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I missed the season finale of The Hills for this?

Jess and I rolled into the game somewheres around the 4th inning. While we were in line for pizza, we got to watch Todd Walker's first error at third base. And again, we were there to watch him botch an even easier player that could have gotten us out of the inning with no hits given up and Woody perhaps less fatigued to tackle the next few innings. Instead we got to see the beginning of the end.

And here... In the first game with Walker starting third... Do we get to see exactly what everybody was worried about.

And what everybody (and by everybody, I mean me) was worried about is the fact that we wanted an upgrade at third base to fill our void. An upgrade.

Say it with me.

Upgrade.

If not an upgrade at third, then at the very very very very very least, I think we all wanted to see a third baseman at third instead of a guy who really would rather play first or second base. Last time I checked, we were OK at first and second base. I would've hoped that would've been the first criteria. Being a third baseman, I mean.

"Let's see... We need a third baseman... Oh how bout this guy?"

"Is he a third baseman?"

"No."

"Perfect!"

In any case, it's extremely frustrating to see. I know part of the argument for why the Walker trade wasn't such a bad thing was because we basically got him for free. The thing is, there are plenty of things that I can get for free, but doesn't mean that the majority of them are useful.

In fact, I'm going to go so far as to say that if we see even one error from Walker tonight, this will be an extremely bad thing. Bad to the point that I bet people stop showing up.

If you were at the game last night, you heard the boos. San Diego isn't a crowd that will get up and loud for much by their own volition, and when they're getting up and getting loud to boo the home team, then I'll give you one guess as to whether that's good or bad.

Also... If you happen to be a U-T reader, don't believe Tim Sullivan's recent column.

Still, this is strange. It suggests the Padres have embraced the "Moneyball" obsession with OPS (on-base percentage plus slugging percentage) while disregarding defense.
I don't normally get on Sullivan, but this is ridiculous and only propogates the myth that Moneyball = OPS over everything else. I can't believe we have Joe Morgan in the U-T. If either one of these guys had read the book, they'd realize that the point of the book isn't OPS. It's about being able to find value where other people aren't looking or in a way that other people haven't thought to look. To somehow blame the Todd Walker thing on Moneyball is essentially demonstrating and preaching an extremely annoying ignorance.

This may be my anger or my morning half-a-beer talking, but I hate Tim Sullivan right now.

In other news, Colbert Report mentioned Todd Walker in a little call-in sketch. Colbert was taking calls and some guy from Chicago called and was furious about Todd Walker being traded to the Padres.

So are we, Fake-Colbert-Report-Caller. So are we.