Looking Back, Looking Forward

Yesterday - August 24, 2008 - the Drinos lost 7-4 to the Gints to lose their 7th straight game and close out an 0-6 road trip. Another disappointing loss for a team that has had a very disappointing season. It seems strange that just a year ago yesterday - August 24, 2007 - the Padres were in the midst of a pennant race and, though things would take a surreal turn in the coming weeks, reached a nice high point in their '07 season.

On that day, a year ago yesterday, the Drinos mashed the Phillies (a team that would make the playoffs) 14-3 at Citizens Bank Park. Milton Bradley and Adrian Gonzalez hit 2 bombs each and Milton, that monster, had 6 ribeyes. Brian Giles and Mike Cameron also had a couple knocks, while Kouz had 4 hits and Bard - wait for it - went 5 for 6. Not to mention Maddux went 7 strong and gave up only 3 earned runs.

Here is the lineup the Padres ran out a year-ago yesterday:

1. Brian Giles - RF
2. Mike Cameron - CF
3. Milton Bradley - LF
4. Adrian Gonzalez - 1B
5. Khalil Greene - SS
6. Kevin Kouzmanoff - 3B
7. Josh Bard - C
8. Marcus Giles - 2B
9. Greg Maddux - P

And here is the lineup they ran out against the Gints yesterday in San Francisco:

1. Brian Giles - RF
2. Luis Rodriguez - SS
3. Jody Gerut - CF
4. Adrian Gonzalez - 1B
5. Kevin Kouzmanoff - 3B
6. Chase Headley - LF
7. Edgar Gonzalez - 2B
8. Nick Hundley - C
9. Josh Banks - P

I'm not entirely sure what my point is here. I mostly just wanted to see the lineups listed on the same page. What jumps out at me is that a few important pieces are the same - Giles, Kouz and A-Gon. The big differences are that Khalil and Bardo both underperformed severely and missed time with injuries. Edgar is an upgrade with the bat over Marcus Giles but, in retrospect, the Padres would have done well to sign Geoff Blum as a backup for another season. The failure to sign Cameron and Bradley has resulted in a merry-go-round of players in the outfield this season, though that was solidified somewhat by Headley's call up in June and the recent performance of Jody Gerut. I still feel the Pads would have been better off with Cameron over Gerut, but I can't fault Jody for the job he's done this season.

This off-season is going to be interesting. The Padres are going to have ask themselves if they think they can win with a base of A-Gon, Giles, Kouz, Headley, Bard/Hundley, Khalil, Peavy, CY and Heath Bell. If they are confident they can get '07 production out of Bard and Khalil, continued improvement from Headley and Hundley, and more of the same from A-Gon, Giles and Kouz, then we might not see many changes in the '09 Padres lineup. They'll just have to figure out what they want to do at 2B and CF (Orlando Hudson and Jody Gerut?). After that it will all be a question of what kind of bullpen KT can put together and how much the Padres want to spend on starters 3-5. And CY needs to get through a season putting up good #2 starter numbers. I think he can do it.

But for now it's still 2008 and it's not too late to play well in the last 30 or so games and get a few wins and end the season on a positive tick. It starts tonight with Jake.