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.