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.