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.    

COME ON GUYS!!!

Last night's game between the Red Sox and and Angels was not good, man. Not good at all. The Sox got shut out in a 5-0 loss. Jon Lester allowed three runs in six innings, and Ramon Ramirez allowed two. The offense only had four hits and they committed three errors! Ergh. It was not good. Not the greatest way to start off the playoffs, but hey. We've seen this team work miracles before. I should not start panicking, but I really don't want to have to cheer for any other team than the Red Sox this postseason.

Come on, guys, keep your heads up. You'll get them today.

Josh Beckett is pitching, and we all know how incredible he's been in the postseason. Let's hope that he'll be able to even things up for the Red Sox tonight.

The Dodgers won again last night, which is very frustrating. Get it going, St. Louis!!

When I opened up the newspaper yesterday morning, I found some very perplexing news. Marcus Giles was arrested because his wife said he had assulted her.

Oh boy. Before the season started, I blogged a little about Brian Giles' situation. His ex-girlfriend accused him of abusing her, and there was a whole mess of that situation. Brian countered that she had abused him, and it was pretty crazy. Brian barely played at all for us this season, and it's extremely likely that this was his last season in a Padres uniform.

Now, Marcus is getting into it! I almost can't believe it. He's been married for quite a while, and they have three little girls. This is just crazy!

Marcus played for one season with the Padres, and I loved him. He got to play with his brother and all that, plus he played pretty well for us. The Padres relased him after that season, though, and he hasn't played in the majors since. Oh dear.

Well, the Padres made a few moves yesterday, nothing too exciting. Cha Sueng Baek, Cliff Floyd, and Shawn Hill were waived. All three were fails this year. Baek was supposed to be a big part of our rotation, but he got hurt and was out all year. Pretty much the same story for the other two dudes. We actually had a lot of guys who that happened to before the season. It was not good. Like Mark Worrell, one of the pieces in the Khalil Greene trade, the side-armer. The Padres really liked what they were seeing...and then he had to have Tommy John surgery. So much for him.

We've got some exciting postseason baseball going on right now. Wow, it's been amazing! Hope you all are having a lot of fun watching it :)

GO PADRES' FRONT OFFICE!! GO RED SOX!! 

In thinking back on our season, one of the biggest things that came to mind, of course, was the Jake Peavy trade. Jake was shopped heavily during the postseason last year, but deals with the Braves and Cubs fell through. After the Winter Meetings, things really quieted down. Jake started on Opening Day for the San Diego Padres against the Dodgers.

In late May, while the Padres were in the middle of a 10-game winning streak, the word leaked out that the Padres and White Sox were in agreement for a trade that would sent Jake to Chicago. All that was needed was Jake's consent. After a long, stressing day, Jake finally excersised his no-trade clause. "Right now, this is the best place for me and my family," Peavy said.

Not long after, Jake hurt his calf while running the bases. He made one or two more starts, but the calf kept bothering him. The Padres shut him down, putting him on the DL. With that, the trade talks calmed down considerably. In fact, there was even talk that he would most likely stay with the Padres.

With mere minutes before the trade deadline, I think Padres fans were starting to breathe a little easier. We relaxed too soon. 23 seconds before the trade deadline, Jake Peavy was sent to the White Sox for four pitchers.

I won't even try to convey my devastation when I heard the news. It was absolutely terrible. All of you who have lost a beloved player know how it feels. I felt like a close family member had moved far, far away, and I would never be able to see them again. It was simply terrible.

Though our pain was great, we were quickly soothed by the immediate impact of the pitchers we got in return. I would like to talk about each of these pitchers and their performance since coming over to the Padres.

1. Clayton Richard.

Clayton started the day after he was traded to the Padres. Instant comfort for the fans, huh? And what about the dude? He must have been pretty discombobulated, but he did a great job. He threw 5.2 innings, allowing two hits and one run against the Brewers.

Clayton made 12 starts for us in the past few months. Without a doubt, his best start was his last one, on September 30th. He threw seven innings of one-hit shutout ball. It was a great way to end out his season. His record with us was 6-2. I was overall very impressed by this young pitcher, and I think he's definitely got a chance for the rotation next year. Well done, Clayton.

2. Adam Russell.

Adam pitched his first game for the Padres on August 26th. He pitched in 15 games for us with a 3.65 ERA. I thought he did a very good job. He will definitely get a good look in Spring Training for a spot in the rotation.

3. Aaron Poreda.

Aaron only pitched in four games for us this year, 2.1 innings, so there's not much to see there. Seems like he did walk a bunch of guys, but that's OK. I think this guy could be a fixture in the bullpen. We'll have to see, but I think he's going to be good.

The fourth pitcher in the deal, Dexter Carter, did not pitch for the big club this year. I'd say that guy I'm most excited about is Clayton. He looks so good, it's really cool.

So far, this deal looks pretty even. Both sides got great pieces. I just really hope these guys don't fizzle out.

Well, that playoff game last night was crazy stressing! Game 163's have a tendancy to be like that.

GO RED SOX!!   

On Sunday, the San Diego Padres' 2009 season came to an end. My boys' record was 75-87, 20 games behind in the NL West. They ended with a sad loss to the Giants, but this season on the whole was not a loss. Some amazing things happened here in San Diego, and it's definitely going to be a season to remember.

I can't believe it's really over, man. Over the last two months of the season, I was so busy that I wasn't able to listen to as many Padres games as I would have wanted to. Now I can't listen to any Padres baseball until March. It's kind of sad. It was really weird for me to be able to just sit there and listen to the game on Sunday. It had been a long time since I had been able to sit down and really listen to a game. I love listening to the games. It's kind of sad that it's over.

Our season ended when Kevin Kouzmanoff struck out in the bottom of the tenth with two runners on. It was a long, crazy game. The Giants took an early lead, 3-0. We didn't score until the bottom of the sixth. David Eckstein came up with a runner on. He hit his second homer of the year to pull us within one run. Eck is obviously not a home run hitter, but his value to this team in unmeasurable. You don't see it in his numbers, but he's been just incredible this year. I don't think this team would have the postitive outlook on next year that we have if we didn't have David Eckstein. He's brought so much to this team! Both of his homers were in essential situations this year. His first was against the Mets in the bottom of the ninth. We had two runners on, but two outs. I think we were down to our last strike, trailing by three runs. Suddenly, Eck hit a three-run homer to tie the game. Even thought we lost the game later, that was just huge. The one on Sunday was pretty much the same.

We tied the game in the bottom of the seventh on a wild pitch by Randy Johnson. Unfortunately, neither team was able to get anything until the top of the tenth.

Earlier in the game, the Padres had intentionally walked Pablo Sandoval in a situation when the Giants could have scored. But for some terrible reason, they didn't walk him in the top of the ninth. It cost them their season. Sandoval hit a solo homer, and the Padres were unable to capitalize in the bottom of the inning. Thus ended the Padres' 2009 season.

It was kind of frustrating that we ended the season on such a bad note. I mean, we won practically every series in the month of September, and we just had to go and lose to the Giants. It puts a sour taste on the season to end like that, you know? We could have at least won the last game! Oh well. What's done is done.   

It's going to be a really interesting offseason for the Padres as changes are made. The changes actually started before the end of the season, when General Manager Kevin Towers was fired on Friday. I'm still not sure what I think about that. KT was an incredible GM. He made a lot of great deals. He got us Trevor Hoffman, he drafted Jake Peavy, he got Adrian and CY in a very lopsided trade, and he even got a treadmill for a catcher once! But then, of course, we have to look at the negatives. We only won four titles under him. We only got to one World Series. His number one draft picks all ended up terribly. He kicked Trevor out, he traded Jake away. He's an expert at making a team with very little money. But what I think it comes down to is the championships. Sure, he built some great teams, but he didn't get them to the Big Show. Thanks for all the years, KT. 

Trevor Hoffman re-signed with the Brewers yesterday. How rude. Trevor's got 591 saves now. Oh my. I just thought of something very sad. He's going to get his 600th with the Brewers! Aw man. I miss him, I really do. It kills me that he's going to get such a big milestone with the Brewers. TREVOR!!!! 

Now I need to talk about my dear Kouz, who has had an outstanding season. He only had three errors in 309 chances. That's a .990 fielding percentage! Incredible. So incredible, in fact, that the Hall of Fame has asked him for a glove that he used during the season. He said he won't give them his "gamer," but they will be getting a glove that he used in this amazing season. Will he win a Gold Glove? Probably not, but I think he's starting to get some notice around baseball. This dude is incredible, people. Believe me, I know :) Love you Koozie!!

Well, we've got a big playoff game tonight. A Game 163, to be exact, between the Twins and the Tigers. I can't believe that there have been three of those in three years! That's amazing. I feel bad for you Twins and Tigers fans 'cause these games are so stressing. Just make sure you dude touches the plate in the bottom of the thirteenth, and everthing will be good...

I'm wearing my Red Sox shirt today, and I'm ready for these playoffs to start. It's going to be great!! I can't wait.

GO RED SOX!!!  

Well, I sat down at my computer and wrote an entry for about a hour this morning. While I was trying to upload a picture, my internet went down and I lost the whole entry. I just couldn't try again, it was way too disheartening. So, I'll try again tomorrow. This auto-save is terrible. UGH. Well, hopefully I'll have something for you tomorrow. Have a great day! 

I love beating the Dodgers. Especially if it means delaying their playoff clinching. I think it's kind of funny how they get to within one game of clinching and then they just can't get it done!! But hey, we're helping the Dodgers. Now this series between the Dodgers and Rockies will be HUGE this weekend. A ton of people will be coming out to watch, so that's just more money for the Dodgers. Plus, it will be super interesting to see what happens. If Colorado swept, they would be the NL West champs. Aren't you so glad that we didn't allow you guys to clinch, Dodgers? :)

Last night's game was amazing. I am so thrilled with my boys right now. They're fighting hard. They're not giving up, even though they're not going to the playoffs. This is just great.

Clayton Richard threw his best game as a Padre so far last night. He allowed a single to Matt Kemp in the top of the first with two outs. And what do you know, that was THE hit that the Dodgers got all night!! Sweeeeeet. Clayton went seven innings with a one-hit shutout. He walked three and struck out two.

We got a run in the bottom of the first with a single by Chase Headley.

In the third, we got two runners on. Kouz came up and guess what? He hit a three run homer! Since he came back on Tuesday, Kouz has had two game-determining hits. It's great to have you back, Koozie :)

We got one more run in the fourth on an interference call. Tony Gwynn hit a ball in the infield. The throw went home, but Everth ran back towards third. The catcher threw to the third baseman, who Everth tripped over. You can see that the third baseman trapped Everth's leg between his own. Everth pulled free and touched third. The umpire gave him home for that. Sweeeeet.

In the past two games, 18 innings, the Dodgers only scored one run on five hits. HAHAHAHAHAHA!! Wow. We did good. The Dodgers left two runners on in the first. They didn't get a runner as far as second until there were two outs in the ninth. Wow, our pitchers did amazing!

After Clayton left, Mike Adams and Luke Gregerson held the one-hitter. Man, I am soooo happy about this game!! 5-0 just looks so good.

So, we swept the Dodgers in the mini-series. Man, that's satisfying. The Dodgers were hoping to get the NL West tied up here, but they can do it this weekend at home. Whatever. Not on our watch. Not on our turf.

I'm loving my boys so much right now. This is really cool. We only have three games left, but I know they're going to play hard and finish out the season well. Great job, guys.

Aren't these playoff races sweet? It's amazing how the schedule worked out. The Dodgers and Rockies will be battling it out this weekend. The Tigers and Twins get to beat up each other to see who will win the AL Central. It'll be interesting.

Padres have an off-day today before attacking the Giants for three. I can't wait.

GO PADRES!!