Monday January 31, 2011
I had to wait to write this column about Trevor Hoffman’s retirement until I wasn’t so emotional. The problem is every time I saw the man play it was an emotional experience. Those emotions are indelibly etched in my memory and its near impossible to talk (or type) about Trevor Hoffman without replaying in my mind so many thrilling moments and a very few deflating moments I …

Monday January 10, 2011

If the multi-year contracts of Orlando Hudson and Jason Bartlett are any indication, Jed Hoyer is putting together a Padres team for a 2 year run at the playoffs. That would be a real good sign for Heath Bell signing a multi-year contract too.
Bell is reportedly asking for a 3 year deal in the $20-21 million range. Like the contracts for Hudson and …

Tuesday January 4, 2011
Backup catcher has been a strength for the San Diego Padres the past two seasons with Henry Blanco and Yorvit Torrealba pulling on the tools of ignorance every other day.
For 2011 the Padres do not have a veteran defensive catcher on the roster at this point. They traded away a PTBNL & cash to get catcher Rob Johnson from the Seattle Mariners, but according to Corey Brock …

Monday January 3, 2011
With the confirmation of the signing of former Rockie/Ray Brad Hawpe to play 1st base, the 2011 Padres starting line up has finally taken shape.
And it has a completely different look and feel from the 2010 version w/only 3 opening day starters from 2010 returning – Headley, Hundley and Venable.
So without further ado, your 2011 San Diego Padres starting 8:
SS Jason Bartlett
2B Orlando Hudson
1B Brad Hawpe
LF Ryan …

Thursday December 30, 2010
This started as a response to ESPN’s Jim Caples article on Baseball Hall of Fame voting rules.
In his article Caples says that steroids were not against the rules of baseball so he is going to vote for people that used steroids. Caples is completely wrong about that and that worries me. How many otyher baseball writers are unaware of the facts on steroid rules in baseball.
The rest …

Monday December 27, 2010
Wooooo Hooooo!
After nearly two months of constant travel, this weary Padres fan is I am finally home for an extended stay!
A brutal work schedule that saw me in 27 cities in October & November followed by an extended trip to watch Caribbean beisbol in the Winter Leagues & then back to Albuquerque for Christmas with my extended family in December has left me fulfilled and plain old …

Thursday October 21, 2010
2010 BBA Walter Johnson NL Pitcher of the Year Award Award

This award was a no brainer for me.
Roy “Doc” Halladay of the Philadelphia Phillies in a landslide.
Even before his no hitter in playoffs he has been dominant for the Phillies this season.
Halladay racked up an NL Leading 21 wins, with 9 of his 33 starts resulting in complete games. Only three TEAMS other than the Phillies had …

Tuesday October 19, 2010
I had a difficult decision with this award and the choices that had me pulling my hair out were only between Padres pitchers.
Brian Wilson of the Giants had 3 more save opportunities to get only 1 more save than the Padres Heath Bell AND Bell gave up only 1 home run. 5 blown saves for Wilson vs 3 for Bell. No contest there.
The real choice was between …

Tuesday October 12, 2010
Well here it is. My first installment of the Annual BBA Awards.
As usual we start with the Manager of the Year Award. This season the BBA has named it the Connie Mack Award in honor of the 5 time World Series Champion Manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Philadelphia Athletics.
The Websoulsurfer pick for the Connie Mack Manager of the Year Award is:
Drum roll please…
Bud Black of …

Yeah. I am watching the games. But I just don’t have the enthusiasm for playoff baseball that I had in years past.
Is it the fact that my team isn’t there? No. The Padres have only been to the playoffs a handful of times since I became a season ticket holder.
Is it that the games are mostly teams I have no real emotional tie with for good or bad? No. I …

Tuesday October 5th, 2010
The 2010 season is over and all we have left as Padres fans is to look forward to 2011.
So lets set the table.
The Ownership Situation –
With the Moores divorce nearing a final resolution after more than 2 years and with Moorad’s group near 50% ownership, the Padres in 2011 will have both a solid core of good young players and more money for payroll to work …

Monday October 4th
Now that the Padres saeson is over I thought I would see how I did with my pre-season predictions of the Padres players performance.
Many said I was crazy to be so optimistic about the team and especially about the performance of the pitchers. So you tell me, how do you think I did as a prognosticator?
Here were my pre-season predictions and in Red, how they actually did …

Sunday October 3, 2010
The San Diego Padres completed their month plus long swoon by rolling over in the final game of the season to hand the NL West title to the San Francisco Giants.
The Padres managed just 4 hits in the shutout loss.
With this final loss they proved all the pundits right. They did not belong on the same field as the good teams that are going to the playoffs.
The …

Thursday September 30, 2010
The Padres wimped out and dropped 3 of 4 to the sad sack Cubs at Petco this week to effectively seal their fate for 2010.
Your only chance is to sweep FOUR games from the Giants. Yes I know there are only 3 games left in the season, but if by some miracle the Padres were able to sweep 3 from the streaking Giants IN San Francisco …

Tuesday September 28, 2010
In the middle of a pennant race with their team only 1 game out of first place, only 27,000 tickets were sold to tonights game. Now I dont mean that there were that many fans in the stands, because it wasnt nearly that high of a number.
San Diego fans, especially season ticket holders seem to have given up on the Padres. They have not shown up all …

Monday August 30, 2010
.227/.306/.361/.667  Is that good enough to be a starter in the major leagues? Whose numbers are those anyway? They sound decidedly Tony Gwynn Jr-like don’t they?
Well they are the numbers of Padres “Big Bat” Ryan Ludwick. You remember him, the guy that was supposed to protect Adrian Gonzalez in the lineup.
Well now he is hitting like, well, a AAA player.
And its not just batting average, because …

Saturday August 28, 2010
I have to say that baseball fans in San Diego are absolutely pathetic. To be more specific I should say PADRES fans are pathetic.
A FIRST place Padres team playing a playoff contender on a Saturday and all they could attract is 37,000. to make matters worse close to half of the fans at the game were Phillies fans. I sat in a sea of red.

The Padres fans …

Friday August 27, 2010
Tonight the San Diego Padres wasted another good outing by Mat Latos to fall 3-2 in 12 innings to the Philadelphia Phillies.
Latos went 7 full innings, giving up 1 run on 5 hits (all singles) & 2 BB while striking out 6 . Another dominant outing. the result. A no decision & a team loss.
Latos has not given up more than 2 runs in a start since …

Thursday August 26, 2010

I caught a lot of flack on the boards for my July 9th post here saying that the Rangers overpaid for Lee. For saying he would not do as well for Texas as he had for Seattle.
This is an I told you so.
Since the trade Lee is 2-5 in 76 innings over 10 starts and has an ERA of 4.50. The Rangers are 3-7 over Lee’s …

Welcome back into the Padres fold Jody Gerut.

You did a good job for this team when it stunk in 2008 and now you will provide veteran depth at the minor league level in case there is another injury at the ML level. With Gwynn likely out for the season with a broken hamate bone in his hand, both the defense and offense you are capable of providing will be …