The Eve of Opening Day
Tickets for Opening Day!
There are a million cliches about Opening Day that I could probably use in this post. Things like the playing field is level (in terms of standings), everyone is in first place, anything can happen, it’s a clean slate. All of them look forward to the future, to the long season, but ultimately, to the playoffs. The playoffs and then the World Series is the ultimate goal, and the journey starts tomorrow.
From my perspective, it is really a new slate for the boys. We have a new team. We lost so many solid guys over the offseason, and now we have a patchwork of players who aren’t proven. Yet. Tomorrow it begins.
I’m excited. It’s against the Dodgers, which adds a whole new level of intensity to any game. But put Opening Day on top of that…man, it’s going to be intense.
I’m excited beyond belief. Getting to wear my new Padres jersey, to hang out at Petco Park, to be apart of all of the festivities and to watch a game of Padres baseball. It doesn’t get much better than this.
GO PADRES!
P.S. I will be tweeting quite a lot tomorrow: @kaitybergquist
One week until Opening Day!
(mistycabal/Flickr.com)
We are officially one week away from Opening Day. Padres vs. Dodgers. Petco Park. 4:05 first pitch. Be there.
Well, hopefully a lot of you will be there – the game is sold out. Thankfully, I have tickets for the game, and I am so excited because it’ll be my first time at Opening Day.
It’ll also mark the beginning of my sixth season as a Padres fan. Sixth! It doesn’t even feel like it’s been that long.
I feel like the team is in a lot of tumult right now. Our ownership is up in the air. We lost some good players over the offseason. Nobody really knows where any team will stand when we’re here at the beginning, but I feel like we REALLY won’t know how the Padres are going to do. We never do.
We’ve actually done very well this spring training, though. We’re 18-12 right now, which isn’t a bad record for games that don’t matter. I feel like our offense has been pretty strong. I’m SO excited to see how we do next week though. SO excited.
It’s been too long since we’ve had regular season baseball. I can’t wait.
On a small side note (okay not that small), I was at the Journalism Association of Community Colleges State conference last weekend and won first place in the sports competition. It was pretty sweet. We had to cover a women’s lacrosse game between Occidental College and Allegeheny College. I had never watched a lacrosse game in my life, and pretty much didn’t know any of the rules. There were about 60 writers in the competition.
We watched the game, had a press conference, got on a bus and drove back to the hotel, and then had an hour to write the story. I didn’t feel like I had done particularly well or terribly, and I ended up winning first place. So I’m pretty much the best community college sports writer in the STATE. So exciting!
GO PADRES!
Padres FanFest 2012: Inspiration
The Padres' clubhouse. (Photo credit/Kaity Bergquist)
This year’s FanFest was amazing. It just gets better and better every year, and this year was definitely tops in my opinion.
When I got there (after successfully driving myself downtown for the first time, by the way), there was a long line it get in. It was about 10 a.m. But thankfully, I had pre-registered so I got in through a much shorter line.
My first stop was the Padres Foundation Garage Sale, which had a line almost all the way to home plate. It was crazy. Once I finally got in, I found a couple of things. I got the 2007 yearbook, which meant a lot to me because that was my first season as a fan. Then I bought a commemorative coin from the games in China at the beginning of 2008. I remember how insanely excited I was when I heard that we had won one and tied one of those games. It was a fantastic.
I was in the looooong line to pay when Matt Slagle (@matthewslagle), The Telescope’s editor in chief, texted me and said that he was going to get Trevor Hoffman’s autograph. Now, you must stop reading this blog, open this article in a new tab and read it right now. Then you can come back here. It’s an AMAZING article. http://www.friarhood.com/voice-of-the-fan/visitors-pass/1683-a-great-fan-fest-experience-thanks-to-trevor-hoffman.html
Wasn’t that great? Now back to my FanFest experience.
I headed over to the XX 1090 booth, which was on the Beach this year. When I got there, I think Josh Bynes was being interviewed. Soon, Bud Black showed up to be interviewed next, but because there was still time before it was his turn, he started signing autographs for the fans around him. So cool. Luke Gregerson did the same thing when he showed up during Buddy’s interview.
After a while, Colleen @colleen_teresa , the sports and copy editor on the paper, arrived at Petco. I had my official autograph session almost right away, with Jerry Coleman and Joe Thatcher. It was really cool.
Colleen and I then took the clubhouse tour. As we walked into the hallway that leads to the clubhouse, we saw Huston Street about a foot away from us. Unfortunately, he was talking to someone else and then hoofed it down the hallway, away from us. We didn’t even get to see his face. But that would be remedied later.
Being in the clubhouse is always magical, even thought this was the fourth time I’ve seen it. I love it. This year, it had even more meaning for Colleen and I – we’re both sports writers and want to pursue it as a career, and being in the clubhouse was all the motivation we’ll need for a long time. That and being in the dugout and looking up at the press box. Someday…
Huston Street. (Photo credit/Kaity Bergquist)
We then went back to the Garage Sale to see if there was anything new or reduced. Just as we got in, the Pitcher’s Forum started. it was MC-ed by Mark Grant talking to Tim Stauffer, Cory Luebke and HUSTON STREET! I dragged Colleen over and got as close as we could. I then took many, many photos of all three of the guys, but mostly Street. I’m so excited to have him on the team. He’s going to be an excellent closer for us.
After a great forum, we wandered around the stadium, managing to snag three more autographs: Will Venable, Brad Brach and Jeff Moorad. My total for the day: seven autographs.
It was an amazingly fun day. I loved just being at Petco Park with thousands of other Padres fans. It definitely gave me the itch for baseball. I’m ready. I’m so ready for the season to start and to watch some amazing baseball.
GO PADRES!
Kevin Kouzmanoff <3
One of my favorite parts of FanFest – finding a ton of Kevin Kouzmanoff signed baseballs. Super cool. This photo is now permanently the background on my phone. More on FanFest to come later.
Kouzmanoff Update
Just thought that I should let you guys know that Kevin Kouzmanoff (finally) got signed by the Kansas City Royals for a minor league contract with an invitation to Spring Training last week. It isn’t much, but at least he did get signed. I was getting a little worried there.Also, Jan. 16 was the two-year anniversary of his trade from the Padres to the Oakland A’s. That was such a sad day. I can’t believe it’s been two years already. Thankfully, I did get to go see him in August when he was with the Rockies. That was the coolest game ever.
I’m just happy that my boy is still in baseball and still doing the best he can. He hasn’t had an easy career, that’s for sure, but he’s fighting hard. I love him 
Unfortunately, the Padres won’t be playing the Royals in Interleague this season, so I won’t get to see him at all. But hopefully next year, when he gets traded back to the Padres. Right Padres? Right. Sounds good.
GO KOOOOOOOOOOOZ!
Top 100 MLBlogs of 2011: #6
Unfinished Business is the sixth most popular MLB.com fan blog for the year of 2011.
Last year I was #8, so I guess I’ve made progress this year despite being insanely busy. Actually, this was probably the lowest year yet in terms of content, and I still gained two spots.
I was busy this year, mostly with finishing high school, working on The Telescope and spending a ton of time with friends. And of course, being a fan of the Padres. We had a terrible year. It was sad. But 2012 is a new year, and maybe all these trades will actually help us out. Who knows.
I just want to say thank you to every single one of my readers, whether you read every post or one every once in a while. Padres fans really are the best fans because we have the deal with one of the worst teams in Major League Baseball. But we love them despite it all. So thank you for allowing me to share my thoughts and my rants and my love for Padres baseball.
I’ve been doing this for over three years (WOW!) and I don’t plan on stopping soon. My sixth season of Padres fandom is coming up as well. Crazy stuff.
Thank you again. You guys are amazing.
GO PADRES!
Rizzo didn’t make it to Opening Day, got traded to Cubs
Anthony Rizzo was traded to the Cubs today for pitcher Andrew Cashner and Minor League outfielder Kyung-Min Na.
#RizzoMania was obviously very short-lived.
I’m sure a lot of us knew that Rizzo was headed out the door, especially when the rumors were flying right after Mat Latos’ trade. I really didn’t expect him to be on the Padres’ Opening Day roster, and what do you know, he’s not going to be. Oh well.
I did get really excited when he got called up earlier in the year. I was actually bordering on Kevin Kouzmanoff-like excitement about him, but when he didn’t do that well, it wore off. He’s really young, really cute, but I think he got called up too early. He wasn’t ready for it. But we don’t have to worry about him anymore, I guess.
But something that is interesting about this trade is the fact that Rizzo is going to Chicago, where Jed Hoyer and Jed McLeod are now. McLeod was the one who drafted Rizzo to the Red Sox. Hoyer then traded Adrian Gonzalez for him last year, and now he’s bringing him to the Cubs. Hoyer obviously wants Rizzo wherever he is.
This Cashner guy is a pitcher who has started, but the Padres seem to want him as a reliever at the start. He was injured for most of last season. The Padres always seem to get a lot of those.
Hopefully this trade will work out well for the Padres, though I don’t think we got the better side of the deal.
Happy New Year!
2011 is officially over, and 2012 has begun. With that comes a new beginning to the San Diego Padres season. We’ve said our goodbyes to Heath Bell, Jed Hoyer and Mat Latos, and we’ve welcomed Huston Street, Carlos Quentin, Edinson Volquez and of course, Mark Kotsay. There still might be some moves to be made, but it’s time to put the business aside and get down to the game.
We are about three months away from Opening Day.
As usual, I look ahead to the season with excitement, but also a lot of questions.
Are we going to hit? Is our rotation going to be okay? How’s the bullpen going to pan out? Will we still have Anthony Rizzo by the start of the season? And when will the Padres sign Kevin Kouzmanoff already? (He’s currently a free agent.)
Truth is, I have no idea how this team is going to look on Opening Day. I have a good idea of what players will be there, but there are a lot of new guys. I don’t know how well the team will play together or how strong of a team we’ll be.
I don’t think we’re going to do exceptionally well, but we might not do terribly either. It’s all up in the air right now. This year’s team is already looking a ton different from last year’s team.
As always, it’s going to be an adventure.
GO PADRES!
Mat Latos to Reds, Padres get four players
NOOOOOOOOO!
Okay, he wasn’t the best pitcher, especially in the past year. But really? Really Padres front office? Why not just trade away Nick Hundley and Chase Headley while we’re at it? Why not trade away all recognizable players so we can pay to watch players whose names we do not even know?
Mat Latos was traded to the Reds today for RHPs Edinson Volquez and Brad Boxberger, INF Yonder Alonso, and C Yasmani Grandal.
At least we got something good in return.
I feel a little better now. Now that I think about it, Mat wasn’t good at all in the past year. I don’t think Mat is going to be that good next season. So we probably got the better end of the deal.
But still. It kind of stinks that the Padres are trading away so many people. Yesterday we traded Aaron Cunningham to the Indians for Cory Burns, a pitcher. The only reason I don’t like this trade is because Aaron was the last player left on the Padres who we traded Kevin Kouzmanoff away for. So essentially, that deal wasn’t worth it because none of the players we got are left on the team. Oh well.
The baseball world is abuzz with this Latos trade. Almost all of the trending topics on Twitter in the United States are about this trade. It’ll be interesting to see how things go when the season starts for the additions of both teams.
GO PADRES!
Welcome to San Diego, Huston Street
- New Padres closer Huston Street. (flickriver.com)
The Padres traded for Huston Street mere days after Heath Bell signed with the Marlins last week.
The former Oakland A and Colorado Rockie brings a more veteran presence to the Padres. He has been in the majors for seven years and has 178 saves. I think this is a great move by the Padres. I’m just glad we didn’t try to replace Heath with some minor league player.
But forget the numbers. This guy is CUTE. Yes, I did just do a Google search to see if he was single. Not that I’m interested or anything, it’s just weird to have an obsessive crush on a baseball player who is taken. (Kouz, as far as I can tell, is single. No, my obsession is not creepy.)
I’m not saying that this guy might become my new favorite player, since I have yet to see him close a game. But all signs point to a potential new favorite player for me.
Kaity
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