Ellis the only one that didn't play his part in the Padres/Dodgers brawl

Let me take a moment to explain the only thing that seemed truly odd to me about the Quentin/Greinke dust-up last night.  In watching baseball for over 20 years, I've seen my share of brawls.  Hitters getting angry about a pitch that may NOT have been intentional - not strange.  Seen that plenty.  Pitchers having a bit too much bravado on the mound once the hitter gets hit - not strange either.  But something was strange about it.

What happens when a hitter decides he wants to charge the mound?  Usually he either A) takes off running immediately toward the pitcher or B) plays it off by walking up the first base line for a moment THEN sees the opportunity to go.  Why is this?  It's because it's the catcher always gets between him and the pitcher.  That's his job.  Nobody else in the diamond is close enough.

When a pitcher sees a ground ball to his left, he what? 

Runs to first to cover.

When a catcher sees the batter get hit and then take a step toward the pitcher, he what?

Gets between the hitter and pitcher.

With most brawls I've seen in baseball there's usually something out of place, and in this one, the only one I can see is A.J. Ellis failing miserably to protect his pitcher.  Frankly I'm not a big fan of Quentin the personality, he seems overly "red assed" for a guy that can't seem to stay on the field.  If he's that tough, then why can't he tough out some knee pain, that's how my thinking goes but nobody else knows how it feels.

Anyway, two points. 

1) AJ Ellis's actions prove to me beyond a shadow of a doubt that Greinke never intended to hit him.  The catcher would know if there was any remote possibility of hitting the batter and would be ready to defend the pitcher unless the batter ran toward the pitcher immediately.

2)  Ellis could have prevented this.  His teammates had to have lost a little respect for him after this.

VIDEO OF THE MOUND CHARGE HERE

Why San Diego is a bad Major League Baseball market and what can make it better

We live in a beautiful city with some of the best weather in the country, yet by my estimation we as San Diegans have the biggest inferiority complex of any city when it comes to sports. We're told that this is a "small" market city so often than it must be true.  We know that we have a reasonably sized population and plenty of wealth.  So why do the Padres never spend on significant free agent additions, or have a payroll commensurate with all the cities we think we're so much better than?  What really makes us such a sub-par market?  I'm going to attempt to delve into it here.

In early 2011, the online version of Forbes magazine named San Diego the fifth most miserable sports city in these United States.  Their criteria seemed a little strange to me though.  Some of the cities that were supposedly even more "sports miserable" than San Diego had experienced some pretty great successes, and more recent championships.  Forbes included "tough losses in big games" heavily into the formula, so that a town like San Diego - which rarely ever sees a big game to begin with - got pushed down the list a little.  I won't go into that here, but I'll just say we should be a little bit higher (lower?) on that list.  Seattle has made a huge comeback with the Seahawks and likely the return of the Sonics, and when your baseball team wins at least 90 games about 15 seasons in a row (Atlanta) with a recent World Series title thrown in, well I'm just not buying.  I make Buffalo out to be the most miserable sports city, but can't really figure out why they have a team in the first place.  Isn't it sort of like Green Bay without the rabid fans?

Population

Anyway, back to the task at hand.  I started looking at some basic census figures. Let's start with a quick look at population.  When you look at major league cities, we're 7th in terms of population within the immediate city (just under 1.3 million), behind NY/LA/CHI/HOU/PHI/PHX. So on the surface that seems pretty good.  But what really makes a market is not the immediate population, but the greater captive market area that a team has access to.  This refers to those areas surrounding the city that are not only within feasible driving distance to the occasional game - or even overnight stay for such an outing - but also have no competition from other teams.  When you look at it this way, we're tiny.  St. Louis, which is way down the population list, has a gigantic larger market area that includes just about half of Kansas and Illinois and large portions of the states further east and south.  There's not another baseball team until Atlanta to the southeast, and the Texas teams to the southwest.

By comparison, San Diego has its immediate MSA (the San Diego–Carlsbad–San Marcos Metropolitan Statistical Area) and that's it.  There's no population to speak of to the east of El Cajon, there's international border to the the south, and there are multiple larger market teams starting at the county line to the north.  We're all we've got.  Looking at total market size, let's just call us average to below.  For me to paint an accurate picture of the actual market size for each team would take a week, and I'm not doing that for free.


Affinity for the Padres Among Population

While reading the main post and comments by the author on THIS PAGE I found myself agreeing quite heartily with the idea that St. Louis is a much larger baseball market than Toronto, but Toronto is many times a better NHL market than St. Louis.  Affinity for the product is a huge part of this equation. So how great is our collective affinity for the Padres?  By my calculations, not good.

I began looking at these numbers to get some kind of estimate of what percentage of people here were born into being fans of the Padres.  Of the 1,282,800 people living within the City of San Diego (don't fact check me bro, these numbers are always being revised) the census indicated that 554,735, or 43% are natives.    But this refers to natives of the state.  Within all the data I can dig up I wasn't able to find out what percentage of that number is native to the actual market area.

Within most markets this number is relatively accurate, as for instance, the "native" population in Boston is native to the state of Massachusetts, and so on and so forth.  It's reasonable to estimate that the 45% of natives within the Boston population are primarily Red Sox fans.  Not the case with San Diego at all.  With no numbers, I'm going to guess that anywhere from 15% to 30% of the population of San Diego is native to our actual market area. Note, the cities that scored highest on this list were all cities that aren't high on the list of cities people want to move to - Pittsburgh, Detroit, Cleveland topped the list at 73% to 74%.  San Diego is on the opposite end of the spectrum, a city that everybody wants to move to - and continue to root for their hometown team.

In addition to having one of the least loyal population bases, we also have a huge segment of the population here which by and large does not care about the sport to begin with.  By this I'm referring to the foreign-born population, where we are tied for around 6th largest percentage of foreign born residents among the major league cities.  Being married into a Mexican family and having a relatively wide reaching network of foreign-born friends and acquaintances, I can say this comfortably: Their kids may care about the Padres having gained some appreciation through osmosis, but they do not.  The only time I hear any of them bring up the Padres is to deride them. If they're doing well you hear nothing, but you hear plenty when they stink.  Which has been often.  In conversation, you're very likely to hear "man the Padres SUCK." but have a zero percent chance of hearing even a neutral comment like "do you think Headley's season was for real?" ZERO chance.

So let's sum this up.  About 26% of the population would rather be watching El Tri play a friendly than watching the Padres play a game that counts, and the vast majority of the "natives" aren't native to our market area.  Meanwhile most other teams have generations stacked upon generations of fans, from the early 20th century who have never stopped supporting the team or moved out of the area.  I haven't yet mentioned the cost of living or the fact that the Padres are still one of the youngest teams in baseball.  Historical significance makes a huge difference, as the rabid fan bases at Chavez Ravine and in San Francisco show us when compared to the atmosphere in Anaheim or San Diego.

There's one clearly inferior market than San Diego and that's Miami - easily the worst baseball market in the country.  It's 58% foreign born, only 28% native to the state of Florida, and small in numbers as well as income.  I'd lump San Diego in with a few other select teams as being in line behind them, but no market is close to Miami.

This all just goes to say that yes, we are a small market.  Not only that, but much smaller than most onlookers would know.


Maximizing the Love

The Padres' challenge is to maximize and improve the fan base we have here.  How do they do that?

Let's start with winning.  This new ownership group is going to attempt to win by developing players from within.  Recent selections in the draft look promising and we should start seeing more benefit from the Dominican academy in the coming years.  Chase Headley is long gone, by the way, and I think we should trade him now rather than make some half-hearted attempt at signing a guy who has one good year and whose market value will never be higher, to a long-term contract.  If the Padres did that, it would make him the only really good player on the team signed to a long-term deal.  Really good meaning you're buying into last year, which I'm not).  By the time his deal is almost up is when we'd be truly competitive.  Market him to some team that is contending and has a legitimate Top 25 prospect who will be ready within the next year.

Alongside the group of players that comes to the majors over the next 3 years, the Padres must maximize high draft picks (like the Rays with Longoria/Price, continue to make astute minor free-agent moves, and when the team looks close they MUST begin to spend by re-signing key players and possibly adding a well respected and young free agent (look at the Prince Fielder contract, and not ARod or Albert Pujols).  When the opportunity presents itself and the team is on the upswing, the payroll must increase and the most key players must be retained.  The front office has to have the savvy to differentiate between players they can afford to lose and those they can't.

Treating the players right will be another key.  They have to want to stay in San Diego and the organization has to be seen as a classy, top-flight team.  The Cardinals are a great example - players want to stay there, even if the Cardinals have to make tough (and usually very astute) decisions and get rid of some of them.  No stories LIKE THIS anymore, please!

The insular nature of recent population growth due to the cost of housing and the economic downturn actually could help.  At San Diego State we're seeing some really rabid (multi-cultural and native to the area) fans of the Aztecs basketball team which rival the fans for any other college basketball team in the country.  That type of concerted fan base and culture needs to be developed city wide.  Some creative tapping of the Mexican market would also be advisable.  Spanish broadcasts have been sent on the airwaves for many years, but how about some type of express shuttles to and from the game once they get across the border?  Discounts at local restaurants or even food in the ballpark for those that are willing to brave the border wait?  I can imagine that an hour to two-hour border wait might be offset by a pair of discounted tickets, free transportation, and then an evening in America's Finest City with quick shuttle service back to the border afterward.

In the end, winning can conquer all, but winning the right way would be the best and most likely way to overcome the market shortcomings.  Grow the product for good by acting like a Major League team.

Devilish Dimensions - Why Right Field Needs to be Neutered

Just a quick note off the bat: This article was the primary impetus for deciding to start a blog.  I had some opinions after watching years of baseball at PETCO Park, which turned into analysis and at which point I wanted to publish it.  I could think of no better way than to start up my own blog.  After i write this, I can't promise that I won't eventually go away like so many other baseball blogs I've read that just cease updating.  I don't have any aspirations of making this a daily thing.  I'm not getting paid to do it and I certainly don't have the time, energy, or desire to spam the same news and notes that are already so capably reported and widely available.  I have some ideas in mind and would like to update every couple weeks with some thoughtful content. But know that this topic in particular is very important to me.

On to the analysis.  Some have speculated that the thick ocean air is at least part of what makes it so difficult to hit a home run at PETCO Park.  Also, it's clear that the ball travels better during the day than at night.  These things may be a small part of the equation, but after I took a close look, I came to the conclusion that the vast majority of the problem was the sheer dimensions.  You can say a ball "died" at the warning track but it's simply an optical illusion if the wall is significantly further than would be found in other parks.  It doesn't always "die" - it just didn't clear the wall.

A ball hit to the middle of the warning track in right field at PETCO is often times a bomb deep into the seats in another park.  In a scenario where we edit the fences, our location at sea level and in thick ocean air ensures that by simply making the dimensions fair and reasonable when compared to other parks, we will have covered all the bases.  We know the ball doesn't fly further here so it's not like we can make the dimensions acceptable compared to other fair parks and then worry that it's going to become a home run haven.  

I wanted to simply compare the distance required to hit a home run in a given direction in PETCO to the distance required to hit a home run in the same direction at another park.  My approach was pretty straightforward.  Using a very accurate measurement tool that comes with Google Earth, I compared the dimensions at PETCO to a few other parks.  When comparing park dimensions it isn't enough to just use terms like left field foul pole, center, or the power alleys.  Those are pretty vague.  Relatively few baseballs will be hit to any one location and sometimes the dimensions can be misleading.  Take the Pesky Pole in Fenway.  A couple times a season you might see someone take advantage of the 302-foot dimension and get a cheapie, but the distance to hit a home run increases so dramatically as you move away from the foul pole that it's very deceiving, in a practical sense, to say that it's 302 feet to right in Fenway.  If you hit the ball just 10 degrees further toward center, you have to hit it 80 feet further for it to count as a four-bagger.

Using PNC Park in Pittsburgh as an example, here's a visual representation of the measurements I took for each of the parks that I analyzed, starting with 0 degrees (right field pole) to 90 degrees (left field pole) at 5 degree increments:

So, for PETCO and each field that I compared with our beloved baseball home, I took 19 measurements that would correspond to the same angle at the other park.  Comparing the measurements indicated by the Google Earth tool with the official data down the lines and to center field, these data were exceedingly accurate.  These simple comparisons, comprised of a couple hours of computer grunt work instead of convoluted data, should tell the tale as well as anything else will.

A couple explanations of the data above.  The parkfactors.com rating is a number where 100 is league average in terms of the number of runs allowed.  They analyze by total runs scored as well as home runs, and average the two.  PETCO therefore would allow 81 runs or 81 home runs (averaged) for every 100 runs or home runs allowed in the typical baseball park in the majors.  So according to them, Nationals Park is the most "fair" or typical offensive park of those in the chart.  

To put this data to use, let's start with an example of Mr. Buck Naked Tanning Bed Guy himself, Brian Giles.  Giles spent four years mashing in PNC Park, hitting anywhere from 35 to 39 home runs per season before being traded to the Padres a little more than mid-way through his fifth season with the Pirates.  The next five seasons he hit between 12 and 23 home runs for the Padres.  Giles was a dead pull hitter who tended to hit high, moderate distance home runs.  Some of them looked like bombs in Pittsburgh.  Many of those same balls would not be close to going out in PETCO.  Starting at 10 degrees in the chart above and looking at the seven measurements toward center, Giles would have had to hit the ball an additional 29 feet, 22 feet, 18 feet, 20 feet, 22 feet, 13.5 feet, and 10 feet to get the ball out of PETCO when hitting at the corresponding angle, compared to his old digs.  So is it any surprise that his home run production dipped?  It shouldn't be.  If the Chicago Bulls had raised the rim to 12 feet would we wonder why Jordan wasn't getting as many dunks?

Even the strongest hitters in the big leagues need to hit a few that just barely clear the fence to get the high totals.  For proof, look at any big-time home run hitter using Hit Tracker Online - they all hit a few that just barely clear the wall. That website is a great resource where you can compare home runs hit at Petco to other parks. 

Now let's to go some aerial comparisons.  Let's start with one of the foremost hitters' parks, Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati.  Admittedly this is comparing the foremost bandbox in the big leagues with the foremost pitchers' park.  It is done purposely for dramatic effect.

Great American Ballpark vs. PETCO

On May 27th of this year, Joey Votto faced Jamie Moyer and hit a home run.  This one stuck in my mind for two reasons.  He took a crab step forward and then launched it to a remote pavilion in right center field.  I thought "my god, what a shot" and it was a nice shot.  However due to the extremely shallow walls at Great American it appeared much further than it was.  It went about 423 feet, which would have been a few rows deep at PETCO.  At the most ridiculous part of Petco in right-center, a ball would go more than 12 rows into the seats at Great American yet not clear the wall at PETCO.  Notice that the left fields are much more similar in size.  Let's continue the comparisons.

AT&T in San Fran.  Maybe the most similar in terms of dimensions, with one major difference: The wind usually blows out to right.

Coors Field.   It was built large because the ball flies much farther at an elevation of 1 mile.  Not built that way due to whimsy.

Dodger Stadium.  It's clearly a pitcher's park, but it at least plays a bit more fair in the power alleys, where a good portion of home runs tend to be hit.  It's o.k. to have deep corners or even deep portions in center field, but when you consistently screw the hitters in the power alleys, that's when they really tend to get frustrated.

Fenway actually plays pretty fair overall, despite its offensive reputation. The "Williamsburg" bullpens make it more fair than PETCO in right field.  I actually think that the idea of adding a visitor's bullpen to our right field would be one good option to look at when trying to figure out how to reformat the park in a cost-effective manner.  Bullpens in foul territory have always seemed out of place to me.

Nationals Park.  Plays very fair / league average.  You could clear entire sections in right and not come close in PETCO. 

Lastly, Yankee Stadium.  A rich team's stadium. Plays fair to left (although PETCO is still larger there), and plays toward the strength of the most valuable players in baseball in right.  Lefty power hitters and left-handed pitchers.  

Working "Moneyball" Into the Discussion

What's the big deal about making the park play in a similar fashion as most of the other parks in baseball?  Why not just tailor our roster to the needs of the park, get dominant pitching, and pitch, defend, dink and dunk and steal our way to our fair share of World Series rings?

First of all, there's a great article written by Mickey Koke including analysis on what an albatross this park has actually been and how it can affect the psyche of the team.  Baseball is very much a psychological game.  I won't cover that here other than to say that evidence says this park not only suppresses runs but also eats away at the resolve and discipline of hitters. 

The thinking goes that because Petco is so big, we should be able to put together an outfield of fleet, contact-hitting outfielders with gap power who could make a living hitting doubles and triples.  Tell me: How many players in the major leagues currently fit that description?  The Padres have two very typical "rangy" outfielder types in Cameron Maybin and Will Venable.  They are a good example of athletic outfielders in this league and they fit our required style defensively. Both struggle to make contact or drive the ball with regularity.  There are 5-10 outfielders in the majors that would make ideal PETCO outfielders.  We don't currently have any of them, despite the fact that we've now been playing here for many years.  So how's that task of shaping the team to the park coming along?

"Moneyball" the movie did the book a great disservice by glossing over the main point the book was trying to make.  That is, that the A's won by finding efficiency in the market - in any statistic.  For reasons unknown, Bennett Miller decided to make a movie that made it appear that a good-looking, swashbuckling GM obsessed with one statistic (On-Base Percentage) and relying upon just one front-office employee for guidance, could build a winning team.  Moneyball was never about just one statistic.  It's really about identifying undervalued assets of any kind in the market and putting them to use. 

In an effort to portray the A's as a woebegone franchise they never made much mention of the Tim Hudson / Barry Zito / Mark Mulder triumvirate that was just awesome, or beast-mode hitters such as Miguel Tejada, Eric Chavez and Jermaine Dye.  The book portrays Scott Hatteberg and his his 15 HR / 61 RBI and his .374 on-base percentage as a nice additional piece that was found on the cheap, and Chad Bradford as another undervalued asset in the market - a career minor leaguer that had never been given a fair chance.  

Tangentially, let me point out that a book should have been written instead about the Marlins, who somehow won the World Series twice in the span of seven years while working around one of the 2-3 worst baseball markets in major league baseball along with our sunny San Diego.  Clearly, neither of their general managers were good looking enough.

The point in bringing "Moneyball" into the discussion is this: The new ownership of the Padres is going to raise the payroll, but we will never be a free-spending team.  We need to be able to evaluate talent on par with or better than other teams, coach our draft picks better than other teams, and acquire talent that other teams overlook to fill in the gaps.  We need to be able to find our own loopholes in the market. Sometimes it might be pitching, (which in some seasons tends to all get hurt at once).  Sometimes it might be an aging, left-handed hitting outfielder who still has something left in the tank.  If that player could make a difference for your team, you need to be able to acquire him and have him be able to produce, not hit cans of corn to the warning track all season.

The Padres have had a horrible record developing and keeping power hitters, even dating back to the days of Jack Murphy Stadium, which was a very fair ballpark.  I'd like to see that change in my lifetime.  Young players like Alonso and Grandal have so much promise.  I'd hate to see them get chewed up and spit out like so many hitters before them.

The request here isn't to somehow turn PETCO into a hitters' park.  I suggest moderate changes that would still result in a moderate pitchers park or a fair park, so that a well-struck ball in any direction stands at least a chance at being rewarded.  After all, that's the point of this wonderful game we all love.

Expect to see changes

When the new ownership group of the Padres receives approval from Major League Baseball, I expect that we will see some changes immediately, and more over the years to come.  At the heart of most of these changes will be an attempt to return to "The Dodger Way," retrofitted to San Diego's Padres.  Although Branch Rickey is credited with shaping the Dodgers into one of the most stable and well-run franchises in any sport, the O'Malley family clearly espoused his methods.  Even after Sports Illustrated published a eulogy for the Dodgers in 1987, the team won a World Series the following year.  They then proved they could still develop talent over the following decade, as Dodger players won five consecutive rookie-of-the-year awards from 1992-1996.

The O'Malleys were known more as businessmen than baseball men, but I still expect that they will place a heavy emphasis on "The Dodger Way" - doing things the right way.

Here in San Diego many of us hate the Dodgers.  I really don't.  I respect the franchise for what it used to represent.  They have a history, an aura, that can't be purchased or created through marketing.  From the uniforms (among the best and most recognizable in any sport) to the on-field success (6 World Series titles, 21 NL Penants), they simply knew how baseball was supposed to be played on the field, and knew how baseball franchises were supposed to be operated at the top.   They had three general managers, and three on-field managers, from 1958 to 1998 when Peter O'Malley sold the team.  Clearly, the Padres haven't been "in the know," and that is why I expect we will see significant changes over the coming years.

They will try to build a franchise that does everything the right way from the top down.  In every aspect of the organization they will try to hire top-notch people and have the organization represented the right way.  There is no stone that will not be overturned in this process.  Here are some of the things I would anticipate would be looked at:

The Ballpark

Right Field in Petco Park makes mincemeat out of lefties.

Right field in Petco Park is an absolute joke.  People will say "the ball doesn't carry except to left and center field" and bring up atmospherics claiming that the ball simply doesn't go as far here as elsewehere, because we're right next to the ocean.  That is about 99% hogwash.  It is the size, and shape, of right field that makes Petco Park the most extreme pitchers park in the majors.  I have done a lot of research on the dimensions and comparisons with other ballparks.  An upcoming blog will have detailed information on why right field is a complete abomination and why it has to be, and will be, dealt with by bringing in the fences.  Look for that coming shortly.

The Broadcast Teams

I really hate it when people start speculating about other people's jobs purely out of dislike.  Or like the long-departed Philly-Billy Werndl, just because they like talking about people losing their jobs.  I do (wholeheartedly) dislike Ted Leitner as a broadcaster - let's get that right out in the open.  But I believe there are serious issues to be looked at with Leitner.  He is just young enough that there's no way you can convince him to retire.  He's ensconced in San Diego, pitching everything from labor unions to weight-loss clinic advertisements on the radio, and appears to be a workaholic as well, as there simply isn't a gig he won't take.  He loves the spotlight.  He's not going away.

Ted Leitner, Play-by-Play 

In my opinion, the broadcast team, Leitner especially, has contributed to an inferiority complex that we have in town about our sports.  It started with him calling the team "My Padres" when they were doing well and "Your Padres" when they weren't doing well.  At least in some VERY small way, we can credit our ho-hum support for this team to things like that.  To be clear, he is not doing this anymore, at least not that I've heard lately.  And I do feel that reason #1 we are such a ho-hum sports town is because so few of us are from here.  However, his tendency to brag about anything decent the team has done, and then bash or downplay other teams whenever possible just seems unprofessional and again contributes to our inferiority complex.  What's the difference between Ken Caminiti and Barry Bonds?  Obviously, talent.  Both were clear-cut cheaters.  But you don't hear Leitner harping on Caminiti every time the Padres play the Giants.

I feel that a truly great broadcaster such as Vin Scully (there's that Dodger Blue again) really contributes to the overall appeal and perception of a team.  Fans may not even know much about him personally.  In fact, the great ones purposefully maintain a distance between themselves and their listeners.  They tell the story about the game, not a story about themselves.  Until my favorite broadcaster Dave Niehaus passed away, I didn't know the first thing about him.  He never talked about himself!  I believe they will take a long, hard look at this and that you might see a change happen.  And on the TV side, I feel that Dick Enberg has simply lost it.  I'm not going to even cite examples; anyone who watches games can't help but notice as he makes up details about the play that he didn't see clearly; then nobody bothers to correct him because he's Dick Freaking Enberg.  I feel confident with everybody else on the broadcast team.  I feel that Andy Masur is perfectly suited to be the full-time television man with Mud and T. Gwynn alongside him.  Meanwhile, Bob Scanlan is doing a phenomenal job as the color man on the radio.  He is simply awesome.


Spring Training Facility

Part of Dodger Lore was "Dodgertown," in Vero Beach, Florida.  Dodgertown was unique to spring training facilities and was the epitome of the way that their philosophy impacted everything they did.  It was a huge, park-like facility with a family atmosphere in which fans could get just about any player's autograph.  They were the only spring training site that had their own cafeteria facility.  And they certainly didn't share Dodger Town with another team.

Last year the Padres re-signed in Peoria, AZ on a 20-year lease. I believe this wouldn't have happened if the O'Malleys were in charge or had a significant say at the time.  At a minimum I think they would have negotiated with another city in the Phoenix suburbs for a new facility to call their own, but it's possible they would have tried to move the team to the Grapefruit League and back to the old Vero Beach Facility.  Just last year, Peter O'Malley was involved in helping the old Very Beach baseball facility even though he had nothing to do with the Dodgers anymore.  It's that love and interest in the smaller things about baseball that gives me hope for the Padres under new ownership.  Although they recently signed this lease, don't be surprised if they try to get out of it or at the least put a lot of investment into the Padre side of the Peoria complex so that it suits their needs better.

The Uniforms


Last but not least, I had to bring up the uniforms.  Great teams have great and recognizable uniforms.  From Alabama in college football and the Yankees (and yes, the Dodgers) in baseball.

Pick one, already! Not necessarily this one....

To this day it still baffles me why the Chargers won't just go with the Powder Blues and stick with them.  Commonly cited as one of the top 5-10 uniforms in any sport, they are a tremendous asset to the team that is being underutilized.  Nobody gets tired of greatness; that's why they should go to those uniforms permanently.  On to the Padres, they simply aren't sure what their uniforms should look like, are they?  And frankly I'm not a fashionista and don't want to get into that here.  They have to choose a uniform that they and the fans feel is a timeless representation of the team, and stick with it for the next 50 years.  Because that is what a classy baseball team does.


No really, it's almost over

There are other items I thought about while writing this but it's gotten long enough.  The Fox Sports San Diego situation is a sad state of affairs, but I'm not sure how they will rectify that right away.  Clearly, Time-Warner doesn't give a hoot about their customers, and that's about where it begins and ends.  I don't think that the signings of Huston Street and Carlos Quentin were indicative of how this team will operate in the future (signing extremely injury-prone players will not be a strategy), but were instead a necessary gesture of goodwill approved by the owners given what appeared to be an especially tough trading market.  Seeing what Chase Headley can do with reasonable right-field dimensions, I bet the Yankees are questioning their decision not to pay the piper and get him right about now.

About Me.....

I don't think that anybody really wants to read anyone's opinions on anything without first knowing who they are.  It's only for that reason that I'll delve a little bit into who I am before starting to post about real topics.  I am not your typical person that would be posting a Padres blog.  I don't even wear Padres gear that often, live in the East Village, or have season tickets (although I did at one time).  I commute one hour each way from my home in Otay Mesa to work in Ramona, so I can't physically get to all that many Padres games a year. 

I am married, have a baby daughter and a dog, and am a fantasy baseball junkie but would first consider myself a fan of baseball.  I use the fantasy game to enhance my viewership and interest in baseball in general, but the things that matter to me most about the game are the old fashioned things.  The way a beautiful park like Petco looks just before the game starts, the smell of the concession stands and going to a ball game with my dad.

I was born in Escondido, but raised in Seattle starting at the age of 4.   I grew up watching and rooting for the Seattle Mariners; where most Padres fans have an undying loyalty for Tony Gwynn, well... I do too.  Maybe I'll thoroughly analyze and compare him to some of my favorite Mariners at another point in time.

In 2000, at the age of 25, I moved back to San Diego to draw nearer to the bulk of my family.  I had always rooted on the Padres from afar.  Now that I was reading about them in the paper every day, they gradually overtook the Mariners as my #1 baseball interest, day in and day out.

When I was a wee lad, I wanted to be a sports journalist.  My 'dream job' was to one day cover a major league baseball team as a beat writer.  I wrote for the school newspaper at Washington State covering sports of all types as well as student elections.  It eventually became clear to me that sports journalism wasn't the avenue I wanted to go down.  There were a few reasons, but a key aspect was that the attitude of players and coaches at every level of that institution turned me off.  I wasn't cut out for it.  When you're getting big-timed by the women's volleyball coach who acts like it's beneath her to have to spend five minutes with you, you start wondering if you want to know any of these pro athletes; if it will ruin your enthusiasm for the games themselves.  Oh yeah, and the money sucks, especially starting out.

So why did I decide to post a Padres blog -  and why now?  What do I expect to make of this?  In short, because of the new ownership, and I have absolutely no idea.  I have always had this nagging opinion of the Padres that they were just second rate in how they went about conducting their business at the very top.  The fact that Bruce Bochy and Bud Black have been their managers over my time here somewhat offsets that.   You won't find two more classy, capable men to lead a baseball team.

Yet it's clear that the last few years, the old owner essentially positioned this team to be sold.  That's no secret, but it's also no way to run a baseball team.  It shouldn't be the main priority and focus.  If it were Thomas Tull that purchased this team, I wouldn't have been inspired to start sharing my opinions.  It was the O'Malley name, the involvement of men like Fowler and Mickelson, that got me thinking and dreaming and hoping again - dreaming that one day we will be champions after all.