Oh. My. Goodness.

A.J. did it.

He really did it.

Will A.J. Go Liuget?

What a headline. I'm sure no one else around the country thought of writing something like that.

Looking past yesterday's Padres game, in which Mat Latos was served with his 9th consecutive loss, tonight is the first round of the NFL Draft. I expect big things out of A.J. Smith and the Chargers.

The draft is deep with powerful DE and OLB types, precisely the position the Chargers need. But if I can make a quick plea to A.J.: take Corey Liuget, good sir. You won't regret it. He has the speed, strength, and mean streak to immediately add to the Bolts defense that which they have lacked since the demise of Shawne Merriman, namely the inspiration of fear and dread in opposing offenses.

It's time for the Chargers to draft a monster. Corey is that beast.

Meyers Leonard Saying Some Good Things

As I avoid thinking about the Padres 8-2 loss last night to the Braves, I wanted to highlight an article in today's Peoria Journal Star on Meyers Leonard.

Talk is just talk, and ultimately anything one says must be backed up with actions, but Meyers has a lot of good quotes in this article. He says the kind of things you want to hear as a fan, as a coach, and I'd gather, as a teammate.

Among the more notable things Meyers said:

- “I was kind of childish last year, to be completely honest,” Leonard said Tuesday following a workout at the Ubben Basketball Complex. “I thought I was better than I really was. It was harder than I expected. I think I’m growing up."

- “This year, I finally came around and realized it will take a lot of hard work to start winning here and hopefully continue my career in basketball. I’m starting to listen to coach (Bruce) Weber more. I’m starting to learn quicker and get the concepts.”

- “I know that I have to be good next year in order for us to be good,” he said.

- On learning to play as a big man: “Setting screens, being physical, all the little things big men do to help the team win, and rebound,” Leonard said. “Be a center. Be a beast.”

The Illini face a lot of challenges next season. Ohio St. gets back Jared Sullinger and another solid recruiting class, Indiana will improve with Tyler Zeller, Michigan will likely return everyone from a rapidly improving team, Izzo will have Michigan St. competitive again after a down year, Purdue will likely return a healthy Robbie Hummel, and Wisconsin will win its share of games.

If the Illini want to finish in the top half of the Big Ten, Meyers will, indeed, have to "be a beast."

Luddence Von Ludwick III

Ryan Ludwick hit due bombs last night (I mean due here as in the Italian word for "two," pronounced doo-ay, but I also like the connotation of the English word "due," as in "Ludwick was due to hit some frickin' bombs"), including a walk-off shot in the bottom of the 13th, to lead the Padres to a 5-3 victory over the Braves. Chris Denorfia made an astounding clutch diving grab in the top of the 13th to preserve the tie and set up Ludwick's walk off.

Let's talk Ludwick for a moment. He now has four HRs on the season and ten overall as a Padre. Most notably, in addition to last night's walk off, he had a go-ahead bomb in the top of the 9th in a big game against the Cardinals last September, and a huge bomb off Matt Cain in the second inning of the first game of the final three-game series last October in San Francisco. The Padres ultimately came up short in that series, but Luddy's bomb in the Friday night game started the momentum that would keep the season alive two extra days. (And I know of what I speak since, you know, I was there and all.)

Much is made of Ludwick's underachieving hitting since becoming a Padre, but I prefer to focus on some of the clutch bombs he's hit, and trust that there will be many more as the season unfolds.

Incidentally, Ludwick rakes on Derek Lowe. Ludwick's first homer last night was the fourth he's hit in his career off Lowe, the most he's hit off any pitcher (current teammate Aaraon Harang is second with three).

Padres: Making Opposing Pitchers Look Really Really Good

The Padres lost again yesterday 3-1 to the Phillies. So despite having the best ERA in the National League, they are 6.5 games back in the NL West and haven't won back-to-back games since the first two games of the season.

The reason, of course, for the Padres poor win-loss record is their shameful hitting. Facing Roy Halladay yesterday, probably the best pitcher in baseball, the woes continued. Doc K'd 14 Padres and generally made the hitters look foolish. Even so, because Wade LeBlanc and other Padres pitchers are so quality, the game was there for the taking in the 9th, but once again the team couldn't get a big hit when it was needed.

It should surprise no one that 5 of the top 12 individual pitching performances in the NL this season have come against the Padres. There was Jaime Garcia on April 3 (86 game score), Tim Lincecum on April 6 (80), Carlos Zambrano on April 18 (85), Cole Hamels on April 22 (79), and Roy Halladay (83) yesterday afternoon. No question these are all good pitchers, including in Lincecum and Halladay perhaps the two best overall pitchers in baseball, but that is not a statistic the Padres should be proud of.

With Derek Lowe, Jair Jurrjens, and Tommy Hanson all slated to face the Padres at Petco in the next three days, I don't see how this gets turned around anytime soon.

At Least The Padres Have Mark Grant

Another night, another close loss by the Padres.

But I'd rather not talk about that. I'd like to talk about Mark Grant. Listening to the Padres broadcasts night after night, it's clear to me that the Padres are lucky to have Grant as their color man. He is consistently funny, knowledgeable, nice, and a great partner for Dick Enberg. Over the last few years Grant has had to adapt to a constantly changing partner in the booth - first Matty Vasgersian, then Mark Neely and Steve Quis, and now Enberg - and has handled it all with humor and professionalism.

That's why I was so pleased to come across Mark Grant's '90 Donruss card last night. My advisor Tom Teatro was throwing away some of his old baseball cards (who throws away baseball cards?) and kept all his Padres to give to me. Included in the stack he handed me was Grant's card pictured above (yes, that's Ghostbusters 2 in the background).

The back of the card, as all great baseball cards do, contains a bunch of great facts about Grant:

- he was acquired via a trade with the Giants on July 4, 1987, with Mark Davis, Chris Brown and Keith Comstock, for Kevin Mitchell, Dave Dravecky, and Craig Lefferts;

- he served as a right-handed middle relief man for the Padres in '89, ranking 5th on the club in ERA;

- he led the PCL in victories, complete games, and shutouts at Phoenix in '86;

- he led the Midwest League in wins, strikeouts, and innings at Clinton in '82; and

- the Giants made him the 1oth player taken overall in the June '81 amateur draft.

So choice.

Shutout Shutout Shutout ... Shutout Shutout Shutout

One mistake pitch to Ryan Howard was all that separated Clayton Richard's loss from Cole Hamels' win last night. In effect, Clayton had the better performance. After all, he had to pitch to the Phillies lineup while Cole just had to toss batting practice balls to the Padres AAAA lineup.

The good news is that, according to Baseball Reference, the Padres are 8th of 16 NL teams in attendance this season. So at least a reasonable number of folks are going to the games.

Shutout Shutout Shutout

If you're new to baseball, and have on your list of goals to see a shutout in a major league game, I'd recommend watching the Padres play this season.

After last night's 3-0 loss to the Phillies, the Padres have been shutout 5 times in 19 games. They have an NL-low .217 batting average, to go with an NL-low 60 runs, mixed in with an NL-low .326 slugging percentage. But they do have an NL-high 27 bags, so there's that.

Incidentally, the Padres are leading the NL walks but have the third-lowest team OBP in the league. That's astounding.

April Is Football Weather At Wrigley Field

Game-time temperature of Padres-Cubs Game 1 yesterday at Wrigley: 42 degrees Fahrenheit.

Game-time temperature of Illinois-Northwestern football game last November at Wrigley: 43 degrees Fahrenheit.

The Padres won Game 2 to split the doubleheader. Ryan Ludwick went 5-8 with 2 doubles on the day. His batting average after 70 plate appearances is an even .200.

My Pick For Top Padres Uniform

As we wait for today's doubleheader in Chicago to start, I cast my eye briefly to fashion. I've been following ESPN's four-part series on Padres uniforms through the years. It's a well-written piece with a lot of great photos of sharply-dressed Drinos past and present.

Somewhat surprising to me was that my favorite uniform - and the uni I hope the Padres eventually return to - is the kit (soccer term!) worn in 1975. Willie McCovey models it in the photo above. I like the brown and yellow trim and the lettering of San Diego across the chest. Plus the uniform keeps the classic brown and yellow helmet with the interlocking "SD".

The 1975 uniform narrowly beats the classic brown, yellow, and orange uniform the Padres wore from 1980 to 1984, the halcyon days that saw them draft and develop Tony Gwynn and appear in their first World Series. I love the crisp brown look of the jersey with the sweet brown undershirt and the yellow wristbands worn near the elbow by Garry Templeton in the photo below.

No one should ever say that Garry Templeton lacked style.

Night Games At Wrigley Are Rarely Good

Growing up in Peoria, IL, about three hours drive south of Chicago, Wrigley Field was my family's go to spot for major league baseball games. My Dad would take me to at least one Padres-Cubs game a season, and those trips are some of the best memories any kid could possibly have.

Also, every single one of those games my Dad took me to was a day game. Wrigley didn't add lights until 1988 when I was 11 years old, and even then, they played only a handful of night games a season.

Since then, the few times I have gone to a night game at Wrigley (this game comes to mind), it is cold, wet, windy, and worst of all, feels a lot like every other stadium in baseball. It's nothing like the warm sunny days I knew growing up.

So if it was up to me the Cubs would only play day games at Wrigley. And, if they did play any night games, they certainly wouldn't beat the Padres 1-0 in ten innings in any of those games.

Jorge "Georgey" Cantu Goes Yard For First Time As Padre

According to Baseball Reference, the biggest play of yesterday's game was Will Venable's two-run single in the top of the 8th to turn a 6-5 Padres deficit into a 7-6 Padres lead. The Padres would never look back and, despite some drama by Heath Bell in the ninth, finished the day with a victory.

No doubt Will's hit was big. But for my money I'll take Jorge Cantu's monster 2-run jack off Brett Myers in the top of the 5th. At that point the Astros held a 4-1 lead and, with their ace on the mound and with the anemic way the Padres have hit this young season, that lead felt insurmountable. Jorge's blast brought the Padres back to within a run and rallied a cry of hope down from the mountaintops.

All in all a big hit.

Two Nights In Houston

Kudos to Ryan Ludwick for his big 2-run single on Friday night And to Chris Denorfia for hitting a home-run and a double. Those hits, and solid performances by Aaron Harang and the bullpen, led to a 4-2 victory over the Stros.

Last night things didn't break so well for the Padres. Mat Latos only gave up 4 hits over 6.1 innings but one of those hits was a two-run bomb to Chris Johnson. Another was a reaching swing by Hunter Pence that fell for a double scoring Michael Bourn who had reached on an infield single. Trouble also arose when Bud Black sent Latos back out in the 6th and, after striking out Brett Wallace, he walked back-to-back batters that would both later score. Another in a line of winnable losses by the 2011 Padres.

And, as we look ahead to this afternoon's games, I'll leave you with this list of Padres and their current batting averages:

Brad Hawpe - .143
Jason Bartlett - .132
Ryan Ludwick - .116
Will Venable - .146
Jorge Cantu - .167

If You Can't Score Runs At Minute Maid Park, Maybe You Can't Score Runs

The title of this post is negative, but the post itself will focus on the positive from yesterday's 1-0 loss to the Astros at Minute Maid Park in Houston.

Here's what I liked from yesterday's game:

- Orlando de la Noche's continued run of impressive at bats. Orlando walked twice and singled yesterday (and stole his 6th bag of the season) to raise his average to .326. He couldn't drive in the tying run with a runner on third and one out in the 8th, but you still have to like Orlando's approach so far this season.

- Ryan Ludwick's catch and throw to double up Brett Wallace at second base in the second. Ludwick had misplayed a Brett Wallace double on the play before, but he made up for it by catching Bill E. Hall's liner and firing a strike to second to double up Wallace. Doesn't quite make up for his 0-4, 3 K performance, but still, a nice play.

- Dustin Moseley's outing. Dustin pitched 6.2 innings and gave up 1 run. He only struckout 1 guy, but he limited walks and induced 18 ground balls (as opposed to 8 fly balls), a very important statistic at a place like Minute Maid. On the season Dustin is 0-3 with a 1.83 ERA and 1.27 WHIP. If he finishes the year 0-18 but with a sub-2.00 ERA, you have to give him a Cy Young vote, right?

Orlando "De La Noche" Gets Walk-Off Hit

I've always thought the best nickname you can give a guy is "de la Noche." In Spanish it means, literally, "of the night." If you append "de la Noche" to someone's name it connotes daring, adventure, fearlessness, guts, a wee bit of recklessness, and a cocksure attitude that, to use a tired but apt phrase, gets things done.

After Orlando Hudson's performance last night I'm now going to call him Orlando de la Noche. In the 8th, Orlando reached on a fielder's choice, stole a bag, and scored the tying run on a Jorge Cantu groundout. Then, in the bottom of the ninth with two outs, he singled in the winning run to complete the Padres 3-2 comeback victory.

I'd say those are acts worthy of the "de la Noche" name.

Life Lesson: If You Don't Win When You Have A Chance To Win, You Will Lose

Last night the Padres had many many chances to beat the Reds. But an inability to get big hits with the bases loaded in the 9th and 10th innings, a crucial throwing error by Clayton Richard that led to a Reds run, and two outstanding Reds defensive plays (one by Scott Rolen and one by Brandon Phillips that, incidentally, was one of the best plays I've ever seen by a second baseman), conspired to defeat the Padres in a game they really should have won.

The Padres have now lost 5 of their last 6 and are in danger of being swept away by the Reds later this afternoon.

It's up to Timothy James Stauffer to right the ship. I for one think he can do it.

Ramon Hernandez And His Right Arm Beat The Padres

I remember when I liked Ramon Hernandez. I remember when he was the best-hitting catcher the Padres had since Benny Santiago. I remember when he hit five clutch bombs in the stretch playoff run of September 2005, including a walk-off 12th inning jack against the Nattys and a go-ahead grand slam against Los Gigantes de San Francisco. I remember when Sandy Alderson criticized his toughness behind the plate and my first thought was, "Geez, Sandy, stop being a dick. Ramon can rake. No one else on the team can hit other than Giles so stop annoying Ramon and just let him swing the bat."

But all that seems like eons ago now. Last night Ramon threw out three Padres baserunners to help preserve a taut 3-2 Reds victory over the Padres. On a night when ESPN televised a poorly played contest between the last place Rays and the last place Red Sox, the Padres and Reds - two of the top teams in the NL a year ago and both off to good starts this season - played the day's best game out in the Diago.

Tonight should be more of the same with the Deacon Clay Richard taking the hill for the Drinos. Let's hope Ramon's arm is sore.

If You Are A Dodger Fan, You Didn't Like Yesterday's Bomb Show at Petco

Nick Hundley, Ryan Ludwick, and Cameron Maybin all went yard yesterday afternoon to lead the Padres to a 7-2 beatdown of the Hated Dadgers.

Maybe the Padres should play all their home games at 1:05 PM when, as Mark Grant put it, there's a "jet stream" blowing out to left center.

Incidentally, I love the above photo taken by my boy Dilip Vishwanat. Nick Hundley should love it too. It actually makes him look fast and athletic.

Anytime You Can Lose To The Dodgers Twice In One Day, You Have To Do It

Because Friday night's game was suspended due to rain, the Padres and Dodgers finished two games yesterday evening. The Padres lost both, in no small part due to Tony Gwynn, Jr.'s offensive and defensive heroics. At the conclusion of the first game, Gwynn singled in the winning run in the top of the 11th, and, in the bottom half of the inning, cut off Nick Hundley's apparent lead off double and held Nick to a long single. Nick would be doubled up at second a few pitches later. Then, in the first inning of the second game, Gwynn doubled and came around to score the first run of the game, the only run the Dadgers would need in a 4-0 shutout win.

Gwynn Jr., with about 1/100th the hitting talent of his father, strikes me as a below-average hitter who, when he is motivated to focus and concentrate, rises almost to the level of average hitter. Unfortunately, his moments of focus and concentration are few and far between, seemingly arising only when he wants to show someone up, such as the team that cut him in the offseason. Or, as when he tripled off Trever Hoffman during the final weekend of the 2007 season, against the team his Dad played for but that never drafted the son. Perhaps that is a trait borne of a privileged upbringing and a famous last name that has provided him more chances than he otherwise would have been given. Or maybe it's just hard to lock in with consistency when you have middling talent. I don't know.

All I do know is that Gwynn Jr. is becoming a Padre killer.

Lincecum Rides Padres Hard, Puts Them Away Wet

My Dad sent me the above photo this morning and said simply this: "Lincecum - 13 Ks - wow."

Hard to argue with that assessment.

In more positive news, the minor leagues start tonight! The Padres four affiliates are throwing Wade LeBlanc (Tucson), Anthony Bass (San Antonio), Matt Lollis (Lake Elsinore), and Keyvius Sampson (Fort Wayne) as Opening Day starters.

I sense four victories and many firework displays.

"Looking Good, Padres." "Feeling Good, Ryan."

That was the hypothetical conversation I had last night with the Padres. It's based on the famous last line of dialogue from Trading Places ("Looking good, Billy Ray!" "Feeling good, Clarence."). I thought those words were apropos considering the Padres solid start to the season.

Indeed, after the first four games of the 2011 season, the Padres sit at 3-1, highlighted by yesterday's win in the home opener against the San Francisco Giants (with honorable mention to Chase's 4 ribeye game Saturday in St. Louis - pictured above). Aaron Harang overcame some early wildness to shut down the Gints over six innings, paving the way for worry-free relief work from Luke, Mike, and Heath.

The only downside was that I couldn't be there in person to watch Trevor throw out the first pitch. What a moment.

"They call me Mister Double Play."

I can't say enough about Albert Pujols and his three double-play performance on Opening Day. I also can't say enough about Cameron Maybin's two-out game-tying homer in the ninth, or Tim Stauffer's solid start, or Pat Neshek's crafty relief performance.

And, now that I've said that I can't say enough, I think I'll sign off and get ready for today's rematch. Clay Richard goes against Jake Westbrook.

(Also, great photo by Chris Lee of the Post-Dispatch. People do things well in St. Louis.)