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It’s opening day for the 2008 season and I am beyond pumped. As with the end of nearly every Padres season it seems, I have a furious knee-jerk reaction to the Padres shooting themselves in the foot by either failing to make the playoffs by a few games or rolling over in the first round. After a brief moment of swearing off my allegiance to them once and for all, I come back down from orbit, hungry for the next season to begin. The upcoming 2008 season is no different. After an overwhelmingly flaccid finish last season, the Padres retooled and overall things look good.

I was pissed for a while we missed out on the Fukudome sweepstakes, but I’m over it now. The Padres shed some baggage over the off-season and picked up some new guys. Jim Edmonds, who I thought would defy his age and his critics, unfortunately looks to be confirming everyone’s predictions by starting the season on the DL. Although I’m sad to see Geoff Blum go, I’m happy with Tadahito Iguchi at 2nd. Most importantly, the Pads have young guys who look to do some offensive damage for once (similar to what Colorado did last season). Callix Crabbie, Paul McAnulty, and Chase Headley, who was just sent down to AAA to work on his defensive skills (which is a total load of horseshit), all look promising. Scott Hairston and Kevin Kouzmanoff are looking to have a big season. The biggest question mark ironically is the Padres rotation. I hope Jake Peavy can continue his Cy Young form. I hope Chris Young is fully healed. I hope Greg Maddux can pull out another year of wizardry. I hope Justin Germano can stay consistent. I hope Padres icon Trevor Hoffman hasn’t jumped the shark. I hope budget pitchers looking for a 2nd life like Mark Prior and Randy Wolf can just last through the entire season.

Baseball analysts don’t give the Padres much respect or hope this season. All the Yahoo! Sports analysts put them finishing 4th in the NL West. I can’t wait for the Padres to prove them wrong. I never though I’d say it, but I’m more confident and excited in the Padres offense than their pitching. In any case, the Padres take on the Houston Astros tonight at Petco. Peavy v Oswalt. It’s going to epic, and I can’t fucking wait.

UPDATE: Pads win 4-0. Peavy pitches 3 hits over 7 innings. Bell looked good. The Claw looked good. Pads amass 14 hits on the night. I am fucking beyond stoked.