Brew Crew 5, Drinos 2

I miss you, Mike.

Sure, sure, maybe your "numbers" "offensively" don't compare well with the current Padres centerfield platoon of Jody Gerut and Scott Hairston. And maybe you "strikeout" more often than one would like, but I really miss having you on the Padres.

Seeing you roam Petco's centerfield last night, nonchalantly snagging those two long flys to deep center, and watching you whip the sweet spot of the bat out over the plate and deposit that Cha Seung Baek offering into the stands in left center, brought back a lot of good memories from the last two seasons. Yes, you K a whole heck of a lot, and you only hit about .250 or .260, but what you bring to a team in terms of centerfield defense, speed on the basepaths and consistent 20-25 HR power, is hard to replace.

And what's more, you're an Everyday Player. A legitimate starting centerfielder in the big leagues. Not every team has one of those, including this year's version of the San Diego Padres. And this is coming from a guy who really likes Jody Gerut and Scott Hairston. They've been darn good this season. It's just that they aren't Everyday Players. And when you fill a clubhouse with a lot of guys who aren't Everyday Players, that starts to seep around and the players, whether they'll admit it or not, look around and start to think that the team doesn't have the personnel to compete and win games day in and day out.

I guess what I'm saying is that you're the type of player I'd want on my team if I was the one picking the players for a team.