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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.

A few weeks ago, I took a trip out to Lake Mead with my sister, her boyfriend Mike, and his family and friends. It was a ton of fun and I would totally do it again. We rented a spacious houseboat. Mike’s sister and her husband own a super nice Malibu Wakesetter VLX wakeboard boat and a SeaDoo supercharged jet ski.

We stayed near Echo Bay, which is a little over an hour’s drive outside of Vegas. We left San Diego around 11PM and drove all night to get there by morning. Needless to say, it was blazing out there, well past 100 degrees during the day. However, the lake provided the perfect refreshment. The lake’s water temperature was in the high 80s, so it felt nice and cool compared to the air temperature. I was surprised at how clear and clean the lake water was. Definitely not like swimming in the ocean or anything. Lake Mead has some incredible views, especially during sunset.

It was my first time on a jet ski and first time wakeboarding. I can now say I’m totally addicted to both. I took the supercharged SeaDoo out and I wasn’t quite prepared by how powerful it was. The thing accelerates unbelievably fast. I ended up doing 65 MPH over the water, which was a total trip because you can barely see the front of the jet ski, so it literally looks like you’re flying over the water.

I also tried wakeboarding. After a flurry of tips from all the experienced wakeboarders and about 10 tries, I was able to get up out of the water, stand, and cruise around for a while. It’s really a lot of fun and surprisingly tiring. Every muscle of your body is working to keep you balanced. I’m sure I’ll be doing mid-air 360s in no time…

Also did some fishing, swimming, and kayaking. Played some horseshoes and made s’mores over a campfire at night. Oh yea, and I also rode shotgun in this inflatable raft thing that got towed around at high speed by the wakeboat. It was so much damn fun.

Great trip. Now I’m super tan.

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.