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.

Padres Need To Get Back On Track

First of all, I have to thank my advisor Father D.P. McGillicutty for having the Bevormo family out to his house in Southampton on Friday night. I also need to thank master designer PKOH for inviting the Bevormo family to his wedding on Saturday night.

Of course, I thank these two individuals not just for the excellence of both events, but for the fact the events worked to distract me from two disappointing losses to the Dadgers over the weekend. Unfortunately, I had time to watch Sunday's loss live and in color, but that's my own fault.

A few thoughts from the weekend's games:

- Tony Gwynn had that Kemp bomb on Friday night. If he makes that catch the Padres might have the momentum to sweep the series.

- Speaking of Friday night, how soon things turn. After the first inning Friday night - maybe around 7 PM PDT - the Padres had just swept the Giants and Adrian Gonzalez had just smoked a monster bomb. Just 48 hours later the Padres had lost three straight games and it looked like no Padre hitter would ever hit a HR again. Or any other type of hit for that matter.

- Wade LeBlanc. Pure monster. Through 35 innings across 6 starts he's sitting at a 1.54 ERA, 1.31 WHIP, and a .337 BABIP. I'm no statistician but that high BABIP tells me that, if anything, LeBlanc has been unlucky in his first 6 starts. (Of course I don't understand BABIP so that could be an entirely incorrect conclusion.)

Tonight, the domination of the Giants will hopefully continue under the steady hand of Clayton Richard. But Matty Cain stands on the mound in the bottom half of each inning so a win could be a tough road to hoe.

Luis Durango ... Have A Debut!

Quite a debut for Luis Durango.

In his first Major League start, Durango played left field and smoked to the tune of 3-4, with 2 runs scored, including stealing second and scoring the winning run on an Everth Cabrera single with 1 out in the bottom of the 10th.

Here's how Ted Leitner called it as Durango crossed the plate:

"Speed! Speed! Speed! You either got it or you don't. You can't coach it. They got it. With Cabrera, they got it with Gwynn and Venable, and maybe the fastest of all, Luis Durango, who got the bag at second, flying home to win the ballgame 6-5 in the bottom of the 10th! Magic time for the Padres!"

Well said, Ted.

The Padres Have Diapers And May Still Be Breastfeeding

The Padres are really rolling out the youngins this evening against the Rockies.

Here is tonight's lineup and their respective ages:

SS - Everth Cabrera (22)
CF - Tony Gwynn, Jr. (26)
1B - Adrian Gonzalez (27)
3B - Kevin Kouzmanoff (27)
RF - Will Venable (26)
LF - Kyle Blanks (22)
C - Eliezer Alfonzo (30)
2B - Edgar Gonzalez (31)
P - Kevin Correia (28)

I'm no mathemetician, but that's an average age of 26.5. That may not seem too young on first glance, but when you delve a bit deeper you can see the inexperience in this lineup. The two oldest dudes - Edgar and Eliezer - are journeyman who have never held down regular jobs. Edgar, in fact, was a 30-year old rookie just last season. Then you have Venable, a 26-year old rookie, and Gwynn, who at 26 has never spent a full season in the Bigs. Blanks and Cabrera are wee babes. Only Kouz and Adrian have legitimate big league track records.

Query if Bud Black has any passafires in the dugout.

A Strong To Quite Strong Night At Petco Park

Friday night was my first visit to Petco Park since June 2007, a span of nearly two years. While I am ashamed to admit that fact, I beg your pardon because I do live many many many miles away from San Diego. That's not a good excuse for missing Petco for nearly two full seasons of baseball, but it's the only excuse I have.

But Friday night was all that is good and true and great about Petco Park and downtown Drino baseball. Peavy threw a gem against a hated opponent, the Scubs, and a young man named Tony Gwynn, Jr. got on base three times, scoring twice. Also, the bullpen threw three shutout innings, Brian Giles knocked in two runs in classic Bri style and Adrian went yard with one of his patented opposite field bomb swings.

Not to mention, because this was 1984 NL Champions Weekend, they sprinkled videos of the '84 squad on the jumbtron throughout the game.

And there were fireworks after the game.

So choice.

So after my return to Petco for the first time in nearly two years, I had a few impressions/observations of the park. For those of you lucky enough to live in the Diego, this is not news. But here they are:

1. Petco Park is really coming into its own. The Padres are letting the hanging ivy grow in the concourses and it looks really choice. Kind of a like a botanical garden. It matches perfectly with the sand beach stucco of the Petco facade. Well played, Petco maintenance staff.

2. Downtown is really coming into its own. When I first went to Petco in April 2005, the view out to centerfield was a hodgepodge of cranes and half-built condos. That seemed to last even until 2007. Now, at least out to the centerfield view, most of the condos are finished and it seems that the views from the Park will be static for the foreseeable future. It's not as dramatic a view as PNC in Pittsburgh, but it is much better use of an urban stadium than, say, Natty Park in D.C. or the new Yankee Stadium, which has no views to nothin'.

3. Beers are 'spensive. Last week I went to the new Yanquis Stadium for the first time. Nine dollar beers. I expected that in the Bronx. Then I went to Petco on Friday and saw the price of a 16 oz. Coors Louie was $8.25. I almost spit up my Rubio's fish taco. And then proceeded to buy multiple Coors Louies.

4. Nate Kaeding. I'm pretty sure Nate Kaeding was sitting six rows ahead of me at the game with a few of his boys. Either it was Nate Kaeding or some mid-sized blonde dude. It's hard to tell with Nate. Given he went to Iowa, Nate is probably a Cub fan. I promise not to hold that against him as long as he is a beast kicker for the Chargers.

5. Tony Gwynn ... Jr.? Tony Gwynn, Jr. made his debut for the Padres on Thursday night. On Friday, the Padres were introducing Gwynn, Jr. as "Tony Gwynn" and the back of his jersey simply read "Gwynn." So shady.

More on Saturday night's game when I get the pictures downloaded.

Tony Gwynn The Younger

Yeah, man. I'd be smiling too.

Welcome to the fold.