Most saves of more than one inning (since 1994):
1. Mariano Rivera, 116
2. Keith Foulke, 55
3. Trevor Hoffman, 52
4. Danny Graves, 49
5. Jason Isringhausen, 42

Still, questions persist: Why are closers so limited? Why do they almost exclusively pitch one inning? Is it because, after much study and observation, everyone in the game realized that one-inning closers are more effective at holding leads than multiple-inning guys? Maybe, but I doubt it. The numbers I've seen strongly suggest that teams are blowing late-inning leads at exactly the same rate they did in the the 1980s and the 1970s and the 1950s and so on. Is it because hitters are so much better and the only way to counter that improvement is with a one-inning closer?

Joe Posnanski @Joe Blogs

The improved team has a persona that's grittier, a lineup that's less strikeout prone and bullpen that's deeper and better. Towers doesn't want to accept any plaudits, declining through a team spokesman to comment for a story to praise him because he figures it's a team effort. But Hall said flat out about Towers, "He is the architect of an extremely competitive team that has resulted in arguably the most impressive and unthinkable turnaround in our game this season.''

Jon Heyman; Sports Illustrated

2B Orlando Hudson's RBI single in the sixth inning of the Padres' 8-3 loss at San Francisco on Monday night ended the third-longest hitless streak in Padres history. Hudson had gone 0-for-34 dating to a home run against the Dodgers' Hiroki Kuroda on Aug. 30. Shortstop Tommy Dean went hitless in 42 straight at-bats from July 6, 1970 to May 4, 1971. Infielder Phil Stephenson had a 35 at-bat hitless streak from July 26 to Oct. 2, 1992.

A former top official at the White House and Department of Defense has been named senior vice president for public affairs for the San Diego Padres, the team announced Monday.

Sarah Farnsworth will oversee communications, community relations and military affairs for the Padres.

C Nick Hundley led off the second inning Tuesday with his second home run in as many at-bats, a drive over the center field fence off Giants rookie LHP Eric Surkamp. Hundley is hitting .318 at Petco Park this season with five homers and 14 RBI in 107 at-bats. The average is currently the highest single-season mark by a Padre with more than 100 at-bats at Petco Park since the downtown San Diego facility opened in 2004.
Los Angeles Times

Looking at this picture is a trip. Every baseball fan knows that Pete Rose never played for the Padres, so why the hell is Charlie Hustle wearing a Padres cap?

Baseball-Reference lists the hitters with the highest ratio of WAR to plate appearances. Guess who came in at #5

I, like other San Diego Padre fans, agonized over the team's collapse late last year, as they went 14-23 and lost the divisional crown on the final day of the season. Looking ahead to 2011, the Padres still have one best starting rotations in all of baseball, and this strength will once again make them a viable contender to win the National League West.

"Everything about the Giants gets short shrift," said Peter Magowan, the former managing general partner of the San Francisco Giants, who grew up in New York and attended his first Giants game at the Polo Grounds in 1950. "It was unique and very quirky. It was a great old ballpark."

On Friday and Saturday, the San Francisco Giants bring their World Series trophy — and Willie Mays — to New York on an ancestral tour that includes a visit to Public School 46, near the Polo Grounds site.
NY TIMES

On Jan. 21, Baer said, the Giants plan to take the trophy to P.S. 46 in Manhattan, near the site where the Polo Grounds once stood. Mays, who starred there at the beginning of his career, will come along.

From 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. the next day, the Giants will display the trophy at the Hilton New York, where fans can have their photograph taken with it. From 3 to 5 p.m., the trophy will visit Finnerty’s in the East Village, which calls itself the largest San Francisco Giants bar in New York.

NEW YORK TIMES

Eric P. Grubman, executive vice president of the N.F.L., said the league could not begin to negotiate a possible move for a team until it reached a new labor contract with players; the current one expires at the end of this season. Still, he suggested that the N.F.L. was intrigued by both proposals.
New York Times

Padres general manager Jed Hoyer said Tuesday the team was looking for options for the bench.
On Wednesday, the Padres might have found two in infielder Kevin Frandsen and catcher Guillermo Quiroz.
The Padres have signed Frandsen and Quiroz to Minor League contracts with invitations to Spring Training.

He says he was sucker-punched by another fan and should have been protected

For $30 a pop, kids from grades one to eight were given the chance to learn from Richard, college-experienced players, all-state honorees and college coaches. The proceeds from the event were given to the McCutcheon baseball program.

Photos HERE

"I never got to sleep," Chris Lincecum said. "At 6 o’clock the next morning, I was still up. I remember every now and then, I’d be walking down the hall and just go, ‘Yeah!’ It really struck me: he just won the World Series. He won two of the four games. I’m still floating."
New York Times

"Padres attendance is worse than it was at Qualcomm, even though the team had a great 2010 season and is slashing ticket and concession prices. So why do the Chargers want a stadium a stone’s throw from Petco, which is not working out for the Padres?"
Don Bauder- San Diego Reader

New York Times story and slideshow about Snow Days at Jacobs Field

Story Here

NYT Obituary

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Nice write-up on the Dodgers in today's New York Times.

"That is the same message Manager Joe Torre gave his team. "That’s not our business," Torre said. "You do what you can control, and the only thing you can control right now is trying to win ballgames." "

San Diego Union Tribune story about Steve Finley bouncing checks to employees of his restaurant in Del Mar. In August he told them they would be paid soon.
As of yesterday, the workers have still not been paid.

Bill Center is answering questions about the Padres on the SOSD website right now.

Alright, which one of you asked the question about Kouzmanoff and said he was better than Beltre?