For the second straight month, the Padres found themselves treading water. The Friars followed a 14-12 June with a 13-13 July. Not great, but when you consider that this club was 18-35 over those two months in 2005, it’s hard to complain. Hit Me with Your Best Shot A closer look at July 2006 versus [...]

We’ve covered the individual players, but how about the team? How have the Padres done through the first half of 2006? Executive summary: The pitching has been better than anticipated and the offense has been pretty much about what we expected. With the exception of third base, there aren’t any glaring weaknesses on this ballclub. [...]

If there were any doubts as to whether Brian Giles‘ power outage last year was a fluke or the beginning of his decline, those have been removed. He simply does not hit home runs anymore and it would be unreasonable to expect otherwise. First-Half Grades: Overall Right Field Center Field Left Field Shortstop Third Base [...]

I hope you’re good and comfortable. I’ve got three of these bad boys to crank out tonight. Not since Steve Finley called Qualcomm Stadium home in the championship season of 1998 have the Padres had such a capable defender in center field. [Update: Vinay Kumar reminds me that Ruben Rivera, despite his numerous faults, was [...]

The Padres had a 14-12 record in June. That may not sound great, but it sure beats their 10-17 record during the same month last year. You may remember June 2005. The Pads scored 91 runs in 27 games and allowed 123. Brian Falkenborg, Darrell May, Tim Redding, and Dennys Reyes worked 45 innings between [...]

I’m still pretty numb from those last two losses. I can’t even muster a good rant, so today I turn the mic over to you. Here’s some of what y’all have been saying: LynchMob was at opening night for the short-season Eugene Emeralds and gives us the lowdown on recent draftees Matt Antonelli, Chad Huffman, [...]