Years ago I picked up a book by Mick Goodrick called "The Advancing Guitarist." I tried to read a bit of it back then and couldn’t make heads or tails of it. Then a few weeks ago we decided to rearrange our living room and box up and/or give away a bunch of books. One that I stumbled upon was Goodrick’s, and I figured I’d better have a look at it before making a decision.

I’m glad I did. This isn’t one of those instructional books that tells you exactly what to do, but rather gives you some suggestions of things to try. That concept was way over my head the first time I attacked Goodrick’s book. This time around, it’s still over my head, but not quite as far over it. So now I’m learning how to play, one string at a time, up and down the neck of the guitar.

If you’ve ever played guitar, you know that’s pretty different from the standard methods (at least in pop and rock), which teach positions and how to work within a three- or four-fret pattern across all six strings. Running up and down a single string opens up a bunch of different (to me) phrasing possibilities. Also, I don’t have the quickest hands in the world and my picking technique could use improvement, so anything that keeps me from being totally dependent on moving from one string to the next is a good thing.

Pretty cool, huh? Kinda like the Padres beating Randy Johnson in his return from the DL and earning a split with the D-backs.

What wasn’t cool yesterday was the weather. Man, was it hot! Anyway, a few quick observations:

• Kevin Jarvis looked fantastic. A few balls were hit hard, but for the most part he did a good job of keeping the Diamondback hitters off-balance.
• Rod Beck is a stud. Nerves of steel and a filthy splitter. His game at this point in his career is so much like Trevor Hoffman’s, it’s scary. Don’t think he has the same workout regimen though.
• As I’ve mentioned before, Gary Matthews Jr. has great instincts on the basepaths. Twice he advanced on plays that most guys don’t even attempt to make. He’s been having a heckuva time hitting off-speed stuff lately, but he sure is fun to watch run around the bases. The break for home he got on Shea Hillenboot’s wild throw to first in the fourth was beautiful, as he handily beat the throw from Mark Grace on a ball that didn’t bounce that far away from the veteran first baseman. This isn’t exactly high praise, but there really isn’t anything Sir Eugene Kingsale could do that Matthews can’t do just as well.

In Other News

RHP Justin Germano, who wasn’t exactly dominating the Cal League, was promoted to Double-A. RHP Gabe Ribas moved up to Elsinore from the Midwest League to take Germano’s spot. Ribas’ promotion makes a lot more sense given his success this year. One has to wonder how much longer Josh Barfield and Cory Stewart will remain at their current levels.

More later…