Search results for ‘luis rodriguez

Missing Mark Loretta

Although no single point of failure can explain this year’s Padres (the departure of Adrian Gonzalez makes for an easy target, but they lost 99 games with him in 2008), it’s worth noting that the team has gotten almost nothing out of the no. 2 hole. That is the usual spot for Jason Bartlett, who [...]

I Wouldn’t Miss You if I Had Better Aim

Monday morning, it appeared that Everth Cabrera would make the big club as the Padres backup middle infielder. Despite Cabrera’s train wreck of a 2010 campaign and a less-than-inspired spring training, the path looked clear after Kevin Frandsen, the only legitimate contender for the job, was released on Friday.

Arbitration Avoidification

The Padres avoided arbitration with all five of their remaining eligible players on Tuesday. Jed Hoyer appears to share his predecessor’s distaste for the “you stink, but we love you anyway” method of determining salary.

Reviewing the 2009 IVIEs

In the interest of accountability and because there’s not much else to do in January, I thought we’d look back at our community projections made in March 2009. First, the hitters:   Projected Actual   Player PA BA OBP SLG PA BA OBP SLG Comments Matt Antonelli 224 .237 .322 .343 0 - - - [...]

Youngsters and Salary Dumps

We’ve been tracking a few key young players since the All-Star break using Modified Box Scores (explanation). Let’s see how these kids are doing as measured by more conventional metrics. Bear in mind that we’re talking about 31 games, a tiny sample. First, the Padres as a team: Padres Offense, First and Second Half   [...]

Brutal Is As Brutal Does

The Padres are boring. That’s the word on the street… a street apparently filled with people who don’t like baseball. Just give me a game to watch and the rest will take care of itself. There is no pressure with this team, no expectation of success. Every win is a surprise, a gift. Sometimes I [...]

To Sweep and To Be Swept

Sunlight glimmers off the bay like sweat, like flashbulbs, a disco ball, coins from a slot machine, dice rolling, neon signs. Patterns of light moving impossibly fast, not moving at all. Stare long enough, it all becomes one. Time and meaning are lost, like the days themselves, swept out to sea. The Padres had Monday [...]

Lousy, Yet Affordable

Another day, another loss. We had tickets for Monday night, but I didn’t get off work until 7 p.m. and the knee was killing me, so instead we watched on TV over Greek salad and Sam’s spaghetti with spinach and blue cheese. Why does Kevin Correia’s windup put him in such horrible fielding position? He [...]

Play with Your Food

I have the strangest dreams… Maybe the Padres will do okay this year. In your heart of hearts, you don’t believe it, but you’ll commit to it over olives on a fork and flutes of champagne. You’ll sneak it into conversation, right between “My kid is smart, he’s just not motivated” and “I watch Giada [...]

Do What You Cannot Do

The way it works with cover bands in this town is you play two nights — Friday and Saturday — from 9 p.m. to close. Three one-hour sets punctuated by 10-minute breaks, with a longer (80-minute) set to end the night. Wait, are we playing Jimmy Buffet and then Slayer, or is it the other [...]