Swept by the 'Stros

The Dodger's losing Manny for 50 games doesn't do the Padres a whole lot of good when they can't even pitch. I think the following excerpt from Craig Elsten at 619 Sports really says it all:

"The Padres have what you could call a top-heavy staff, maybe Dolly Parton-style top-heavy. Peavy and CY are great, but what lies below is of concern. In the 'pen, it's Bell and oh Hell."

Does anything else need to be said? "In the 'pen, it's Bell and oh Hell."
Bell and oh Hell. It's been said....I will sleep now.

Editor's Note:
Kyle Blanks has started playing LF with the Portland Beavers...that's a nice piece of fish.
Experiment begins with Blanks in left [SD Union-Tribune]

Aztec Sacrifices Falcons

Stephen Strasburg cut down Air Force this evening to the tune of 17 Ks and......ZERO hits! That's right, an Aztec no-no. Go to 619 Sports where Chris Ello spoke with Strassy and Tony Gwynn, post-game.

Magical Strasburg Moment: No-Hits Air Force [619 Sports]

English sounds good on the radio (no pun)

I said that I would scream at the TV had we taken Knowshon Moreno or Beanie Wells with our first round pick last Saturday. Running back was not a need in 2009. We want to win a Super Bowl in 2009.....get us players that will be the means to that end, AJ.

Then we used the 16th pick to draft a pass rush specialist? Is something wrong with Merriman (aside from the fact that when his contract expires it is believed he will be allowed to walk to get his "Albert Haynesworth-type" compensation else where)? No shouting at the TV...bewilderment and betrayal, yes.

Why an OLB? Who's Larry English? What were people posting on the UT message boards? Most everyone was pissed as they continued to clamor for Rey Maualuga.....(incidentally Maualuga turned out to be the one of the most overrated things going into the draft as he plummeted to #38 where he was taken by the Criminality Bengals). Given time to think about the English pick however, I have surmised the following:

• This is Ron Rivera's unit now. If there is anyone who can utilize the skills of Larry English it is the man who cut his teeth under 46 Guru, Buddy Ryan. The 1985 Bears were the first team to truly bring the house....we'll bring so many athletes at the QB from so many different angles/directions/gaps that your QB will crap himself.....the result: sack/hurried pass/int.....pick your poison. Don't believe Larry English can strike fear into the opposition? Look at the fear in this Gopher's eyes:

The eyes say it all:.......awwwww fuuuuu-dge!

I have to believe that if they find ways to get English on the field our defense could return to being a devastating unit. We have the fastest corner in the league in Antonio Cromartie (although he might not actually be very good) and one of the better cover corners in Quentin Jammer......man up and bring the house!!!!

Of course if none of that happens and the English pick was solely for the purpose of replacing Merriman when his contract expires then I ........ well, I'll probably yell at the TV.

Anyways, I heard Larry English on with Scott & BR right after his coach from NIU, Larry Kill. I was impressed. It sounds like we've got a talented football player who is also a pretty quality guy. So at least we've got that going for us....

Here's some audio from the last two days:

NIU Head Coach Larry Kill on XX1090 [Scott & BR-Monday]
1st Round Pick-Larry English [Scott & BR-Monday]
4th Round Pick/Project-Gigantic Canadian/Jamaican Vaughn Martin [Darren Smith-Monday]

AJ Smith on XTRA Sports 1360 [Josh and Brian-Monday]
3rd round pick, G Luis Vazquez [Josh and Brian-Monday]

The English Debate and kool-aid drinking [619 Sports-Tuesday]
Looking at the Picks on day two of the draft [619 Sports-Tuesday]

Padres Week 3: Rough Weekend @ The $9 buck cup

Three weeks down and the Padres are sitting 2 above .500---2 1/2 behind LA. It could be worse. The disappointing news is in that we were swept by the Giants (only a 2 game set) and then dropped a series to the Pirates at home.....our pitcher's park....where Jake Peavy can't seem to....well, pitch! The Padres are over .500 and Jake is under .500 (2-3).

While the team is beginning to come back to earth they still exhibit elements of entertaining baseball whether it be the fundamentals (moving runners over, backing up positions), hustle (see David Eckstein), sound hitting (Adrian Gonzalez crushed one like no other ever hit at The Bark, yesterday) or the youth movement (Headley, Hundley,--insert bullpen pitcher here--, the injured Evereth Cabrera). Those are all positive things and when coupled with good prices they are reasons to stay on the bandwagon.

More interesting Padre bits and pieces:

• Geoff Young looking at the last week and the overuse of a certain pitch by a certain pitcher, in his column Eight Sliders Sliding [Ducksnorts]

• Padre Unis....after all, a Friar does wear a brown robe not Blue [The Sacrifice Bunt]

• A struggling Peavy and yesterday's debacle against the Pirates [San Diego UT]

• A podcast by Craig Elsten and Chris Ello regarding the Padres "surging" (tongue-in-cheek) to a power ranking of #10 in MLB [619 Sports]

Three game set against the Rockies gets going at 5;40 pm today.....Chris Young must right the ship.

Effects of "The HBE"

After many page views and a bit of bickering in the "Comments" section here's where we stand in the aftermath of the Heath Bell Effect:

The Good Reader was encouraged to arbitrarily take out their frustrations on Scott & BR regular Sid Rosenberg. Rosenberg being an East Coast based radio personality and Mets fan would serve as THEE symbol of bias for the following email:
Dear Sid:
We ruined your opening night and took the series from you....we know, we know...we listened to your interview with Scott & BR---"The Mets didn't take the series seriously"---"The Padres are an awful baseball team"---"We only have two players, and some guy named Headly who gets lucky every once in a while"---"And when the season's over the Padres will be where they belong...in last place".

Well let's look at last year: The (last place) Padres took 5 of 7 from the Mets and the Phillies won the East by 3 games....do the math and chew on that Mighty New York Fan. Your overpriced team will likely cave again and we'll just keep on battling....see you on August 8th!

Sidney Arthur Rosenberg responded as follows:
Love the enthusiasm. Good email. Factual and well written. But your team still sucks. Take care!

Nice! A good fella, that Sid. Hope we didn't crash your e-mail box (Suppose that 4 e-mails probably couldn't do it anyway...)

After Sid responded a heated discussion began to take place by one East Coast representative, one West-Coast apologist and of course yours truly. While attempts were made to actually have a debate the parties involved were so entrenched in their own viewpoints that an old quote came to mind:

"Arguing with a teenager is like mud wrestling with a pig — you both end up dirty but only the pig is happy!"

In either one of the above cases you fail to get anywhere substantive and it began to feel that way in regards to our media bias discussion......so I gracefully (as possible) bowed out. As the conversation became more spirited it eventually ended with the West Coast representative declaring that....I speak my mind and don't want to argue with idiots like you that have no common SENSE. But I sure would like to know where you live.

Ahh, the spirit of debate......so I got to thinking.....

It seems to be so intuitive that when you hear baseball news there are the Haves and Have Nots.....there are those teams that ESPN leads with (NYY, NYM, BOS, CHC) and then everybody else. Let's also be realistic in saying that EVERY team receives coverage but that it is doled out in lesser degrees relative to the big spending franchises. It should also be mentioned that it is ESPN's prerogative to continue with the inequity as long as they feel it is the most profitable course for them to continue on (although we disagree......if Baseball Tonight gave the Padres adequate coverage then I would watch it.....and then I would learn about some of the other "have-not" MLB teams thus leading me to be intrigued by some of the nightly ESPN broadcasts, which I might then watch. Clearly ESPN disagrees with us...).

.....back to what I was thinking. I needed to turn on ESPN radio and then check Baseball Tonight when I got home on Monday night....just to confirm that I was not crazy. What did I hear/see:

ON ESPN RADIO (4:15pm Monday)

• Josh Beckett of the Red Sox and his suspension.
• The high rate of balls flying out of Yankee Stadium.

Baseball Tonight on the radio would eventually discuss the Dodgers in detail (but who really cares about them?). At home I would turn on ESPN to find out that the game that was supposed to be on was Oakland at the new Yankee Stadium but it was postponed due to rain.....bonus coverage of the Braves....first highlight on Baseball Tonight: Red Sox winning for 6th consecutive time on Patriot Day. Tuesday morning I turned on Dan Patrick. He was talking about the HR balls flying out to right at Yankee Stadium and the prospects of bringing in an expert of some sort to analyze angles and slopes, blah, blah.

Is it really very far fetched to suggest that there are certain teams that receive more coverage than others? It's not even wrong that ESPN chooses to cover baseball this way....but it's intellectually dishonest not to acknowledge the facts.

What were other's saying? Geoff Young's Padre blog, Duck Snorts, said the following in his weekly column:
I love that Bell called out ESPN for covering three teams and ignoring the other 27. Everyone knew that already, but it’s cool to hear a big-league player acknowledge it. As I’ve said before, San Diego is not ESPN’s market. That’s not a complaint, it’s a fact. We have no use for each other. I would rather invest my time in “Millionaire Matchmaker” or “Cash Cab.” If I’m going to watch crap, it should be entertaining.
Do What You Cannot Do [Ducksnorts]

I agree...... Crap does need to be entertaining (hope this blog is doing the trick).

What about Craig Elsten and Chris Ello over at 619 Sports?

They had a great podcast on the topic with each taking a very different viewpoint on the matter. It was sensible and passionate and we encourage you to have a listen (they have a bunch of other good podcasts as well at their new site):
New Closer, New Song, New Attitude [619 Sports]

Going back to the email that I encouraged people to send out.....The email was meant to be a protest of unbalanced coverage of the "Big Dogs" on ESPN.....Heath Bell complained about the Padres getting very little run on Baseball Tonight but in reality this is not an issue solely related to the Padres. At the core it is more a matter of a vast majority of teams getting inequitable coverage from ESPN.

In the process of spreading the Gospel we were banned from our local Padre blog, Gaslamp Ball, because our enthusiasm runneth-ed over until it was technically classified as "Spamming"....ooops. We grovelled our way back into good graces.[Gaslamp Ball]

We were also unexpectedly approved for posting by the Executive Vice President of the Padres. Paul De Podesta let us sneak in at his blog:[It might be dangerous...you go first]

An interesting week it's been......and the Padres have dropped three in a row. Jake got banged yesterday and a 10 inning affair this afternoon in SF.

Charger Fan Polling and KT on Donald Trump's Hair

Kevin Towers was on XX1090 today with Darren Smith discussing Monday night's opener at Citi Field......and the discussion began with an assessment of Trump's rug.....KT was up close and personal and his take on it was pretty funny. You should listen to it. They also talk baseball.
Kevin Towers on with Darren Smith
[XX1090-Audio 4/15]

Also catch Jody Gerut comparing Citi Field to playing a game on the Strip in Vegas.....a reference to garish billboards, not the Girls of Glitter Gulch.
Jody Gerut on with Darren Smith
[XX1090-Audio 4/15]

San Diego Union Tribune readers have been polled and here's what they say:

C'mon......6-10? That's moronic.....64 morons feverishly clicking away.
What say you, San Diego Sports Fans?

Editor's Note:
Check out the new 619 Sports website including Craig Elsten and Chris Ello podcasts.
[619Sports.net]

Cholla Cable Comments on Craziness

I open up the UT and what do I see.....Cholla! I hear his righteous proclamations in my sleep and now I have to read his opinions in the Sports section....

“It's a crazy time in this division,” Oakland Raiders coach Cholla Cable said Tuesday at the NFL owners' meetings.

Its only crazy because of that kid up in Denver, and by "kid" I mean McDaniels....Cutler is the "Crybaby". Yea real crazy! The only thing crazier would be that lard ass QB in Oakland developing some game.

Nice. Real Nice Cholla! The least you could have done was get some Black Widows slapped on the side of that Silver n' Black helmet. You useless C@#T!

For more about Cholla and how consistent the Chargers are:

Chargers are a model of consistency in topsy-turvy AFC West
[SD Union Tribune-Kevin Acee]

There's some good stuff on Aztec ace Stephen Strasburg over at 619 Sports. Craig Elsten is calling for the head of DC area writer Thomas Boswell. The charge....Blasphemy!
[619 Sports]

Editor's Note:
Apologies for the randomness of the Cholla reference..there are a select few who will understand. To attain enlightenment the following may provide it for you....... but probably not.....funny none the less.

My Bracket Versus President Obama's

Commander-In-Chief sez Carolina in '09-a

Unbearably close calls with both 'Nova and Memphis!!!

With the Wildcats meeting Louisville in my final and the Tigers in the F4 that would have destroyed my 2009 bracket. Survived and advanced......that's all you have to do. Just barely squeaked out the Western Kentucky game over Illinois--Hilltoppers tried to blow it--but they survived and advanced.

Finishing day one with 14 wins and 2 losses, I'm up two games on President Obama. I missed the Clemson/Michigan game by a nose and was really off with my Mississippi State choice over Washington. As far as the Michigan game goes, I stand by it....The Big Ten is junk. I thought that MSU was an undervalued 13 seed and the perfect storm was in place against a team from The Pac-Ten in the midst of a down conference year (see....anyone can talk out of their ass and make it believable! 14/16 on day one Whaddup!!?? Bring it on Barry!). On to day two...

Check out the following links below:

The first one is a site dedicated to the objective analysis of polling data to try and predict the outcomes of elections. The writer's name is Nate Silver and he also writes for Baseball Prospectus (see 619 Sports for a look at SABR-metrics on MLB network as analyzed by morons earlier this week). The FiveThirtyEight article is interesting (see: ridiculous) in that actual statistical regressions were performed on Obama's bracket.....were his picks kickbacks to those crucial states that got him elected? You be the judge.....

The Cherry Picker in Chief
Obama NCAA Bracket Suggests Bias Toward Schools From Swing States
[FiveThirtyEight.com]

The second link is obviously from YouTube. Watch Obama go step by step in filling out his bracket. I just think its funny that this was turned into a special...... and then after #44 announced his Carolina 2009 champion pick he proceeded to put them on blast for busting his bracket last year. That's funny.....and what's funnier you ask? Mike Krzyzewski's reaction.

Obama's Bracket Analysis with ESPN's Andy Katz
[YouTube]

SDSU Dominates The Friday Dojo

San Diego State's Men and Women advance in the Mountain West Conference basketball tournament and Stephen Strasburg strikes out 14 in the Aztecs' 4-3 win over UNLV.

For full report see:
[619 Sports]

This is The End: March 8th Round-up

These are stories from the week that we either touched on (see:Dancing With The Stars mash unit), wished for (see: A-Rod's karma to come full circle), or missed entirely (See: Vasgersian...I don't know anyone who EVEN has the MLB network). No matter the story's relevance....this is the End.

[XX1090 Scott & BR-audio]
LT's Mom doesn't like his chances of returning and while bitter at the way her son has been treated acknowledges that, "she's just a mom". Word will probably be in by Wednesday....why would LT wait any longer if he plans on rejecting the final Charger offer?

[Sports Illustrated]
The advantages to that time of year when we "spring" forward and add a little extra prime-time day light and warmth........if time constrains you and you're only going to click one of these links.......this is it, friends.

[Deadspin-audio]
Santa Maria!!!!! Matty V said something you can't say on the air during the MLB network's inaugural season.......I'll miss the team of Matt and Mudcat.

[Deadspin]
Michael Lewis' Moneyball is an absolutely fascinating read. Interesting theories, but put into practice, it is a steaming pile of crap. So let's make a movie about it and star Brad Pitt as Mt. Carmel's Billy Beane! Can you say steaming pile of......?

First Julianne Hough bows out....now Nancy O'Dell and Jewel

[SD Union Tribune]

The Padres' farm system gets rated 29th out of 30 teams by Baseball America. Kyle Blanks is the only Padre rated in the top 100 of all MLB prospects (noteworthy: I watched him hit on Saturday and while a massive man at 6'6" and 270 lbs, I think he could play LF. Doesn't look oafish like Adam Dunn......he's very calm at the plate.....I saw him K and then hit one on a line off the top of the fence).

[XX1090 Darren Smith-audio]
Sandy Alderson talks about stuff......like captaining a farm system ranked 29th by Baseball America.

[619 Sports]
A case made for using your dollars on the passion found in our local college teams. This is your opportunity to get a little extra 411 on the sporting events in the 619.......San Diegans, Support!

[Hugging Harold Reynolds]
Cooooooool.......Now we get to taunt Manny as he "Mans" left for the Dodgers in '09. Let's make a concerted effort to throw monopoly money at ManRam when he visits our left field. Anyways, listen to the audio garnered by HHR of Manny's agent Scott Boras. It must be nice to be able to turn down $25 million in this economy.

[SD Union Tribune (AP)]
A-Rod gets familiar with Karma.

Radio Talent For Hire

May the torture never end? The September collapse of the '07 Padres followed by the shocking collection of talent on display during the '08 campaign were gutting to say the least. The high expectations of the Chargers in both '07 and '08 only to be left asking: "Why God? Why have you forsaken we?"

The meandering month of February, where we wait for both the NFL Draft and MLB Opening day, is akin to being water-boarded in a secret eastern European CIA prison. The torture is further dispensed via the impending (?) cut of LT and the horrible daily sports radio we are subjected to from 3-7pm each day.

There is radio TALENT out there, though......they just aren't on the radio! Instead they find themselves blogging furiously like Bruce Lee's fists! Who is this I speak of? I speak of the bludgeoned staff of XTRA Sports 1360 AM: Craig Elsten and Chris Ello. It would be nice to have some knowledgeable locals to listen to on the drive home each day but it is not to be.

Fear not sports-fans.... those of you who are pining for the days of knowledge are also the same people who know how to read..... and LIKE to READ! To you, I say: "Check out the 411 on 619 Sports."

619 Sports Blog with Craig Elsten and Chris Ello

Listening to the radio is dying an accelerated death.....we'll have to get our info elsewhere.

Forthcoming: "A More Swiftian Modest Proposal".....we have a take on how to handle HOF inductions during the steroid era. In the meantime you can check out Elsten's "Modest Proposal": Click Here.

Editor's note: The above picture is in fact an ABC water-boarding demo and not a Golden Shower courtesy of Charlie Gibson...