When we arrived at Petco Park, a little over an hour before first pitch, the Giants were taking batting practice and Heath Bell was signing autographs near the home dugout. Bell signed for 10-15 minutes, with other members of the Padres bullpen joining in as well. Players milled about the field, the grounds crew made [...]
Tag Archive for ‘opening day’ 
Me, Elsewhere: Contrasting Defensive Styles
My latest look at the NL West over at Baseball Prospectus (freebie) considers the respective defensive approaches (or lack thereof) of the Giants and Dodgers. And I offer a few thoughts on the Padres’ opening weekend series win in St. Louis: Most people don’t expect much from the Padres in 2011. Three games doesn’t change [...]
Not Ironic, Really, Just Coincidental
Rain is falling and I’m trying to think of something — anything — to say about Opening Day. Well, it’s here… assuming the rain lets up at some point. The Padres come home after a 2-4 road trip that may tempt some observers to go all Nile Rodgers on the team. I dunno, it’s six [...]
Me, Elsewhere: More Spring Sappiness
My latest at Hardball Times talks about why I love baseball. As I mentioned the other day, I can’t help myself; this time of the year always gets to me. I used to fight it, but no more. Like ear hair and the curious compulsion to wear bright shorts with dark socks, Opening Day sappiness [...]
Everything in Its Right Place
I couldn’t sit still on Monday. I can’t sit still a lot of the time, but on Opening Day it’s always worse. My nervous tics develop nervous tics. I arrived downtown just after 4 p.m., wearing my Chris Young jersey, and toting my digital camera and scorebook. Mrs. Ducksnorts and I wandered over to one [...]
IGD: Padres vs Astros (31 Mar 08)
Padres (0-0) vs Astros (0-0) Jake Peavy vs Roy Oswalt 7:05 p.m. PT Channel 4SD AM 1090, FM 105.7, XM 184 MLB, B-R It’s beginning to look a lot like Opening Day. What better time to bust out an esoteric table: Jake Peavy: 2007 Starts by Percentage of Pitches for Strikes Str/Pit GS IP/GS H/9 [...]
Your Predictions for 2008?
From esteemed reader LynchMob comes this excellent idea for a post on the eve of Opening Day: “provide us with a list of questions which you want us, the commenters, to go ‘on the record’ with”; he then poses several questions, which you will find below. This might be fun to peek back at throughout [...]
2008 Roster Contest Winner
At the end of February we held a “Guess the Opening Day roster” contest. Many participated, and one emerged victorious: long-time reader Bruce K. nailed 22 of the 25 roster spots, missing only on Justin Huber (which all 20 of us missed for obvious reasons — the contest closed on March 9, and Huber didn’t [...]
Eats and Drinks Near Petco Park
As regular readers know, because there are so many great food options within walking distance of Petco Park, I don’t do ballpark concessions. With Opening Day just around the metaphorical corner, I figure now is as good a time as any to revisit the ol’ Restaurant Guide. One place I recently was turned onto is [...]
Random Roster Notes
Brian Giles saw his first action this spring on Monday. He went 0-for-2 against the Diamondbacks in Tucscon, but who cares? The important thing is, he was in the lineup and able to play right field. Quoth Giles: This was a pretty good test. I know it was only three innings, but the conditions weren’t [...]
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