Tagged: tony gwynn
#19
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!!!!
Yet Another Series Win!!
Let me tell you, this Padres team has been doing AMAZING!! It is soooo exciting. Thing is, they’ve been winning consistently. None of this win-a-series-then-lose-five-games-in-a-row stuff. They’re winning series after series after series. It’s great!!
After the Braves avoided the sweep on Thursday, the Padres headed to Flordia to play the Marlins at Land Shark Stadium (seriously). The Marlins have actually been pretty good this year, and it suprised me to find that they are over .500. But I’m not really worried about our opponents with this Padres team right now.
In the first game of the series, the Padres had a six-run second inning and never looked back. It was great! During that inning, Kyle Blanks hit a two-run homer. As he ran around the bases, he aggravated his foot, which had been keeping him day-to-day. He was pinch-hit for when his turn to bat again in that inning came up (we batted way around the order!). He was put on the DL on Saturday. Blanksie has been incredible for us lately, so I really hope he can recover quickly!!
We ended up winning the game 9-5. David Eckstein and Chase Headley (coming into the game as Kyle’s replacement) each had three hits. Venable, Blanco, and E-Cab each had two hits. Kouz got walked three times. We had 16 hits total.
Kevin Correia got his ninth win. He went six 2/3 innings, allowing 11 hits, but only four runs. It was a great win!!
In the second game of the series, Wade LeBlanc came up from the minors to start. He threw six innings, allowing four runs on four hits. He wasn’t the best, but he did a lot better than he did earlier in the year. It was good to see.
This game was not as easy to get as the night before. The Marlins took a two-run lead in the second. The Padres were able to get a run in the fourth, and two in the sixth, but the Marlins got two in the bottom of that inning to take a 4-3 lead. In the seventh, we got a run to tie. In the eighth, Tony Gwynn had the big blow of the game. He hit a triple to drive in two runs. Tony was sac-flied in by Everth to get a 7-4 lead.
Heath Bell took the ninth and secured his 31st save of the year. And there you have it. The Padres won yet another series!!
In the third game, we lost 6-4. Oh well. We can never seem to be able to finish the sweep, but it’s OK. We’re just winning games, here, that’s all.
So far this month, our record is 14-14. Let’s make it 15-14 tonight, yeah boys??
I’m sure a lot of you watched the Little League World Series last night. I didn’t watch it, but I’ve been following a certain team in the Union-Tribune for the last few weeks. I’ve been following Chula Vista Park View, a San Diego County team. I love how this city has banded around the team. And man, the team is incredible!! They had an amazing run this year, and look what they did. They’re WORLD CHAMPIONS!! That is just sooo cool. San Diego teams have had many, many playoff runs, but usually fizzed out at one point or another. Not this team. They went all the way, and they won big. I am sooooo proud of them. This team definitely deserved it, and they’ve made San Diego proud.
The Padres haven’t been able to win a World Series. The Chargers have not been able to win a Super Bowl. San Diego seemed cursed. But you know what, maybe we needed to start at the bottom up. Little League wins first. Maybe it will be the Padres and Chargers next. San Diego is finally getting a taste of real winning. Maybe the trend will start heading up. Maybe we’ll get our World Series and Super Bowl sooner than later 🙂
Anyways, a huge congrats to the Park View team! They put on quite the show.
The Padres are back home to play three games against the Nationals. Tim Stauffer (oh goodness) is starting against Livan Hernandez. Let’s see how that goes.
GO PADRES!!
#19
In the Latest Leaders here on MLBlogs, I got #19. I am excited about this for two reasons: 1) I think this is the best ranking I’ve ever had, and 2) I get to dedicate it to a very special Padres player.
I wasn’t a Padres fan when this player was with the Padres. It’s too bad, really. He was an incredible player. Thankfully, I have been able to hear tons of stories and the impact he made in San Diego was huge. Though I never saw him play, just the mention of his name sends thrills through this Padres fan. In the tradition started by Jimmy, I have the great privilege of dedicating this ranking to #19, Tony Gwynn.
Wow, where do you even start with a guy like this? I mean, this is Mr. Padre, the best player in Padres history!
Anthony Keith Gwynn was born and raised in California. In college (San Diego State University), he was not only a phenominal baseball player, but he was also an excellent basketball player. In fact, he was drafted by the San Diego Padres and the San Diego Clippers on the same day! Thankfully, he chose baseball.
Gwynn made his major league debut on July 19, 1982 for the Padres. His first major league hit was a double. His last game with the Padres was October 7, 2001. He played 20 seasons with the Padres, spending his whole career with San Diego. Naturally, he was offered a lot more money to go to another team, but he stuck with the Padres. He went to two World Series with the Padres, but lost both of them.
Tony was not a home run hitter. He never had more than 17 homers in a season. But he was an excellent contact hitter. He finished his career with a batting average of .338 and 3,141 hits. In 9,288 at-bats, he had 790 walks and only 434 strikeouts. He also had 319 stolen bases.
Tony was selected to 15 All-Star teams. An outfielder, he earned five Gold Gloves. He was also a seven-time Silver Slugger award winner. He has won a Roberto Clemente Award, a Lou Gehrig Memorial Award, and a Branch Rickey Award.
In 2007, Tony was elected to Baseball Hall of Fame, earning 532 votes out of 545. He was inducted to the Hall on July 29, 2007, with Cal Ripken Jr. The Padres revealed a statue in honor of Tony at Petco Park’s Park in the Park.
Tony was an incredible player for the Padres in his 20-year career. He will always be a legend in Padres history. Today, he keeps busy with coaching SDSU’s baseball team, working the Padres’ TV broadcast once in a while, and enjoying his family. Tony Gwynn has left a huge impact on San Diego. He will always be Mr. Padre.
Thank you so much to all my readers for getting me to where I am. Without you, this blog has no purpose. Thank you so much for keeping up with Padres baseball here at Unfinshed Business. You guys are great! I hope you all have a great weekend! GO PADRES!!
(photo credits: cache.daylife.com, mlb.com, yogibrewer.mlblogs.com, me)
Always Belong to Us
As some of you may have heard, LaDanian Tomlinson signed a restuctured three-year contract with the San Diego Chargers last week. To be honest, it really went under my radar. I heard a snippet in the morning news on the radio, but that was it. Then again, I don’t listen to sports radio, so I probably missed it. After the Chargers lost in the playoffs, I realized that I had jumped on the bandwagon, and once they were done, I jumped right off. Now I don’t want anything to do with football. It’s baseball time. So, I am not here to talk about LT that much. Yeah, I’ve gotta talk about Trevor…again.
Trevor Hoffman and LaDainian Tomlinson are two major San Diego sports icons. Trevor was here for sixteen seasons. LT has been here for eight years. In fact, he was drafted by the Chargers. Now, there’s no doubt that both of these men have made huge impacts on the city of San Diego, both on the field and off. I don’t know if it’s just because they don’t like the Padres, but people are comparing Trevor to LT and saying that Trevor has less class because he left.
On Sunday I read the weekly letters to the editor in the sports section of the Union-Tribune. Aw man that drove me nuts! First off, there’s one from a man who lives in San Diego and says that, “…in the end he (Trevor) did not demonstrate the class of the athlete we had thought we knew so well.” This guy is talking about the fact that Trevor “takes the bigger money to leave town.” Uh, correction! Trevor was kicked out of San Diego. He didn’t have a choice but to leave. Sure, he could have taken the $4 million, but the Padres’ front office didn’t want him back. That was obvious. I mean, $4 million, no options. Not good enough. The front office did not treat him with the respect he deserves and has earned over all these years in San Diego!! Trevor’s brought so much to this city, and to this team! It was one of the worst things the Padres’ front office has ever done.
Tony Gwynn spend twenty years in a Padres uniform. He was never part of another team. He certainly took less money to stay in San Diego. And guess what? Trevor has done that too. The last time Trevor was a free agent, the Indians offered him a great contract. He could have been gone years ago. But he stayed with the Padres, with a much lower contract. He did that because he loves San Diego, just like Tony Gwynn. He would not leave it if he could help it. Trevor did not leave San Diego willingly this offseason. He was forced to. You can’t sign with a team if they don’t want you. Merely hours before his signing with the Brewers, he contacted the Padres again, to see if there was any hope of negotiations. The Padres said no. THEY DON’T WANT HIM!!! I don’t know why. I’ve been struggling with this all offseason.
So now he’s with the Brewers. He still loves San Diego. It is my hope that he will be back here to pitch again for his team next year. But Trevor didn’t sign with the Dodgers. He could have. The Dodgers look like they are going to be very good this year. They have a chance to go deep into the postseason. Plus, they were just up the road. But he know what that would do to Padres fans. He wants to be here, but to make it easier for the San Diego fans, he signed with the Brewers. It also helped that the Brewers pursued him. Probably more than LA did.
Another letter in the Union-Tribune said: “Tim Sullivan’s column, ‘CEO Spanos makes it clear…’ was so very nice, and right on. For the first time ever, he made me cry. Specifically, his line, ‘LT might play for some other team, but he will always belong to us,’ brought tears to my eyes. Trading LaDainian Tomlinson to another team at this stage of his career would be akin to the Padres trading Tony Gwynn to the Dodgers…” etc etc. Do you see it? You could use this letter to perfectly describe Trevor! “Trevor might play for some other team, but he will always belong to us.” “Trading Trevor Hoffman to another team at this stage of his career would be akin to the Padres trading LaDainion Tomlinson to the Raiders…” I think you get the point.
Trevor is as good of a person and a player as LT. And though the city of San Diego gets to enjoy watching LT play for at least three more years, we’re not going to have our all-time saves leader here, at least not yet. Padres GM Kevin Towers has said that he would at least like Trevor to sign with the Padres, get one save, and that would be enough. I agree. We would love to have him here longer, like a whole season, but if that’s all he’s got left in him, we will settle with one game. Just to see him again in that Padres uniform, to hear Hell’s Bells ringing through Petco Park for one last time, to see him pitch, would be incredible. I want to be at that game.
So, that’s what we true die-hard Padres fans are longing for. We want our closer back. Maybe one more game. Maybe one more season. We just want him back in San Diego. He will always belong to us. And we want him back where he belongs.
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Be sure to check out the Max Madness that’s going on over at the Max blog. My turn will be coming around sometime in the next few days, and I would really appreciate votes! I’m going up against another popular blog, so it will be a battle to see who comes out on top. But it’s all in fun, so I would love to move up, but if not, I won’t boycott MLBlogs or anything 🙂 Thanks for the votes!
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Today the Padres are playing the Los Angeles Angels in Peoria. I have no idea who’s starting. All I know is that the game is at 1 pm and that Kyle Blanks will be playing first.
UPDATE: Corey Brock posted his entry just after I posted mine, so I now have the lineup:
CF Jody Gerut
2B David Eckstein
RF Brian Giles
3B Kevin Kouzmanoff
1B Kyle Blanks
LF Chase Headley
C Eliezer Alfonso
SS Luis Rodriguez
SP Josh Geer
Followed by pitchers Greg Burke, Scott Patterson, Ivan Nova and Mark Worrell. Geer is supposed to go five innings.
Looks like Team Mexico got eliminated last night, so the Gonzalez boys and Scotty Hairston should be back in camp soon. That will be good. But tonight is a do-or-die game for Team USA. That will be very interesting. Team USA is dealing with a lot of injuries right now. This is pretty concerning. These guys need to be ready to play in the regular season!
Also, I’d like to welcome back Friar Fan, who started a Padres blog late last year and is now getting back into it. It’s so great to get all these Padres bloggers here! I am very excited. This blog never really got welcomed into the community, so go say hi!
Well, today is St. Patrick’s Day. I’m pretty sure I have some Irish blood somewhere from my parents, but a holiday isn’t a holiday if you don’t get work and school off. That’s what I think. And plus, I don’t like the color green. So, I’m a big St. Patrick’s Day humbug, but Happy St. Patrick’s Day anyway!
GO PADRES!!!!
(editor’s letters quotes credit to the San Diego Union-Tribune)
40 Years of Padres Baseball
Next year, the Padres will be celebrating their 40th anniversary. It’s pretty amazing that they have been here for so long. There have been a lot of bad years of San Diego baseball, but there have also been a few great ones.
The Padres were a minor league team until they got accepted into the National League in 1968. They made their major league debut in 1969 at San Diego Stadium. In 1974, Ray Kroc bought the Padres, thus preventing them from moving to Washington D.C. In 1982, Tony Gwynn made his major league debut. In 1984, the Padres went to their first World Series, but fell 4 games to 1 against the Tigers. 1998 was very possibly the best year in Padres history. We had a ton of amazing players like Trevor Hoffman, Tony Gwynn, Kevin Brown, Sterling Hitchcock and Greg Vaughn. Trevor got 53 saves in 54 chances that year. WOW. We got to the World Series, but the Yankees swept us in 4. It was an amazing year.
In 2004, we moved to Petco Park. The young Padre Jake Peavy had 15 wins that year. In 2005, we won the NL West. Unfortunately, we got eliminated by the Cardinals in the first round. We also won the West in 2006, but again were foiled by the Cardinals. Cla Meredith, Adrian Gonzalez, and Chris Young had great years.
In 2007, we made it to a one-game playoff against the Rockies, which we lost in 13 innings. And ’08 was bad.
The thing that sticks out the most about the Padres over the years is their inability to do well in the playoffs. We’ve made it to only two World Series and we’ve won 5 championships. The people of San Diego want a world championship. And I see it happening the near future. We will get our World Championship someday.
Meanwhile, it’s going to be a fun celebration of 40 years of Padres baseball next year. I am very excited. The Padres haven’t been that good, but we the people of San Diego have baseball. We have a beautiful ballpark. And sometime soon, we will have a world champion team.
Unfinished Business 