Friday, April 29, 2005

New Day...Get Some Snake

Ok, dark clouds gathered over Petco on Thursday. The Padre season looks to be on the rocks. The rain fell. We got a strong dose of reality on the latest road trip (1-5).

But we woke up this morning and the sun was shining. It’s a new day, it Friday, payday, the weekend looks sunny and the boys get another shot at it (the beauty of baseball) and its still April.

Go out there and play smart and relaxed. Make every plate appearance count and win some games.

Lets start by stomping the snakes tonight at Petco.

Padre Mike

Thursday, April 28, 2005

Nice Reality Check

Its always good to find out exactly where you stand.

The Padres are a poor baseball them. Now they know it and so do we.

They lost to the Gay Ants 10-3 with two errors and numerous other errors not recorded but certainly noted.

And yes, I'm breaking Padre Mike's rule and judging the boys before June first.

But Frankly, I see this as a good thing. The Pads came out of spring training living in the potential and thinking they were going to be good. That was a pipe dream, which is now shattered with a 12 and 8 record and the highest error rate in MLB.

I call this phase of self realization "The Corner." Once a person or a team can get around The Corner of self understand and see themselves as what they are, then change can occur.

The last two games in SF wore off the spring training shine and exposed the Pads for what they really are, at best a mediocre team.

Now we'll see what they are made of.

Bad Lose

Bad lose, only because of so many errors, the infield kicked the ball around like a little league team. That 8th inning was tough, two extra outs.

Good teams don't give extra outs. Niether the Padres or Gay Ants are good teams right now. But Mike's Rule is no judgements until May, although the crazy inter-divisional schedule this year puts preasure on that rule.

It was great to see the boys hitting Jason Schmit who I have personally witnessed shut us down cold last year at least a few times.

Klesko especially looks like he's getting some confidence back and Nevin's hitting streak is nice.

Notes:
Hernadez's first AB was terrible. Swing, swing, swing, trying to hit a home run, strike out. His next AB he did hit a HR to the opposite field on the first pitch. His third AB was a great one. Ton a pitches, full count, foul off, foul off, foul off and finally got a walk all with two outs and runners on.

That, my friends is a smart AB and what the Pad hitters must do everytime. Of course, H swung at the first two pitches trying to hit HRs, then something clicked and he started working the picture.

Padre Mike

Tuesday, April 26, 2005

Nice Win….but

Nice win last night against the Gay Ants, but did you catch the first inning? Bases loaded, one out, Gay Ant starter Lowell having trouble locating. Klesko strikes out swinging and so does Hernandez, and later in the game the Padres win with a three-run shot from Blum…

This is the Padre team in a nut shell…they should be in the American League. They are a home run team with pretty good pitching playing in a line drive, small ball park. As a result. They are going to struggle this year at home.

With bases loaded one out (Nevin had an RBI single and an 11 game HS)…time to play small ball, time to work the count, time to be smart at the plate, the pitcher hasn't thrown one over in a week, time to relax and play small ball. Even a slow roller to SS scores a run.

But no, swing for the fences guys, and Lowell gets out of it.

But a nice win, anyway.

Notes:
Sister called me from the game. She has some very nice seats….
Good win for Woody. Pitched well, pitched like a pro, got the W.
Giants look as lathargic, as we do, the singles hitters are doing fine, but the power guys are struggling.
Padre hitters have got to get smarter at the plate.
What is Brian Giles' IQ anyway. Sometime he don't look all there.
What about Linbrink in the number 5 spot….?

Padre Mike

Monday, April 25, 2005

Padres Dazed and Pressing

Swept by Az.

Well, the Snakes look a little better then advertised and maybe the UT is right, the Pads are not a good as advertised.

Look, I'm a big believer in armchair sports psychology and I can see the middle three guys are pressing.

First off, all three are beyond their peaks, on the down side or maybe level. When that happens to an established major league player, they press because the expectations are so great and the consequences of failing so heavy

Nevin, Klesko, and Giles were never super great to begin with, strong, established major leaguers, but not great, and now they are struggling, partly because Petco is forcing them to adjust to line drive hitting. (Is there a single Padre going to the Hall, no?).

To me, the bright spot of the season is the pitching (forget Lawrence on Sun). We got four guys that can go and a decent bully.

The fifth spot is trouble. They should give that guy one more start then ship him. Derek May may be the answer. Your number five doesn't have to be great, just go enough to make 6 innings giving up less then five runs.

It’s a long season folks and it looks like the pads are going to struggle there way through.
We shall see, we shall see. Remember Padre Mike's rule. No judgments until June, unless you on the radio, then Hack away…..

Tonight, the Gay Ants. Should be fun. Great place to play.

Padre Mike