I dare you to extrapolate...

81-81....I did the extrapolation for you...read & listen on Friar Faithful (do I sound hypocritical?)


Gonzalez sparks rally in 8th, Bell shuts door in 9th
[SD Union-Tribune]


Dodgers falter at the finish against Padres
[LA Times]
Enjoy both SD & LA perspectives on the Padres' get-away-day victory thus earning the four game split. It never hurts to Beat LA...

Jeff Moorad is soliciting your advice on moving in the fences at The Bark Park.....maybe he'll consider a park renaming ceremony as well.
[XX1090 with Scott & BR]

I don't buy Heath Bell's closing song: Blow me away by Breaking Benjamin

Perhaps it was too obvious to go with: For whom the bell tolls by Metallica.....but it's obvious for a reason: IT'S PERFECT!!!

I suppose as long as Heath "Wii" Bell keeps saving games it really doesn't matter does it? But it would have been cool to hear those bells and Cliff Burton's bass, no?

159 Mas...am I really going to do this?

Dodgers 5 Padres 2

Game 3 Observations:

• Manny's hair is beyond comment

• David Eckstein had an awesome 10 pitch at-bat in the 1st. The talk of game 1 was DE's sac bunt in the 1st. These seem like trivial things to get excited over...so I won't. But they are pleasant things to see and hopefully represent a sea change.

• Walter Silva was lucky to give up only 2 runs. We're in trouble with him as our #3.

• In addition to speed, Evereth Cabrera has a hose.

• Kouz needs to show up in April or it'll be a hell of a hole we're diggin' ourselves out of.

• Mujica and De la Cruz had live looking arms....so we've got that goin' for the pen.

• Steve Quis asked Manny stupid questions during the Postgame. How dare you accuse Manny of having been in a "funk".

• Baseball is hard to blog....too quick a turn around time between games so here's my Opening Day part II....

I really should skip the remainder of Peavy's starts...this decade.

I missed all of the pregame festivities. My cheap ticket was nullified by the pregame bar tab. I too was excited to see a bunt in the first-curse thy moneyball of '08. The Padres have lost 9 consecutive games I have attended including the sweep in the Bronx last June. Jake Peavy has lost the previous 5 times I've seen him pitch. San Diego should be embarrassed by the shear number of LA caps in the stands and the pathetic absence of SD caps. Is it any wonder San Diego is labeled as a joke of a sports town. One man's opinion.

Editor's Note:
Sure the team isn't going to be great...err...good this season. And I would have encouraged people to stay home had we not seen a change in the status quo....but with Moorad on board and the number of price accommodations we've seen thus far...well I think it is a reasonable olive branch until things get turned around. I can wait until the draft before I begin to organize boycotts.

In summation: 5 for$5 is awesome and Dodger fans are far too plentiful (droves of Dickies in The Bark on Monday)

Donnie Baseball in LA

When I say I hate the Yankees people laugh and threaten that they can produce a picture of me wearing a Yankees Starter jacket. It's all very true.

I grew up with Don Mattingly as my my baseball idol.....and I hate George Steinbrenner for not having delivered a World Series ring to ol' Donnie Baseball.

Now in my old age I have come to hate the Yanks for more analytical reasons.....they swept the Padres in '98 and they are upsetting the current economic balance of the free world....and of course I hate Tino Martinez for replacing Don Mattingly and then rocking Mark Langston in Game 1 of the '98 Series when we all know it should have been a called third strike on the previous pitch. I'm over it.

Today, Don Mattingly is the hitting coach for the Los Angeles Dodgers and he joined Darren Smith yesterday afternoon. It put a smile on my face despite his current association with that miserable team from up the I5...

Don Mattingly with Darren Smith
[XX1090-Audio]

...and I do have gray #23 hanging in the closet. I really should try to get it signed since he makes frequent visits with those Douchey Dodgers.

Beat LA...Beat LA...Beat LA....

We did.

Enjoy this headline from the Los Angeles Times and think of all the royal blue wearing Royal A-holes who have cluttered up our park the last two days...

We only have ourselves to blame San Diego......only you can prevent the 2009 Invasion of A-holes.