Congratulations are in order for Darrell May who won his first game with the Padres yesterday. Beating a Cy Young Award winner no less. A while ago, May was peeved that his spot in the rotation wasn't locked in, and I thought it was pretty jerky considering the fact that he didn't know how to throw the ball back then. Somebody must have had a talk with him about the importance of earning the spot as opposed to asking really nicely for it and then whining afterwards. He looked awesome. Baseball's a weird game, right? Take away all the stats and records and awards and watch the game yesterday. Then, you tell me who the better pitcher is.
This series is why you can't predict sweeps in baseball. Actually, you can, but it's a risky proposition and it leaves you open to ridicule later on. Predicting a sweep was like saying the Padres had no chance against the Twins. Three weeks ago, the Padres were killing the best of the National League and Ryne Sandberg thought we had no chance against the Twins? That's what happens when you bet against the friars.
The Dodgers come into town this week. Four games. All during the week. Jayson Werth is back in the lineup. Man, I dislike that Jayson Werth. An ideal situation would be for Bochy to start Fick at catcher, then hopefully have a play at the plate with Werth, where there's a potential collision. Werth tries to drop his shoulder on Fick who promptly knocks that guy on his ass. Unfortunately, I think Fick's too much of a nice guy these days to do such a thing. And I really shouldn't be wishing injury on anybody anyway, even if it's Werth.
Speaking of nice guy Fick, I'm turning into a big fan of his. After Saturday's performance behind the plate, he's just been awesome. And he hasn't been a nuisance at all. Not one punched manager or brawl. He hasn't tried to poke anyone's eyes out while running to first base. Nothing about being a problem in the clubhouse. San Diego really has that effect on people, doesn't it? Think of Nevin, Kevin Brown, Rickey Henderson, David Wells. Bad attitudes, and yet San Diego calms them down. That's why you should vote Bochy for mayor. He has the ability to take the riff raff and turn it into a productive member of the community.
Also, I'm turning into a big believer of having good clubhouse guys around. From a few weeks ago, Fick talked about Sweeney and how much he respects that guy.
"I tell you, I've never worked so hard as I have being on the bench," Fick said. "You run, you lift, you take ground balls, you work at catcher, you take extra batting practice. The key is to prepare yourself."
More later as we get ready for LA.