I’m back from a week on the road. Drove up to Ashland, saw some plays (Shakespeare’s Winter’s Tale and Michael Frayn’s Noises Off for the curious), hung with the ‘rents. It was great to get away and relax for a bit. Vacations are always a little depressing, though. I mean, wouldn’t it be cool if you didn’t have to go back to work at the end?
From the Vault
Rummaging through the archives is always amusing. In order to save space, I’ll spare you all the things I said that turned out horribly wrong and limit myself to three (yes, amazingly enough I was able to find three) comments I made that actually look pretty smart right now.
- Last August I brashly predicted that Ryan Klesko would knock 40 bombs this year, 10 off lefties. Well, he’s fallen short on both accounts, with 29 and 8, respectively, but that’s not bad. And even though he’s tailed off against southpaws of late, he’s still hitting a respectable .293/.378/.507 against them.
- In October I suggested the Pads trade Phil Nevin to Atlanta for Odalis Perez and Wilson Betemit. To be honest, I’d completely forgotten about that, but wouldn’t Perez look good in San Diego right about now?
- This January I made a WAG projection for Ben Davis this year: .254/.341/.393 in 280 at-bats. Through September 16, he’s at .257/.313/.395 in 210 at-bats. Now that they’re pretty much out of it, why aren’t the Mariners giving him more playing time?
Also rediscovered a few interesting sites. I’ve added these to the increasingly out-of-control list over on the right, so you have no excuse not to visit these:
All are well worth the trip…
Local News
USD product Ricky Barrett was named the Appy League’s pitcher of the year. Infielder Mike McCoy made that league’s post-season all-star team. Way to go, guys.
Five Great Singers
- Bjork
- Keli’i Kaneali’i
- Pat Benatar
- Kurt Elling
- k.d. lang
Four Great Places
This has been sitting around, waiting for a rainy day. Well, it’s not raining, but I’m getting tired of looking at it, so here ya go. Some of my favorite spots in and around San Diego:
- San Diego Zoo — This for my money is the best spot in San Diego. Both the zoo and its sister, the Wild Animal Park, are a great place to just hang out and relax. Weekday mornings off-season are best. Not too hot, and not too crowded.
- Dudley’s Bakery — This is actually a fairly good drive from San Diego, in the tiny town of Santa Ysabel. The bread and pastries are excellent, and the people are friendly. A must stop on the way to Julian.
- Adams Avenue — Cool part of town that features an impressive array of antique and book stores, along with some good eateries and the Ken Cinema, which shows everything “from independent fare to foreign language cinema to restored classics.” My personal favorite was watching Monty Python’s Holy Grail complete with spam toss. The theater is definitely old-school, but it’s got a lot of character.
- Balboa Park — The zoo is here. The theater is here. A bunch of museums are here. Basically there’s a lot to do at Balboa Park. My favorite museums are the Aerospace Museum and the Ruben H. Fleet Space Theater. San Diego’s Hall of Champions is also worth a visit. Some neat memorabilia of local sports heroes, including Ted Williams, Tony Gwynn, and skateboarder Tony Hawk, among others.
Final Thought
Nothing profound. It’s good to be back. Hard to believe the season is almost over. I’ll be breaking out the pitching logs for Padre minor leaguers pretty soon, so stay tuned…
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