Last Saturday afternoon Padres fans geared up for the debut of Burch Smith, the 23 year old out of the University of Oklahoma. With a plus fastball and plus command, the excitement was warranted. Smith came out and retired the side in the bottom of the first, striking out the first two batters he faced, Matthew Joyce and Kelly Johnson. The reaction via social media was hyperbole in the truest sense of the word as fans fawned over the Texan like he was an abstract amalgamation of Nolan Ryan, Kerry Wood, and Lyndon Baines Johnson. And then the second inning began.
Burch Smith opened the second with a walk to Evan Longoria and then a home run to James Loney. After that, Smith allowed a succession of pure ugliness as the Rays rattled off a BB-1B-1B-1B-2B before Tyson Ross got the call for long-relief. Burch Smith threw 42 pitches and was charged with 6 ERs in 1 inning of work. The final line looked ugly but boy did he look good to the first two batters he faced. Two strikeouts!
So what now? Burch Smith is scheduled to pitch tonight against Gio Gonzalez and the Washington Nationals.
But then what? Will all the reasons that allowed Burch Smith to ascend to The Show without stopping in AAA be null and void if he doesn’t have an outstanding start tonight?
It is my contention that Burch Smith needs to stay with the big club no matter the result tonight. The Padres are not about Jason Marquis, Eric Stults, or even Clayton Richard. These arms do not represent the future of the San Diego Padres. The Padres are about Andrew Cashner, Burch Smith, Cory Luebke, Casey Kelly, Joe Weiland, Robbie Erlin, Donn Roach, Matt Whistler, Keyvious Sampson, and what feels like an unending list of young arms at the lower levels of the minor league system. These guys are the future. And sometimes the future is now.
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The Padres have now played 40 games so far this season which brings us just about to the quarter poll of the 2013 campaign. As that is the case, I thought it might be a good moment to take stock of what the Padres have, what they don’t have, where they’ve been, and where they may be going. So, with the Padres back home for a 7-game homestand, let’s see what we have.
To say it’s been a roller coaster opening quarter would be an understatement. The Padres have been involved in 8 sweeps so far this season. 4 times being swept, 4 times sweeping. For reference sake, the Padres were involved in their 8th sweep in 2012 on July 4th when they completed a sweep of the Diamondbacks. Considering this you’d be excused for waffling on whether this team is good, bad or something else entirely.
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On Wednesday, the Padres collected 17 hits en route to an 8-4 victory over the Orioles in Baltimore. Collecting 17 or more hits in a game doesn’t guarantee success, but it helps. From 2008 to 2012, big-league teams did that 545 times, winning 91 percent of the time.
The Padres have knocked 17 or more hits 123 times in their history, going 105-18 in those games. And while 85 percent isn’t as sparkly as 91 percent, it’s still solid (MLB was at 86 percent in 2012).
They’ve done it twice this year and won both times. The Padres have won at least one game in which they collected 17 or more hits every year dating back to 1989. The only times they have played an entire season without winning at least one game that meet our criteria are 1971-1977 and 1988.
Think about that for a moment. The Padres played 1,124 games between 1971 and 1977. They knocked at least 17 hits just twice… and lost both times. (Read More…)
Do you remember Cary Chow? Of course you do, he was the original host of Padres POV before he was taken from us by ESPN shortly after shooting the Padres and Pints episode. He may be gone but he has not forgotten us here in San Diego.
During the Padres Public haiku frenzy we sent him a haiku.
He replied with a haiku of his own!
Then the Ghost commented on his “reign of terror” and Cary vowed to “Return like the Jedi”
Nothing happened for a while then out of the blue he returned….like a Jedi, and started to give out some shout outs to Padres Public during Padres highlights!
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Yesterday, on a sunny afternoon in Baltimore, Maryland, Alexi Amarista stepped to the plate. It was the top of the 7th inning and the Padres held a 5-2 lead.
After reaching on an error, Kyle Blanks stood at first base while the Orioles’ Tommy Hunter waited for the signals from his catcher. Hunter quickly got ahead of Amarista 0-1 and then delivered his second pitch of the at-bat. The little utility player opened up his hips and absolutely crushed a ball to deep left-center field.
Orioles center fielder Adam Jones scaled the fence, but to no avail, that ball was gone.
Or was it? Was this hit by Amarista a HR?
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Search engine optimization be damned! I create titles that are fun/stupid. This post is about records and clocks. Why? Because I wanted to post about records and clocks.
Here is a record that was released after the 1984 season by KFMB. All net proceeds of the sales went to the American Diabetes Association. As opposed to the other Padres ’84 NL Champs record below, this one is full of songs. I’ve listened to it a few times and it always brings a smile to my face.
Side One
Talkin’ Baseball by Terry Cashman
Thunderin’ Lumber by Steve Vaus
Doin’ The Goose by Glenn Erath-Hudson & Bauer Singers
The Garv by KFMB’s Hudson & Bauer
Talkin’ Number One by Steve Vaus
Padres Win Again by Eric Show
Side Two
Hey Pads by Glenn Erath-Hudson & Bauer Singers with Steve Horn
The Garv by KFMB’s Hudson & Bauer
Steve Garvey National Anthem by Steve Vaus
Tiger Safari by Glenn Erath & Steve Horn
The Committee by Steve Vaus
We Are Still The Champions by Glenn Erath & Karen McDermott
Dreams Can Come True…Ode to Ray by Mutimer & Friends
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Here at Padres Public, we welcome just about anyone to submit ideas for Guest Posts (See what I did there in the title?). Media types. Other Padres bloggers.
Even San Francisco Giants fans.
My brother, Mark (@BigBaldMark) — who clearly is a much better writer than I am — is the latest to join our list of guest writers. He has his own blog, BigBaldMark’s BigBaldWorld, where he writes about whatever strikes his fancy. Sometimes it’s the Giants. Sometimes it’s Disney.
And sometimes it’s actually the Padres.
This is one of those times. Enjoy!
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I had a chat recently with Jordan Stark, one of the minds behind the Bring Back the Brown campaign. I first met Jordan at Friar Fest 2011. RJ’s Fro, Friarhood, Ghost of Ray Kroc, a few others and I were hanging out when up walks a dude handing out flyers that with “Bring Back the Brown” printed. At the time I wasn’t sure how much success a flyer would have in that regard, but I dug the sentiment. Thanks in part to our shared love of the Padres and fashion, Jordan and I became friends. I soon learned more about his cool ideas, so I asked him to share some of them with us.
I chatted with Jordan about his thoughts on what Bring Back the Brown is about, how he sees it happening, his involvement in Padres promotions, and a great brown promotional item being given away on this Friday, May 17th.
We’re also giving away a FREE pair of limited edition Bring Back the Brown Knockaround sunglasses, vol. 2. To enter, post a photo of yourself wearing brown Padres gear on Facebook or Twitter. Be sure to tag Padres Public or mention Padres Public so we see you, and use the hashtag #BringBackTheBrown. We’ll pick a winner and send them a pair of shades.
Melvin: Jordan Stark, welcome to the Danger Zone. In a few sentences what is the Bring Back the Brown project and why did you start it?
Jordan: 1. It’s our way of maintaining a relationship with our hometown baseball club.
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It was bound to happen. He had been flirting with disaster all season. The law of averages finally caught up with him. On Saturday closer Huston Street blew his first save as a Padre. Making it especially galling, the winning rally began with two out and no one on base. Walk. Home Run. Boom. Thanks for playing.
I didn’t see the game, but I’m willing to bet Longoria hit a slider. Why? Because Street’s slider has been getting tattooed this year. Some graphical proof after the jump.
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In an effort to stay close to our roots, the staff at Padres Public, will offer-up a haiku each Monday to describe the previous week in Padres Baseball. Restricting our feelings to 3 lines and 17 syllables to describe a week of play is a massive undertaking, but (un) fortunately, we are more than up to the task.
At the beginning of last week Padres fans were cautiously optimistic as the team crept higher in the rankings, and settled in at 13-18. Then the team went all crazy like Clarence Worley in Drexl’s drug/whore-house and swept the visiting Miami Marlins to get to within two games of .500 (16-18). With fan interest piqued the Padres traveled to St. Petersburg, FL where they were swept by the Rays in mostly heartbreaking fashion. It was brutal. If you care, that is.
A tale of two sweeps during the week that was. Interestingly, each game featured a team from Florida where attendance was visibly low for the home team. Wait, that’s not interesting. That’s sad.
After three consecutive losses to the AL East Rays, the Padres find themselves in Baltimore, Maryland to face the Orioles in a two game series beginning on Tuesday. After the short set in Baltimore, the Padres return home to face the Nationals in a four game series. Ewwwwwww . . . this week is gonna be tough.
The Padres are 16-21. Let’s haiku.
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