It was pretty cool!

I was really bummed though because I missed the beginning. The tickets said the show started at 7:30, so I aimed to get there by then. But then we got lost in East County and didn't walk in until 7:50. I asked this lady if Jake already sang, and she said he did and he was really good. The lady was about 65. Actually, on that note, Stacy and I were the youngest people there, aside from the kids that were dragged there with their parents. The music wasn't really my type, but it was REALLY COOL hearing all of Tim's baseball stories. He also told this long story about how he recently started sleep-walking, and since he slept sin clothes, it really wasn't a good thing when he woke up asleep in the front door of his hotel room one morning. Anyway, Jake did come out and sing one verse of a song. Tim made him come up on stage. He was there with his wife Katie sitting in the front row. Wore a really scrappy pair of jeans and a Johnny Cash t-shirt with a long-sleeve white shirt underneath. I took some photos and some came out ok. I'll post them next..or attempt to. He sang just like he talks. With a huge drawl. It was Awesome! Then he came out for the grand finale and sang with 2 other guys. Couldn't hear him then, but he was having a blast dancing around and laughing. Oh, I almost forgot...Steve Polz was there too. He was CRAZY! Actually, that's one of the reasons Jake and everyone was laughing so hard in the end of the show. He was dancing around like a mad man.

Anyway, that's all I can think of. I could probably go on and on, but believe me, you don't want me to do that.

Peavy Rules!! Peavy for Cy Young!

The whole year I've been watching Sport Center and Baseball tonight and the whole time they all kept saying the Dodgers were going to win the west.  Last night... boy did they change their views.  They said the Dodgers and Phillies were going to fight it out for the wild card, but the Phillies will come away with it.  They said the Padres have everything going for them to win the West.  I LOVE it!!!  Finally some east coast bias turning more west coast.  Well...maybe I can't go that far, but it sure is nice to hear them bank on the Padres.

Hey, on another note, I was watching the Saints game tonight and started thinking... wouldn't that be so cool if New Orleans & the Chargers made the Super Bowl.  I know it's only the 3rd week and Chargers have only played 2 games, but hey, there's a chance right?  Brees vs Rivers... wouldn't that be somethin'?

I can't believe no one is writing about tonight's game!  Unfortunately I did not go, but I watched every second of it on my parent's HDTV...so it was like I was there.  What a terrific performance by Jake.  I really think the Jake we've all come to rely on has finally returned.  He said himself that last week he really wasn't feeling so hot. He was getting over the flu.  Someone needs to get that boy some Airborne or something to prevent him from catching any other illness before the season ends.  Only 2 hits!!  one of which was a homerun unfortunately.  And 14K's!!!  Great night for Padre fans.  Hopefully Wells can pull it off tomorrow and we can clinch the series.  Well, it's late.  See ya all.

I am in no fantasy leagues yet, amazingly, and I need to have at least one.  So I am starting my own this year.  It's free, just for fun.  Here's the link if anyone is interested in joining.

http://freemeeting.0.football.sportsline.com/splash/invite/2551/209586/8da75d144062c6c7

League Password:  rivers

Haven't been here in a while cause my job has been crazy.  Lots of traveling and working weekends.  Finally a 3-day weekend.  Yes!!  I was really hoping my weekend would start out great with a Hensley win the day after his birthday.  I watched him warming up in the bullpen and he looked great.  Looked like his sinker was working beautifully.  Turns out, he said it after the game..."I was feeling too good."  Well, not sure what that means, but I guess it's good he wasn't feeling bad.  We can't have any more pitchers going down.  He probably did too much longboarding in Del Mar on Thursday.  Trevor's long-time babysitter saw him and a bunch of other Pads surfing down there, and I guess Hens was learning how to longboard.  On to tonight...Jake pitching.  Will it be Dr. Jeckyl or Mr. Hyde.  Hopefully the good Jake will stand up.  I want to go, but then I don't.  It's so disheartening to be there when they lose.  Oh...and Wells pitching tomorrow.  That just gives me a feeling of comfort.  I'm so glad he's back.  Maybe he'll cheer up the club and get them on the track.  Anyway...Go Padres!

Anyone see Blum's One on One yet on channel 4?  I caught it last night and it's pretty moving.  When he's talking about the hitting that home run in the world series, he's about ready to cry.  Very emotional guy.  He seems like a really down to earth guy who just loves his baseball and his family.  The money is not that important to him.  That's the kind of players I like.  Much like Sweeney was and Peavy is.

which makes us about 1/3 done with the season.  Wow!  That sure went by fast.  So I guess it's a good thing that we're not in last place.  Our division should be really close all year I think.  Just like last year, but better.  I believe our whole division is over .500 at this moment.  Padrse are in the middle of the pack, hanging in there.  I think if they pick up one more good bat, they'll have a great chance in the end.  Although...they could just sit Cameron and Castilla, and play Blum/Bellhorn and EY instead.  And they should start Bard for 1/2 the games.  I'm really curious to see what Bard's average does after he's played more games.  He could end up our best catcher ever if he were to get more playing time.  I guess there's always next year for that too.  Thank you Mirabelli for being such a jerk and going back to where you came from.  We definitely got the better end of that deal.  Over all, I think the Loretta trade has worked out ok.  At first it was awful, but now that Doug is gone, it's really turned out to be a good deal.  I'm loving Barfield at 2nd. And finally we have a 1st baseman that can actually make plays that take away base hits.

Well, I just felt like blabbing about the season so far, since I'm bored at work.  And I'm putting a poll here asking who people think is our biggest surprise this season.  For me, it's a tossup between Clay & Bard, but then it's really hard to pick one guy because all the guys on the list have contributed greately to the teams success thus far.

Poll

Who is the biggest positive surprise so far this season?

4%

Josh Barfield

1 votes

33%

Chan Ho Park

8 votes

12%

Josh Bard

3 votes

4%

Adrian Gonzalez

1 votes

16%

Clay Hensley

4 votes

12%

Mark Bellhorn

3 votes

4%

Scott Cassidy

1 votes

4%

Other

1 votes

0%

Geoff Blum

0 votes

8%

Chris Young

2 votes

24 votes | Poll has closed

So what does everyone think of the bullpen so far?  I can't figure it out.  It seems it's either really good or really bad.  Maybe it's just bad when Peavy is pitching, who knows.  I'm curious what everyone thinks of these guys though, so I'm putting out this poll.

And anyone know why Brazelton wasn't sent back down yesterday instead of Jon Adkins???  I'm puzzled.  I can't stand Brazelton.

Poll

Who is our best new guy in the bullpen?

21%

S Cassidy

3 votes

28%

B Sweeney

4 votes

7%

D Brazelton

1 votes

42%

A Embry

6 votes

14 votes | Poll has closed

I wonder what happened to good pitchers these days.  It seems like the best ones are getting old.  So what happened to the young guys?  Seems they're few and far between.  I'm really curious to see what Hens can do.  He seems to have the stuff to be a starter, considering he's always been a starter before coming up to the majors.  It just worries me when he's been pretty good as a reliever and I don't want to see him mess up really bad as a starter.  Guess we'll see what happens tomorrow.  I really hope he succeeds though and can be one of 5 starters.  Once Estes comes back it could be a decent rotation.  I'm liking Young so far, and Woody was decent yesterday.  Park I'm not sure of, but I haven't ruled him out yet.  He did ok I guess.  It would be nice to have a few more guys that give you that warm fuzzy feeling when they hit the mound though, kind of like Peavy.  Look at the White Sox.  Seems every guy they have is a threat.  Anyway, I guess that's it.  Just curious what everyone thinks Hensley will do tomorrow.

Poll

Will Hensley stick as a starter or go back to the pen?

83%

Hensley will win his first start and become a solid force in our rotation

10 votes

16%

Hensley will sink under pressure and be sent back to the pen after a couple starts

2 votes

12 votes | Poll has closed

Continue reading this post »

Update [2006-3-29 16:10:18 by jbox]:

Listen Online

Gaslamp Ball Reader PeavyRules creates the open thread and sets the scene for us:

This should be interesting.  Two best friends playing against eachother for the first time.  I'm pretty sure Peavy will prevail, but I do miss Eaton.  Well, since there's no diary started for the game, I thought I'd start one.  

Pitch one... Strike one to Dave Roberts
Pitch two..three....four, etc. and Base Hit for Dave Roberts.  Well, looks like a good start to a fun game.  Wish I could see it.

Just went to 1090 website and that was on the front page.  He signed a 6-year deal with them!  Guess any chance of him coming back to SD is now 100 percent gone.  He will surely be missed in San Diego.  Now I guess we get to see what Rivers can do.                                                                                                                      

Is anyone going this weekend?  I'm heading up on Friday and staying through Sunday.  I'm bummed there is no game on Sunday since I'll still be there.  I'm looking forward to watching Hensley, Young, Estes (not sure who of any of those will actually pitch though, and all of the new infield.  Klesko at first again should be fun to watch.

If anyone is going let me know.  We can meet up for a beer and some Padres talk.

The Hude and I went to this thing last Thursday for Padres season ticket holders.  I had received this basic postcard in the mail saying it was a "Shareholder Meeting".  No mention of anything except that Alderson and Towers would be there.  Well...  We got there and there was a line around Petco Park, a guy playing the Saxophone in the entrance to the Park, and season-ticket reps passing out these really cool pins to everyone.  Once we got in, there was all we could eat free food (hot dogs, pizza, popcorn, sodas, cookies, candy, coffee, hot chocolate, etc).  We were shocked.  I was already happy that day because, if you remember, that was the day they signed Giles back.  Only downside is it was freezing.  Getting to the interesting stuff now.  Leitner was the MC (still not sure I like him but he's growing on me like a fungus), Alderson and Towers were there, Bochy was there (though I didn't recognize him without his hat on...he actually looks pretty young...oh and no moustache!), and several players were there too.  Geoff Blum was there (with a mohawk!), Dave Winfield was there, and Brian Giles was there (in a taped video message).  A lot of people asked questions to Sandy and Kevin.  Some of what I got from it was:

1. They will do their best to sign Trevor back
   
2. Towers said he really would like to sign back "Mr. Sweeney".
   
3. There are many more trades to be made, but make note that 95% of trade rumors are just that...rumors
   
4. They appreciate us spending money on tickets since they don't get it from the media (like they do in say...Seattle).  He said Seattle because obviously New York and Chicago are big markets, but he wanted to compare us to a similar market).  I never heard much about Seattle media, anyone else?  Yeah, this comment confused me.
   
5. They all want to defend the NL West Championship title next year, as much as we do.
   

.........etc...........
The Brian Giles video recording to us was the last thing they showed, and Brian gave us fireworks.  Yeah, he literally said, "I have a special surprise for you".  And the lights went out and they had about 10 minutes of fireworks.

I wish you all coulda been there because I'm sure you would have asked all the questions that weren't asked.

Stacy mandated me to write this up in the blog, so there you go...If I think of anything else I'll add it.

Did anyone hear on 1090 today the interview Ted Leitner had with Jake Peavy?  Great interview, by the way!  Jake basically said that he really didn't think his ribs were broken before the game.  He said that possibly he should have thrown some full-speed game pitches before the game to test it, but he really thought he was fine and he just had a bruise.  He showed it to the trainer but the trainer dismissed it like Peavy did.  Of course there was a lot of celebrating last week, and everyone thought he just hit his chest somewhere.  He said that since the game yesterday, the pain has gotten worse.  But then he changed his story and said that it was feeling much better.  To sum this up...Jake said that he'd like to pitch again this season.  He was told that there is something they could shoot up inside his ribs to stop the pain and swelling.  He said that he would totally do that as long as it meant he would be able to pitch with full range without any pain or side effects.  Wow!!  What a gamer.  He also said that if he had known his ribs were broken, he likely wouldn't have pitched.  Padres fans...I think this is a good sign.  Regardless of what they keep saying on the radio/news (Peavy is out for the season), if Peavy is wanting to pitch and the trainers and doctors tell him he can, maybe it will happen.  I don't think it will be this series, but if we make it to the next round, who knows....  Padres players...this should give you lots of motivation to play well!!

I forget his name, but the guy who's on before Ted, with Philly Billy said that he ran into Jake at their St. Louis hotel yesterday.  Jake was hobbling slowly down a long flight of stairs and told the guy that he was going to get some ice cream for Katie (his wife for those who don't know).  I can't imagine why Katie let him do that with a broken rib, but I'm sure Jake insisted.  He is seriously a role model to all of us who complain all the time about stupid stuff.

I say we all get together and meet next Saturday before the game.  It has to be early enough though so we can get to the game an hour before the start of the game so we can catch all the pre-game hoopla.  Who's up for it?  And anyone has some ideas on where we could meet?

Even if you're not going to the game, you should be out with Padre fans.  Seriously, this is a rare occasion.  All the memories of 98 have been flooding back into my mind and I'm just exstatic.  Go Padres!!

Poll

Who's up for a pre-game happy hour next Saturday?

0%

I won't be making the game, but I'll meet you guys for happy hour

0 votes

11%

No thanks, I'm not really a Padres fan.

1 votes

44%

Padres in the playoffs...absolutely I'm there!

4 votes

44%

It's a possibility, tell me when and where.

4 votes

9 votes | Poll has closed

I'm still trying to get over the 3 straight losses to the Phillies.  That is why I haven't been here much the last few days.  The highlight though for me was Saturday.  Positive highlight, that is.  I went to the "Party in the Park" which is a season-ticket-holder-only event.  I'm sure many of you know about and possibly were even there.  I took a bunch of awesome pictures, and I mean AWESOME.  Some of Klesko, Sweeney and Peavy (my two faves), Nady, Hensely, Hoffy, and more.  To prove my dorkiness, I created a video slide-show to music of all the pics I took.  I can't post it to the site, but if anyone wants it, send me your e-mail and I'll send it to you.  You can e-mail me at lara1974@yahoo.com.  Warning...the video is waaaaayy amateur, so I won't accept any complaints after you see it.
So... I got more confirmation that Sweeney is one heck of a guy.  He is hillareous!!  He straight-out said to all that Fick needs an extreme makeover.  Ted Leitner was asking all the guys the questions, and he asked, "If there was one Padre that could receive an Extreme Makeover, who should it be, Anyone....?"  Sweeney took the mike and said, "Are you kidding me?  That is eeaassy.  Robert Fick!!  Has anyone taken a good look at that guy recently?  Maaan!  That guy is in maajor need of a ta'an."  That's not the exact wording, but it..was...funny.  I got some pics of him saying that and all the guys laughing.  Then of course Sweeney tried to get all the guys to show their "Pelo".  He said Hoffy had the best pelo.  And there were a few guys that he said would never show their pelo.  Some proved him wrong though and took their hats off.  Anyway...I could go on and on.  You shoulda seen it though.  That and watching Peavy pitch on Friday (save the 3 run homer in the first)were my highlights.  I'm trying to forget the losses.  And one more complaint...why, oh why, did Boch put Trevor in on Saturday when it was NOT a save situation.  I was pissed!  I hope B-Law can put up some goose eggs tomorrow...like 9 would be nice.  Go Pads!

Update [2005-8-16 14:27:59 by jbox]:

Here is the video, I re-sized it to under 5MB:

lara_padres.wmv(4.68MB)

All I know is he has one of the highest batting averages of the team.  I hear that he has never had over 200 at bats in a season, but I think he may hit that number this year.  I love Nady, but Sweeney is just amazing.  Tonight at the game...ugh...awful boring game.....but being the Padre fan that I am, I stayed till the bitter end.  Wasn't such a bad ending though.  2 guys on base.  Then Sweeney comes to bat.  I told my friend, "Sweeney is up to bat and he IS going to get a hit.  Just watch."  Whata ya know...awesome single along with an RBI right after I said that.  At least he allowed this game to not be a shutout.  What does everyone else think of him?  I'm just curious why he doesn't get more discussion time.
[update] So I picked Clay Hensley in this poll, but my close runner up is Miguel Olivo. I want to see Hensley pitch more often though because I think he's the next Linebrink-type. Olivo has been looking way good so far however.

Poll

Which of these new players do you think will contribute the most to the the Padres future successes?

0%

Chan Ho Park

0 votes

25%

Joe Randa

3 votes

66%

Clay Hensley

8 votes

8%

Miguel Olivo

1 votes

0%

David Ross

0 votes

12 votes | Poll has closed

I'm getting soooo sick of this.  I just had to vent.  What's is it with the Padres recently?  They've completely fallen apart.  If I remember correctly, our last win was last Wednesday when Peavy pitched.  He only gave up one run, yet we easily could have lost that game in extra innings.  Thanks to Fick, we didn't. (Side note: Aanyone know what Fick's batting song is called?).  So...Peavy pitches again tomorrow.  If we lose this one, I think I'll give up all hope.  It angers me so much, and the thing is, I'm not mad at anyone in specific.  They just have to band together.  It's like the Nevin stuff started happening, they lost all interest.  We need that fire, someone on the team to get them pumped.  I think that's what Nevin was for them.  I never liked the guy, especially after meeting him, yet I do think he added something to the team that is lacking right now.  Giles is awesome, but he won't voice an opinion.  Klesko is an oldtimer, yet he seems to stick to himself.  Hoffman?  Haven't heard much from him lately.  It seems Peavy is the only spark they have to get anything done.  Poor guy, he's only 24, and it seems all the pressure is on him tomorrow (once again) to put a stop to this nonsense.  Anyone want to step up team and be a leader??  Klesko?  Hoffy?  Giles?  Anyone?  Anyone?  The spot is open.

I attempted to meet him, but I had to be somewhere at 12:30, so I was only able to drive by and see.  HUGE line to see him.  It was amazing.  I met Sean Burroughs at a similar function last year, yet there was hardly anyone there.  Boy was this different!  I'm curious if anyone met him though and what he said.  Anyone?

Poll

Who is your favorite current Padre?

12%

Trevor Hoffman

3 votes

45%

Jake Peavy

11 votes

37%

Xavier Nady

9 votes

0%

Adam Eaton

0 votes

4%

Mark Loretta

1 votes

0%

Ryan Klesko

0 votes

24 votes | Poll has closed