I recently found an archive of 3 years worth of old emails from 1998 to 2001. The basic premise behind "Before the Blog" is that I search the emails for references to the Padres and then post one of the emails each week for our collective enjoyment.

I get the feeling that people don't really like this new series of posts. I think it's important though for you to know that the writers from your favorite blog have been Padres fans and weird for a long time. Here's an email from Dex to me back in Fall of '98.

Sent:  Mon 10/19/1998 1:14 PM

Subject: RE: World Series

Sucks that the Padre's starters all have the flu.  
We should have been slumpbusting at InCahoots 
on behalf of the Padres.  I like the Padres chances,
because of the lack of DH.  I think Gomez's
experience at the 8 spot combined with Hitchcock's 
bat will be huge.  I don't expect Torre to make any 
big mistakes managing without a DH but Cone at 
bat will at least hold off any rallys the Yanks 
might muster.