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Comments Returning… Sort Of

Friday, August 29, 2008
by Geoff Young

Part of a host's responsibility is to lay out and enforce ground rules that enable all guests to enjoy themselves. I'm afraid that as Ducksnorts has grown, I've neglected this duty and allowed us to stray too far from our mission, which is to discuss baseball in an intelligent and thoughtful manner. For that, I am sorry. Over the past week I've had a chance to reflect, and I've come to realize that we really do need reader comments here. At their best, they significantly enhance the value of Ducksnorts for all of us. With that in mind, I'll be reinstating comment functionality on Monday, September 1... with a twist. Stay Focused To help ensure that everyone follows the Community Guidelines and Moderation Policy (read this, understand ...

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Posted in Site News | No Comments »

IGD: Padres vs Phillies (17 Aug 08)

Sunday, August 17, 2008
by Geoff Young

Padres vs Phillies 5:05 p.m. PT ESPN AM 1090, FM 105.7, XM 187 MLB, B-R I'll bet ESPN is psyched to be broadcasting a Padres game in August this year, eh? Still, it's an excuse to visit San Diego...

Posted in In-Game Discussion | 49 Comments »

Padres tickets Chargers tickets Sports tickets

Breakin’ for All-Stars

Monday, July 14, 2008
by Geoff Young

Regular readers know that I don't do the All-Star Game. Adrian Gonzalez pretty well sums up why: All it is is a reminder of the market we're in. When it comes to voting for the All-Star Game, it's all about publicity, all about what market you play for. It's how ESPN puts you out there. They're a big reason for who gets publicity and who doesn't. As I've said before, San Diego is not ESPN's target audience -- and for good reason. New York, Boston, and a few other markets pay the bills, so it only makes sense that players from teams representing those cities should dominate the rosters. I don't have a real problem with that, ...

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Posted in Open Thread | 119 Comments »

Padres Sign Five Top International Prospects

Thursday, July 3, 2008
by Geoff Young

I never think of the future. It comes soon enough. --Albert Einstein I'm no Einstein, but I certainly think of the future. So, apparently, do the Padres. As threatened, they have proven to be major players in this year's international market. In our recent discussion with Sandy Alderson, he indicated that the Padres hoped to "sign some players that we think are a cut above what we've been able to sign in previous years," and that's precisely what they've done. On July 2, the Padres, who have been criticized in the past for not investing as heavily in amateur talent as they might, shelled out $5 million on five players: RHP Adis Portillo, SS Alvaro Aristy, OF Luis Domoromo, INF/OF Corey Adamson, and RHP Elvin Tavarez. ...

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Posted in Minors | 57 Comments »

Q&A With Rob Neyer

Tuesday, May 27, 2008
by Geoff Young

Ordinarily I would have a series preview in this space, but today I've got something much cooler in store. Rob Neyer is known to baseball fans everywhere as a long-time columnist at ESPN and author of several books. His latest is Rob Neyer's Book of Baseball Legends, which we reviewed here in April. I first met Rob at BlogWorld & New Media Expo last November, and we've been in touch off-and-on since then. Recently he was gracious enough to take time out of his busy schedule and chat with me about the book, baseball, and life in general... Ducksnorts: I'm assuming that all the stories that ended up in the book were fascinating to research, but ...

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Posted in Interviews | 41 Comments »

Friday Links (9 May 08)

Friday, May 9, 2008
by Geoff Young

Don't know how we ended up with so many of these, but here they are: Padres can't pin hitting woes on Petco (ESPN, h/t parlo). Quoth Khalil Greene: I'm not going to consistently say it, but the ballpark plays a major factor in it -- more than anybody lets on at times. That's the reality of it. You don't want to make excuses and say, "I would have done this if the ballpark was a different size." But as a hitter, if you hit a ball 380 feet the other way and it's a fly out, that's hard to overcome. If anyone has a right to complain, it's Greene (see pp. 26, 27, and 55 ...

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Posted in Notes and Links | 78 Comments »

Friday Links (11 Apr 08)

Friday, April 11, 2008
by Geoff Young

Quick reminder: The Ducksnorts 2008 Baseball Annual is on sale. People tell me it doesn't suck, so go buy a copy or three. To the links... Jake Peavy has a mysterious substance on his hand (Yahoo!, h/t Kevin) and suddenly the "national" media knows where San Diego is. Solid effort, guys. Love this quote from Peavy: There's nothing on my hands that's not supposed to be. I thought it was funny that it was such a big deal. I've got no problems with anytime anybody needs to check me. In other words, he says "bring it," which is exactly what ...

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Posted in Notes and Links | 51 Comments »