Time for a two-week break

It’s time.

Time for a two-week break from blogging, that is.

Our first five months have been quite a ride.

You always want to remember the high highs:

Predicting back in late April that Jake Peavy of the Padres would start the All-Star game.
Saying in early May that the Padres should cut their losses and cut David Wells.

But let’s forget about the low lows:

Thinking that the Chargers might pick a linebacker in the first round of the NFL draft.
Forecasting that Barry Bonds would break the Major League Baseball home run record in Petco Park (thank goodness we were wrong!)

We will continue the blogging ride on Sept. 4, the day after Labor Day.

See you then.

Kevin Towers: Padres' resident genius?

If you’re going to Las Vegas any time soon, take Padres general manager Kevin Towers with you.

Why? It seems like everything he touches turns into a winner.

Just take his recent acquisitions for example and tell us how:

Scott Hairston hits three consecutive home runs, including a game-winner, after he replaces the injured Milton Bradley.
Morgan Ensberg homers in his first at bat as a first baseman when Adrian Gonzalez gets a rare night off.
Michael Barrett doesn’t succeed behind the plate, but his presence spurs Josh Bard on to greater heights.

Then there are the pitching miracles:

Tim Stauffer starts in place of the injured Chris Young and gets racked. The Padres still win.
Wil Ledezma starts for David Wells after Wells is cut, and Ledezma gets knocked around. The Padres win again.

The list goes on and on concerning how the Padres have conquered the odds this year.

Speaking of odds, don’t bet against Towers when he makes moves that may not appear that great on paper.

Wells needs to go, NOW!

Back on May 5, we wrote a blog titled, “Wells needs to produce.”

Here are some excerpts from that article:

Wells, making his sixth start of the season tonight at Florida, is to be paid bonuses for his 11th through 27th starts this year. If all is met, he’ll make an extra $3 million.

This is the same Wells that the Padres let pitch on short rest the final day of 2004 to make a $250,000 bonus. It’s also the same Wells who walked away to the Boston Red Sox in 2005.

David Wells: Worth the investment? Let the next few starts unfold.

Wells has made 22 starts thus far, 17 since we first brought up the topic of his contract.

Now, it’s obvious that it is time for Wells to go.

Not only is his ERA 14.04 over his last four starts, the Padres have paid him $2.1 million in bonus money for starts No.11-22. This is on top of his $3 million base salary.

Wells is a product of Point Loma High School and a well-known figure in the community.

It’s time for him to stick around, but only as a San Diego County resident. His days as a Padre should be over.

Padres need starting pitching

In the immediacy, let’s hope the Padres do not allow Barry Bonds to break the Major League Baseball home run record in San Diego this weekend.

But there’s suddenly an even bigger issue with Padres’ pitching.

Jake Peavy is finally back on track, but:

Chris Young is injured.
Greg Maddux can’t go past five or six innings, even when he’s on.
David Wells is getting paid $170,000 (on top of his $3 million base salary) each start to get pummeled.
Justin Germano isn’t fooling anyone any more with his hanging breaking ball.

Enter Clay Hensley. The injury-plagued pitcher has had a terrible 2007 season thus far, but he seems to have regained his form in a pair of three-inning relief stints since being recalled from the minors.

Let’s see how he does in Saturday’s start against the San Francisco Giants.

Luckily for the Padres, the Dodgers and Arizona are not deep in starting pitching either.

So, it may all come down to a battle of attrition in the NL West.

Will Arizona win NL West?

The Padres have lost five of six and are in a panic mode.

The Dodgers have lost five of seven and seem to be swimming upstream against the current.

So, how about those Arizona Diamondbacks to win the NL West?

The Diamondbacks, who have won five straight, are just 1 ½ games behind the division-leading Dodgers. They are one-half game behind the Padres; who can’t hit … and suddenly can’t pitch.

As much as the Padres might try to spin it differently, the Scott Linebrink trade for three minor leaguers with Milwaukee was not about this season. If it were, pitchers such as Jake Peavy and David Wells would not have been so outspoken about it.

Linebrink has been terrible lately, but who hasn’t among the Padres? Take away Chris Young, Milton Bradley and Brian Giles (at times), then tell me who has been shining this month.

Marcus Giles looks to be all but history at second base. Michael Barrett has yet to draw a walk in the five weeks since the Padres obtained him from the Chicago Cubs; this on a team that prides itself on going deep in the count at the plate.

It may look grim here, but how about those Dodgers and the injuries they keep piling up?

Any votes for Arizona to win the division?

Stick a fork in Padres?

The Padres is dead.

(Hopefully, we’re only saying that with tongue in cheek.)

We all know this team couldn’t hit if it faced Double-A pitching.

But now, it’s obvious that the pitching staff is becoming burned out from carrying the team all season.

Or did you not watch the last three losses against the Fighting Phillies of Philadelphia?

Starting pitchers Justin Germano, David Wells and Jake Peavy allowed 15 runs in 15 2/3 innings. They were only bottomed-out by a bullpen that gave up 13 runs in 11 1/3 innings.

The Padres are also gaining a reputation around the National League for excessive whining.

For instance, the Padres kept complaining yesterday (and rightfully so) that some Phillies’ batters did not have their back foot in the batter’s box. That made television announcers Harry Kalas, Chris Wheeler and Gary Matthews on CW Philadelphia laugh aloud and wonder why the Padres were not complaining about this Thursday when Chris Young was pitching a shutout.

For now, the Padres are a laughingstock. The same thing happened last year when San Diego came out of the All-Star break and was swept by Atlanta by giving up 36 runs in three games.

The Padres were good enough to bounce back last year. This year ...

Are the Padres becoming whiners?

David Wells approached the home plate umpire Saturday after giving up a home run.

The Padres pitcher argued balls and strikes, was told to return to the mound, then got ejected for coming back to argue more.

Finally, he ended his day with the childish behavior of throwing the ball against the netting behind home plate.

Greg Maddux spent Sunday arguing balls and strikes with the plate umpire. It’s obvious they’re not calling pitches off the plate strikes for him any more.

When Marcus Giles struck out to end Sunday’s 5-4 loss to Atlanta on a called strike off the plate, ESPN announcer Jon Miller said, “Those were the pitches Maddux wanted all night to be strikes.”

The unfortunate question now is: Are the Padres becoming whiners?

Perhaps that should be deferred to other teams.

The Florida Marlins certainly tired of watching Padres leadoff batter Brian Giles draw walks against them. Arguably, a lot of the pitches called balls were the same ones Wells and Maddux were begging for to be strikes.

“Brian Giles is a product of the system,” TV analyst Tommy Hutton said on FSN Florida. “I guarantee you if a few of those borderline pitches would be called strikes, he’d start swinging more.”

Maddux and Wells are being squeezed much more lately, not unlike all other pitchers. But as soon as the umpires start calling those pitches strikes, it’s certainly going to impact Brian Giles’ approach at the plate.

Padres keep on whiffing

Scott Kazmir of Tampa Bay tied a career high Tuesday night with 11 strikeouts.

Big deal. It came against the Padres.

Or haven’t you noticed that the Padres have struck out 72 times in their last seven games?

Suddenly, lots of deficiencies are showing up in the Padres during their current four-game losing streak.

We’ve documented all season that they can’t hit. Their pitchers also can’t hold runners on base, which cost them the game-winning run in Sunday’s 4-3 loss to Seattle.

And then there’s the once magnificent bullpen. With three starters (David Wells, Greg Maddux and Justin Germano) rarely going past five or six innings, the bullpen is burning out.

The Dodgers are back in a three-way tie for first with the Padres and Arizona. This corner’s money is on the Dodgers to win the NL West.

Wells needs to produce

With Clay Hensley on the disabled list, the Padres need to add a new starting pitcher.
Or is that two?

David Wells has not exactly been looking like Sandy Koufax lately … or David Wells, for that matter.

In his last two starts combined, Wells has surrendered nine runs on 17 hits and three home runs in 10 innings. He gave up just two runs in seven innings three starts ago, but was touched before that start for five runs on eight hits in 2 1/3 innings by the Dodgers.

Either this is just a blip on the radar, or a trend is starting to develop. If it’s a bump in the road, fine. If it’s a pattern, the Padres must reconsider their investment in a 43-year-old pitcher making $3 million in base salary this year.

Wells, making his sixth start of the season tonight at Florida, is to be paid bonuses for his 11th through 27th starts this year. If all is met, he’ll make an extra $3 million.

This is the same Wells that the Padres let pitch on short rest the final day of 2004 to make a $250,000 bonus. It’s also the same Wells who walked away to the Boston Red Sox in 2005.

David Wells: Worth the investment? Let the next few starts unfold.

Vin Scully: Simply the Best

Vin Scully is simply the best.

No other Major League Baseball television announcer can compare to the play-by-play voice of the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Listening to Scully is like taking a walk along the beach, listening to the waves. It's calm, relaxing and just a joyful sound to hear.

One of the things that makes Scully so great is his knowledge of the opposing team. This past weekend against the San Diego Padres, for instance, Scully came up with some gems that went well beyond the Padre media guide. Did you know ...

Shortstop Khalil Greene's father served as a Marine in Vietnam.

First baseman Adrian Gonzalez comes from a family that owns an air conditioning firm with five locations in San Diego County.

Third baseman Kevin Kouzmanoff played on a high school team in Evergreen, Colo., which never had a home game his senior season because of too much snow at 7,000 feet.

Then there are those famed Scully quotes.

After the Dodgers failed on a couple bunt attempts: "The art of bunting. You think it would be so easy."

When San Diego's Marcus Giles swung and missed a pitch from Takashi Saito: Marcus looked back at him as if to say, 'Where did that come from?' Well, it came from Japan."

On Padres hefty pitcher David Wells: "He grew up a surfer. Obviously, he needed a big board. Now, he's 'Hanging 10' on the mound at Petco Park."

Upon Derek Lowe being pulled from a game: "For Derek Lowe, he was cut off at the appropriate number of pitches -- 86."

The Scully quips and quotes are unending. Nobody does it better.

Randy Johnson: Is He Washed Up?

Is Randy Johnson washed up at age 43?
We’ll begin to find out tonight when Johnson makes his season debut for the Arizona Diamondbacks against the San Diego Padres.
You could argue that Johnson won 17 games each of the past two seasons for the New York Yankees. To counter that, consider that Johnson’s ERA has risen from 2.60 in 2004 with the Diamondbacks to 3.79 and 5.00 in the past two respective seasons with the Yankees.
Certainly, the Big Unit benefited from a Yankees lineup that is as potent as any around. He won’t enjoy the same luxury with an Arizona team that has lost four straight and scored three runs in its last three games.
Johnson made three rehabilitation starts in the minor leagues this year while working his way back from offseason back surgery. He’s a hero in Arizona, where he won four of his five Cy Young awards from 1999 to 2002 and was co-MVP of the 2001 World Series along with Diamondbacks teammate Curt Schilling.
Arizona is certainly banking on Johnson to still be the Big Unit, as opposed to a smaller unit. The Diamondbacks signed him in January to a two-year, $26 million contract. He’s being paid $4 million this year, $10 million next year and has a $12 million signing bonus payable through 2010.
Even if he is not the same this time around, the Diamondbacks will consider him a good investment because of what he brought to them in the past and what he brings in present marketing value.
Johnson pitches tonight against San Diego’s David Wells, another 43-year-old. In fact, their combined ages will be the oldest in history of two major league left-handed starting pitchers facing each other.
Both still have that competitive fire, but are they still competitive at age 43? We’ll know by September.

Are umpires the show? Fat chance

Is David Wells fat? Make your own call by watching him on TV.
Is an umpire within his rights to call Wells fat? Fat chance … the answer is no.
Wells claims that first base umpire Doug Eddings rubbed his belly and made a gesture that Wells was fat Wednesday night. This came during an incident when Eddings was ejecting Wells for arguing from the bench.
In a he said/he said matter, Eddings denies making the gesture. But there’s no doubt the umpire was making a show of himself, according to what was shown on Channel 4 San Diego.
When such great umpires as Doug Harvey were working games, they realized they weren’t the show. Harvey would take it when someone argued with him, then he’d walk away. If Harvey was followed, that’s when an ejection also normally followed.
Today’s umpires could certainly learn from their predecessors with class, such as Harvey. It seems like all officials would have gotten a clue when referee Joey Crawford was suspended for the entire NBA playoffs because of his antics.
Doug Eddings obviously wasn’t paying attention.

How about those Dodgers?

If you remember the television show four decades ago called “Mr. Ed,” you’ll recall the star was a talking horse who often wore a Dodger hat because he lived in Los Angeles.
Whenever Mr. Ed got into trouble with his owner Wilbur Post, he would say: “How about those Dodgers?”
So, how about those 2007 Dodgers, who open a three-game home series tonight against the Padres? Like Mr. Ed, they could be known to cause a lot of trouble.
Or do you think a team with Brad Penny as its No. 4 starter is weak on pitching? Hardly, considering Penny started the 2006 Major League Baseball All-Star game for the National League.
Thus far, the Padres certainly have bullpen strength over the Dodgers. But the more one sees of Los Angeles closer Takashi Saito, the more it becomes obvious this guy throws a lot of 1-2-3 innings like Trevor Hoffman.
The Dodger lineup is certainly formidable with Rafael Furcal (hoping to return tonight from a sprained ankle) and Juan Pierre at the top. And it’s not bad in the middle with Nomar Garciaparra, Jeff Kent and Luis Gonzalez. It’s easy to point out that the Dodgers are aging in the middle of their order, but the age factor could certainly point right back at Padres 40-something pitchers Greg Maddux and David Wells.
Padre nemesis Derek Lowe will start the series opener. Lowe is just 2-2 lifetime against the Padres but has a solid 2.37 ERA against them.
The Padres did win 13 of 18 last year against the Dodgers, including seven of nine in Los Angeles. San Diego always seems more fired up than the Dodgers when the teams meet.
If the Padres are to repeat as NL West champions, it may take another 13-5 record against the Dodgers. Why? Because the Dodgers seem to do much better when they’re not playing the Padres.

The real baseball season starts tonight

No more season openers at San Francisco. No more home openers against Colorado. Now it’s time to get on to the real baseball season, when real baseball fans are watching.
The next 158 games are when people interested in baseball pay attention. The fanfare people are gone, along with the home and road openers.
Even after four games, there are a couple of observations about the Padres:
It might not be wise to have Greg Maddux and David Wells back-to-back in the pitching rotation. Neither 40-something veteran is much more than a five- or six-inning pitcher these days. That will make for plenty of work on back-to-back days for the bullpen. The good news there is that the Padre bullpen has yet to allow a run in 13 1/3 innings.
The pop-gun offense may also be a concern. This team doesn’t appear capable of scoring runs until the eighth or ninth inning. That’s going to be too late oftentimes, such as in last night’s 4-3 loss to the Rockies in the home opener.
Speaking of, my friends in the press box tell me they had some glitches last night. For a majority of the game, there were not any paper towels in the men’s restroom. They also ran low on food, which didn’t sit well with those paying $9 a pop for dinner.
Maybe we can’t blame stadium workers for those shortcomings. After all, the real fans and media start coming tonight ... and perhaps the stadium maintenance people are under the theory the season doesn’t start until the true baseball fan starts showing up!