Gaslamp Ball

Question for the locals

royhobbs — Sun, 11 May 2008 20:48:48 -0000

Greetings baseball fans -

Despite the Braves hat I'm wearing in my user pic, I do not post here to troll, instigate, and/or pick fights. As a baseball fan, I come to seek ideas, and pick the brains of the locals.

On my ongoing quest to tackle every Major League Ballpark in America, I am making the trip out to San Diego later this month (During the series against the Nationals) to see Petco Park. I can google San Diego, look around on craigslist, and seek out generic things to do from the internet, but I think that I can get some better ideas of things to do from like-minded baseball/sports aficionados.

So that being said, what's there to do in San Diego? Novelty/giant foods, cool places to see, best areas to see the Pacific, etc?

Any and all constructive suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I can't wait to see your beautiful park, and I sure as hope that Maddux is pitching when I go.

SLPiH - #350 Edition

Drama — Sun, 11 May 2008 14:58:59 -0000

"Trev gave me the ball. That was cool. I'll take any free ball I can get. I'll give it to my kid. Let him go play with it somewhere."

Greg Maddux is a 350 game winner.

Now that Mad Dog has won #350, Tim Sullivan wants to trade him. I guess I would tag that: "articles that could have been written on any other day but this one...are you turning into Canepa?"

Mark Prior will be in San Diego today to be examined by team doctors. "I think you can call it a setback," San Diego manager Bud Black said, "but we'll know more [Sunday]."

Chase is a patient Beaver.

The bullpen is changing . Henn is in. Rusch is out. Thatcher could be next as a trade for a reliever is imminent.

CY vs. Greg Reynolds. First pitch is at 1:05pm.

Happy Mother's Day to all the incredible moms here on the GLB. Guys, call your mom and buy a pink bat.

New and Improved Search

Dex — Sun, 11 May 2008 14:40:12 -0000

Apparently, the search functionality has seen an upgrade. Here's what we've been told:

- Improved UI: clean, open search page designed for ease of scanning
results and to quickly find what you're looking for

- Comments are searchable again

- With one search you can view the number of results for all content:
front-page stories, FanPost, FanShots and comments. One click to view
those results.

- Relevant excerpts with highlighted keyword matches are displayed
with very result

- You can sort by date or by relevancy

- Pages for matching players, events and teams, including quick links
to stats, rosters, news and schedule are displayed in results

- Power search allows you to fine tune your query, show more results
per page and filter your search by user or date

- Easily increase the scope of your search by including results from
the league or the entire SB Nation network with the tabs at the top

- If you're looking for something posted by a particular user, just
click their name anywhere on the network and use the search box on
their profile to automatically filter results by their name.

****

Man, that's a lot of stuff. Let us know what you think and email bugreport@sbnation.com if you notice any creepy crawlies.

Luke Carlin

Enzo Hernandez — Sun, 11 May 2008 14:24:26 -0000

Luke Carlin: Why haven't we seen this kid until now? I don't care if he's traditionally been a weak hitter until his slugfest of this year. He is the best defensive catcher I've seen in a Padres uniform in some time (since Benny?) I played baseball for a good many years and when I did I caught and I want to tell you, from the way the kid sets up to the way he receives and frames pitches to his intangible "presence" behind the plate to his arm (watching him throw it to second before the game and between innings -- I don't recall anyone trying to steal on him last night), the kid is a "plus" defensive player and a bright spot in the dreary beginning of this season.

Go Luke. Go Padres.

Adrian's Homer - Saturday Night

TheRevRun — Sun, 11 May 2008 08:53:44 -0000

Ironically, the team stole four bases during Greg Maddux's 350th Career Victory, though they only scored during this hit Adrian had off of Ubaldo Jimenez.

I mean, four stolen bases and the only runs that score, come on this home run. Is this Padres baseball 2008?

I took the below video from the concourse, just got lucky when I pressed record. I am really glad that Greg Maddux finally got his milestone victory, let's hope it jumpstarts a nice May winning streak

SLPiH - Saturday Edition (A.J.)

Drama — Sat, 10 May 2008 14:29:42 -0000

THE JIM EDMONDS ERA IS OVER.

New centerfielder - same result on the scoreboard.

The Cardinals react to the release of Jim Edmonds.

Tim Sullivan's column this morning has some interesting comments from KT regarding the Chase Headley situation.

Shawn Estes will get the start this Tuesday against the Cubs at Wrigley Field.

Sean Henn to the bullpen.

Luke Carlin comes up ...Colt Morton goes back down.

Padre Nation is angry. Do we have a flag? An ambassador?

Win #350 (Revision 5). Mad Dog will face Ubaldo Jimenez tonight at Petco. Tonight is a "Premium Game", so a win is guaranteed or something. Not sure. First pitch is at 7:05pm.

Smells Like Padres in Here - Friday Edition

Winfield's Ghost — Fri, 09 May 2008 14:48:15 -0000

Lot of blame to go around for that mess yesterday. Anyone else preparing themselves to be disappointed in the "changes" that may be made today? I just don't get the feeling that it's going to be anything major. And I don't think Edmonds is getting released. I'm betting on the DL - can't recall who brought that up earlier this week, but I think that's the way they are gonna play it. Why do I think that? Don't have a good answer for that one.

Estes is happy to be back. He pitched better than I anticipated yesterday. With the way things are going...he probably blew out his elbow.

Boomer back to the Yankees? The funniest part is that the article says he's been working out.

Arizona is closer to locking up Webb. So we've got that to look forward to.

Jake takes on the Rockies and Aaron Cook tonight. Cook generally throws pretty well against us. As does the rest of baseball. Game time is 7:05pm PDT.

A Change is Gonna Come?

Drama — Fri, 09 May 2008 03:59:34 -0000

Judging by the Portland Beavers game tonight against the Omaha Royals...there will be a change with the Padres roster, but not a number of them. Jody Gerut did not play tonight, which means he's probably on his way to San Diego.

No word yet on Jim Edmonds. But it's probably more telling what is NOT being said about the guy. Tom Krasovic of the U-T asked Harry after the Braves sweep if Edmonds would still be a member of the Padres for this short homestand against the Rockies:

"I'm not going to talk about that," manager Bud Black said, one day after General Manager Kevin Towers, given a chance to endorse Edmonds, declined comment.

With the exception of Clay Hensley (and Gerut), all of the other names that have been rumored as candidates for promotion from Portland were all on the field tonight in Omaha.

Think Chase Headley wants to be in a Padre uniform? The kid was 5 for 5 tonight, including a walk, a double, two runs scored and an RBI. He's now hitting .304.

Nick Hundley was 2 for 4, with a pair of doubles, a walk and an RBI.

E-Gon went deep for his 3rd HR of the season. He had a 3 for 5 night. His batting average is now .307.

Matt Antonelli still sucks. He went 0 for 5 with a couple of strikeouts. He's now dropped to .188.

While I think dropping Edmonds and promoting Gerut is a step in the right direction, I'm disappointed Chase isn't going to be on that plane with Jody. I hope KT has more up his sleeve than just this.

One thing to look forward to at Petco Park...

padparazzi — Fri, 09 May 2008 03:50:57 -0000

via img.perezhilton.com

Madonna will be performing at Petco Park on November 4th. I'm personally stoked about this, the Padres aren't doing their job getting me to go to Petco Park, but this... this is something that I cannot afford to miss. I went to the Rolling Stones concert at Petco and it was the best concert I've ever seen! I'm pretty sure the Madonna concert will be one of the best concerts EVER! =]

would be really cool

iLOVEkouz5 — Fri, 09 May 2008 02:51:06 -0000

if anyone could tell me a good place to buy tickets for Petco Park other than padres.com, craigslist and stubhub.

i tried craigslist and stubhub for them but craigs didnt have em and stubhub was expensive

im looking for section 202(MAYBE 204) seats for June 20th

so does anyone have any suggestions on a place i could get them? it would be soo much help if you could lemme know. :)

thank you

-lovekouz5

Smells Like Padres in Here - Thursday Edition

Winfield's Ghost — Thu, 08 May 2008 13:50:22 -0000

I feel 63% confident that this team will win at least one more game this season, but we may be stuck at 12 wins for awhile.

Sullivan advocates for letting Edmonds limp away. Sort of.

Some "writer" at Fanhouse basically says the same thing about Edmonds, but then screws himself by offering his own uninformed opinion and an Anchorman reference.

I hope they let Estes pitch at some point today, just so we can have someone new to make fun of.

The last thing I wanted to do was link to another story about how good Arizona is, but the included anecdote involving Peavy is worth reading.

Ledezma will go for the loss today against Jo-Jo Reyes. DAY GAME ALERT!!! Game time is an early 10:10am PDT.

Smells Like Padres in Here - Wednesday Edition

Winfield's Ghost — Wed, 07 May 2008 14:55:13 -0000

I was going to link to four articles like I normally do, but, really. I think one article about another loss is all we need today. Three more would seem like rubbing it in.

Ledezma will replace Germano. Because he is way more exciting than Geer, Ramos, LeBlanc or Inman. (Honestly, Front Office. If we are going to be terrible, that's fine. But could you give us a reason to watch the games???)

The long flight from Portland to Atlanta just really isn't a good excuse to not get Gerut into the lineup.

The pitchers in the NL West can also hit.

The Wolf versus Tim Hudson tonight. If you can't find a hammer to hit yourself in the head with and need another way of self-torture, game time is 4:00pm PDT.

Blame where it is due

Phantom — Tue, 06 May 2008 15:23:37 -0000

Unlike most of you, I didn't have the luxury of suffering through another frustrating week of Padres baseball. Mercifully, the only baseball-related information I was able to acquire on my cruise amounted to a quick score (not even a box or a line with it).

So we're 12-20, the worst team in baseball. There's got to be a reason for this, right? Everyone looks at the Front Office and blames them for not building a good team. But let me tell you something.

It is not the Front Office's fault that we have the worst record in baseball.

Read that again.

It is not the Front Office's fault that we have the worst record in baseball.

Here are my reasons:

For the most part, we are the same team we were last year. We have effectively only replaced two position players, Cameron and Giles. While Edmonds is an obvious step back, Iguchi should be a step forward. Our rotation only has one change (and Wolf > Wells), while our bullpen has only seen a few new faces. The core group of guys remains the same. There is ABSOLUTELY NO WAY the Front Office could predict that the team would fail to play up to their career averages. Bard has been terrible. Khalil has no power. Giles can't get on-base to save his life. Hairston was apparently nothing more than a fluke. Thatcher appears to be a fluke as well. Hoffman has struggled. K-Cam is getting lit up worse than TTG on Cinco de Mayo.
The starting rotation. It's been nails. Germano has been a question mark, but he's our fifth starter. CY seems to finally be getting back in stride and Peavy and Maddux have been more of the same from last year. Wolf has dazzled.
Bud Black is an idiot. Some would say that the Front Office should be responsible for this, but Black didn't look quite so ineffective last year. Sure, he made a few questionnable moves, but for the most part, it was a brilliant rookie campaign. This year has been quite different. He's using the wrong people at the wrong times. He's not even using half the people on his roster. Just as they shouldn't be blamed for not predicting the utter collapse of the team, the Front Office cannot be blamed for failing to predict that Black would stop adhering to logic and reason.

There is one thing the Front Office is culpable for. The farm system is currently not in a place where we can recover from a disastrous start. Whereas other teams have players they can patch in when their players struggle, we have nothing. We're about another year out from any meaningful production from our farm guys, and to the team's credit, they've done their best to remedy this. The farm system is better than it's been, but the horrible management of the system from 2000 through 2004 has left us severely crippled right now.

But as we sit here broken hearted, lets make sure we target the right people with our criticism. The Front Office COULD HAVE NEVER predicted that the team would stop playing to it's average production. They cannot be held responsible for the utter failure of the (mostly) same personnel that excelled last year. The players have played like shit Rally Backs, and our manager seems like he's letting the tidal forces of the moon influence the majority of his decisions. This team sucks right now, but it's the team's fault. There are things that Kevin Towers, Sandy Alderson, et. al could have done better, but they don't play the games on the field.

In short, blame Canada.

Smells Like Padres in Here - Tuesday Edition

Winfield's Ghost — Tue, 06 May 2008 14:29:28 -0000

BREAKING NEWS! We don't steal bases and can't stop other teams from stealing them.

We're #1!!! Scouts say we have the "one of the slowest and least athletic teams in the majors leagues." So...TAKE THAT teams that have better records than us!

Callix fulfills a dream.

"We kind of need some of these veteran guys to pick it up here," Towers said.

Estes is ready. (And, no, Jacque Jones won't be dying in our outfield any time soon.)

Hensley has a setback and Gerut was the PCL player of the week. I'm thinking we could use a PCL player of the week.

CY goes tonight in ATL against someone named Jair Jurrgens, which sounds alot like a shampoo. Game time is 4:10pm PDT.

I Broke Tony Gwynn!! - Updated!! Back in the game!!

sdgaucho — Fri, 02 May 2008 23:30:12 -0000

Finally, some good Pads-related news. Hopefully this is a sign of things to come. A winning streak perhaps?? Compotent baseball perhaps?? He can even bobble a little! Behold:

I am very sad. I was changing out my computer at work and one of the four T. Gwynn bobbleheads I have in my office was knocked behind my desk. It suffered a compound fracture of the neck along with cuts and scrapes. The head can be re-attached with superglue, but I'm afraid his bobbling days are over. This is just the latest sad chapter in what has been a rough season so far. Just thought I'd share my pain with my fellow GLBers. Hopefully the team and my psyche can recover.

Smells Like Padres in Here - Monday Edition

Winfield's Ghost — Mon, 05 May 2008 14:40:27 -0000

Greg Maddux will probably retire with 349 wins.

Our farm system is still playing catch up.

Bud Black - master of the understatement.

Germano or Ledezma or Rusch? This is sort of like the time when I was a kid and my mom said "Brussel sprouts or broccoli or squash?" and then I ran and hid in the closet.

Nice piece on the organization's minor league pitching coordinator, Mike Couchee. (via Drama)

Your daily Clemens update: Rog is sorry...but not really.

The beak speaks.

Off day today while the team heads to Atlanta to begin their charge to the World Series.

SLPiH - Sunday Edition

Drama — Sun, 04 May 2008 14:23:43 -0000

Awwww...we so totally won a game. And we're not in last place anymore!! Who's up for a Champagne Coolie?

(AP Photo/J. Pat Carter)

Every starter had at least one hit, Jake went 5.2 and only gave up two runs, we didn't commit a single error and Cla, Heat and Thatch allowed only one hit and a walk out of the bullpen. Them's the ingredients for a win.

Man, the Rockies are horrible.

Thatch is going to stop throwing his cutter all the damn time.

You have to love Heat Bell. "Dude, I watched a lot of 'Friends'."

Shawn Estes is pitching well in Portland. He and Ledezma are the top candidates to replace Germano in the rotation should Buddy choose to go that route.

The Dodgers have now won eight games in a row. James Loney had six RBI in last night's game. Jim Edmonds has six RBI this season.

Mad Dog goes for win number 350 against the Marlin's Andrew Miller. First pitch is at 10:10am. Get your Bloody Marys and mimosas ready, people!

SLPiH - Saturday Edition

Drama — Sat, 03 May 2008 14:41:46 -0000

I really wish this was our starting outfield...this one only has one dog in it.

(Robert Vigon/Florida Marlins)

The San Diego Padres now have the worst record in all the land.

The Marlins enjoyed Justin Germano's visit to Florida. When Buddy was asked if Mi Hermano would be getting the ball again in five days he answered: "We'll work through that."

Khalil hit his first homerun of the season.

It was "Bark at the Park" night for the Marlins last night, with Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston on the field filming a scene for their upcoming movie "Marley & Me".

Chase was 2 for 4, with a double and a walk last night in a 6-4 win for the Beavers . Clay threw another scoreless inning to lower his ERA to 1.80.

Wally World thinks Padre batters are pressing.

Colt Morton's friends and family were all on hand last night in a homecoming of sorts. Bonus: Colt got the start. It sets up like a fairy tale for him to get his first major league hit....right? Right? Umm, no. Cuz that just wouldn't be 2008 Padre-like.

Jake vs. Ricky Nolasco tonight. First pitch is at 4:10pm

Chase Headley

Wonko — Sat, 03 May 2008 03:12:29 -0000

Alright, I relent. Call him up. Stick him in the lineup everyday. Ride out the inevitable cold streak.. It's time. The offense isn't working. Chase is starting to hit AAA pitching. I don't care how well PMac is doing, this kid needs his PAs and he needs them this year. We need power in '09 and the '08 lineup can't get any worse. So, KT, do what you gotta do. If you need to go to Portland to look at the guy, then by all means take a peak, blow smoke up our ass and promote the guy. The Chase Headley era has to begin. If he doesn't come up by the end of the home series with the Rockies I'm gonna start screaming.

Does Padres GM care anymore?

Billy Almon — Fri, 02 May 2008 16:11:36 -0000

Isn't it strange that, with all his acumen in identifying and bringing in serviceable major league catchers to the Padres, Kevin Towers has not brought it in a backup for Bard, even though the prognosis on Barrett is not good? Even while Bard struggles in grinding it out because the second string catcher is really thought of as an emergency catcher in the event the starter played 22 innings the night before?

It's a strange move for KT not to make. C'mon, show us you care with another serviceable catcher. Either that or let Colt play.