Alpine Little League stars shine brightly

Take a trip east to the San Diego County village town of Alpine sometime and check out the sky at night.

There are stars by the hundreds to be counted … which is more than you can say about city life in San Diego.

Speaking of stars shining brightly in Alpine, have you heard about the Alpine American Little League All Stars?

This amazing team has won its District and Sectional championships as it awaits a first-round game against Tijeras Creek at noon Saturday at Chollas Lake Little League in the Southern California – South Sub-Divisional.

Tijeras Creek, out of Rancho Santa Margarita, can pound the ball. In its last four games the team has scored 14, 10, 15 and 16 runs.

This came after a 4-1 loss to Long Beach in the Sectional opener, and this is where Sam Pounds comes in for Alpine American.

In his previous game, he pitched a no-hitter in the Sectional finals as Alpine American beat South Bay, 12-0.

Ryan Tanksley sparks Alpine American from his leadoff position in the batting order. The team also has the son of a celebrity in Andrew Grant; whose father, Mark, is a baseball color analyst for Channel 4 San Diego and a former major league pitcher.

No matter what happens from here on out, the back country town of Alpine has plenty to be proud of in its Little League All Stars.

Fighting Phillies are in town

These types of pitching match-ups don’t come along that often.

It’s All-Star Cole Hamels for Philadelphia vs. All-Star Chris Young for the Padres tonight at Petco Park.

What makes the showdown even more intriguing is that Hamels is a local product from Rancho Bernardo High.

Hamels will be pitching in Petco Park for the second time. He gave up three runs in 5 2-3 innings with no decision in San Diego on July 17, 2006.

“My heart was definitely beating the whole time,” Hamels said afterwards. “I haven't had that excitement in a long time. It was great to pitch in my hometown.”

Hamels (11-4, 3.83 ERA) is one win behind National League leader Carlos Zambrano of the Chicago Cubs.

Young (8-3, 1.97), meanwhile, has virtually taken over from Jake Peavy as ace of the Padres.

He leads the majors in ERA and has held the opposition scoreless in five of his last eight starts.

According to the latest odds, the Padres are a 13-10 favorite to win tonight.

Advantage, Young.

Padres throw one away

It’s easy to say the Padres threw one away in their 7-0 loss to the New York Mets last night.

Did you see the bad throw by center fielder Hiram Bocachica on the Mets’ first run? He couldn’t even hit second base on his throw home after a single.

Did you see Mets’ pitcher Orlando Hernandez score from second when Bocachica couldn’t get off a throw from center?

Or how about New York’s David Wright scoring on a fly ball to Brian Giles in short right field?

These are the types of things the Padres can work on during infield practice to correct.

Oops, forgot that teams don’t take infield anymore. Too bad for the Padres.

Peavy is fine: Or is he?

It’s just another start for Jake Peavy against the New York Mets tonight.

Or is it?

The Padres’ ace was pushed back three days in the rotation following the All-Star break because of sore biceps.

“We felt as though it's probably in the best interest of Jake and the club just to push him back a couple days, let his arm rest,” Padres manager Bud Black told Padres.com. “He went at it pretty hard in the first half, and his arm was getting a little weary leading up to the break, and we just felt as though the extra two days would benefit his arm.”

Peavy has only pitched one inning since July 5; that coming in his start for the National League in last Tuesday’s All-Star game.

The bump-back in the rotation may seem like no big deal, until you consider Peavy’s history.

There have been times in the past when the team said he had a little soreness, and that’s all turned out to be. Other times, it was more than soreness.

Peavy is 0-2 with a 3.32 ERA in his last three games. Is it a blip on the radar, or a sign to beware of possible things to come?

We’ll start finding out tonight.

Will Padres' bullpen collapse?

Heath Bell and Doug Brocail are pretty much having career seasons.

Cla Meredith and Scott Linebrink have both hit low points this year, but each is doing well overall.

Royce Ring and Justin Hampson have been adequate in their turns filling the left-hander’s role in the bullpen. Kevin Cameron must be writing a book titled “How I Spent My Summer Vacation Sitting in the Padres Bullpen.”

Trevor Hoffman is still Trevor Hoffman.

However, the Padres bullpen did implode twice this weekend. It cost them a loss Saturday at Arizona, one night after taking away any chance of winning with a poor performance Friday.

The ultimate question: Can the Padres hold up in the bullpen for the duration of 2007?

Judging on the weekend, the answer is negative. But going by the first half of the season, the answer is positive.

The next 2 ½ months will tell whether this bullpen is for real or was just masquerading during the first half of 2007.

Will Padres win the marathon?

Can the Padres continue to out-pitch everybody else in baseball?

Do they have the capability to start scoring runs more than once in a blue moon?

Will the additions of Michael Barrett and Milton Bradley mean anything to their offense?

Does Bud Black have it in him to continue being a master in utilizing his bullpen?

These questions, and more, begin to unfold when the Padres return from the All-Star break tonight with a three-game series at Arizona.

This may be a perfect time to catch the Diamondbacks. They are reeling from five straight losses, including three against lowly Cincinnati.

The Padres’ other main competitor in the NL West, the Dodgers, are making a pitch for anybody to become a starter on the mound.

Three of their top five starters are shelved with injuries: Jason Schmidt, Randy Wolf and Hong-Chih Kuo.

Maybe the Padres can distance themselves from the NL West for the time being. But no matter what happens right after the All-Star break, remember there is still a long way to go.

The Dodgers seemingly took themselves out of contention by losing 13 of 14 games coming out of last year’s break. Then they won 15 of 16, propelling themselves on their way to an eventual first-place tie with the Padres in the NL West.

The marathon is still on. Let’s see which team crosses the finish line first.

American League Least is no beast

Sure, you’re going to be hearing Yankees-Red Sox all summer on network television stations such as Fox and ESPN.

You know what?

They are both in the American League Least, the only division with just one team having a winning record at the All-Star break.

OK, so the team is the Boston Red Sox; but give us a break. Let’s not go on and on about the AL Least until the playoffs.

This is the first time since divisions were created in 1969 that the AL Least went into the All-Star break with only one team possessing a winning record.

At the 1976 and 1989 All-Star breaks, the division had one team over .500 and one at .500.

My, how times have changed in 2007.

It couldn’t have happened to a better division.