Unless something crazy happens, Brian Giles is done as a Padre. I know this got mentioned last week, but it never really seemed to get discussed. That could also be me just not reading the comments every day. Still, Brian Giles was, to me, the last member left of the first era of Petco Park.

By all accounts, he was a successful Padre and he was a member of successful Padres teams, but in the end, I think he'll go down, like most of the guys who introduced us to Petco Park, as a Padre that people will dislike because he was either weird or they'll feel gypped by him.

Is it strange that Padres fans dislike so many of those guys that opened up Petco for us? Ryan Klesko and Phil Nevin left with much of San Diego thinking of them as whiners (though Nevin's got himself a good talk show host thing going). Khalil Greene left as the guy who was fun to watch in the field, but ultimately, the weirdo who never really got around to hitting. Sean Burroughs, with his awkward running style and Golden League power, left even more expectations unfulfilled than any of those other guys. I even remember being excited when we got Ramon Hernandez and then thinking, "Oh. Is that it?"

I look at that '04 team and even though I have fond memories, I also have memories of bad breakups and disappointing exits. Maybe it's my heart's way of protecting me from too many tears already shed.

Maybe, when we say things like, "We should've kept Jason Bay", or "Good riddance, jerk" or "You can go beat women on your own time now", what we're really saying is, "We'll keep you in our hearts", "Travel well, sweet prince" and "I'll miss seeing you hit".

In any case, we have shed our skin of the last bits that remained from when Petco was new and waiting for its history to be written. That part of the history is written now and rather than look back on the weird and whiney with irritation. I will look back with fondness for the eccentricities and passion that those players had.

Good riddance, sweet, princely, jerks.