Blogging the San Diego Padres… established 1997

Frustrating loss Wednesday night. Shawn Estes actually looked better than I’d expected. More aggressive. I was thinking he’d be Darrell May, Part II, but Estes has okay stuff. I liked the way he pitched to Barry Bonds, not afraid to work him inside.

First baseman Adrian Gonzalez’ opposite field homer accounted for the Padres’ only run in the 3-1 contest, and although his hitting has been terrific so far, what I’m really liking is the way he handles himself around the bag. Gonzalez looks very comfortable on defense, which I haven’t been able to say about a Padres first baseman in a long time. With news that Ryan Klesko may be facing shoulder surgery sooner rather than later, we could be seeing a lot of Gonzalez this summer.

On the plus side, the circus has left town. And there will be no more sad attempts by spotlight seekers to seem somehow relevant. Again, I cannot condone throwing objects onto the field, but as a buddy of mine asked, “Where was Jesse Jackson’s outrage when Tom Gamboa got attacked?” It’s a good question.

Off day today, then the Rockies for the weekend. With Matt Holliday in left field, presumably the Padres will reopen the standing-room-only section directly behind the fence. And the national media can follow the circus wherever it goes, leaving the rest of us to watch baseball games.

I’m speaking, of course, about Shawn Estes’ much-anticipated Padres debut. Did you know that his next victory will be #100 for the career?

So, you may have noticed that the Padres and Giants were rained out Tuesday night. This marks the first rainout at Petco Park, and the first for the Pads at home since May 12, 1998.

We all remember what happened that year.

Meantime, today’s forecast isn’t looking all that much better. Keep this up, and we may get to see nothing but Jake Peavy all season long.

Incidentallly, Tuesday night’s game has been rescheduled for July 1 at 12:05 p.m. PT.

Nady Makes Strong Debut with Mets

I wanted to mention this yesterday, but with all the Opening Day excitement here in San Diego, it didn’t seem appropriate. As we’re fond of saying this time of the year, it’s early, but did you notice that Xavier Nady went 4-for-4 in his Mets debut, with two doubles? We’ll see how he makes adjustments throughout the season, but I’m so glad the Mets are giving him a chance. It’s no secret that I’m a huge Nady fan, and I really hope he makes the most of his opportunity in New York.

Bowen Signs with Padres

With two aging backstops on the roster, the Padres have brought in former Twins catcher Rob Bowen. Manager Bruce Bochy said on the radio that he ordinarily didn’t think three catchers was necessary but that having Bowen on the club would give him a little more flexibility in using, e.g., Doug Mirabelli as a pinch hitter late in a game. That logic makes sense to me.

To make room for Bowen, the Pads sent reliever Scott Cassidy to Triple-A Portland. This is the other reason I have no problem with adding Bowen. Does a team really need both Cassidy and Brian Sweeney?

And in the “be careful what you say” department, I wrote in June 2003 that the Padres should trade Mark Loretta for Bowen. This amuses me now for two reasons:

1. Nobody realized how good Loretta was at the time.
2. The Pads ended up dealing him for a backup catcher anyway.

Bowen isn’t anything special, but he’s probably no worse than a lot of guys we’ve seen start in San Diego over the past several years (Ramon Hernandez excepted, of course).

That’s all for now. Keep your eyes on the skies. With any luck, we’ll get game #2 in tonight.

Could we have asked for a better start to the season? I don’t think so.

The Padres won their third straight home opener, dropping the Giants 6-1 at Petco Park Monday night before a sellout crowd. And the rain that threatened all day never quite materialized, unless you are a fan of the visiting club, in which case it came in the form of home runs by Mike Piazza and Khalil Greene.

You never want to read too much into any one game, but here are a few impressions I got from the contest:

• Jake Peavy came out firing strikes. His fastball was running 91 – 96 mph throughout the game. His command wavered a bit (by Peavy standards) during the middle innings, but he finished strong, striking out the side in the seventh to end his night. It wasn’t vintage Peavy — just 5 punchouts in 7 frames — but it was still pretty darned good. Most impressive was his efficiency; Peavy threw only 96 pitches for the game.
• Barry Bonds was booed roundly every time he came to the plate or did pretty much anything else (I yelled “flaxseed oil” because it was funny last year and it still cracks me up; incidentally, I attribute my own weight gain over the past several years to peanut oil). He lined the first pitch he saw in 2006 into deep center. The ball short-hopped the fence for a ground rule double. Dave Roberts, playing in place of the injured Mike Cameron, appeared to get a bad break on the ball. Hard to say for sure, but I’m thinking Cameron catches that one.
• Even after Bonds’ double, Peavy should’ve escaped the second unscathed; sure looked like Lance Niekro went around on the 1-1 pitch. To Niekro’s credit, he battled and fought off a tough pitch from Peavy to drive home the Giants’ lone run. See, now we’re just nitpicking.
• Speaking of Bonds, he looked terrible in left field. I almost felt bad for the guy when he was hobbling after Eric Young’s “double” in the third. A buddy of mine put the over-under on Bonds’ games played at 50 this year; that seems a bit generous to me. Also, I didn’t see the syringe thrown at Bonds (didn’t learn about it till this morning) but Rich Campbell hit the nail on the head — that’s a tired act.
• Why does everyone think that Piazza is finished? I cannot believe how hard he hit that outside fastball from Jason Schmidt over the fence in right-center. Who cares if he can’t throw (I admit, I was kind of hoping Bonds would try to steal third after his double just to see which force would yield); the guy can mash. I liked Ramon Hernandez a lot, but I don’t think we’re going to miss him much.
• I really enjoyed watching the kids on the infield. Adrian Gonzalez, one of three local boys in the lineup, has a nice stroke; the comparisons to Wally Joyner and Mark Grace look spot-on to me. And Josh Barfield, whose father Jesse was in attendance to witness his son’s debut, had some quality at-bats. He saw 27 pitches in four trips to the plate, the second of which resulted in a shot back through the middle for his first big-league hit. Barfield is very quiet at the plate; there’s not a lot of wasted movement. Again, it’s one game, but I liked what I saw. Talk to me again in a couple months.
• Greene looked fantastic, and I’m not talking about the hair. He hit the ball with authority every time up, lining out to center in the second, singling to right in the eighth, and blasting a two-run homer into the second deck in left field in the sixth. But Greene’s hardest shot of the evening came in the fourth, when he hammered a pitch 396 feet to straightaway center; unfortunately Randy Winn was able to leap up and grab it at the top of the fence.
• I love watching Brian Giles run the bases. His slide into third base in the eighth on a check swing grounder back to the box by Gonzalez took out the legs of Pedro Feliz and kept him from completing a potential double play. The Padres went on to score their final two runs of the game and save closer Trevor Hoffman for another night.
• Dave Roberts still looks uncomfortable in center field (or maybe I’m the one who’s not comfortable). In addition to misplaying the Bonds double in the second, he also turned a Moises Alou base hit in the ninth into a double by diving after a ball he had no chance of catching. In Roberts’ defense, he’s been playing left field all spring. But I’m ready for the Cameron era to begin.

Again, we’re nitpicking. The Padres raised their NL West championship flag and started the season with a commanding victory over a division rival. Couldn’t ask for much more on Opening Day.

Man, what a game. Commentary in the morning, followed by IGD about an hour before tomorrow night’s contest. Meantime, here you go:

• Petco Park Opening Day 2006 Photos

Enjoy!