Is it me, or has this been a long week? I dunno, maybe it’s the heat. Or maybe I’m getting old.

Anyway, TGIF. Onto the links:

• This time, Greene’s injury not serious (North County Times). Khalil Greene hurt his left middle finger while swinging a bat in the fourth inning of Thursday afternoon’s game against the Astros. He’s listed as “day to day.”
• Park due for transfusion because of blood loss (North County Times). Yikes. Sounds like Chan Ho Park is going to be okay, but this is scary stuff.
• Was 4 San Diego afraid to criticize Walker, Padres? (San Diego Union-Tribune). Jay Posner isn’t happy with the way Channel 4SD handled (or didn’t handle) the story of Todd Walker’s two errors in his Padres debut at third base Wednesday night.
• Baseball’s Slugging-est Catcher (Baseball Crank). No surprise, it’s the “washed-up” Mike Piazza. The Crank uses 200 plate appearances as his cutoff; if you use 150, Piazza slips to #2. Right, Josh Bard jumps ahead of him.
• Conversation with ex-Beaver Jason Bay (PDX Beavers). I love Bay’s attitude about being bounced around from organization to organization before finally finding a home in Pittsburgh: “I’m not trying to prove anybody wrong; I thank them for giving me a chance to go somewhere and do better.” Good stuff, as always, from Jonathan and the folks at PDX Beavers.
• Cirillo suggests balls at Coors Field waterlogged (ESPN). Because tin-foil hats are cool.
• Projection Roundtable (Hardball Times). Forecasting future performance in baseball players can be tricky business. David Gassko moderates a discussion among several folks who attempt to do just that, as they offer insights into some of the issues and challenges they face. This is the opener in a five-part series. Unfortunately the other four parts aren’t linked, but you can search for them.
• Hometown? (Washington Times). Regular reader and commenter Kevin Brewer has written an article about MLB’s “Hometown Heroes” promotion which, among other things, allows fans in D.C. to vote for Brian Schneider and Livan Hernandez but not Walter Johnson or Frank Howard.
• Penny Wise, Dollar Foolish: Overpaid, Underpaid Players (Athlon Sports). Bargains on the Padres are Adrian Gonzalez and Trevor Hoffman. Not so much would be Park and Ryan Klesko. I think you probably could add Greene and Josh Barfield to the list of bargains.
• Les Paul & Mary Ford – At Home With…. (YouTube). I confess, I’m hooked on YouTube. Someone has posted a series of TV bits from the ’50s featuring the legendary Les Paul on guitar. I never get tired of this stuff.

Shameless Plugs

• San Diego Padres Organizational Tree. Based on a suggestion from reader Coronado Mike, I’ve whipped together a little something for us. It’s in beta, so any corrections, enhancement ideas, and general kibbitzing are welcome and appreciated. Once we’ve got this thing looking like we want, I’ll display it more prominently so folks can use and enjoy.
• Also, as a reminder, we’ve got a Ducksnorts meetup scheduled for Sunday, August 20 (details). We have about a half-dozen or so folks confirmed right now. Leave a comment or drop me a line if you’re interested.

That’s all for now; more as it happens.