Anything and Everything About the San Diego Padres
Friday, April 8, 2011
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Padres First Series
The first series of the 2011 season for the San Diego Padres is officially history. The Padres won the 3 game series (2-1) as they kicked off their season against the National League Central’s St. Louis Cardinals. All things considered I am pleased with the performance of the team and its new players.
Going into this series I honestly was not expecting a lot. I thought that the Padres were going to lose their opening series for a couple of reasons. First, the Padres’ number one pitcher Mat Latos is starting the season on the 15 day disabled list and was not available to pitch on opening day against the Cardinal’s number one pitcher Chris Carpenter, who when healthy is a threat to win the Cy Young Award very year. Second, I thought that Albert Pujols was going to give the Padres a tough time in this series. Pujols is the best player in baseball and he is currently in a contract year (which means he will be a free agent at the end of the season if he does not sign a new deal with the Cardinals), and I thought he was going to make a statement to start the season but fortunately I was wrong. And finally, the Padres historically have not played well in St. Louis. The Padres had not swept the Cardinals in St. Louis since 1980 so it has been a generation’s time since the Padres have had any great success.
There were plenty of positives that came out of this series. Pitching was a positive because the pitching staff did not give up a lot of runs. The Padres did not allow more than three runs in their first three games. Another positive was the emergence of the new players like Cameron Maybin. Maybin made his presence known in his Padres debut when with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning he tied the game with a solo homerun to force extra innings. The one negative I saw was timely hitting. In game three of the series the Padres had the bases loaded with one out on two separate occasions and could not produce a run. The Padres are going to need clutch hitting as the season continues if they want to give themselves a shot at the division.
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Mat Latos
Last year the Padres got a lot of support from their youth. Several young players like Tony Gwynn Jr, Will Venable, and Nick Hundley stepped up to contribute to the Padres’ success in 2010. But the player that stood out the most was starting pitcher Mat Latos. Latos has been one of the Padres’ best prospects since being drafted in 2007.
Latos was expected to be the number three or number four starter for the Padres last year but he caught the entire organization by surprise when after the first two months of the season; he had the best ERA in all of baseball for starting pitchers. He developed into one of the best young pitchers in baseball just like the Padres had hoped for and he was ahead of schedule. He was clearly the best starting pitcher on the team. Because of his early season dominance, Padres manager Bud Black decided to promote Latos to be the number one starter which is also known as the “Ace” of the team.
Latos is twenty-three years old which is young for an “Ace” pitcher, but his young age proves that the Padres have a bright future ahead of them. The only thing that concerns me is if the Padres can hold on to this guy for many years to come. Baseball is my favorite sport, but I am not a big fan of the business aspect because it is almost impossible for a small market team to sign a big time free agent because baseball does not have a salary cap. The salary cap in baseball is part of the reason why Adrian Gonzalez had to take his talents to Boston. Boston is a market that can support a big time player that wants a big time salary. Small market teams like the Padres cannot afford salaries over one-hundred million dollars.
Something that I would love to see the Padres do is to sign Latos to a long term contract but the big question remains, what will his demands be? Odds are if he continues to have success, he will not be a Padre for long.
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Project #3 TV (TJ Acierno)
Time :55
Major League Baseball teams up with American Red Cross
Major League Baseball and the American Red Cross have teamed up to help those affected by the tsunami that hit Japan’s coast.Many players around the league have set up locations at spring training ballparks asking for donations that will help Japan in its relief efforts. Teams around the league have set up fundraisers during the regular season that will benefit Japan as well. So far fans have been very supportive and Major League Baseball and the American Red Cross have raised 60-thousand-dollars that will go directly to Japan. Several Major League players have been affected by this natural disaster and have family members that still live in Japan. Boston Red Sox pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka found his grandmother who had been reported missing after the tsunami original hit Japan’s coast but not all players have been as fortunate and are asking for your help. Donations are still being accepted by the American Red Cross, if you wish to make a donation log on to www.redcross.org.
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Major League Baseball and the American Red Cross have teamed up to help those affected by the tsunami that hit Japan’s coast.Many players around the league have set up locations at spring training ballparks asking for donations that will help Japan in its relief efforts. Teams around the league have set up fundraisers during the regular season that will benefit Japan as well. So far fans have been very supportive and Major League Baseball and the American Red Cross have raised 60-thousand-dollars that will go directly to Japan. Several Major League players have been affected by this natural disaster and have family members that still live in Japan. Boston Red Sox pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka found his grandmother who had been reported missing after the tsunami original hit Japan’s coast but not all players have been as fortunate and are asking for your help. Donations are still being accepted by the American Red Cross, if you wish to make a donation log on to www.redcross.org.
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Project #3 Radio (TJ Acierno)
Major League Baseball has taken action in the Japan tsunami relief efforts. So far players, coaches, and teams have shown their generosity by making donations and setting up fundraisers. The money that is raised will be sent directly to Japan as they attempt to recover.
Project #3 Print (TJ Acierno)
The unexpected tragic events that have occurred in Japan have left many in doubt. Doubt about what the future is going to be like for Japan, doubt about whether family members are alive or dead, doubt about if there is any way to recover from such devastation. Recovery is going to take time after the destruction of homes and major power plants along the Japanese coast. Help is greatly needed. Many people and organizations have already been very generous and have provided aid and money. But here in the United States, Major League Baseball has the most players from Japan and has been the most active sport in the Japan relief efforts thus far.
“We have been in communication with the members of our office in Tokyo,” said Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig. “Through our shared love of baseball for more than a century, Japan is a particularly special place to us, and we are deeply saddened by the disaster that has confronted the nation.”
Several Japanese players across the league have already expressed their concerns. Daisuke Matsuzaka of the Boston Red Sox expressed his concerns when he could not find his grandmother several days after the tsunami hit Japan. Fortunately Matsuzaka was finally able to contact his grandmother to find out that she was safe. Ichiro Suzuki was in a similar situation when he could not contact his parents, who were eventually found. Suzuki has made a personal donation of $1.25 million dollars which was matched by his team, the Seattle Mariners. Takashi Saito of the Milwaukee Brewers was given permission to leave spring training so that he could locate his family. Saito has since located his wife and their 3 daughters but has not had the same kind of luck with locating his parents. Two Oakland A’s players Hideki Matsui and Kurt Suzuki are both from Japan and were both devastated when they heard the news. Matsui has not heard from his family that lives in Japan but is not worried because his family does not live in the area of Japan that the tsunami hit. Suzuki on the other hand is very concerned because he has not heard from his family who live in the area that was most affected by the tsunami.
Teams across the league have set up fundraisers to help Japan. The Los Angeles Dodgers have teamed up with the American Red Cross and have already raised $60,000 and will continue their fundraising once the season starts. The San Diego Padres are having Japanese Heritage Night which is scheduled for May 20th in which the Padres are going to accept donations which will all go to Japanese relief efforts. The Oakland A’s have also set up a Japanese Heritage Night which is scheduled for April 3rd. The A’s will be facing Ichiro Suzuki’s Seattle Mariners that day in a game where Suzuki’s full attention will be on the field, but gratitude will be to the Oakland organization. Donations are still being made by Major League Baseball as Japan starts their climb out of this giant hole.
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