Checking In With Trevor

Trevor Hoffman is one of the great closers, let alone one of the great Padres, of all time. He holds the record for most saves in Major League history and is two saves away from being the first man in history to record 600 saves. His changeup is the stuff of legends. And by all accounts he is a great family man.

For all those reasons, anyone who knows anything about baseball has great respect for Trevor Hoffman.

But there is one area of Trevor's life where he just doesn't get the due he deserves.

Male modeling.

Trevor might not be A-Rod or David Wright, but for a guy who has spent his career plying his trade in small-markets, he has a remarkable record of (un)intentionally hilarious, homoerotic, yet beastly photos.

But don't take my word for it. Let's look at the evidence

* * *

I like the intensity here. With that look, you think a guy's going to deal you some 95 mph heat. But nope. Here comes a sneaky 84 mph change.

Oh Trevor. So playful.

The over-the-shoulder glance back is a tricky move and not one to try lightly. Of course, Trevor nails it here.

This is either a photo from pre-game warmup, or a still from the failed Baywatch: San Diego pilot.

Jaysus. Gym much?


And last, but not least, no montage of Trevor photos would be complete without showing one of the great photos ever taken of any athlete. In any sport. From any era. You've seen it before, but it never gets it old.

See you this weekend in Milwaukee, Trevor. Here's hoping you don't reach 600 saves against the Padres.

Matt Stairs Helps Padres Win At Wrigley

The Padres won again today, in no small part due to Matty Stairs' work at the plate and in the field.

In the top of the 1st, Stairs hit a double off the ivy scoring two runs. Then, an inning later, he made a diving catch - yes, a diving catch - to rob the Cubbies of at least a run-scoring single.

I haven't written much about Matt this season but he's really something of a marvel. The 42-year old dropped a ton of weight this season to come back and play pinch hitter for the Padres. His numbers aren't great, but you get the feeling he's holding back a few big hits for when it counts.

Like today.

And maybe like in October.

John Barbato ... Not As Greedy As Karsten Whitson

Among the right-handed high-school pitchers drafted by the Padres, it's now clear who wants to play baseball and who, well, doesn't.

John Barbato, the Padres 6th-round pick in the June draft, signed yesterday while Karsten Whitson, the Padres first-round pick, reneged on a verbal agreement and chose not to sign.

Well done, John. Way to sign with the Drinos and not, as happened with Karsten, allow yourself to be swayed by the machinations of greedy agents.

See you at Petco in a few years.

Kaaaaaarsten ...

Karsten,

Sign please.

Best,

Bevormo

When Last I Saw The Padres In Frisco

It's no secret that, after Petco and PNC, Pac Bell is my favorite ballpark in baseball. The location downtown is choice, the views of the water are epic and the food and beverage options are plenty.

San Francisco is a fantastic town in general and I've had the luck to visit it often in the past few years, most recently in July 2009 when I took in a Buccos-Pirates game in between days of the California Bar Examination. Matt Cain and Zach Duke dueled in a 0-0 tie through 9 (Boch let Cain pitch the full 9 innings, 111 pitches) before the Gints won it on a Randy Winn single in the 10th. The stadium was packed and it was a gorgeous, sunny day.

Rewind about 22 months earlier when I was in town on a Monday night and my visit coincided with a Drinos roadtrip. If you'll recall September 2007, the Padres were in the midst of a pennant race and fielded an excellent team, but had just been swept by the Rockies at home (a haunting preview in retrospect), including, the day before, a loss in the infamous "Milton Bradley Game," where Bud Black accidentally tore up Milton's knee while trying to prevent him from murdering an umpire. Milton had homered in that game, his 11th in 169 plate appearances as a Padre, but would never bat again that season.

It was under that gloomy cloud that the Padres took the field at Pac Bell on Monday, September 24, 2007. My specific memories of the game aren't many, but I do recall a few details:

- Before the game I had a few beers at a sports bar near the park - I think it was O'Neil's, but it may have been Kate O'Brien's or even the Brickhouse - and watched the MNF pregame show. It was a Saints game and I remember thinking that Brees likely wouldn't lead the Saints any further than he had the previous season when the Saints lost to the Bears in the NFC Championship game. I remember having that exact thought. So much for predictions.

- Right before game time, I scalped three seats in the 200-level club section just to the right of home plate. The tickets cost surprisingly little and my two friends - both students at Berkeley at the time - were pleased with the price. We housed many gourmet food items throughout the game.

- The game itself is murky, likely because the Padres got rolled. I do remember seeing Klesko in closeup on the jumbotron, and, looking at the boxscore now, he did have a solid game (2-5, 2 runs scored, a ribeye). For the Padres, of course Adrian doubled and had 3 hits, and Brady Clark, taking over for Milton Bradley, had 2 hits, one of them a double. I was probably hopeful at that point that Brady was the answer for the stretch run. So sad.

- CY got rocked in this game, which was not a good sign. I also see the Padres ran out Cla Meredith in relief. It's a nice feeling to know that, as marginally good as Cla was in his seasons with the Padres, he would be the worst relief pitcher on this year's squad. That thought gives me comfort the Padres can pull this thing out this season.

That's all I remember at the moment. I won't be in Frisco for the series this weekend, but I'm more or less certain the Drinos can get it dun without me. Tonight Clay Richard leads the charge against Jonathan Sanchez and crew.

It's safe to say that Sanchez will be eating his words by night's end.

A Weekend In The Burgh

To commemorate these next two games against the Buccos, I wanted to put up a few photos from my trip to Pittsburgh during the Bucco-Drino series at the end of July. Along with my advisor, JJ Geleaux, a trip to the Burgh for the Drinos series has become a biannual rite of summer. This marked our third trip in the last 6 seasons.

This year we definitely did it right. We stayed at the Omni William Penn Hotel which I highly recommend everyone should do when visiting the Burgh. We also frequented a number of excellent watering holes, including The Tap Room, the Oyster House, Primanti Bros. and Mullen's. It was stiflingly hot throughout the weekend so we made sure to keep the drinks flowing like wine, and hung out in spots where the air condition flowed like wine.

Here are a few photos from the trip. I hope you enjoy them.

The epic Roberto Clemente statue outside the stadium. Clemente was a favorite player of my Dad's, and he passed that admiration on to me. Seeing this statue makes me glad the Padres got the Tony Gwynn statue done. Both statues are similarly awesome.

Another shot as the sun peeked out from behind some clouds.

A final shot of the statue profiled against Clemente Bridge and the downtown skyline. Note the Drino fan with the big calves walking out of the picture. I don't know who the guy was, but like me, he was excited to get a photo of the statue.

Our seats for Friday night's game might be the best in all of baseball. For only $40 a pop we had Club access (a/c, beer sales until the final out of the game, a/c) and seats right above home plate. The view of the game is outstanding and when you couple in the stunning view of downtown Pittsburgh, there may not be a better seat in sports.

The view from our seats after sunset. How about that moon.

For Saturday night's game we splurged and bought Lexus Club seats. They're pricey - we paid $140 each - but the access and amenities are excellent. You can enter the stadium early and have access to a full bar and buffet dinner. Plus there's a/c. Oh and it basically feels like you're in the dugout.

Adrian warming up his bat.

I'm pretty sure that's Scotty Hairston, and not Jerry Hairston Jr., warming up before the game. I know I could look it up real easy, but I kind of like that I can't tell just by looking at the photo.

This was the first time I saw the Yoda backpack they make the junior guys in the bullpen wear each night. Fantastic idea. I'm on board.

The next manager of the Marlins?

Bud. Puffing out his chest like a proud father for his first-place ballclub.

Adrian in the on-deck circle.

Readying himself for battle.

Just fouling off a pitch.

The Bucco pitcher - I think it was Jeff Karstens - warming up before an inning.

Mat Latos. Dealing.

The mood surrounding the Buccos in the Burgh is not positive.

One of the best parts of the weekend: the Steve Miller Band played after the game on Saturday night. It started raining halfway through his set, but Steve gamely stayed on stage and played all of his recognizable hits. The fans loved it.

The rain in the spotlight.

Finally, let me leave you with this choice shot of a Padres fan roaming the club section at PNC. Rollie would be proud.

Watching Games With Will Venable In Them

As I sit on my sofa watching this Padres-Buccos game on my computer, it occurred to me, for no particular reason, that I hope Will Venable gets the bulk of at bats from the LF position the rest of the season.

Ryan Ludwick is now the everyday RF, and I'm fine with that, especially because he hit his first Drino HR this evening.

But Venable has the speed and power that I'd like to see in the field the majority of games down the stretch. Not only does he have 10 bombs and 19 bags in only 255 ABs on the season, but from August 1 to September 25 last year, a nice winning stretch for the '09 Padres, he raised his average from .243 to .273. I'd love for him to tap into that hot streak again these next two months.

True, he has 88 Ks on the season and is only hitting at a .238 clip, but I think there may be some lightning in that bat that is somehow tapped into the weather patterns of the dog days of August and early September.

Wishful thinking? Maybe.

But I hope Buddy puts him in the lineup to find out.