Results tagged ‘ padres ’
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!
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!
Goodbye, Heath. Nice having you here.
- San Diego Padres’ Heath Bell pumps his fist after striking out Pittsburgh Pirates’ Xavier Nady to end the eighth inning in their baseball game in San Diego, Sept. 17, 2007. (AP Photo/Lenny Ignelzi)
I’ve been a Padres fan for about five years, and I’ve seen the team go from full of star players to no better than a minor league team. Those star players didn’t help out on the winning side, but the Padres were much more glamorous five years ago.
In the past five years, we’ve lost Jake Peavy, Trevor Hoffman, Kevin Kouzmanoff, Chris Young, Greg Maddux, Adrian Gonzalez, Khalil Greene, Brian Giles, Mike Adams and now finally Heath Bell.
The Padres don’t have any starpower anymore. You could probably argue for someone like Mat Latos or Nick Hundley, who have been here for a while, but they don’t have the kind of appeal Jake Peavy and Trevor Hoffman had when they were here. The organization has officially been left faceless. They have officially become a minor league team.
They’ve been playing like a minor league team long enough, and now our last real star player is gone, so that brings us down a level.
It’s so sad.
Then there’s another thing. We got rid of Mike Adams in July. Who on earth is going to close for us? At least we still have Luke Gregerson.
I say let’s bring back Trevor Hoffman. I’m sure he’s still got another season in him.
Well, Heath, we are going to miss you. Not only were you a decent closer, but you were a really entertaining guy. Best of luck with the Marlins and their strange-looking new uniforms.
GO PADRES!!
Happy Thanksgiving!
In preparation for this post, I looked back over the past three Thanksgiving entries I’ve written on this blog. They were written in 2008, 2009 and 2010. It’s so cool to look back on those to see what was going on in my life and where I am now. A lot has changed since I started this blog over three years ago. Amazing.
All my other Thanksgiving posts were really long, but I think I’m going to keep it simple this year.
I’m thankful for friends, family and everyone else who’s touched my life in some way.
I’m thankful for my church, youth group, college and career group, girls’ Bible study, other girls’ Bible study and other college group.
I’m thankful for my Padres. I love them so very much, even if it was a bad year. We’ve got to get better someday…
I’m thankful for the opportunity to work on a student newspaper and everything that comes with working with other people pretty much all the time. We’ve had some pretty great adventures.
I’m thankful for a God who cares about the little things just as much as the big things in life - I’m so thankful that I can trust Him with everything from getting me to the gas station when I’m really low on gas to life-changing decisions. It’s all in His hands, and He’s been so merciful to me on so many levels.
What do I have that I have not recieved?
I don’t understand how anyone can look at their lives and not see a God working through every moment. I truly have been blessed beyond anything that I deserve; in fact, I don’t deserve any of it. I’m so grateful.
I hope that you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving. I love you all.
GO PADRES!!
Mets top Padres in rubber game.
The Padres lost a three-game series to the Mets this afternoon, 7-3.
Despite an outstanding performance on all sides the night before (offense and pitching), the Padres weren’t able to pull through Wednesday, leaving Padres fans wondering if the season of losing would ever end.
Starter Mat Latos was solid, only making one big mistake. He threw six innings, allowing three runs with six strikeouts. All three runs came on a three-run homer to Mets third baseman David Wright in the third inning. (Wow, that’s a lot of threes.) Unfortunately, his offense wasn’t able to back him up and he got the loss, his 12th of the year.
The Padres only got three runs in the game, with two of them coming in the bottom of the ninth. Nick Hundley doubled in Aaron Cunningham with no outs, and then Alberto Gonzalez doubled in Hundley right before Jason Bartlett struck out to end the game.
But the Mets had no such problem. Angel Pagan, leading off in the lineup, had two hits and three RBIs. That, coupled with Wright’s bomb and Willie Harris’ RBI single in the eighth gave New York more than enough to win the game.
Padres fans know that the team isn’t going to go anywhere, at least not this season, but it would always be nice to have some good games during the last few months of the season, like Tuesday’s 6-1 win. But a series like this shows why the Padres are 15 games out of first place: even if they are able to have a solid game, they aren’t able to carry that momentum even to a game the very next day. Consistency, momentum, whatever you want to call it, the Padres don’t have it. And that’s why they are stuck in the cellar of the NL West.
The Padres will host the Florida Marlins for the next four games over the weekend, leading up to Trevor Hoffman’s retirement ceremony before the game on Sunday. You won’t want to miss it.
GO PADRES!!!!!!
Looking Up
Last night’s game was a great one for the San Diego Padres.
We had 15 hits, which is rare. But it was so much fun to watch! Nick Hundley, who recently came off the disabled list, had three hits, two triples and a double. Two triples!! It was so great.
Then Logan Forsythe, Jesus Guzman, Kyle Blanks, Orlando Hudson and Alberto Gonzalez had two hits each. Cameron Maybin hit a solo homer in the seventh.
We actually got the early lead with two runs in the bottom of the first, and kept that lead for the rest of the game. The Mets were able to get one run in the top of the fourth, but we added one run in the bottom of that inning, two runs in the seventh, and one run in the eighth.
Cory Luebke, who started the game, threw very, very well. He had a no-hitter through 3.2 innings. He ended up only giving up three hits on one run with five strikeouts. What an outing!
In relief, Chad Qualls allowed the Mets’ only other hit in the game. Luke Gregerson and Erik Hamren threw the eighth and ninth with no problems.
It was a really good 6-1 win. We had some really solid hitting, really solid pitching. It was great to see.
Guess what? Trevor Hoffman day is only a few days away!!!! I am sooooo excited. But I’m going to cry so bad. Just the sound of Hell’s Bells makes me freak out, so I’m pretty sure I’m going to be a mess on Sunday. But that’s okay. Trevor Hoffman is my all-time favorite Padre (besides Kevin Kouzmanoff), but more than that, he’s one of the all-time favorite Padres in San Diego. I have so much admiration and respect for Trevor, I could go on and on about how much this guy means to me.
I’m just so happy that this retirement ceremony is happening. There was a time just a few years ago where I thought Trevor and the Padres would never be on speaking terms again. Those were some bad days. But I’m so, so, thankful that we have new leaders in the front office, people who respect Trevor and all he means to San Diego, people who will give him an amazing ceremony to honor his incredible career. It’s going to be a great day to be a Padres fan.
GO PADRES!!!!!
SWEEP!!
Well, what do you know.
Your San Diego Padres have won three games in a row, and they didn’t hold anything back.
We scored 35 runs. Had 40 hits. Hit five home runs, including two grand slams.
This is not the Padres we’re used to, but man, did I enjoy this weekend. It’s really great for us, but we do feel for the Pirates, since we’ve experienced so much of their pain, like the Union-Tribune article was talking about. Today we gave the Pirates their 10th straight loss. Ouch.
One thing I was really excited about today was Mat Latos’ outing. He did really well! He went seven solid innings, only allowing two runs on four hits, and those runs didn’t come until the bottom of the eighth. He also had seven strikeouts and got the win. Way to go, Mat!!
Former Padre Kevin Correia actually started for the Pirates, which I thought was funny. He only went 5.2 innings and got the loss. HA!
The sweep was a great victory, but we had a lot of bad news this week on the injury side. Chris Denorfia was put on the DL with a strained hamstring, which is really sad. Here’s a great video that shows us many reasons why losing Chris is so bad: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCCKEsNMomA
Also, Chase Headley is going to be out for a few weeks with fractured left little finger. Not good. Not good…at all.
We go to New York to play the Mets next. Tim Stauffer is starting tomorrow night.
GO PADRES!!!
Anthony Rizzo ♥
Anthony. Rizzo. Is. Amazing.
Anthony Rizzo in his first Major League at-bat. (Channel 4SD)
You would not believe how excited I am about this kid. I got to watch the entirety of last night’s game on TV, which is actually very rare for me. And my goodness, I am so thankful that I got to see it all.
Anthony did not disappoint. His first at-bat ended in a called strike, but the strike zone was a little iffy all night. But in his second at-bat, he hit a triple!!!!! It was so great. His next two at-bats were walks, which was great because it showed his patience at the plate and that he’ll contribute in little ways. I was so impressed by him, in everything really: his presence on the field, his defense and plate discipline, and the way he carried himself in the countless interviews that he did. It was incredible.
I am even more excited than ever that my family and I decided to go to tonight’s game a week ago. We had no idea that we would get to see Anthony’s second major league game, but here we are. I’m just so excited to see Anthony and to see the whole team really. We had one of the best games of the year last night. We got ten hits, and really dominated the Nationals. There’s soo much energy around Padres baseball right now, I can’t wait to experience it tonight.
Speaking of which, there’d better be a ton of fans out there tonight. Last night there were only 16,000. Which is pathetic even for a normal weekday game. But I expected a lot more people to be out there to see Rizzo. It was strange. But tonight, you’ve got Party in the Park, Salute to the Negro Leagues, Fellowship Night, and Anthony Rizzo. Oh yeah, and Mat Latos too. If you can, get out to the game tonight. Yes, Rizzo is for real. Just get out there and go see him already!!
Yesterday was a good day for Padres fans. Worth trading Adrian away? Maybe. Probably. I guess we’ll have to wait and see, but I can say that I like this spark of energy. Anthony is helping to give the Padres life, and that’s something that we desperately need.
I haven’t been this excited about Padres baseball in a long time.
GO PADRES!!! GO RIZZO!! GO LATOS!!!
Bookended By Failure
There were two defining moments in tonight’s game: the beginning and the end. But the rest of the game stank too.
Alberto Gonzalez expresses his frustration after striking out in Monday's game against the Colorado Rockies. (San Diego Union-Tribune)
Coming off of three straight wins against the Nationals over the weekend, the Rockies came to town and dispelled any hope that Padres fans might have mustered.
After Carlos Gonzalez struck out to start the game, Chris Nelson tripled and Troy Stinking Tulowitzki singled him in for the Rockies’ first run of the game. That was the bad beginning.
The score stayed one-nothing Rockies for the rest of the game, at least until the top of the ninth. Of course, if the Padres hadn’t overcome that daunting lead all game long, they probably wouldn’t be able to overcome it in the bottom of the ninth, but it’s nice to hope. So it still wasn’t cool that the Padres gave up two more runs to obliterate any chance of coming back.
And in the middle, there were plenty of bad things made this game stink. Including but not limited to:
- The fact that we had the same amount of hits as the Rockies did (9), but somehow the Rockies scored three runs and we scored none.
- The fact that we left 11 runners on base and were 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position.
- The fact that Clayton Richard threw an amazing game, but got his seventh loss of the year.
- The fact that we are a last-place team never helps things either. Sigh.
It was just a sad game. I don’t appreciate it when we lose like that. Oh well.
Tim Stauffer will try to get us some shred of dignity tomorrow night against Ubaldo Jimenez.
First round of the draft was today. The draft has never really excited me because we always get the worst players, but who knows. Congrats to infielder Cory Spangenberg on being the Padres’ first-round draft pick this year. I hope you have better fortune than other recent Padre first-round draft picks.
GO PADRES!!!!
No Surprise There…
INTERLEAGUE STINKS!!
We all knew that it was going to happen. We started off interleague play this weekend at home against the Mariners, and we got nothing doing. We got swept, bang bang bang.
Not surprising at all.
We only scored two runs in the entire series. We had three errors. We got a good amount of hits, but obviously it wasn’t enough to score any runs.
At the beginning of the season, the hitting was horrible and the pitching was really okay. But now, the pitching has been infected with the disease of the hitters, and we have absolutely no hope.
Here’s the records of our five starting pitchers:
- Mat Latos: 1-6
- Clayton Richard: 2-5
- Tim Stauffer: 0-3
- Dustin Moseley: 1-6
- Aaron Harang: 5-2
Aaron’s the only one who’s had any bit of a chance against some good teams. Props to him, but look at the rest of our starting pitching. It’s so bad!!
It’s not entirely the pitchers’ fault, though. Moseley had put out many, many good outings, but you can’t win when you don’t have run support.
In case anyone was interested, the Padres’ record is 19-28 and we’re 8.5 games behind San Francisco. Yeah, we’ve got a ways to go, but with the way we’re playing, I’m sure we’ll be able to get those games back in about 200 years.
The Cardinals are coming in to Petco for three games. They’re 28-20 and on top of their division. Oh boy.
Kaity
Recent Comments