All the east-west roads that connect US-101 and I-5 look the same, and it’s always hard to remember whether I’ve driven on a particular one. Pretty sure SR-152 was new to me. The sight of San Luis Reservoir and its dark blue water caught me by surprise. I had a vague notion that it was out there somewhere, but its size and complete absence of vegetation were beyond my expectation.

We stopped at a Target in a town along the way — I want to say Dos Baños, but why would you name a place “Two Bathrooms”? Then again, there were at least that many, so why not?

• 2010 Least Valuable Player (Baseball-Reference). Former Padres third baseman Kevin Kouzmanoff makes the short list, although my vote probably would go to Nyjer Morgan, who managed to play lousy baseball and be a world-class idiot in the process.
• Face It San Diego, It’s Our Destiny (619 Sports). Funny, I always thought it was our density…
• Gladwell in the New Yorker (Ev Everlich’s Everyday Economics). Fascinating discussion ensues at BBTF.
• Topps Randy Jones Card – Washington (1974) (.400 in ’94). Ah, one of the infamous “Washington – ‘Nat’l Lea.’” cards. My only issue is that you don’t get the full ‘fro effect; for that, you must look elsewhere.
• Cheney Stadium Destruction/Construction Photos (Mike: Off-Mic). They blowed it up real good. Well, not really… but I’ve always wanted to say that. [h/t SweetSpot]
• Let Us Proclaim the Mystery of Faith (FanGraphs). I have no vested interest in Colby Lewis, but this is a thing of beauty.
• Let’s not call the whole (BABiP) thing off (SweetSpot). Quoth Rob Neyer: “Today, when I write that a player’s got a .283/.352/.471 batting line, there’s always somebody who wants to explain I’m referring to batting average, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage.”
• Myth, Hoax, Lie or Exaggeration? Texas Starting Pitching & The Ryan Express Protocol (Management by Baseball). Jeff Angus talks pitcher usage. [h/t BBTF]
• PART IV – Advanced Experimentation 410: Not Letting Falling Off A Cliff Cost You Cliff Lee Money (Management by Baseball). While we’re at it, this discussion of the Mariners’ disappointing 2010 season has been buried in my inbox for awhile. [h/t reader Didi]
• 2010 Disabled List: Injury Locations (FanGraphs). Pitchers hurt their arms, hitters hurt their legs. Never mind my flippant summary; this is fantastic work.
• Does he belong in the Hall of Fame? Larry Walker (Baseball: Past and Present). Personally, I think he’s one of the few Rockies hitters who deserves serious consideration. Of course, the recent selections of Andre Dawson and Jim Rice theoretically have lowered the bar for admission (too late for Dwight Evans, Jimmy Wynn, et al.), so it seems to me unless voters completely dismiss the man’s achievements on the basis of Coors Field, Walker stands a good chance of ending up in Cooperstown. That’s fine; his inclusion would be easier for me to swallow than that of Dawson or Rice. [h/t BBTF]
• Women In Baseball: Onalee Carson (Baseball Digest). Cool interview with the Director of Media Relations for the Eugene Emeralds, the Padres’ Short-Season Class-A affiliate. On the best players she saw pass through town in 2010: “Jedd Gyorko impressed me the most as a hitter. He was only here a handful of weeks but led the team in almost all hitting. The dude is going to go far. And for pitching Matt Lollis probably impressed me the most. His sheer size is intimidating on the mound but what he throws really blows me away.”
• The 10 most interesting World Series non-matchups (Hardball Times). Yes, I seem to recall many media types (Bob Costas comes to mind) expressing their disappointment that the Braves didn’t reach the ’98 World Series to face the Yankees. That was really appreciated here in San Diego. [h/t reader Didi]
• Original A’s analyst discusses Alderson (ESPN New York). Eric Walker was doing sabermetrics before the word existed.
• If Payrolls Decided Baseball Games (Flip Flop Fly Ball). The Padres would have gone 6-156. Excellent.
• Jim Gaffigan- Hot Pockets (YouTube). This gets me every time.

Yeah, well… that’s all I’ve got.