Born this day: Storm Davis

Three former Padres were born on December 26. I wrote about Dustin Moseley last year, and what's there to say about Ozzie Smith that hasn't already been said? That left me with just Storm Davis. The guy born George Earl Davis in 1961 pitched very well with the Orioles before coming to San Diego, and again after with Oakland, but his brief time with the Padres was--

*Don't say it, Joe*

*Seriously, don't*

...stormy. Damn it, sometimes I just can't help myself. Anyway, prior to being acquired from the Orioles after the 1986 season for catcher Terry Kennedy and minor league reliever Mark Williamson, Davis put in half a decade of work wearing orange and black as a workhorse starter with better-than-average results. The 1987 season, his only in the National League, was a completely different story. He got torched early and often, going 1-5 with a 5.82 ERA in his first six starts before being moved to the bullpen, where he somehow did even worse. He was 2-7 with a 6.18 ERA when he was sent to Oakland at the trade deadline. Davis was back to his old self instantly, putting together a 3.26 ERA in the small sample size of five games (all starts). To add insult to injury, Davis was named the American League Comeback Player of the Year the next season.

Davis kept pitching through the 1994 season, bouncing from Oakland back to Baltimore, then back to Oakland again, before finishing up in Detroit. He was beyond serviceable that entire time, save for the 1993 season which was eerily similar to 1987, so why was he so bad with the Padres? I have no idea, so I'm just going to blame it on San Diego's manager that season, Larry Bowa. I despise that man, but that's a rant for another day.