one could snap quite so sharply as Sunshine.

I kinda wish Nevin was on another team, because he would be so easy to heckle.

Here's a good article on Greene in the UT today. Also, here's an MLB article on his slow start (although he had a good game today with some big hits).

Oh and as Dex pointed out we got name checked by David and mentioned as one of his favorite new blogs. Ahhh Dang! The bicentennial quarter is a nice touch.

Pad Squad Comments

2005-03-13T10:51:00.000-08:00

Dex was telling me that we are getting a lot of comments on an old PFS76 article about the Pad Squad. I'm not sure how people are finding this article. Maybe someone is linking to it.

Please allow me to respond to your comments dear readers:

Anonymous said:

You guys are all really sad sad people. You go to a baseball game and complain about people who are trying to help you. If you have nothing better to do than watch people doing their job and complain about it, then you definately have no life. At least the Pad Squad is doing something. You guys are pathetic.

Dear Anonymous,
Are you a Pad Squader? You seem real angry about this dumb article. I'd like to interview you if you are. How exactly is the Pad Squad trying to help me? Would be my first question. When you say "at least the Pad Squad is doing something" are you talking about shooting T-Shirts with a water balloon launcher or letting your egos grow bigger than Barry Bonds head? BTW I complain because I care.

Padres Honkey said:

Bros, where did you get those photos of the Pad Squad teams. Do you know where to get more of them?

I also agree about the intense chick being hot. You can just tell she just loves her Padres.

For the most part, the Pad Squad was pretty cool to me. I know my mom told me not to take candy from strangers. By the way, you're kinda creepy with that Jelly Belly crap.

Now that I think about it, I would have gotten scared of you too. You weren't wearing a trench coat or anything were you?

Why don't you stop scaring young girls and just watch the ballgame.

Dear Padres Honkey,
First let me say that I like your name. I enjoyed your comment very much. I'm glad you had a good experience with the Pad Squad. I'll try and take your advice and stop scaring Pad Squad by offering them sweet delicious candies. But I must say that you seem way too eager to get your hands on more Pad Squad team photos. That my friend was a bit creepy. That being said... just do a google image search for "pad squad" and you can get your filthy pervy hands all over some team photos.

Fightin' Words

2005-03-13T10:21:00.000-08:00

The Dayton Daily News' baseball guy, Hal McCoy, compares Darrel May to a dog. It's just one of his bullet points and the registration required to read it is tedious so here's his comment:

This is where baseball is ... and why left-handed pitchers can walk to the mound with sun glasses, a cane and a dog.

San Diego's Darrell May has a 25-39 career record, but is guaranteed $3.225 million this year, and the Padres figure him as their No. 5 starter.

Is it appropriate that he'll be pitching in Petco Park?

Hey, McCoy! Your mother's a left handed pitcher! Actually, he's probablly right. If I have a son, I'm gonna teach him how to pitch left handed knuckleballs. I'll probably ask the doctor to go ahead and replace a couple ligaments in his elbows after he's born. You know, while the tissues are soft. Give him a leg up for little league.

Minor League Preview

2005-03-12T09:59:00.000-08:00

Just as I hit Publish Post, the Padres preview is up at minorleaguball.com.

A lot of good info, though he does ultimately call us a "thin system". Superscout will fix that. Just you wait and see.

Now tell me something I don't know...

2005-03-12T09:46:00.000-08:00

Superscout Grady Fuson is one for one.

"I've been impressed with the starting pitching," he said yesterday. "It's nice to see Adam Eaton and (Jake) Peavy and (Brian) Lawrence."

It's good to know that he can see what's right in front of him. This is like a driving test where they start out with, "ok where's your turn signal? Good. Gas pedal? Good." We just have to start finding the stuff down the road now.

The Padres are pleased with their roster of catchers.

"We have a legitimate prospect at every level," scouting director Bill Gayton said.

To which Superscout Grady Fuson quickly replied, "I knew that too. I knew that too."

John Sickels will have his Padres minor league report card up sometime today. Let's all be on the lookout.

And finally, Ducksnorts is hinting at the Potentially Cool Thing about to come to fruition, but doesn't actually reveal anything further.

Now tell me something I don't know...

What Did Jerry Do Today? Vol. IV

2005-03-11T12:43:00.000-08:00

He got lost on the way to the ballpark again. The directions to the "away" park were locked in his brain and he went there instead of the "home" park.

Before that, the desk clerk at the hotel asked him for his credit card. Jerry said, "I'm with the Padres. They're going to pay my hotel room. And I'll see you tomorrow, pal."

Canseco at Carlsbad Costco

2005-03-11T11:28:00.000-08:00

I guess Canseco was up there for a book signing yesterday. I heard on the radio that he was wearing sun glasses the whole time to cover his twitching eye. I regret now that PFS76 didn't send Jon up there to take pictures. Jon lives in Carlsbad part of the time and he thinks it only takes 10 minutes to get from Central SD to Carlsbad. That would be a nice PFS76 exclusive. Oh well though... at least we were on top of the hot dog taste testing.

A little bit of Jon magic...

2005-03-11T08:33:00.000-08:00

I knew that Dave Roberts was born in Japan, and I tried to make the connection that Japanese players that Jon crushes on will go on to have good careers in the MLB. Jon said that Dave Roberts isn't actually of Japanese descent, so it wouldn't work that way.

Now, I find out, through the magic of Ducksnorts that Dave Roberts is half Japanese! Roberts has never scored more than 64 runs in a season in his career and 100 is the magic number we're looking for out of leadoff. However, I'm thinking that with a little bit of Jon magic, we can add to that total. Since Roberts is half japanese, we could maybe expect 50% more out of him if Jon crushes on him 50% as much as he normally would a player of full Asian descent. So, putting on my Bill James mathematics hat, if I add that 50% to his best run total, that would give (32+64)... 96 runs...

Hmmmmmm... That's short of the 100 mark. My math may be wrong. I'll have to go over it some more.

In other news...
Jose Canseco wants immunity. He's already got super strength and great hair. Once he's got immunity, all he needs is a flashy red suit and he'll be Captain Marvel. Oh wait, that's invulnerability. Not immunity. Nevermind.

It looks like Guzman will only be out six weeks as opposed to the whole year. Great news if Jon's crush never develops for Roberts.

Poor Ankiel

2005-03-10T15:05:00.000-08:00

So Tony La Russa admitted to screwing up Rick Ankiel's career as a pitcher. Thanks to La Russa, Ankiel is going to try and salvage his short career as an outfielder.

How many players have ever made that switch from pitcher to outfielder? I don't care how athletic you are, no way Ankiel is an everyday player. Those starting pitchers are conditioned to only play once every 5 or 6 days.

Update: I retract my previous statement. It was Carlos Hernandez's fault for screwing up Ankiel's pitching career.

La Russa also pointed to the loss of catcher Mike Matheny before that series, who he said might have caught the Ankiel pitches that eluded Carlos Hernandez.

What Did Jerry Do Today? Vol. III

2005-03-10T12:39:00.000-08:00

He followed the directions to the ballpark that were left for him. He got to the park and ran into Mike "Swanee" Swanson, Media Director for the Diamondbacks. Swanee told him he was at the wrong park. After initially believing Swanee was joking with him, he then tried to make his way to the correct ballpark via route 22. Along the way, he saw a police officer writing out a ticket to a motorist. He decided to ask for directions. He pulled up behind the officer, got out of the car, and walked over. The police officer proceeded to give him "H-E-double hockey sticks" for parking illegally and sneaking up on him.

I misheard initially so this is corrected from:
He dropped his cell phone in a puddle and it broke.

(I missed the first bit of it. Was there more?)

Channel 4 Padres Spring Training Special

2005-03-10T09:23:00.000-08:00

Channel 4 had a spring training special last night. They showed the "American Idol" deal they did to harass the rookies. It was so cheezy. Trevor Hoffman was Simon. I didn't recognize the lady or the other dude. But the rookies came out dressed up and singing. The best one by far was Paul McAnulty. He came out singing Ice Cube's "Today Was a Good Day".

Anyway why do baseball players go to so much flamboyance to harass a rookie? Can't they just give them a code red or hit them with a bag full of bars of soap?

Random Thoughts 2

2005-03-10T09:11:00.000-08:00

So the PR campaign begins. Good old Phil. Remind me, if I ever start a venture that makes no money, to name it after somebody rich who I can sucker $20k out of once a year. I'm only kidding.

So Bochy's pretty much decided on May. With any kind of Bill Veeckian luck, May will be awesome this season and the Petco AV club will be able to introduce his starts with sirens and MAYDAY flashing on all the scoreboards. Honestly though, I was rooting for the knuckleballer. In no small part, because of the fact that I really enjoy watching people throw knuckleballs. And also, because I enjoy saying, "knuckleball".

Also, is anybody else excited about the steroid hearings? I don't know why, but I have visions of a sequel to Eight Men Out. It's too bad eleven had to be summoned. Nine would've made for a more obvious sequel. Really, there should be twelve. I don't know why they don't grab Bonds also. I'm going to meditate a little about why I'm excited about this.

Ben Davis Follow Up

2005-03-09T14:31:00.000-08:00

Ted and Flan talking about Ben Davis. Flan was saying Ben Davis left a ball game in the 12th inning because he had to go to Church. Piccolo couldn't believe it. Bochy said "he's gonna need God when he comes back".

Ted: He pulled that with me one time by leaving an interview in the middle because he had to go.

Ted: He came in here thinking he was was Johnny Bench and let me tell you he wasn't Mrs. Johnny Bench.

Flan: Ben Davis wouldn't warm up a pitcher, even though he was the back up catcher. He said "I don't warm up pitchers".

Ted: Wally Joyner publically bad mouthed Ben Davis. If you got Wally bad mouthing you then you got problems.

Ted: Ben Davis did not take rookie ribbing very well.

Flan: Now you know why I like guys like Paul McAnulty

What Did Jerry Do Today? Vol. II

2005-03-09T12:44:00.000-08:00

(Have I just missed what he said the last 5 or 6 games? Oh well.)

He went downstairs for the freebie breakfast, but they had cleaned it up already. He made a mental note to tell somebody to save him some food tomorrow.

T-Shirts

2005-03-09T11:56:00.000-08:00

I've been to Fenway and among the greatest things to me were the vendors on the street selling t-shirts. Boston was playing Seattle, but there were plenty of "Yankees Suck, Jeter Swallows" and "Wake up the damn Bambino..." t-shirts to be had. (Right up there was singing Sweet Caroline in the 9th, watching Ichiro get caught stealing, and watching Ichiro go up the wall to rob a homerun, only to have his hand come down and the ball pop out.)

Anyways, back to the t-shirts. San Diego really needs some good bootleg t-shirts. I understand that San Diego is pretty restrictive when it comes to street vendors, but I may have to fight past the restrictions in order to get a forum for other people to appreciate my t-shirt slogan creativity.

Or I could just post them here, I guess.

How are these:
1. Front: "I Blame Nevin"
Back: "Padres Fan Since '76"

2. Front: "Forecast: Fair"
Back: "Padres Fan Since '76"

3. Front: "Coleman is a well hung star"
Back: "Padres Fan Since '76"

Or how bout a whole series of Coleman shirts. On the front you have a stencilized picture of Coleman a la Andre the Giant, and underneath it says "So whaddya do today?" Then on the back a variety of things like, "I took a shower and the curtain fell on me", "I went for a walk", or "I had lunch with Phil Rizzuto".

Man that'd be classic. I wonder who I have to talk to to make this happen? Do I have copyright protection on this blog? Can't let this stuff loose for free! Everything copyright Dex PFS76 2005!

Petco Park: A Review

2005-03-09T11:02:00.000-08:00

Well after a full season with the new ball park I figured I'd throw out some pros and cons to the park. I'll just do my Top 10 pros and cons.

Pros:
1. Nice location near the bay and in the middle of down town.
2. Western Metal Supply Building and field looks real nice
3. I like how they scan your ticket. Also if you buy tickets on line all you gotta do is swipe your credit card to get in. That's sick.
4. Park in the park is a nice idea. Nice for the kids to run wild.
5. Bigger seats for bigger butts. The seats are rotated towards the field. More leg room.
6. More food choices. Restaurant type atmosphere.
7. I'm starting to struggle to think of pros. It's nice that you can find free street parking without too much trouble and nice little walk.
8. I bet those box seats are nice. I'd like to go in one sometime.
9. Really struggling now. Oh I like that giant Sand Box in center field aka "the kitty litter box"
10. I like the fact that there are designated standing areas where you can watch the game.

Cons:
1. Not enough Restrooms or they aren't big enough. Never once did I have to wait in line at Qualcomm Stadium. Now I'm waiting in line and it's crazy dirty. They looked nice when they were new, but with that many people using a small bathroom they get filthy.
2. You can't just walk straight to a place in the ball park. You have to climb stairs and turn corners, take elevators, avoid security guards, walk down ramps, weave through Pad Squadders... etc.
3. Sometimes it's hard just to find an exit.
4. Those seats on top of the Western Metal Supply aren't for Padres Fans. They are ALWAYS being used for Corporate Suits doing their big business. The entire area on top is ALWAYS roped off for big wig execs.
5. There isn't much unique to San Diego about the park. Couldn't they have given it a mission theme or something?
6. They shoulda put the walk ways behind the seats instead of in front. You have people walking in front of you in View the entire time. I don't like those employees holding signs to make you wait to go to your seat between pitches either.
7. Everything is so expensive. Seats, food, parking, gear...
8. You can't have enough Day games because of the location. That kinda sucks. I love a good day game. I think the park looks a lot better in the day without all the flashing Ads, which brings us to...
9. So many Ads, it was worse when it first opened. The scoreboard was so distracting.
10. Park in the Park doesn't have much of a view and they kick you out when they have firework shows. "Hey I paid for my park in the park seat, you can't kick me out in the 7th inning! Maybe I can't afford a real seat like those big wigs but you can't kick me out!" This actually happened to me.

NL Teams using the DH in home games

2005-03-09T09:12:00.000-08:00

Why don't they just change the rules even more and use "ghost runners"?

The Cincinnati Reds were given permission last weekend to use a DH in five home games starting Thursday so that Ken Griffey Jr. can bat without playing the field. In spring training, the DH usually is used only at the home parks of American League teams.

The Giants GM wants Bonds to be a DH too.

"After I read that the Reds had approached MLB on this issue and were granted approval, I decided to call MLB myself and ask that Barry be accorded the same privilege while he recovers from his knee surgery," Giants assistant general manager Ned Colletti said. "What MLB told me was that as long as we offered the visiting team the same opportunity to use a DH during one of our home games and contacted MLB before we do it, it would be OK.

"I can't imagine a team saying no to this," Colletti said. "They would have the same opportunity to give a batter at-bats using the DH rule."

"Broadway theater, man..."

2005-03-08T14:52:00.000-08:00

"...One of the greatest cultural arts of all time." - Ted Leitner. March 8, 2005

Flan and Ted are talking about broadway and parades on the Padres broadcast right now. Now Ted just said, "I met Michael Crawford who played the Phantom... WOOOO! What a talent... I got goosebumps." And Flan followed up by saying he weeps when he watches broadway shows because they're so beautiful. Then they talked about how great it is to do broadcasts together because they can talk about musicals.

You see what happens, Padres fans?! You see what happens? This is what happens in the 9th inning of boring games! Here's what happens, Padres fans! This is what happens when in the 9th inning of boring games!

Updated: 18-5 Padres. They never did get back to talking about Broadway musicals. That would've been great.

Paul McAnulty

2005-03-08T08:26:00.000-08:00

This guy is cracking me up with his quotes:

"I'm trying, man; I'm trying to make this club right here,"

McAnulty talking about John Kruk and Pole, man.

"Yeah, I've heard I'm a 'bad-body' guy," said the 5-foot-10, 220-pounder from Oxnard. "It doesn't matter to me none, man. John Kruk and Matt Stairs – those guys raked in the big leagues for a lot of years. They could swing the pole. I take it as a compliment."

Nice little shot at Klesko here. Take that Klesko.

In his first chance he landed a home run in Petco Park's right-field seats – which Padres lefties Ryan Klesko and Sean Burroughs never reached all season.

"It was a big deal to me, even though I didn't show it," McAnulty said. "I was pumped out of my gourd. I got around the bases faster than I regularly do."

Put this guy on the club! I like him!

"I'll play anywhere one through nine in the lineup," he said. "I'll even go behind the dish if they want me to."

MLB 2005 and Guys Night In

2005-03-07T21:06:00.000-08:00

So Dex, Jon and I have been playing this MLB 2005 that Dex got the other day. We've been playing for hours. I started out playing Jon. Jon was using Seattle cuz he has a huge crush on Ichiro and he doesn't care who knows it. I'm rollin' with the Pads. Ichiro is up first pitch from Peavy right in the head. ICHIRO CHARGES THE MOUND! HE'S EJECTED! Peavy has got an injured finger. Now Jon doesn't know what to do with his team with out Ichiro. He beats me pretty bad though. I blame Nevin.

Second game I play Dex, he's the Mets.

Jon: Why are you the METS????
Dex: Cuz of Pedro, dude.
Dex's wife: Who likes Pedro?
Jon: WHO DOESN'T LIKE PEDRO!!!

Jon is crazy. Anyway somehow I hit like 8 or 9 home runs off of Dex and a ton of doubles. I end with like 24 hits. We are amazed. Everybody is hitting home runs. Nevin, Klesko, Greene, Loretta, Peavy and Burroughs has like 3 home runs and hasn't recorded an out yet. I don't know what's going on. The game finishes 14 to 2. This is a good sign for the pads this season.

This games got some home run, pitching and hitting mini games. Looks pretty fun.

UPDATE: Dex and I are making references to this website and Jon has no idea what we are talking about. We just realized Jon doesn't read this site. He thinks we're boring. I guess we need to put up more pictures of Ichiro to attract Jon.

Speaking of Ben

2005-03-07T15:25:00.000-08:00

Anyone rembember this former heart-throb of the Padres?

I didn't realize Ben Davis is with the White Sox now. Looking forward to that series.

You tell me if this sounds like a guy worth $1.4 million/year?

A tall switch-hitter, Davis looks dangerous at the plate. Looks are deceiving, however, as he has huge holes in his swing and shaky strike zone judgment. He's a little better from the left side than the right. He has power but doesn't often get to use it. Davis is a marginal receiver and has become a target for basestealers, stopping only 24.5 percent of their steal attempts last season after getting 31.9 percent in 2003 and 44 percent in '02. He runs like a catcher.

On a side note, jbox and I saw this guy at Ralphs in Mission Valley a few years ago. He's a very pretty dude.

jbox: I also saw that guy at Mission Basilica San Diego de Alcala he was real tall. He was 7 ft tall if he was a foot.

Down at Ben Johnson's Creek

2005-03-07T14:57:00.000-08:00

Ben Johnson is going off! He got a little ink in the ol' fish wrap today. Then he hits a home run in the small game today and a hard hit double in the big game.

"He's carried himself like he has a sense of belonging," manager Bruce Bochy said. "He's opened some eyes."

Breaking News: Padres beat the Angels! 4-0

2005-03-07T14:48:00.000-08:00

No team has been able to score off our starting pitchers yet!

W: Adam Eaton (1-0) L: Dusty Bergman (0-1)

Celebrity Padres Fans

2005-03-07T09:55:00.000-08:00

UPDATE: I remember the real reason why I started writing this thing. Are there any Celeb Pads Fans? I kinda like the fact that there aren't any cheezy celebs rooting for the Pads. Anybody I'm forgetting?

BEFORE UPDATE:
I was trying to think of which Rappers have worn Padres gear. I remembered Jay-Z aka Jigga aka Hova aka Sean Carter wearing a Padres Jersey in his "Girls, Girls, Girls" video. I found this old cached article on MTV news.

This lastest wave is probably Audie 5K now...

The latest wave of hip-hop battles has nothing to do with who's the nicest on the mic or even which DJ is sharpest when it comes to cutting up records. Rappers are currently engaged in fashion one-upmanship — more specifically, striving to rockthe hottest athletic jersey.

here's the mention...

In his video for "Girls, Girls, Girls," he wears a 1982 San Diego Padres top and 1947 Washington Redskins jersey.

I saw Puffy aka Puff Daddy aka P-Diddy aka Sean John, etc. wearing Padres gear once too. Xzibit wore some gear on "Pimp My Ride". Can you think of anybody else supporting the Pads? They probably care less about the team, but at least they like the pretty colors of the jerseys.

Here's one other mention on MTV news:

The San Diego Padres may have finished six games out of first place in the National League West last season, but they're determined to at least have the best theme music in the Majors. So they launched "Rock the Padres," a call to musicians to pen the official theme for the 2005 season. Fans can go to Padres.com and choose from more than 120 submissions, from acts like the Buckos, Atomic Groove Featuring Carrie Weiland and, um, Gary Hoey (who scored an actual radio hit in 1993 with the song "Hocus Pocus"). Voting ends on Sunday. ...

Funny thing is here they are making fun of Gary Hoey and yet he won.

I Too Hate Jayson Werth

2005-03-07T09:40:00.000-08:00

I can still visualize the hate Dex had that day at Petco. I've never seen him so angry and violent, since our days at UCSD. I was at that game with my Dad, sitting right next to Dex and his in-laws in section 120. Even my Dad commented on how pissed Dex was that afternoon.

Just to add insult to injury, Werth actually went 0-for-5, with 4Ks. I believe that is commonly known as the "golden sombrero." That was also Steve Finely's first game with the Dodgers. I so wish we landed that guy last year.

I remember thinking that this game really defined how the season would end, and how we would be LA's bitch. The next day, I heard Finley on the Jim Rome show talking about how that game had so much playoff atmosphere, and how it's great to be a Dodger.

Why I Dislike Jayson Werth

2005-03-07T08:40:00.000-08:00

My father-in-law pointed out to me that Jayson Werth was injured last week. Even though the competitive spirit in me would much rather beat down a healthy Dodgers team, the little demon in me had a good laugh at Werth's expense.

There's two reasons why I dislike Werth. First, and this is a childish one, as Jess said to me the other day, "I know I shouldn't say this, but that's a really gay way to spell Jason. And I don't mean homosexual." I know what she means. More like "gay" when Eminem says it. I apologize if any of our readers spell their names Eminem gay.

Second requires a little story: I was at a game with my wife and my in-laws. We were playing the Dodgers. Werth was having a notably unspectacular game. He'd been struck out 3 times already and the fans in the left field bleachers were giving him the business. There were some loudmouths nearby yelling about this and that. Difficult to tell who they were even rooting for, but I mostly kept to myself.

Some time, late in the game, the Dodgers take the lead. I believe it was on a devastatingly long Shawn Green homerun. Maybe it was Bradley. I don't quite remember, but in the Padres half of the inning, Werth runs out to his spot in left field and holds his finger up to his mouth like saying, "SShhhhh" to everybody in the left field stands.

Well, let me tell you... I nearly shit my pants. I jumped up from my seat in section 122.. Left field's foul territory... And I proceeded to tear into Werth. I think I said something along the lines of "YOU CAN'T TALK BUSHLEAGUER! YOU GOT THREE K'S ON THE DAY! YOU'VE DONE NOTHING YOU WORTHLESS JACKASS!" I don't think I cursed, but who knows. Later, Jess said that the girl sitting next to her mentioned that I was so angry, my entire body was trembling.

Werth hears me, turns and I just give him hell till I turn blue in the face, to which he promptly brushes his shoulders off in that cocky Jay-Z kinda way, then takes off his hat and looks at it and nods. Like saying, hey I'm a Dodger... aint' that something? So I freak out, foaming at the mouth, and I give it to him a little bit more. The loudmouths nearby were shocked at my sudden display. Even they were a little embarrassed for me.

Fast forward to bottom of the twelfth. We got a man on. Khalil is up to bat. Two down. A rookie with class, unlike this prick, Werth, in left field. Khalil can win it right here with a homerun. We've fallen behind by one run thanks to old man Ventura. Pitch comes in. He crushes it. Everybody's on their feet. Werth sprints back to the wall. He's got his hand on the wall. He's going to try to time a jump. He's waiting... waiting... He steps forward slowly and catches it in the middle of the warning track. The air goes right out of the stadium. Werth turns to the left field stands and takes a bow. Then as he runs off he gives me a toodle-loo wave.

By then, I was exhausted and too weak to respond. I was probably dehydrated from all the shouting and crapping of my pants with rage. We went home defeated.

So... Even though I wouldn't go so far as to actually have wished injury on somebody, I do have to say that I hope it hurt like hell when he broke his arm, and I can't wait to watch him strike out three more times against us during the season. I just better make sure to wear some old pants.

Updated: Just read Kev's update. I had completely forgotten it was extra innings. And old man Ventura was the one who hit the shot. It's coming back to me now. Those monster blasts by Green and Bradley must've happened some other time. It was a shot by pinch hitting Ventura. I even remember saying, "easy out". Baseball karma I guess.

Updated: Fixed the story to coincide my poor memory with reality.

The Decision's Been Made

2005-03-06T15:23:00.000-08:00

I've decided on a baseball videogame. MVP Baseball 2005 it is. At Target it was only $10 more than ESPN 2K5, so I'm doing this. I just finished watching the intro, and now I'm setting up the profile. Name: Dex. Favorite Team: San Diego. League: MLB.

Let's see now. It's setting me up... OK I'm gonna play this for a bit. More as I go...

Update 3:28PM: I'm going to try the batting mini game first. Phil Nevin vs Kevin Brown. Simply classic. Or at least as classic as us short memory spanned fairweather fans in San Diego like it. I'm supposed to try to hit it to certain spots. Let's see how this goes. I like the music.

3:30PM: OK I failed my round. Man, I may need some work on this game...

Cammy Backlash

2005-03-05T21:37:00.000-08:00

Here we go... This does seem a little bit like a bad idea, but let's be honest. I don't think the Padres are going to be glorifying the dude. I imagine it'll just be a tasteful "In Memory" type of thing to acknowledge the guy.

That being said, I've heard some local radio dudes here throw Bonds over the coals, while say that Cammy only used the steroids to help him heal up quicker so he could use his God given talent to become MVP.

Ummmm... What?

If you're gonna hate on Bonds, Canseco or Giambi, can you really not hold Cammy to the same criticism? I guess being friendly really carries a lot of weight with some people.

Johnny Damon the Author

2005-03-04T15:47:00.000-08:00

Apparently, Johnny Damon is capitalizing on his fame with a book next month titled Idiot : Beating "The Curse" and Enjoying the Game of Life. Sounds real lame.

According to the Boston Globe, "His contract with Crown mandates that he keep his hair long for the book tour." I'm glad to hear that Damon won't be cutting those locks.

Bonds: "I can tell you my testicles are the same size. They haven't shrunk.

2005-03-04T15:40:00.000-08:00

This ESPN article is so funny. He kinda admits to using steroids... sorta.

You know what's funny about this stuff. Nobody is even asking him any questions. He's just talking about his "boys" for no reason.

Bonds even brought up another alleged side affect of using steroids, a reduction in size of genitalia.

"They say it makes your testicles shrink,'' he said. "I can tell you my testicles are the same size. They haven't shrunk. They're the same and work just the same as they always have."

Here he goes about his head.

"What's all this about my head size?" Bonds asked. "My hat size is the same today as when I started. My head hasn't grown.

Jake Peavy Bio

2005-03-04T15:32:00.000-08:00

It was painful reading this guy's bio. He might be one of the most boring people ever, especially if he think's Ash is so freakin' funny.

Favorite Meal: "It'd be meat and potatoes -- any steak and baked potato really."

Favorite Ice Cream Flavor: "Chocolate."

Funniest Players Encountered: "...Andy Ashby has got to be right there on that list as well."

Breaking News: Angels beat the Pads 6-4

2005-03-04T15:00:00.000-08:00

Also Teddy flat out called Bonds a cheater.

Tim Flannery made his first appearence in the Padres Broadcast Booth. He seemed alright. I'm so used to just Ted and Jerry that I'll admit it was a little weird.

Using Microsoft Excel to your Advantage in Fantasy Baseball

2005-03-04T14:05:00.000-08:00

This Microsoft article tells you how to use Excel to pick the perfect fantasy team. The example is football but...

Of course, the same methodology I've described for selecting a fantasy football team can be applied to baseball or basketball fantasy leagues. Enjoy!

My Secret Source tells me:

The key is finding some place to give you good projections

What Did Jerry Do Today? Vol. I

2005-03-04T12:32:00.000-08:00

He took a shower and the curtain fell on him.

Updated 12:38PM: The curtain and the rod came down on him.

Padres.com

2005-03-04T11:14:00.000-08:00

John Schlegel from The Official Padres site is on Teddy's show talking about how the mlb.com sites can be just as hard hitting as any other media organization. I guess. He sounds a little too defensive. Like he knows that anything mlb.com is going to be somewhat sterilized and sanitized.

All I know is every season since mlb.com consolidated all the official mlb websites, I've written an e-mail to them telling them how much I dislike it. The official sites used to be really cool. Red Sox had this graphic of Pedro throwing and a voiceover "Welcome to Fenway Park". Yankees had this real intimidating flash intro with a lot of black and the NY logo everywhere. Other clubs had their other things. They had their own personalities. Now the official sites all look exactly the same with different colors. They've all got the same ads and graphics. It's a little sad.

Klesko and Wife

2005-03-04T11:09:00.000-08:00

Here's a picture of Klesko and wife from some country music fundraiser

P.S. -- Look at this picture of Richie Sexson. Man horrible "frosted tips".

UPDATE: Didn't his wife used to be his personal trainer for a long time? Is that how major leaguers stay in shape? They hire real hot personal trainers and then eventually marry them?

LoJack and Links

2005-03-04T08:40:00.000-08:00

You hear those LoJack commercials on Mighty 1090? Dude with the real smug voice relating stories about people getting their cars back. Is it just me, or does he sound real condescending? That's no way to advertise. Here's how you advertise. Ahh Overstock.com babe... How Jbox loves thee so... It's true, dude. People should know.

They should get her to go to games and cut to her after notable plays. Each time they cut to her she'll be wearing a different cute little outfit, and she can say something like, "It's all about the defense" or "It's all about the pitching" in a real sultry, slightly accented voice. You tell me that wouldn't awesome.

Also, I updated the links to add Padres Nation to our list of Padres Blogs. And David's blog is good music/culture stuff. He's also the manager of Death To Infidels! And he comments, so I thought I should plug him a little.

Update: Following up on the mushy videogames post, This report is saying that Nintendo's Pennant Chase Baseball is being delayed by a month. Man, that's bad form. How do you miss opening day with a baseball game? I was really hoping this would be good too, but the extra delay is huge. I'm ready to buy a baseball game NOW!

Another Baseball Dream? Yes.

2005-03-04T08:29:00.000-08:00

Dex has been having baseball dreams recently about guys name Soojay. I had one last night where an old Ted Williams was staggering around the ticket office trying to buy tickets. Nobody was helping him so I went up to help him walk and get his ticket. The guy at the ticket office was charging him 16 bucks for a field level ticket. This is when I realized it was a dream! Freakin' Petco! Anyhow I thought that was expensive in the dream so I was asking him if there was a discount for seniors or for Hall of Famers. There wasn't. That's all I remember.

Oliver Perez and Jason Bay

2005-03-03T15:39:00.000-08:00

CNNSI has some notes about Spring Training and they are raving about Oliver Perez and Jason Bay. I kinda feel like I'm gonna throw up when I think about the Pads trading them away. What'd we get again? Just Giles? We knew Oliver Perez was real good when we let him go didn't we? Did we know Bay was good? Don't our scouts know these guys are good? Does KT know? I mean as soon as we traded them they went nuts.

I never understood the Lankford for Williams trade. Didn't they try to explain that as a way of dropping the payroll? But yet they were both 5 million that year. I seriously don't know what's going on.

I'm not real sure what the front office is trying for. Do they want power? Do they want speed? Do they want pitching? It seems like they keep changing their minds. I'm just sayin...

Afternoon Notes

2005-03-03T13:47:00.000-08:00

Sleepy day here. Ten minutes before my 2 o'clock Dr Pepper. Let's see what's going on.

Here's a review of Fever Pitch. Based on the Nick Hornby (High Fidelity, About a Boy) book about soccer, Americanized for baseball. You get the Farrely brothers and you give them Jimmy Fallon and Drew Barrymore. (Adam Sanlder wasn't available?) This was the one that was filming at the playoffs last season where Fox kept showing Fallon on the screen between pitches, driving baseball fans all over the world crazy. Between Joe Buck's droning voice, Fox attitude's computer graphics and rocketship noises, and Jimmy Fallon on the screen every 3 minutes... Ugh what an annoying broadcast.

I do enjoy a good baseball film though. If this is close to Kingpin or Something About Mary, then that should be awesome. Jimmy Fallon though... UGH.

I finished the Wells book sometime last week. Long book. Several really good stories, but man that guy's long winded. Did he have to comment on every appearance he ever had? I mean, come ON.

Now I'm reading Robert Coover's Universal Baseball Association. I picked this up a while back, but never got around to it. Now that I'm reading it, it's a little weird. A lot of sexual references for a book about baseball dice games. It's creepy to be honest.

And news just came through that the Pads lost their game. OK, you got us Sexson, you rapscallion. You got us this time.

Morning notes

2005-03-03T08:38:00.000-08:00

B Games don't count, Sexson. Today, the games count! For what, I dunno... And what's this quote? "Woody Williams, an 11-game winner for the Padres last season." I think if they paid me to write about baseball, I'd get my stuff right. But then again, probably not.

I just heard for the first time the Go Padres! theme song for the season. I get a little bit of a feeling that San Diegans are a little bit too stuck up to shout "Go Padres" along with the song. Maybe I'm wrong.

I heard Dick Freeman comment about the comments Kevin Towers made about Caminiti. Michael Dowd's comments make it sound like there's controversy. I'll comment by saying I heard the Dick Freeman interview on the radio yesterday and it seemed to me to barely be a slap on the wrist.

And finally following up on that baseball dream I had. Last night I dreamt I had dinner with these 3 old people and one of them was an old Asian man named Soojay. I don't know what that has to do with baseball, but I thought Soojay was a cool name.

Ahhh Spring

2005-03-02T14:53:00.000-08:00

That magical time of year when a young man's fancy turns to thoughts of love! And so that means that my thoughts have turned towards my wife, baseball and video games. Because I love them all.

Obviously, I love my wife more than video games and baseball, which is why I do yoga and pluck stray hairs out my neck. However, this baseball game preview at IGN lures me in ways that a woman cannot, exciting my baseball senses like girl scout cookies excite my taste buds. One note though: They eventually decide MVP 2005 is the game to get, but they don't mention the fact that MLB2k5 is only $19.99. I mention that so you can make a more informed decision, my fellow videogamers.

As it turns out, our Padres are also loving the yoga. Peavy was just on Mighty 1090's Too Much Show talking about their hot blonde yoga instructor. Peavy, how bout we focus more on your own wife and winning games than on that little strumpet of a yoga instructor, you downward facing dog you.

Update: The game we played at BestBuy was MVP 2005. I'm leaning towards that one for myself, though Nintendo is supposed to be coming out with a game this season also.

Fantasy Baseball

2005-03-02T12:06:00.000-08:00

Updated 3/3: We've filled up! No more space! So we have at least 6 readers. Good for us. That'll stroke Kev's ego a bit. I'll be setting the draft to run on the 28th. The day after Easter. So say your prayers. Good luck to everybody!

We be playing us some fantasy baseball this season and as we have a month to go before the season and we've only got 6 people in our 12 person league, I'm opening this up to anybody who might see this post.

Here's the prerequisites:
1. This is an NL only heads up league, so be ready for that.
2. You don't have to be a Padre Fan Since '76 to participate. As long as you're a fan of some team and will actually participate.
3. Autodraft. All standard rules except we score for Holds for pitchers and OPS for hitters.
4. We playin' for fun. Put your wallets away.

If this sounds like something you want to do, then come on over! We know you're there! There's at least 4 of you! I'm talking to you Richard Bart. I see you there, David. Juan Carlos Lozano, time to step up. Nobody's afraid of you, Stl Bert. Geoff, let's see you put that calculator and those books to use! Anybody else is welcome. I guess even Jon.

Here's the info:
Site: http://baseball.fantasysports.yahoo.com/b1
League ID# 21916 Password: bear

I'll see you on the diamond!

Friar Franks Taste Testing

2005-03-02T09:23:00.000-08:00

Well you've waited long enough for these pics and I'm sure they will satisfy your appetite. If you haven't read Dex's write up, here it is.

[Dex's note: I added my captions, but I got seriously bored late in the game, and they got real unfunny. Jbox, I'm sorry.]

Look at those uncooked hotdogs hitting the grill! Makes you proud to be a Padres fan.
[Dex's caption: Another day at the Vienna sausage factory]

Here's some of those super cool Pad Squaders. I didn't mean to protect their identities, but they are safe for now.
[Dex's caption: "So you like my headband?" "Yeah. You like my dimples?" "Ohhhhh yeah."]

The Weinerschnitzel guy is perpetually scared.
[Dex's caption: Try the tacos! Try the tacos!]

This lady brought her dog in a stroller. It was a little nippy out so he's wearing a sweat shirt. I thought these were pictures of hot dogs, not COLD dogs! hahahaha
[Dex's caption: Let's grill that sucker up too. It's a dog eating FRENZY]

There's the two different types.
[Dex's caption: There's the two different types.]

The friar looks hungry.
[Dex's caption: Somehow, I don't think they got this guy from Wienershchnitzle]

Grill 'em up!
[Dex's caption: The quickest way to get them to the polls? Grilled friggin' hot dogs.]

Ready to eat!
[Dex's caption: 4 bites away from a burning booty]

Thanks to ImageShack for Free Image Hosting

A Ton of Caminiti articles in the UT today

2005-03-02T08:48:00.000-08:00

First you got Nick Canepa's take on it.

Kevin Towers had no hand in the death of Ken Caminiti. He did not give him the dope or the syringe. Ken Caminiti was an addict who overdosed. On his own.

Tom Krasovic's UT article about Towers.

Oh and Krasovic also talks about Towers and Grady Fuson the "Super Scout".

"Two other clubs were very aggressive," Towers said. "And rightfully so. Look at his track record. He's got a knack for picking talented players."

It looks like Bochy has lost his stuff, he's not the pitcher he used to be:

When pitcher Woody Williams hit an opposite-field home run against the Padres in 2002, manager Bruce Bochy joked that Williams used a corked bat.

Williams got a measure of revenge yesterday when he battered Bochy's batting-practice offerings.

"I crushed him," Williams said.

"Yeah, he got me," Bochy said.

He got you... He got you good. Ahhhhh.

UPDATE: A secret source with XM radio tells me:

...on XM, they were talking a lot about K Towers and how the guy is a really emotional dude and has been agonizing over his guilt

Food Recycling and Baseball Opening Day... I'm confused

2005-03-02T08:29:00.000-08:00

What do these two things have in common? I have no idea. Let's read the UT article.

This season, Petco Park will expand recycling efforts started last year with bottles, cans and other materials. Cooks in the ballpark's main kitchen will put scraps from their salads, soups and meat dishes into recycling containers. Nearly all types of food, including meat, can be composted.

Okay so food scraps are filling up our land fills? Doesn't that stuff just bio-degrade? I should probably be reading this article closer, but it seems like it has less and less to do with baseball.

Ballpark officials also plan to compost peanut shells, which are collected by air blowers after cleaning crews pick out big pieces of trash and recyclable objects. Eventually, the city wants to collect unsold cotton candy and bags of unsold popcorn.

Oh man I'm getting bored. You readers may have to read this article yourself. The "unsold cotton candy" part captured my attention for a second since I used to sell it myself. Let me tell you there is nothing sadder looking then a lonely little cotton candy that didn't sell. It start shrinking and my eyes start watering. Poor little dude.

Okay you're on your own with this article dudes, I can't get through it.

Williams: "I'm a big boy"

2005-03-01T11:48:00.000-08:00

This is from a STLtoday.com article:

"I'm a big boy," Williams said. "I told my wife at the end of the season, 'I'll probably be moving on next year anyway, regardless of what they want to do.'

"Having to hear it from reporters (that the Cardinals didn't have interest) is not a bad thing, but it was not the way I wanted to hear it. That's all right. It's over and done and time to move on."

That Ray Lankford trade worked out real bad, I think every Padres fan saw this coming except for KT:

Padres general manager Kevin Towers, who soon regretted trading Williams for Lankford, at least got a "mulligan" in getting Williams back nearly four years later.

"At the time, I thought Lankford might catch lightning in a bottle here," Towers said. "He was always a Padre killer, and maybe I fell too much in love with what he did against the Padres rather than what he did against everybody else. I probably didn't appreciate at the time what Woody brought to a staff. There was a huge void once Woody left.

I bet the Cards wish they had a big boy on their roster.

Gammons on Towers

2005-03-01T10:11:00.000-08:00

Gammons makes some comments regarding Kevin Towers and Cansecogate (Steroidgate?) in general. Here's a couple of bits I like:

When players (or anyone) rail on Jose Canseco for trying to make a buck off the steroids issue, they should be dismissed because what in the world were the guys who used steroids trying to do? Make money. Not to pick on Jason Giambi, but since he has admitted to steroid use, that $128 million kind of tells us that it worked for him, eh?

I agree completely. There may be plenty of reasons to dislike Canseco, but cashing in by informing on your peers is an American tradition.

The one conclusion we can draw now is that this era has reminded us just how great Henry Aaron, Willie Mays and Frank Robinson really were.

It's true. Fully integrated league. Higher pitcher's mound working against them. None of this drug talk. So awesome.

Update: I'm being a little sarcastic with the first comment, but totally serious with the second. Just so's I don't confuse anybody.

UPDATE: KT and Cami

2005-03-01T08:37:00.000-08:00

Here's the UT article with more information on Kevin Towers and his knowledge of Cami's steroid use.

"I did not know," he said. "I had to look myself in the mirror. Was there something I could do in my first years that could have changed his outcome? I don't know."

I saw a TV interview with Tony Gwynn yesterday about this issue and Gwynn said he never suspected Cami of using steroids. He also doesn't think Bonds uses steroids. He said "... why would you when you're that good?" Hmmmm...

Here's a nice article on Cami and his legacy from the UT by Tim Sullivan.

If his disclosures and his demise served to speed baseball's efforts to curb illicit chemistry, Cammy may not have died in vain.

Talk of retiring Cami's #21:

Specific plans are still being formulated for the observance, but Freeman said he does not think it's the right time to retire Caminiti's No. 21.

"I don't know if we'd ever do it or not," Freeman said. "We've never really talked about it on an organizational basis. . . . I've gotten some e-mails from fans, but we've never gotten to the point where it is something we would do in the immediate future."

It seems like the Padres want to forget about Garvey:

Retiring Steve Garvey's No. 6 was rash. Retiring Caminiti's jersey could mean backlash.

"I highly endorse it," said Padres reliever Trevor Hoffman. "As a former teammate of Cammy's, and knowing the history of the organization, I think it's kind of a no-brainer.

Aren't you glad you're a Padres fan?

2005-03-01T08:34:00.000-08:00

Even Klesko and Nevin wouldn't do this right?

Family plug

2005-02-28T17:51:00.000-08:00

This has nothing to do with the Padres so stop reading if that bothers you. The following link does have a really hot picture of Brooke Burke though, so you may want to give it a chance.

John Sickels profiled the top Astros prospects recently. I haven't mentioned it anywhere on this blog before, but my brother-in-law is in the organization. There he is at number 14. Hoorah, Brooksy!

Trouble is, their top prospect was drafted in the first round same year as Brooks and he plays second as well. BOOO! In any case, Brooks reports for spring training this week and I'm sure he'll do his best. This is just a little something to wish him luck this season and continued success even though the pricks at Baseball America think he's a "scrappy overachiever" with no future on the club. How do you produce constantly as a top offensive threat on every team you play on in college and the pros and still get labeled an "overachiever"? He puts the same consistent numbers up at every level. An overachiever is a dude on roids bumping his slugging percentage up 100 points. If you do it the same way every single time and literally show no signs that there's anything abnormal... you're overachieving? Jerks.

Anyways. Back to your regularly scheduled Padres rants.

Devoted Padre Fan

2005-02-28T14:31:00.000-08:00

So I'm recovering from a very short and exhausting weekend back in SD. Great seeing jbox and dex again. They wouldn't stop talking about this blog though. You would never guess it, but they're both real egotistical.

While in SD, I always make time to get a carne asada burrito at La Posta in Spring Valley. I know I'll have to clean some major house about an hour later, but it's a small price to pay for a taste of home. So I order my CAB and watching these guys make my food with their bare hands (please be advised that it says "A" health rating on the window, but I'm guessing they're really a "B" rating). I notice a family walk in to order up some grub. I couldn't help but notice the Dad had tats all over his arms.

My eye sight is deteriorating daily, but I know what I saw on this dude's forearm. He had a crazy huge "Padres" tattooed on his arm. My first thought was what a dumbass. But after thinking about it a bit more, I realized that this guy is truly devoted to his Padres. It really made me question my devotion to the Pads. It's true I'm fair-weather and hard on the players and management. Do I feel bad about that? Not really. Will I change my perspective? Probably never. My question is to you, the readers of this blog. At what lengths would you go to show your devotion to this constantly under achieving ball club? Tattoos, body paint, blogging?

Curiosity and a baseball dream

2005-02-28T12:24:00.000-08:00

Geoff at Ducksnorts is hinting about something new and exciting happening over there. I'm so freakin' curious, it's killing me. Maybe he's just saying that to make people curious. Oh so devious and effective.

Last night I had a baseball dream. I dreamt I was at spring training and this old manager was quizzing me on who he was. He asked me who was on the '87 Mets rotation and I could only remember Dwight Gooden (checking Baseball Reference I got that right! Hooray dream self!).

It was really weird in that I couldn't figure out who this guy was and I didn't want to ask him to autograph a ball until I remembered. I can barely remember his hints now except for the '87 Mets rotation and career interrupted by war time. I think there was something about playing or managing Roberto Clemente and the Pirates.

Man, I wish I could remember. This is it. My Field of Dreams moment and I can't remember the dream. What do you want from me baseball gods!? What should I build!?

Now that I think about it, last night I attended a friend's Chaldean wedding. I'd never been to one, but the women in attendance have this thing where they make this high pitched "LEE-LEE-LEE-LEE-LEE-LEE-LEE!!!" noise. I thought about how great a heckle that would be for a fielder trying to catch a popup. Maybe this dream is the ghost of some old ballplayer who wants me to go heckle a player or a manager for him. Maybe an old rival.

We're going to Yankee stadium this summer. Maybe it's one of Zim's old rivals. Hmmmm...

*** DEVELOPING ***

Kevin Towers suspected Cami was using Steroids and now feels guilty

2005-02-28T08:48:00.000-08:00

I don't have ESPN insider so I'm not sure what else this says:

Deadly Silence
Kevin Towers Padres GM Kevin Towers had suspected Ken Caminiti was using steroids. He tells ESPN The Magazine's Buster Olney he kept silent because "it helped the organization and helped me."

Here's a little more:

Buster Olney's story appears in this week's issue of ESPN The Magazine, available on newstands Wednesday.

Ken Caminiti was the first player to admit using steroids. Now Padres general manager Kevin Towers, once Caminiti's boss, is the first person in baseball management to stand up and acknowledge that he said nothing about steroids for years because of box-office success.

If Caminiti's only problem was drinking, Towers believes he could have confronted that issue bluntly, talked to Caminiti about how he was ruining his life and career.

Very upsetting.

UPDATE:

Here's some quotes from the insider piece:

And Towers is honest with himself. "Ifeel somewhat guilty, because I felt like I knew"

"I still don't know for sure, but Cammy came out and said that he used steroids, and I suspected. Selfishly, the guy was putting up numbers, and I didn't do anything about it. That's just the truth."

"The truth is, we're in a competitive business and these guys were putting up big numbers and helping your ballclub win games. You tended to turn your head on things. And it really wakes you up when someone you admire as a person is no longer around. You can't help but think, could I have done something differently four of five years ago that might have changed what happened to him?"

"I hate to be the one voice for the other 29 GMs, but I'd have to imagine that all of them, one point or other, had reason to think that a player on their ballclub was probably using, based on body changes and things that happened over the winter."

"... If he's not there, not only am I not wearing a ring, who knows if I'm still a general manager? Those were three of the best years we ever had."

Pads lock up Peavy 'til '09

2005-02-28T08:45:00.000-08:00

This UT article reports that Peavy and Towers reached a deal worth $15 million.

The Friar Frank Faceoff

2005-02-27T09:24:00.000-08:00

Well, yesterday was the day. Our first glimpse of the Pad Squad for the year. Our first high five from the Swingin' Friar. And our first taste of the NEW FRIAR FRANK!

As you know, the Padres have been staging taste tests all month for the signature Petco Park hot dog. Jbox, Jon and I made the trek out to Parkway Plaza to cash in on free dogs, but more importantly, to perform our duty as hot dog eating fans and register a vote. Just like any democracy, you're not allowed to bitch and moan if you don't actively participate in the politics. We had to be there.

The setup was simple. Head to the mall. Receive a frightened Weinershnitzle toy for your antenna from a dude dressed up as a giant hot dog. Taste a couple dogs. Vote.

Our Pad Squad representatives at this function were Dimples and Headband Man. Both served admirably in acting enthusiastic and aloof at the same time. Pad Squad interview question: Can you get me to cheer for my team while at the same time make it clear to me that you're soooooo much more popular than I am? Yes? You're in! (Except for visor girl. Pure intensity. 100% of the time.)

But I digress...

The Playing Field: Two halves of two different dogs. One yellow toothpick. One green toothpick. Your choice of condiments. Included with the standards - onions, relish, ketchup and mustard - was a brown deli mustard. Do we get that this year? That's awesome.

Now, I made sure to eat a little something beforehand so that I wouldn't be hungry. If you're too hungry, everything tastes good. That being said, I am recovering from a cold, so my senses were a little bit dulled.

I bite into green first. Delightful. A smoky flavor. Crisp skin. Probably from the plate grill. That's another thing. Are they going to be grillin' up the dogs like that? Keep in mind this is a plate grill and not an open one so no charcoal or anything, but distinctly different from steamed on the rollers like they usually are.

Yellow one seems to be a little more tender. A little less salty. Is that liver I taste? Are these all-beef dogs? Do I even want to know? I better go back to green.

Green, again. Now this one's tasting pretty salty. I'm barely three bites in and I'm already feeling a little gurgle in my tummy. I really should be seated so I can digest properly. This isn't going so well. Across the way, I can see the hot dog man taking pictures with some people. Who wants a picture of that? Oh, wait. We got some pictures of that too.

I taste yellow again and now I can't tell the difference. Jon and Jbox are both nodding that yellow is better, but I'm so confused. The liver I tasted is gone. Everything's the same. What if this is some weird, elaborate hoax and these are the same hot dog? Eh, what do I care. They were free.

I've made my vote. Even though I've now mixed up the hot dogs and am not sure which is which, yellow it is. I grab a whole yellow hot dog and eat it to justify my selection. Nearby, the Swingin' Friar is giving some little kid one of the hot dog antenna toys. The kid's ecstatic cause he has two of them now. Jbox has gone off to interview some Pad Squadder who doesn't have a jersey yet. Jon and I, embarrassed, make our way to the mall entrance.

Now, here's the thing with these tests. I've read Blink. I know that Coca-Cola screwed themselves by releasing New Coke based on tests just like this. The Padres people must know that unless one hot dog is clearly horrible, there's no way that one dog's going to be preferred over the other by any significant margin. So why do they do this? It's propoganda, man! They know that they screwed up with the food situation last year. Their signature items were almost hidden throughout the park. The dogs were unremarkable. Randy Jones, instead of selling his BBQ in a cool wooden stand, sold out of a couple modified streamliner trails. That ain't appetizing! People were already feeling the sting of raised ticket prices however unconsciously that might have been. It only serves to remind them of how much they're paying for soda and beer. Keep in mind, every other eating establishment in the universe will give you a free refill with your soda, but not ballparks, man. And they had the added pressure of competing with outside restaurants. Jess and I got into the habit of picking up a Philly steak sandwich from the deli at Trolley Towers before each game. Then we'd carry drinks in.

So now, they want to hype their new menu in the hopes of getting us fans to eat at the park again. How do they do that? Friggin' all you can eat dogs. Here, have a dog on us. At the park they'll be $3.50 apiece. Yes, we know that you can get a dog and a Coke at Costco for $1.50. That extra $2 is for the priveledge of eating a Friar Frank. Sucker.

But what's most upsetting is even though I've had this realization just now. And even though you're reading this and I've exposed it to you. We'll both still go to the park and probably buy a few dogs this season. And that's fine. While you're at the ballpark, you shouldn't care that much. You should be enjoying the game. Blogs is where you rant. At the park, you root. Blogs: rant. Park: root.

I'll tell you one thing though. They better not have no non-food service organizations running concessions again this year. I may be a sucker enough to buy your food, but the least you could do is have Fundraiser McGee get it to me in a reasonable amount of time.

Propoganda dogs leave a bad taste in my mouth! Pun.... INTENDED!

Bochy tells Nevin and Klesko to stop whining...

2005-02-26T18:00:00.000-08:00

... but pretends to lecture the whole team. In this article, I found it most worrying that Kevin Towers is a wine snob.

Complaining about Petco Park last year, Padres hitters poured more "whine" than General Manager Kevin Towers has in his vintage collection that numbers more than 700 bottles.

I know we have snobs running this team, but could we at least try and down play that a bit?

Dex and I were playing some new XBox baseball game at Best Buy today. Man that is pretty fun. If I had an XBox and a ton of money I'd totally want to play that. They got some good graphics and it seems pretty easy to play. They also got some real up to date lineups. They even have minor league teams. Klesko looks real retarded though... which I guess proves how good the graphics are! Just kidding Klesko. Jeez.

[Don't let this guy fool you. He's got enough to get the exact setup they got at Best Buy. Reclining chairs and everything. -Dex]

Exclusive Pad Squad Interview

2005-02-26T12:59:00.000-08:00

So Dex, Jon and I went to the Hot Dog Taste Test today at Parkway Plaza today. More on that later...

But the Pad Squad was there and I took the opportunity to interview one of them. She was event staff last year and so this will be her first Pad Squad year. She's a rookie, but the "real" pad squadders were this guy "Gloves" and this chick "Dimples". The guy looked like he took his job real seriously. Like re-loading the Friar's pockets with toys. I was afraid he'd get mad at me for asking him questions and he was trying to put the moves on the "Dimples" so I had to stick with the rookie.

First I started with small talk:

jbox: What's the best part about being a Pad Squadder? Don't say "the people"

Pad Squad Girl: I guess the work in the community.

jbox: So you're saying it's the people?

PSG: I guess.

jbox: What's the worst part?

PSG: I guess the work with the community also, cuz sometimes you get weird people coming up to you.

(I don't know if she was trying to insult me. But I took it as an insult. TOUCHE PAD SQUAD! TOUCHE!)

Later I came back for more:

jbox: What's your Pad Squad nickname?

PSG: I don't have one.

jbox: That's a shame. You'll need to get one. What's the second best thing about being a Pad Squader?

PSG: Being able to hang out at the Ballpark.

jbox: Hmmm. Okay are there any "social advantages" to being a pad squadder? (I do a lot a winking at this point)

PSG: I'm not sure...

jbox: What's your second favorite team? (This was a trick question.)

PSG: The Giants.

(An event staffer recognized the trick and started kinda yelling at her.)

jbox: Is that a chick or a dude in the friar outfit?

PSG: Both, but mostly dudes.

jbox: So sometimes there are girls in there?

PSG: No.

Well there you have it. That's a PFS76 exclusive. Man I hate those guys.

I got pictures on the way.

I really don't like the Pad Squad

2005-02-25T13:08:00.000-08:00

Here's why:

1. They act like they own the place. You're not important just cuz you get to walk all over the field between innings and throw crummy gifts to people. But something about me really wants those foam baseballs and tiny bags of peanuts.

2. They never give me crummy gifts. They are always giving the pack of baseball cards to little bratty kids. Stupid Pad Squad.

3. Are Ball girls part of the Pad Squad? Cuz I don't like them either. Seriously they can't field a ground ball and when they go fetch the ball they always give it to their Season Ticket Holder buddy that sits next to them every game. Then they ignore you when you offer them some "Jelly Belly" jelly beans.

4. The guys try to act real hard cuz they got a walkie talkie attached to their shorts. I feel real embarassed for these guys. But oddly I envy them.

5. On one hand it's kinda nice that they don't just pick all the super hot chicks for the squad, but these girls act like they are super hot. Like you don't got time to take some Jelly Bellies from me? Jeez.

6. It's really embarassing watching them try to use the water balloon launcher to shoot t-shirts into the upper deck. They are so weak.

7. In the late 90's there used to be this hot chick that would grab a Padres Flag and run around the Q and get everybody pumped up. We nicknamed her "Flag Girl". The Squad saw her and turned her into a Pad Squader for a season and stole her whole flag routine. Then they ditched her. Poor Flag Girl... poor poor Flag Girl.

Here's some pics:

2000 Pad Squad

2001 Pad Squad

2002 Pad Squad

UPDATE:
Check out this former Pad Squader showing a little "base" aka "aerola". This may not be safe for work.

Former Pad Squad (NSFW)

UPDATE on this Pad Squad Article.

UPDATE: More on the Pad Squad here and here.

Story about Larry Walker

2005-02-25T12:45:00.000-08:00

Back in the day when the Pads played at the Q and Larry Walker played for the Rockies a funny thing happened. We were sitting in right field and there was a group of guys with letters that read "ESPN!" They sat through the whole game and then in between innings they stood up and called out Walker's name. The stadium was almost empty so he turned around and they mixed up the letters to read "PEN!S". He chuckled and then started making the universal hand and mouth movement for a B.J. then pointed at them as if to say "Well you suck it..." It was real offensive. I'll never forgive Larry Walker for that. Never!

Kevin Towers admits he overpaid for Roberts

2005-02-25T09:20:00.000-08:00

This better work out Towers!
Shouldn't KT be on top of stuff like this?

"I'm still kicking myself in the pants that I didn't go after Roberts at the trade deadline, when Theo ended up getting him," Towers said yesterday. "I didn't know he was available."

This is like walking onto a car lot and saying "I'll do or pay anything for that car!"

"I told Theo, 'When the World Series is over, I want Roberts,' " Towers said. "It was kind of funny, because then we ran into Roberts when we walked into the ballpark."

Padres Nicknames and Entrance Music: Part II

2005-02-24T16:08:00.000-08:00

Here's part I.

Man, Leitner can knock me off my game. Now that I think about it, it's amazing that Coleman made the HOF despite Ted in the booth distracting him. It's just like Mickelson talking about Tiger being great despite using inferior equipment. Jerry is great even with Leitner's distractions. Yeah, Ted, someone who applies steroid cream and acts impersonal really does deserve the same fate as someone believed to have murdered two people.

Anyways, back to what I was writing yesterday.

Ramon Hernandez: Various Latin tunes. I'm not sure if Ramon has any nicknames, though I'm reminded of a game we went to last season where a little kid was in the stadium announcer's booth, anouncing the next batter, amd mispronounced Ramon as Roman. So cute and funny in that childlike dyslexic way that you hope for when you stick a little kid on the mic and make him talk. I was thinking that calling him Roman and then having him come out to a theme from Gladiator would be pretty epic, but then I realized that he'd have to do something epic at the plate, and his music would potentially be a little overconfident. Kinda like the dudes in college ball who come out to the theme from the Natural, then ground out to short. The theme from the Natural is like white ties with tuxes. There's no good time to wear a white tie with your tux unless you're eating dinner with the president or prime minister of a major country or it's your wedding and the president or prime minister of a major country is there. In the same vein, there's no good time to play the theme from the Natural for a ballplayer unless you've just pitched a perfect game, you're retiring and your name is Tony Gwynn/Cal Ripken/Rickey Henderson, or you're 6 years old and your little league team has just won county.

Xavier Nady: X Gon' Give It To Ya' by DMX. X. X-man. I'm a little winded from the previous paragraph so I'll just mention that my wife's cousin Sara went to Cal the same time as X-man. Partied with the dude, and thinks he's cute. Sara, it's true. Don't deny it.

Mark Sweeney: It says on ESPN Beautiful Girls by Van Halen, but wasn't he using Voodoo Chile by Hendrix while he was with the Padres? I sure hope he is. Such a cool guitar intro. And anything good enough for Hulk Hogan should be good enough for a Padres pinch hitter and bench player.

I'll skip the pitcher's batting themes. I know we got some decent hitters in the rotation now, but I have a tough time getting pumped for sac bunts and the odd bloop single.

Aki is using some Metallica theme which is OK. Here's my suggestion. Play up being Japanese a little bit and find a good taiko drum beat to introduce that eigth inning hold. It'd be much more unique than Metallica and it would have some sort of meaning other than Aki couldn't decide on a tune. Or just do Corky's pest control. March up to the mound swinging your elbows back and forth. Lull the batter into thinking you're some sort of dancing clown. Then blow right by that guy with some deadly accuracy. WHO'S LAUGHING NOW, BATTER?! YOSSHA!

We all know about Hell's Bells. Yes, it's awesome. Yes, I sound bored with it. No, I wouldn't change it for anything. I guess I should mention I'm fighting a cold.

Actually, now that I think about it, Instead of just having the fire graphics on the scoreboards, just go completely WWE on it and set the batter's eye on fire. Also, if we make it to the world series this year. No joke. Get AC/DC out to the park to play the song live in the 9th. The ultimate, I guess, would be if AC/DC was on top of the batter's eye, while it was on fire, playing Hell's Bells as Trevor jogged up wearing a boxer's robe with the hood up and his entourage strolled up with him, shouting things like, "What time is it!?" and "You ain't ready!" and "Avert your eyes, mortal!" Man, that would be great. Let's make that happen.

Well, that's all I got. More another time.

The New Friar Frank

2005-02-24T12:45:00.000-08:00

This Saturday, over at Parkway Plaza, they're going to be doing taste test for the new Friar Frank. I can honestly say that this is something I feel strongly about. A good hot dog is something that will alight my senses while watching a game. Now they're talking about grilled sausage in the park along with other taste sensations. Oh man. My mouth is watering. Reminds me of when they had the super 5 buck mondays. Nothing like that value.

Game ticket: $5

Parking: $5

Enjoying $29 worth of hot dogs with your friends: $29

Watching all that savings go away cause you go ahead and buy the $8 Coke: Priceless!

Secret Source in LA sees Canseco in Gym

2005-02-24T10:44:00.000-08:00

Here's what he had to say:

Another random item: I saw Jose Canstinko in my gym the other day. He's big but not as big as you'd think. If the dude hopped on my shoulders we could probably take him.

Where your roids now, Canseco?

UPDATE: to clear up this post. The secret source is a man of small stature but much girth. "The Dude" he speaks of is another man of small stature and 6.5% body fat.

Man this is a dumb post.

Young Pitchers Symposium on Jake Peavy

2005-02-24T10:24:00.000-08:00

John Sickels profiles Jake Peavy today. Sickels is a Peavy fan, but it's weird reading the comments and realizing that people don't know who Jake is. What does it take, people!? This is a future Cy Young guy! Let's pay attention!

Over at Ducksnorts, Geoff also has a Peavy writeup. I'm looking for one more writeup on the guy to complete the trifecta. I'm also thinking that if you read Padres blogs and you aren't Jbox, Kev or my wife, you've seen the Ducksnorts post already. Geoff mentioned us again though, which is really nice, so I'm being nice back.

I'm working on the second part of yesteday's post, so this is my one update until the afternoon. Maybe Jbox will write something. Haven't really heard much from Kev lately though.

Padres Nicknames and Entrance Music

2005-02-23T16:20:00.000-08:00

It's about that time for this. Let's go down the (potential) lineup. I'll be referring to this mostly:

Dave Roberts: Does he have a nickname? What about entrance music? Do you get entrance music for pinch running? If so, why? If not, why not? Oh, wait I got it here. Yeah! by Usher. That's good. Start off every game with the party anthem. We're here to have fun!

Loretta: Lowridah! Excellent in how seemingly inappropriate it is. One suggestion. He should just go all the way with the music that barely fits the player and use the Korn version of the tune. That's right, the one complete with the smokers coughing in the background and the bagpipes playing the main theme.

Phil Nevin: Symphony of Destruction by Megadeth. Driving guitars is always good for an entrance theme, but I have a better suggestion. Sweating Bullets off of the same album. You got the bass drum kicking and the slow guitars building right to the crazyman voice. "Hello, me. Meet the real me!" Everybody in the place will think he's psycho. It has the bonus effect of explaining away any nutty comments to the press.

Brian Giles: I think we should break out the J-Lo nickname machine and call him Bigli this year. Pronounced like Gigli to continue the J-Lo reference, and then switch his music to Everything's Gonna Be Alright by Naughty By Nature; A song used in the movie (according to imdb), completing the reference trifecta! That song also works as a theme as I predict he suddenly finds a huge bat during this contract year.

Ryan Klesko: Rhino. Bad to the Bone. That's how you do it. Now let's hit some home runs.

Khalil Greene: Blessed with a name that requires no nickname and yet, Spicoli? Do they really use that? Hopefully just in the clubhouse.

Sean Burroughs: "Sausage", "Burly", "Little Tubby". Whenever I'd go to games, Burroughs would have some random Mexican polka tune. Such a weird dude.

(Off topic... Leitner just now wished death on Barry Bonds on his radio show because of the whole steroids thing. I wonder if somebody who hated Cammy wished death on him after he revealed he had used roids in the MVP year. Bad taste this Leitner guy. He groups Bonds with O.J. Simpson, who I should probably remind you is an alleged murderer. Leitner's nuts. I'd probably look like a HOF broadcaster sitting in the booth with him.)

I'm so distracted now. I'll finish this later.

Oh yeah, and Brian Giles kinda wants to go to Atlanta

2005-02-23T14:45:00.000-08:00

In the same article.

Giles is talking about wanting ot play with his brother Marcus in Atlanta. Those dudes used to play for Granite Hills High School in the Grossmont League isn't that enough? Anyway Bochy says that Marcus told him that he'd come to SD and play any position. It sounds like Bochy, Marcus, Brian and KT need to relax at a tanning salon and get this all worked out. Maybe bust a pedicure afterward. What's happened to baseball?

We had a guy on our baseball team named Jim Paid who played with those guys. He wouldn't stop bragging about it. He talked too much and really wasn't that good.

Anyway, KT may have really screwed the Pads:

If the Padres were to miss the playoffs and lose Giles in the winter, they'd have little to show for the trade that sent pitcher Oliver Perez and left fielder Jason Bay to the Pirates in August 2003.

Here's Giles complaining about Petco:

Giles readily acknowledged yesterday that, compared with Petco, it's easier to hit home runs in Pittsburgh's PNC Park, plus the NL Central parks in Houston, Milwaukee, Cincinnati and Chicago. He also admitted that he's more suited to left field than Petco's large right field. But he said winning 87 games far exceeds any personal frustrations.

"Frosted Tips" Update!

2005-02-23T14:36:00.000-08:00

This is huge news for a topic that was first reported here on PFS76. We're totally on top of this stuff. We broke the news on "Frosted Tips" before the Union Trib. Now we just have to find out where this tanniing salon is in Phoenix. This is exciting.

Brian Giles, boosting the free-spirit ranks thinned by David Wells' departure, told reporters about his favorite new tanning salon in Phoenix, the dye job that frosted his hair blond this winter and the many books he never read, save that nonbaseball classic "Lord of the Flies."

Aki says "It's OK"

2005-02-23T13:19:00.000-08:00

I bet Jon wishes their were pictures with this article.

Loosened up by a hot massage, reliever Akinori Otsuka returned to the mound and reported no problems after a 45-pitch bullpen session. "It's OK," Otsuka said of a right shoulder that was tender.

Klesko still complaining about Petco Park

2005-02-23T13:11:00.000-08:00

Just reading this UT article about how Klesko is thinking he'll be better this season now that his shoulder doesn't hurt.

I can't believe he's still whining about the size of Petco.

Klesko chased his first-half nightmare, particularly in September when he amassed a 1.077 combined slugging and on-base percentage. But he still considers Petco Park, the team's spacious home, a haunted house for would-be home run hitters.

"Nothing I can do; they built it," he said. "You've got to take all the lift out of your swing, and that's what I did. It's going to die out there. You're just shooting yourself in the foot trying to hit the ball in the air at home. You've just got to play with what you've got. I'll get on base as much as I can."

Oh and get this:

Klesko's nine home runs last year were a career low, but he also hit 32 doubles – 22 in the last three months of the season – in 402 at-bats. "People are like, 'You really had a bad season last year,' but I'm like, 'It wasn't that bad,' " Klesko said.

Hey Klesko you really did have a bad season last year.

Canseco and Bonds talkin' Steroids

2005-02-23T08:53:00.000-08:00

I was watching a little "Hannity and Colmes" yesterday and Sean Hannity was interviewing Canseco.

The most ridiculous part is Canseco talking about how to compare home run hitting records of people using steroids to those who didn't. They shouldn't be records at all if the person used steroids. That's my opinion anyway. I think they should permanently be kicked outta baseball. That should send the message pretty quickly to the players.

CANSECO: I understand that, but how do you develop a rating system to say, OK, this individual on steroids is hitting 60 home runs a year, what do you do? Do you develop some kind of system to say, OK, we're going to take away 20 or 30 percent of his home runs per year? It's impossible to judge.

Bonds said a whole lotta nothing in his interview. He refused to deny his alleged steroid use. He blamed the media a ton. I take offense to that now that we have this blog. How dare YOU, sir!

Gwynn takes a shot at Winfield!

2005-02-23T08:47:00.000-08:00

I like Gwynn taking a shot at Winfield right here. I found myself thinking the same thing yesterday. Wishing that Winfield didn't have to be convinced to go in as a Padre. I'd rather see a "real" Padre go in first.

Gwynn, now the baseball coach at San Diego State, was one of those thrilled to hear of yesterday's announcement.

"That's awesome," said Gwynn, clapping his hands as a big smile came across his face. "I'm happy for him. It's about time.

"I always told him he should be the first real Padre to go in. . . . As my career was coming to an end, he used to tell me I had a Hall of Fame career. I said, 'You should be a Hall of Famer before me.' "