I really, really miss Padres baseball.

I've been watching a lot of football since the season ended, and I'm really falling in love with the sport. I know, I know, I used to be a huge hater of football, but it's been growing on me. It's a fascinating sport. It's new, it's exciting, and it's constantly moving. The atmosphere is so different from a baseball game to a football game though. Football is all about constant action, constant noise, but baseball is so laid-back, no stress. I miss it a lot.

I really miss listening to Padres baseball. I miss hearing about the guys like Kevin Kouzmanoff and Everth Cabrera and all our amazing new pitchers and everybody. I've been keeping busy ever since the season ended, but it's finally hitting me how much I miss it.

Though football is really growing on me, baseball will always be my #1 sport. Baseball is just so much better in so many ways. Football is all about hitting guys and throwing a ball. Brutal chaos, basically. But baseball, ahhh. Football is like a wave of heat in the desert, but baseball is like a breath of cool air in the night. You get the point. Baseball has so much class, so much finesse. It's an incredible sport. I miss it like crazy.

GO PADRES!!  

I feel really terrible about my neglect of the blog. It's been like a week since I last blogged. But seriously, there is nothing to write about. Or maybe there is, but I'm just not motivated. Like, at all. It's not good, I know.

But seriously, the World Series is really not interesting me at all. Sure, I want the Phillies to win (GO PHILLIES!), but I just don't have any stakes with either team. You know, if it was Red Sox-Phillies, I would be a little more excited, but still. It's not my team.

And I really don't like the Yankees. I don't like having the Yankees in the World Series. And I don't like all these calls that are going for the Yankees. It's not cool. The Yankees already have a bazzilion World Series, and they really don't need another one. It's like, oh, the Yankees are in the World Series...again. Whatever. You know, some teams haven't even been there. There are a few teams that are dying to win a championship like that, but they can't because the Yankees are stealing all the money. So frustrating. There are days that I hate being a fan of such a low-budget team who has to watch all the big mean money machines win all the time. It's really really sad.

Well, lookie there, I found something to write about! Wow!

So Hyun Young put this picture in her latest entry and I just had to steal it. SO CUTE!!!

They'd better not trade him.

Well, hopefully things will start picking up soon. Ahhhhh we need some new news!!!

GO PADRES!!!

Yesterday the San Diego Padres officially announced that Jed Hoyer is their new General Manager.

Hoyer was pretty much the leader for the job ever since Kevin Towers was fired. He was the assistant general manager for the Boston Red Sox before this. That's one thing I'm really excited about. He's had a lot of experience under an excellent general manager in Theo Epstein. I was very pleased to hear that he was instrumental in pulling off the deal that brought Josh Beckett and Mike Lowell to Boston. I think this guy is going to be great for us.

I was very impressed by the press conference that was held yesterday. This guy looks really young, but he spoke very well about his visions and goals for this team. I really like him already. This is really exciting...having a new owner, a new general manager. I can't wait to see how Hoyer does for us. He just seems like an excellent young man, and he's really excited about this job. It's going to be fun to see how he works.   

Hoyer is only 35, but I think he's going to do very well for us. Welcome to the San Diego Padres, Jed.

I don't know how far this news has spread, but a junior in high school died in a car accident yesterday morning in San Diego. One of my closest friends goes to the same school as he did. It would be really great if you guys could pray for this situation, for the young man's family and the school. I'm feeling pretty mentally and emotionally drained right now. You can read the story here. Please, just pray.

Well, let's see what this new GM can do.

GO PADRES!!! GO FRONT OFFICE!!! 

Congrats to the Philadelphia Phillies on their second straight National League title!

I don't care that they're an NL East team. I certainly wasn't going to cheer for the Dodgers during this series! Isn't this exciting? When was the last time we had team win two World Series in a row? Not going to be easy, but man, the Phillies have been good.

Looks like the Yankees are going to take the ALCS, but who knows, maybe the Angels will be able to make a comeback here. GO ANGELS!

So the Padres re-signed their entire coaching staff for next year. All the guys who have pretty much been here for years are back again. And Randy Ready for pitching coach. Let's see if 1, he'll stay with us instead of getting hired for the Astros' manager, and 2, if he'll be able to last a whole season as pitching coach of the Padres. In recent years it hasn't been able to be done, but maybe Randy will have better luck.

And it looks like Red Sox assistant general manager Jed Hoyer will soon be general manager for the Padres. Seems like he's the leading choice here, and Jeff Moorad wanted a new GM by the beginning of the World Series, which is in about six days.

Thinking about the general manager situation today, I kind of felt like we're in a Animal Farm thing here. You know, the animals get rid of the farmer thinking that things will be better without him. But in the end, things really are a lot worse than they were before. I really hope we're not getting into that situation. I'm still not sure if getting rid of Kevin Towers was the right thing to do. It's good to have change. The fans are excited about the changes in leadership. But what if it's not as good as we thought it would be? What if it gets worse? Well, I guess we'll just have to wait and see. Hopefully things will turn out a lot better than they have been.  

Well, I think that's about all for today.

GO PADRES!!!! 

I know. I've been super lazy about blogging and commenting lately. For some reason, ever since the season ended, I haven't had much motivation to blog. Not good. So when I looked at the Latest Leaders today, I was super surprised that I was still in my general area with #19!!! I was pretty shocked. Thanks so much to all my incredible readers here. Even though I haven't been giving you much, it's so cool to know that you're still visiting. Thank you. It really means a lot to me.

UPDATE: So I didn't realize that this Latest Leaders was for the whole regular season. That's so cool! From April to October, this blog was #19 in popularlity. Wow. THANK YOU!!!

I've dedicated this number to this man before, but it's worth doing again:

So this last weekend I was in Arizona. Since we really didn't have anything to do, I thought this would be a perfect oppurtunity to go check out some of the Spring Training stadiums. We only got to one, Hohokam Stadium, which is the Cubs' Spring Training facility.

It was a very interesting experience. First of all, it was 100 degrees outside. When we got there, there was about half an hour until a game was starting between the Mesa Solar Sox and the Surprise Rafters. Craziest thing. You would have never guessed that there was a game about to be played. It was so quiet! Sure, there were a few people in the stands, but it was so still and peaceful.

We walked behind the field and were able to get a great view of the stadium.

It was really, really cool to see a Spring Training stadium like that. 

Well, since the Red Sox got elimiated, I haven't really been tied to the playoffs. I got to watch a few of the games while I was in Arizona, which was really cool. Though I'm definitely not cheering for the Yankees, I gotta say that that walk-off win the other night was pretty cool. But only because it was Jerry Hairston Jr. who scored the winning run. He's so much like Scotty, it's incredible!

Wow, I just checked the score from last nights Phillie-Dodger game: 11-0 Phillies!!! Wow, I really love that score!

No Padres news lately :(

GO PADRES AND PHILLIES AND ANGELS AND THE PADRES' FRONT OFFICE!!!! 

Kevin Kouzmanoff donated one of the gloves that he used in his spectacular 2009 season to the Hall of Fame on Tuesday. The president of the Hall of Fame himself came to San Diego to recieve the glove.

If you've read this blog in the past few weeks, you've probably heard these numbers like five times. But they're so worth repeating. In 309 chances at third base this season, Kouz only had three errors, none of which were on throwing, by the way. That's a .990 fielding percentage, and that's incredible! It's gotten him a lot of attention, even from the Hall of Fame! Hopefully it will get him a certain award soon...

Anyways, here's some pictures from the big event.

This is just so cool for Kouz and the Padres. Kouz's season was just amazing, and I really really really really really hope that the Padres keep him. He's got a lot of worth to this team, and let's hope that the Padres see that. Who knows? Kouz himself maybe going into the Hall of Fame someday :)

Congrats, Kouz. We are so proud of you!
Love you :)

GO KOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOZ!!!!   

Here's my awards that I'm "giving" out to the boys for this season:

MVP: David Eckstein. Sure, it doesn't look like it in the numbers, but his value to the team this year was unmeasurable. HONORABLE MENTION: Adrian Gonzalez (40 home runs and 99 RBIs)

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Everth Cabrera. Beside showing us his incredible glove over at shortstop, he showed that he can also swing the bat pretty well. HONORABLE MENTIONS: Luke Gregerson, Kyle Blanks, Luis Durango, Will Venable.

VETERAN OF THE YEAR: This one is pretty hard, since mostly all the players this season were very young. But I'm going to go with Eck. He's definitely a veteran, and he was just incredible for us this year. HONORABLE MENTION: Kevin Kouzmanoff :) He's been in the majors for three seasons now...that's almost a veteran, right? :)

STARTER OF THE YEAR: Kevin Correia. We signed him to a minor league deal before Spring Training, and he had a great season. He had his downs, but he was able to put together a very good record. HONORABLE MENTION: Clayton Richard.

RELIEVER OF THE YEAR: Heath Bell. He had 40 saves, though he did blow quite a bit near the end. He settled right into the closer's role in the place of Trevor Hoffman, which is not an easy spot to fill, and he showed that he can close games consistently. He makes things interesting, that's for sure, but he gets the job done. HONORABLE MENTIONS: Greg Burke, Edward Mujica.

DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Kevin Kouzmanoff. Of course. He had three errors in 309 chances for a .990 fielding percentage. I'd say that's pretty good :) HONORABLE MENTION: Everth Cabrera.

COMEBACK PLAYER OF THE YEAR: I'm going to go with Tony Gwynn here. He really wasn't playing that well with Milwaukee, mostly because he wasn't getting a chance. But when he came here, when he came home to San Diego, he thrived. He played a great center field and hit just like his dad. It was really cool to see.

SURPRISES OF THE YEAR: Mat Latos and Wade LeBlanc. Both are guys that have been in our minor league system for a while, and it was great to see them come up and do so well. Mat had a horrible Spring Training. It was his first time facing major league hitters, but still. He was not good. When he finally came up, he made some great starts. Wade also did awful late last year and earlier in the year. He was terrible! But he did something, and was able to have a string of excellent starts at the end of the season.

MOST PATHETIC PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Brian Giles. First, he gets in a huge mess with his ex-girlfriend about abuse, then he gets hurt and misses a huge part of the season. Not good, Brian. Not good at all. NOT-SO-HONORABLE MENTION: Marcus Giles.

What a season. I just hope we can have all these positives with a winning record next season :)

GO PADRES!! 

Today is Trevor Hoffman's 42nd birthday. Wow. That dude is getting old!! But man, he's still pitching extremely well, and I'm sure he'll get at least 600 saves. Hopefully he will also get a couple more in a Padres uniform too.

Well, Trevor, we missed you a lot in San Diego this season. There was something missing when we went into Spring Training and the season. Heath Bell was able to do a great job in your place, but "Blow Me Away" is just not as good as "Hell's Bells." I can't wait to see you back in a Padres uniform, Trevor. I hope you have a great birthday. We love you!!!

GO TREVOR HOFFMAN!!!

Oh, Jonathan...I feel you man.

It wasn't too long ago when a star closer for the Padres blew a chance that would have sent them to the playoffs. Two chances, actually. It hurts. To have that huge hope that we're going to do this, we're going to get there, and our amazing closer is going out there to shut them down, and then, three hits later, it's all over. The hope is painfully dashed to the ground. Shock settles in. Tears fill your eyes. We had it. It was right there in our hands. We could feel it. It was there. We were one strike away.

It's hard. Pap's going to have to relive that moment for the rest of the postseason. He's going to go through a lot of guilt, a lot of regret. He's going to analyze those moments over and over again. So are the fans. It's heartbreaking, it really is.

Though I'm not as die-hard as I could be towards the Red Sox, I feel the pain. I was pulling for this team too. I don't know what went wrong, but there was definitely something not right with this team. They got swept in three games. That's not good. Not good at all.

One team rejoices as the other is filled with grief. One city is estatic while the other is quiet, sadly reflecting on the end of a season. One city looks forward to the next game, the next week, while the other looks forward to redemption, seemingly so far away.

It's not easy. But that's baseball: it was made to break your heart.

Here's hoping that all you Red Sox fans out there will see the hope of next year. Teams like the Padres live on "next year." Next year, is hope.