Category: Blog

Game Notes: Padres 4, Rockies 5 (4-22)

Los pinche bueno Padres de San Diego lost a baseball game to a team called the Rockies because the Padres scored 4 points, but the Rockies scored more.  That sucks. Game notes below.

Wil Myers emerging as a leader?

When we traded for Myers, there were a lot of rumblings that attitude played a part in the Rays’ view of him as expendable. I even heard an interview with Buddy soon after the December trade-a-thon where he basically said that Wil had some serious maturing to do. It’s still early, but at least with his on the field performance, he seems to be developing into a leader.  As stated by Jesse Agler:

I agree.  ‘In the thick of it’ seems to be an appropriate expression.  Lately, the little cutie seems to be contributing when we need him the most, and when he gets back into the dugout he continues to be all up in it.  He immediately starts chatting fools up and encouraging others.  I get the feeling that he’s a bit too enthusiastic, and might get on some of the older guys’ nerves, but they’re probably just jealous of his boyish good looks.

I <3 Wil

Derek Norris and the Agilities 

The way Derek moves around behind the plate is nothing short of magnificent.  Watching him in the 7th was like watching a god-damned ballet with jaguars starring as the ballerinas.

After several pitches from Thayer in the dirt, he bounced up and fired the ball to first base to try to catch Ynoa loping. After another bouncer, Ynoa tried to go to second and Norris nailed his ass with a perfect throw; his second caught stealing of the game.  At this point, we’ve gotten used to Norris gunning down jabronies with extreme prejudice.  But again, during this half inning, I was just totally impressed by how quick, graceful, and aware he is back there.  Beautiful to watch.

Kimbrel trade might prove to be most important of AJ’s deals

What first inspired surprise now seems to be another stroke of genius.  At the time, people were perplexed that AJ chose to strengthen a strength by adding Kimbrel to the bullpen rather than focusing on the infield.  However, thus far, our bullpen hasn’t exactly been shut-down.   Read more

Game Notes: Padres 14, Rockies 3 (4-20)

These were hard game notes to write.  So many talking points, and wonderful moments to send you to bed happy.  The Padres opened up a mammoth can of whoop-ass on the Rockies, winning the first game of the series 14-3.

You can find an actual informative rundown of the game from MLB.com by click right here.

Derek Norris, natural Xanax.

He is such a soothing player to watch at the plate.  I would imagine if I was wearing a heart rate monitor during the game, I would be damn near flatlined when he comes up.  Not because he’s boring, but because he inspires such calm confidence in myself, the fan. You don’t get too excited thinking he’s going to hit a 500 foot homer, but you also don’t get worried thinking he’s gonna do something irrational. Today, he was 3-5 with two doubles and an RBI.  On an unrelated note, his face reminds me of an ent from Lord of the Rings.  He’s quickly becoming my favorite Padre.

 OD’s first hit: 

The visuals from the dugout after Odrisamer’s first hit in the 3rd were nothing short of heart-warming.  Cory Spangenberg was smiling like a little girl who just got a pony for her birthday, Yonder jumped out of his seat and pulled on his hair like he just saw a god-damned UFO,  Kotsay was banging on the top rail of the dugout like he just took a double shot of Fireball.  Not that it’s been lacking this season, but it’s always awesome to see genuine team spirit and emotion from the boys.  At first base, OD was playing it cool, shrugging it off, but couldn’t hide a smile.  What a great moment. Then, I read this tweet and felt a little bad for him.  Hope he learns to say “fuck you guys” ASAP.

OD going deep into the game:

The bullpen’s been worked hard in the last two series…you’re going into Coors Field.  Not a good combo.  OD said, probably in Spanish, “Chinga that noise, I got this.”  He quietly dominated the game into the 7th while giving up only two runs on six hits. In the process, he gave our key relievers a much needed rest. Garces and Rearick, fringe pen members, finished the game off with not much ado.

Don’t fight the power:

I can’t remember so many Padres going the other way with the ball with such regularity. Norris, Yonder and Middlebrooks have especially shown an ability to take an outside fastball the other way. Two of Norris’ hits today went to left field, Middlebrooks has homered a couple times to the opposite field, and Yonder is developing a propensity for the 5.5 hole.  People who know shit about baseball say that’s a good sign.

Kemp’s 3 hits and 4 RBIs:

I honestly don’t know what to say or what superlative to use.  It’s like the Tao.  That which can be spoken of is not the true Kemp.

Game Notes: Padres 5, Cubs 2 (4-19)

On Sunday April 19th at Wrigley Field, the San Diego Padres disposed of the Chicago Cubs by a score of 5-2.  In doing so, our boys took another series and improved their season record to 8-5.  You can find Corey Brock’s full rundown of the game here.  Below, you’ll find some points from the game that stood out to us.

Cashner and Amarista bromance

Did you see their elaborate handshake? It looked awesome. One reason for the awesomeness is that Cashner is 6’5 and Alexi is 5’6.  Another reason is that I’m pretty sure Alexi barely speaks English.  These are the last two guys I would have expected to have a man crush on each other, but yet there it is.  I would imagine the friendship was solidified when Cash introduced Alexi to his favorite type of bourbon.


Buddy’s ejection leads to a HR, base hit

In the 2nd inning, Buddy screamed something after a ball/strike call to Will Middlebrooks and got tossed while still in the dugout.  That’s impressive.  Buddy was so mad, he was making Venable, who was waiting in the hole, super uncomfortable.  Two pitches after the ejection, Middlebrooks cuuuuh-rushed a 2-run HR to left.  Struggling Jedd Gyorko followed with a base hit. Then Venable, who was disturbed by Buddy’s outburst, went on to knock an RBI single in the 6th. Coincidence? Yes. Why did I bring this up, then? I don’t know.

Jedd stumbling his way out of the dog house 

It’s not pretty, but it’s starting to happen.  Two hits today and one yesterday.  Buddy mentioned in an interview yesterday that Jedd has been hitting the ball hard since his return from the bench.

What do you guess he worked on with hitting coach Mark Kotsay during his time off? Everyone (Buddy, Mark Grant, Bevacqua, Sweeney, etc.) was saying that Jedd was just trying too hard. My theory is that, during Jedd’s sabbatical, Kotsay simply tried to take his mind off baseball by making him do peyote.   Read more

Game Notes: Padres vs D-Bags (4-15)

Henceforth, Pads Pod shall attempt to post some takeaway thoughts/notes following most games. Below, you’ll find the above-mentioned attempt as we think through the Padres’ 3-2 defeat of Arizona to gain a series win and complete a 5-2 homestand.

Our superstars don’t take the game for granted:  

Unlike that douchebag right fielder up in LA, our superstars hustle and play humble. Upton’s huge night, which consisted of 2 singles, a diving catch, and a game winning solo HR, is a great example of that. Upton realizes it’s a team game.  He is having smart, contact-focused at bats when needed, but also seems to realize when it’s appropriate to swing for the fences.

Also, Upton got super fucking pissed when he popped out with men on in the sixth.  That’s not the first time I’ve seen him do that.  Dude knows he’s a leader and accountable.

I think this applies to Kemp too.  He hasn’t gone yard yet, but that shit doesn’t bother him.  He’s taking what’s being given to him and getting on base instead (or sacrifice flying in the 6th) instead of trying to make it on shitty-ass SportsCenter.

How the fuck did the Diamondbacks win a World Series?:  

They’re fucking lame. Read more

Re-imagining Cody Decker

The first Cody Decker video I saw was Brad. Though I was amused, my immediate reaction was “who the fuck does this guy think he is?” Shouldn’t a career minor leaguer be working on his game rather than spending hours making tacky YouTube videos? Then, I peeped this interview with Keith Olbermann and my distaste for Decker went to a new level.

In the video, he appears in the outfit you see on the right and generally acts like Troy McClure from the Simpsons. “What justifies this dude’s arrogance?” I said to myself. He’s representing the organization, and acting like a jabronie on TV makes jabronies of us all. I wrote Decker off and, this being 2013, went back to cheering for Chris Denorfia, a real ballplayer.

So, spring training rolls around this year and Decker reignites my interest in him with a grand slam in a 10-3 win over the Rockies. I was in a good mood ‘cause grand slams are sick and the Rockies are fucking lame, so I decided to give open my narrow-ass mind and give Decker another look. Armed with the search engine “Google” I looked for some more Cody related media. First, I found this interview he did with some awkward kid. He spent a god-damned hour talking to that fool. To me, that shows humility and generosity. My perspective on Cody was starting to change. Then, I posted up on an interview from the Chihuahuas. What I once saw as arrogance, I now recognized as self-deprecation. Maybe I was the jabronie. Read more

The Spiritual Supremacy of Fair Weather Fandom

San Diego has long been described as fair weather when it comes to supporting our sports teams. We often hear the cliché line about how when our teams are losing, as they often do, we’d rather just go to the beach than give a fuck about a losing club.

That’s probably true to some degree. No doubt when the Padres are out of contention our attendance dwindles. To what extent I’m not sure because I’m not about to waste my fucking time looking up attendance stats (fuck you FanGraphs).   Anyways, I’m not here to argue about whether the fair weather moniker is true or not. I’m going to assume it is.

What I am here to argue for is the motherfucking moral and spiritual value of being a fair weather fan.

To make my point, I simply ask you to think about the alternative. Look at those assholes in Philadelphia . Those dickheads aren’t fair weather. They have “passion” and “support their teams through thick and thin.” (I’m not saying we Padres fans don’t, I’m just using some lame-ass clichés to bolster my argument). Do you want to be like them? Do you want to boo your players when they under perform despite the fact they are trying their god-damned hardest? I say fuck that bullshit.

In some sweet-ass book I read “Baseball as a Road to God” by John Sexton, that slick-ass motherfucker talks about the spiritual value in finding enjoyment in the game in and of itself. He speaks about the quality of character it takes to smile at a losing team and say “we’ll get ‘em next year.” I guess there’s a slight difference between what I’ve just described and a ‘fair weather’ fan, but the two dynamics are certainly a lot closer than Phillies fan and Sexton’s Buddha-like devotee.

So that’s my point. Is it really that bad to tune into a few less games when your team sucks? I don’t think so. Bitch-ass motherfuckers act like Padre fans don’t deserve championships because of our perceived nonchalance. Fuck that noise.

As I’ve tried to argue above, we may even be on a higher-spiritual plane than many cities in the country. While other fans brood and bitch when they dip below .500, we’ve been forced to enjoy baseball for what it is regardless of win-loss records.

That being said, we’ve got Kemp, Myers and Upton and, if we don’t win it all this year, I’m gonna be fucking pissed.

The Cosmic Oneness of Mark Kotsay

Mark Kotsay is the Padres new hitting coach.  We love Mark Kotsay.

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In fact, Kotsay is the epitome of what we love about baseball.  Watching him play you feel a connection with him that can only come from a game free of helmets, shoulder pads and face masks.

He’s just a dude.  But, importantly, especially during his  2001-2002 stint with the Padres, he was one of the most talented dudes.  Even more importantly, although he was excellent, you always felt that having fun, a few beers, and shooting the shit was slightly more important than working hard and being serious.  Read more

Pads Pod Thesis

BG Padres

This is the blog of the Pads Pod.  The Pads Pod Blog (PPB, 2015).  Confused by the one syllable words?  Fuck you.  In the following days, years, months and centuries the PPB will make you laugh about the San Diego Padres.  The writers of the PPB are lifelong fans and observers of subtle ass shit.  Posts will arise in an increasingly rapid nature as the Pads start playing preseason baseball games.  Although this blog exists, the majority of our efforts are dedicated to the Pads Pod – the podcast from which this shitty ass blog derives its name.  Check both out while you’re poopin’ and stoopin.’

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