The San Diego Padres, after winning the NL West in 2005, are off to a dreadful start in 2006. With an 8-14 record, they are currently in last place in the division. The team looks horrible, both in pitching and hitting. No one is batting .300 or higher, and no starting pitcher has more than 2 wins. Mike Cameron is on the DL, again, and so is Ryan Klesko, two of their power hitters. The addition of Mike Piazza has paid some dividends in offense, but his lacking defensive ability behind the plate is more of a concern in my opinion, than his bat. Jake Peavy only has 1 win to his credit this year, and a bloated 5.17 ERA. Even the addition of Woody Williams to the starting lineup has not helped the situation. This team needs to find the spark that took them to the playoffs last year, before they end up in a first-to-worst type of situation.
I'm not a big Padres fan, but they have my respect because of one man, Tony Gwynn. Growing up, my baseball coaches always extolled the virtues of Tony Gwynns pure hitting abilities. If you want to know more about this future hall of famer, see this site.
https://www.baseballlibrary.com/baseballlib.../Gwynn_Tony.stm
You know it's pretty sad when a team is remembered for one player, but it happens more often than not. The same thing is happening in San Francisco where Bonds is the only distinguishable player for the mass public. Tony Gwynn was the San Diego Padres for a long time. Harold Reynolds, who played with Gwynn, made a comment the other night about how he would be asked about Tony, even when he was having a good season. No one remembered the other players who may have been having great years; everyone focused on Gwynn. This can really chisel away on team morale, as players get tired of having to answer questions about this one person. Interestingly enough, for how good a player Gwynn was, he never won a World Series title with them. Chances are other players will get blamed for that, not Gwynn.
Jim Edmonds
Padres center fielder Jim Edmonds will need at least 2-3 weeks to recover from a calf strain, and Scott Hairston is first in line to replace him, General Manager Kevin Towers said yesterday after getting results of an MRI exam. Further casting doubt on his availability for the March 31 season opener, Edmonds told the club this strain is more severe than the calf strain that sidelined him for some 20 exhibition games in March 2003.
Ref. https://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20..._1s8padres.html
Padress Trades
On the day that Hall of Fame-bound closer Trevor Hoffman returns to San Diego as a Milwaukee Brewer, for the first time since being traded, the bottom-dwelling San Diego Padres announce the trade of their ace pitcher Jake Peavy to the Chicago White Sox for four players. Ref. SignOnSanDiego.com
Padres Win
San Diego Padres win their first game of the season at Petco Park by a staggering 17-2 over the Atlanta Braves. Lead by the bats of Kyle Blanks and Will Venable, the Pardres record 19 hits while holding the Braves to only 4. Winning pitcher is Kevin Correia, evening his season record to 1-1. Ref. SignOnSanDiego.com
Padres outlast Giants 3-2
Given ample opportunity to record their 20th win of the season for the second-fastest start in franchise history, the Padres beat the San Francisco Giants 3-2 in a protracted walk-a-thon at AT&T Park Tuesday night. Ref. Source 8