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It’s 1:05 AM. Jim Edmonds just grounded into a double play. We’re going into the 22nd inning. EPIC.

UPDATE: 1:21 AM. Rockies win. Sigh.

UPDATE 2: I’m so fucking disgusted with the Padres offense. Peavy, Hoffy, Bell, Thatcher, Cameron, Ledezma, Rusch all pitched magnificently. KG’s error was so damn costly, ultimately resulting in the game winning run. What it comes down to is the Padres offense, which is no where to be seen. The Pads have gone 94 innings without a HR. Fucking pitiful.

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.

It’s pretty sad the topic that’s bringing me out of the woodwork. The Chargers and Padres. This was one of the many awful weekends in SD sports history. I’ll try to keep it short, since I don’t want to relive the all-too-fresh-all-too-painful memories.

The Bolts lost at home to the lowly Chiefs, who they made look like Super Bowl champions. The only thing right about the game was LT in the first half. I can’t say anything about LT in the 2nd half because he was only given the ball 6 times. 14-2 last year. 1-3 this year. Lost and dejected, I’d be surprised at this point if the Chargers can pull out a winning season and even make the playoffs in a weak AFC West division.

The Padres blew the NL Wild Card decision game to the Rockies. After saving Peavy’s bacon from a game considered non-Peavy-esque, but normal for any other pitcher, the Padres took the Rockies to 13 innings, at Coors Field, on the national stage. Guess what? They blew it. After getting a go-ahead 2-run shot from the new Mr. October, Scott Hairston, Hoffy proceeds to give up 3 in the bottom of the 13th, all ending on a terrible call at the plate. His 2nd consecutive blown save in as many opportunities, the first of which he blew against the Brewers 2 days ago, which would have given the Pads the NL Wild Card.

I guess all this drama and heartbreak makes it all that much sweeter when the Chargers and/or Padres win it all…but I gotta tell ya - it’s fucking killing me.

Chris Young’s dazzling outing on the mound in Game 3 allowed the Padres to take Game 3 from the Cardinals, in St. Louis no less. Did the Padres capitalize on this opportunity and cash in on their momentum? No. They squadered it in Game 4. After leaving an uncomprehendable 27 men on base in Game 3, the Padres continued their tradition of impotent hitting by stranding 17 men in Game 4. Unforgivable. No game in the series was a blowout and victory was well within reach in each game. Clutch hitting was basically non-existant. Quality pitching can get you only so far. Winning teams put runs on the board. Aside from the obvious, runs accomplish 2 things. They put pressure on the opposition while taking the edge off of your bullpen. Sadly, the Padres frustrated themselves game after game with poor hitting. The team that went to the World Series in ‘98 could hit. Yes, they had a quality bullpen, but they also had a range of players that could generate hits and and move men around the bases. If the Padres can shore up their hitting, they should be in good shape for the 2007 season. They have a quality bullpen, many young players who are turning out to be great players, and a club full of guys that genuinely like each other. The Pads already have dumped Bellhorn and have around $30 million of money to shop for players. I hope they get a power hitter in an effort to propel the club into the next level.

The Padres managed to do the impossible. They managed to look worse today than they did on Tuesday. Wells did his best to keep the Pads in it. He gave up 2 earned, which could have easily been erased if some easy defensive plays were executed properly. Todd Walker made an amazing outstretched stop, but mishandled the throw to first. Far more worse and embarrassing was the botched pickle play with Pujols. Catching Pujols in a pickle on his way to 2nd should be a gimme. An easy out. Somehow, the Padres fucked it up and made themselves look like a hack minor league team on national television. The only bright spot of the entire game was Doc Roberts’ throw to Josh Bard for a great play at the plate. A game that was easily within reach seemed to be as far away as the moon. A sloppy defense coupled with a laughable 4-hit offense put the Padres two in the hole as they continue the series back in St. Louis. So what are the chances of the Padres turning it around in Busch Stadium in front of a sea of Red Bird fans? Pretty slim. Pitching stud Chris Young will no doubt keep the Padres in the game, but I fear a sweep is in order if the Padres can’t turn around their anemic offense in a hurry. To add insult to injury, the stooges at ESPN and every other sports outlet will be falling over themselves on how good Pujols is (which he is, but still - fuck him.), how the Cards are turning it around, and how they thrive to be in the post season. Spare me the dramatics. It’s an issue of the Padres not showing up rather than the Cardinals rising to the occassion. The only highlights occurred when ESPN’s Chris Berman mentioned how Hoffy was the all-time saves leader and how beautiful the city of San Diego was. Sadly, the Padres didn’t give Swami much else to talk about.

The picture says it all, summing up the entire game for the Padres. A solid effort, but just a bit shy of delivering. Peavy danced with the devil one too many times, and Pujols made him pay. I think that 2-run shot really rattled him for a bit. I give piazza the benefit of the doubt with the netting and burning out his retinas by staring in the sun to track the ball. I wouldn’t have felt as bad about the loss if the Padres hadn’t left so many scoring opportunities on the table. Granted the Cardinals’ defense was top notch the entire game, the Padres just couldn’t deliver. The only productive people were Doc Roberts and Giles. The rest were pathetic on every level and should be ashamed of themselves. Not only did their limp bats keep the Padres totally out of the game, it provided fuel for the all the sports analysts to incessantly talk about Chris Carpenter. Must he always be referred to as “Last Year’s Cy Young Award Winner Chris Carpenter” or “Cy Young Frontrunner Chris Carpenter” or “Possible Back-To-Back Cy Young Award Winner Chris Carpenter”? Shoot me in the fucking face. I’m confident the Pads will bounce back, because we have a deep bullpen and a hungry team. The only thing that can make it worse is if the Dodgers won tonight. Anything but the Dodgers winning. Please.