Made it to the game last night. It was pretty much a microcosm of the Padre season to this point: wasted opportunities.

Dennis Tankersley worked behind in the count all night. I still can’t figure out why a guy with his stuff won’t throw the ball over the plate. I’ve compared him to Matt Clement on more than one occasion due to his reluctance to come after hitters, and I’ll stand by it. This is not the pitcher I saw at Elsinore a couple years ago. It’s way too early to give up on the guy, but he’s facing a lot of competition for a spot in next year’s rotation and right now I don’t see him in it.

Got to the park real early, caught the end of the Pads’ batting practice and all of the Braves’. Highlights of the latter included Greg Maddux going up over the fence to take a homer away from someone (Javy Lopez, I think), Gary Sheffield and the Joneses taking grounders at short, and Kevin Millwood knocking a couple of pitches into the seats.

The game was pretty brutal, unless you’re a Braves fan like my buddy Jeff, who scored the tix. Thankfully he’s one of those who has an actual life and so he makes for good company during a game despite his loyalties. The guys behind us, on the other hand, were sort of a redneck version of Cheech and Chong (props to Jeff for that call). They were alternately funny or downright scary (one of them, wearing a John Rocker jersey, claimed that 9-11 never would have happened if Rocker had had a chance to talk to President Bush) depending on your perspective.

I love Trevor Hoffman, I really do. But last night I wished we’d never traded Gary Sheffield to get him. Sheffield doubled, homered twice, and walked twice in five trips to the plate. As usual with him, everything was hit hard. What a player.

Jeff also forwarded me a link to a classic Braves/Mets game from 1985 which lasted 19 innings, featured a Rick Camp home run, and was followed by a fireworks show at 4 AM that prompted numerous calls to the authorities. My favorite from this account of the game: "ball hit puddle and stopped." Brilliant. And thank goodness for Retrosheet, a group of dedicated fans that documents all this stuff and makes it available to the public.

Seriously, is there any doubt what makes baseball the greatest sport? Despite what MLB owners and players seem to believe, it’s the fans. Don’t ever forget that.