A Bolt of Embarassment

I'm done defending Norv Turner.

 I already know all the easy excuses for this morning because I know what I would say. I've been loyal and forgiving far past the point where most San Diego sports fans have grown exasperated.

Payton Manning is a Hall of Fame quarterback. That is excuse number one, just like last week it was "Drew Brees is a Hall of Fame quarterback." Both statements are absolutely true and it also true that the average NFL quarterback would not have led either of the comebacks. However, Manning and Brees are also surrounded by teams that are not the equal of the teams they have led in the past.

There's more. This official here, or this lineman getting hurt there. But the end result is unfortunately familiar. If there is one defining characteristic of recent Charger teams it is that they don't handle success nearly as well as adversity.

This isn't limited to a single player or even group of players either. Personnel has turned over several times within this period. This flows from leadership.

Marty left for two reasons...only one of which was a personality conflict. The other was that he couldn't win in the postseason, as Bolt fans experienced against the Jets and Pats. Norv can win in the playoffs. But can you imagine a Schottenheimer team letting an opponent up off the mat two weeks in a row, regardless of circumstances? Nope. Me neither.

These guys simply don't know how to strike that final blow. They can't seal the deal, they can't close the sale. And it is on offense, defense, special teams...veterans and rookies alike. That is a leadership issue, and the only leader that has been there through the whole time (besides A.J., for whom accountability is not an issue. Humanity, yes.)is Norv Turner.

 Time to make a change.

Pads Hold Off Pirate Comeback

The San Diego Padres opened a seven run lead in the second game of their series with Pittsburgh, only to be forced to hang on for an 8-5 victory at Petco Park.

Kevin Correia cruised through six innings then saw the wheels come off in the seventh. Luckily, his teammates had given him plenty of cushion and he gained a W despite giving up four of the five Pirate tallies.

Jerry Hairston Jr. hit his tenth home run, Adrian Gonzalez had four hits and Heath Bell contributed his 33rd save, tied for the league lead. San Diego also continued putting pressure on opposing defenses with the running game, with a double steal and a contact play late in the game giving an insurance run after the Bucs had closed to within two scores.

Chase Headley came up big with the glove in the eighth, snaring two line drives. The second came to end the inning after a Ryan Ludwick misplay in right had led to an unearned run. Ludwick seemed to turn his head before closing his glove as he raced towards the foul line, perhaps showing awareness of the walkway past the bullpen that saw several nasty tumbles early in Petco's history, though it has been safer since they added extra fencing.

Bell looked dominant in the ninth, especially against Ryan Doumit. Mike Adams pitched the eighth, with so much movement on his pitches that even his catcher Yorvit Torrealba had trouble handling him.

Ludwick Hits Two, Pads Top Hapless Pirates

The Padres started a series with Pittsburgh last night the way you are supposed to start a series with a bad team. Wade Blank struck out eight and Ryan Ludwick hit his first two dingers as a Padre to send the Friars to a 4-1 victory.

About the only Padre who had a tough night was Miguel Tejada, who got robbed of base hits twice by excellent plays at third and second by the visiting Bucs.

Although the Pirates are now the major league team closest to my home, I can't feel bad about this. If the Pads are going to win the west, they need to dominate bad teams and that is what the Pirates are... a bad team. Certainly we can't repeat the performance against Arizona, another bad team that took two out of three from us.

I'll root for the Pirates as soon as they leave San Diego. Right now, I want them crushed. Especially if the Cubs are going to keep beating the Giants, as they did last night in topping SF ace Tim Lincecum.

Kevin Correia take the hill tonight against Pittsburgh and we need to keep this train rolling. The Dodger and Rockies are seven games back and their hopes are fading, but the Giants are right on our tails, only 2.5 out even after yesterday. I would love to see this Padre club create some breathing room for itself.

The Dog Days Are A Good Time To Be Top Dog

It's been so long since I wrote about baseball. Hardly a word this year, very little last.Sure, I am separated in distance from my team and the city, I am forced to follow on the internet or hope for an Adrian dinger to be replayed on Sportscenter, sandwiched between ten minutes about the Yankees and seven about the Mets.

But if I can't get interested to write aboout this Padre team, a team based on so many of the things I love about baseball...

Okay, so there is no money in it right now. But writing about Padre baseball wasn't about money at first. It was about love for the game, love for my team and love of writing. Have I lost those simply because there was once a check attached to my words and now it is gone?

I have, recently, complained of the loss of my muse. In all my writing endeavors, though principally in my fiction.

Perhaps I shall find her in a seat between the bases, with a beer and a dog.


By the way, the Padres won last night. A 10-1 shellacking of the last place Snakes to avoid a maddening sweep. Luckily for us, the red hot Giants chose the same weekend to cool, or perhaps were cooled due to facing a quality Atlanta team. Two games up, two months to play.

It is gonna be interesting.

USA Advances With Dramatic Goal!

And here is how the bar I used to go watch at reacted...

Are You Ready For Some Baseball?

(Feb. 7, 2006)Last night, Jerome Bettis hoisted a trophy and retired and a whole generation of Pittsburgh Steeler fans celebrated something they had heard their fathers talk about but had never experienced. This morning, the eyes of many of us turned to baseball. Yes, I know that the basketball and hockey fans of the world want to stand up and say, "Hey! We're in mid-season here!" I've been known to cheer on the Lakers and Kings on occasion myself, as well as the San Diego Gulls and SDSU Aztec Basketball. ( Sorry about that Clippers, but when I was forming my allegiances you were in Buffalo. As to the Ducks, I'd rather you win then lose but the icy part of my heart belongs to the Kings and Jennifer Blue, who broke that heart in 1990, a few years before the Kings and Marty McSorley's illegal stick did the same in Montreal)) Just as my wife healed one part of that heart, so does the crack of a fungo and the slap of leather distract me each spring from the fact that my blue and gold clad football team has yet to achieve what that back and gold one did on Sunday. So today the Padres introduced Mike Piazza to San Diego. Woo Hoo, baseball's coming! So I've been pretty quiet for the last six weeks or so and have yet to voice an opinion on many things, or at least haven't voiced on here. What do you want to talk about? Based on my conversations lately, what most of you want to talk about is still one thing. Mark Loretta for Doug Mirabelli. Now, I loved watching Loretta as a Padre. Mark is a class act and I am sure I will miss him as the season goes on and I have little doubt that at least one time before the end of April I will find myself wishing he were on deck instead of Josh Barfield. Mark Loretta was a favorite of mine too. But in 2005 he was not the Loretta of 2004. He played 49 fewer games, hit for an average that was 55 points lower then 2004, lost .148 off his slugging percentage and had half the RBI's but only 11 fewer strikeouts. Yes, he was hurt. Yes, he's a gamer. Yes, I dislike the trade just as much as all of you. Yes, sometimes Kevin Towers has a weakness in dealing to fill holes and not getting full value for a player outside of position questions. But Loretta for Mirabelli does not merit the downtrodden attitude I find rampant among Padre fans. Friar Faithful entered the off-season screaming two things. Resign Giles. Resign Hoffy. Everything else was considered less important. Hello McFly? Hoffy and Brian Giles are still Padres. This club listened to you and signed two high value free agents in a single off season for the first time in recent memory. Then, they traded a problematic young pitcher who had shown problems listening to his coaches about pitch selection in key situations for a younger starter who actually pitched better in a hitter's paradise than Adam Eaton did in a pitcher's paradise. Welcome aboard, Chris Young. We lost Akinori Otsuka in the deal, but we got value for him in adding a local boy with the glove to cushion the danger of Klesko at first in Adrian Gonzalez and an insurance policy for left field in Terrmel Sledge. The cringe-inducing trade was actually the result of a different mistake. The Padres entered this off-season confident that their catcher for next season was Miguel Olivo. So confident that they drew up their plans for 2006 minus Ramon Hernandez. When Miguel didn't go along with the plan, or else tried to manipulate his newfound bargaining power, the Padres were caught flat-footed. They scrambled to not be left out of the catching market, and this desperation created Loretta for Mirabelli. The mistake of the off-season was not signing Olivo early. That mistake led to the trade that will be remembered as the big mistake. So now we have Mike Piazza and the trade looks even worse. But getting Piazza could not be counted on. Sure, Benji Molina is still available, but if the Padres had that kind of money to devote to a catcher they would have resigned Hernandez. The Padres traded poster-boy-for-potential Xavier Nady for a legitimate center fielder in Mike Cameron. They upgraded third base with Vinny Castilla. Castilla for Brian Lawrence may be another example of Towers trading to fill a position rather than getting best value, but there is no doubt in my mind that Vinny will outperform Sean Burroughs at the plate. At this point the Padres will enter Spring Training with potentially the best defensive outfield in baseball. They have retained two of their three big free agents, slightly upgraded the pitching staff (a judgment call, but I'll make it) and significantly upgraded their power potential. They are less solid at catcher and second base then they were at this time last year. They will have to rely on a platoon of older veterans at one key position and maybe at two if Josh Barfield fails to earn the job at second base. But all this doomsday talk and gnashing of teeth of Mirabelli for Loretta is out of hand. I really hope Mark has a great year in Boston. But I am not sure of it. Unlike many of you, I prefer to look at the off-season as consisting of more than one deal.

Comments:
LynchMob February 15, 2006 at 1:10 am

Delete this if it’s bad netiquette to post such a large copy from another web page … but this is one more attempt to roust Peter from hibernation :-) (didn't delete, but didn't save it either)

Rich Campbell February 16, 2006 at 7:59 pm

I won’t be deleting it…I’m all for doing anything to increase any back and forth here or lure Peter out of “retirement”.
Richard February 17, 2006 at 3:15 am

On the Castilla for Lawrence trade. We traded a lousy SP (we have plenty replacement level arms) for third baseman who was an upgrade. How could that in any way be considered a poor move?
michael February 28, 2006 at 3:56 am

Brian Lawrence is not a lousy SP. He has a number of solid, workmanlike seasons for the Padres, so let’s not throw him under the bus just because he had a bad season. And anyway, maybe the reason he pitched so poorly is because of his messed up shoulder?
Anyway, hope springs eternal, and let’s hope this weird mix of guys finds a way to gel and the Padres can hold off SF & LA.

Pads Beat Giants Behind EY, DJ & a First

(from July 3, 2005)
Eric Young returned to the lineup ahead of schedule, bumping Damian Jackson to left field and rookie Ben Johnson made his first major league start in right field.

All three of them must have enjoyed their evenings as EY & DJ picked up three hits apiece and Johnson turned in a two run double for his first major league hit as the Padres beat the Giants 5-3 Saturday night at Petco Park. Woody Williams turned in a solid start for the Padres and was rewarded with run support (for once) and a victory to even his record at 4-4 while Trevor Hoffman recorded his 22nd save to tie the Cardinals Jason Isringhausen for the NL lead.

Chris Hammond and Akinori Otsuka continued the trend of excellent bullpen work by bridging the gap between Woody and Hoffy, although Hammond shockingly allowed a run, almost certainly hurting the case Bruce Bochy has been trying to make with Tony LaRussa about getting him named to the NL All-Star team.

The Padres fielded a new look with not only the return of Young at second base and the debut of Johnson in right but normal right fielder Brian Giles moving to center for the third time this year and Xavier Nady getting his second major league turn at first base. Out of the projected regular positions for this team on Opening Day, only the left side of the infield was intact as Sean Burroughs and Khalil Greene were in their normal spots. Robert Fick once again handled the catching duties for the injured Ramon Hernandez.

Comments:
Lynch Mob July 3, 2005 at 12:13 am
Does anyone agree with me that Hammond’s run should have been unearned … that Vizquel’s double should have been E5? It was hit RIGHT AT Burroughs, who dance out of its way trying to “backhand it”! Doug Radar woulda let it hit off his body, picked it up, and thrown him out at first …

Lynch Mob July 3, 2005 at 12:22 am
Two small notes from the Tom Karsoic NOTEBOOK this morning …
Dennys Reyes is to start for the injured Adam Eaton on Tuesday in Houston … OUCH!! NO!!
Bochy said it was Sean Burroughs’ decision to bunt in Friday’s game with Robert Fick on first and none out and the Padres trailing 3-2 in the eights. Burroughs popped out to third … BUT it was Bochy’s decision to have him so high in the lineup … AND it was Sean’s lack of performance (both short term, ie. poor bunt, and long term, see ~.300 SLG) that made his decision look bad …

Rich Campbell July 3, 2005 at 5:26 pm
I agree with the scorer’s decision Lynch…there is a valid reason for calling it the hot corner. I played there in college a few times. The ball gets to you in a major hurry and on a shot like that you are defending yourself more than trying to make a play. It would be awful rough to hang a error there on that kind of shot.

p.friberg July 4, 2005 at 12:42 am
Lynch, I think the more significant thing about Sean bunting and Bochy saying he bunted on his own was that Bochy SAID it. Bochy’s well-liked as a manager by his players for not publicly humiliating them…
If Nevin had done it, Bochy would have said, “Yes, I called the play.”