Either someone in Los Angeles put a curse on us (obviously in the form of Tony Gwynn Jr. who was a thorn in his hometown and former team's side yesterday) or the current Padres didn't really have the drive to win like the Dodgers did.I suspect it is the latter. Unlike baseball when I was a kid baseball today is not consistent as far as who is on your team from year to year. Some teams still retain the major stars of their teams but the Padres, as do most of the others, seem to produce a new line-up each season.
Back then, when I was a kid and watched the Mets, the same group of players would return year in and year out unless a player retired. That consistency made the game better.
From year to year the players would know each other and were comfortable playing the game with each other. Now days, with teams switching up rosters from year to year thanks to the greed in baseball and the free agent system there is no consistency. I think and the lack of consistency made the last two games some of the worst I have seen played in a long time.
Most of these guys on the team are new to the Padres so they are not really tuned into the big rivalry between the Dodgers and the Padres. Clearly the Dodgers, who have many of the same players from last year, were in tune and it showed with the aggressive base running, the timely hitting and the good defensive plays.
After we lost the first game by a score of 4-2- thanks to Tony Gwynn Jr., who seemed to be giving the team that traded him away the big middle finger as he ran around the bases and scored a few runs for his new team- it seemed as if the Padres gave up before the started. Or at least it seemed that way.Granted the Dodgers starting pitcher, Hiroki Kuroda, was on his game and pitched brilliantly. In fact he wound up one out short of having a complete game but this same Padres team handled tough pitching and a tough team on the road- namely the St. Louis Cardinals.
That team- or at least the line-up was a completely different team of players then we saw last night.
Our defense got sloppy, we couldn't hit the ball- and when we could and had the bases loaded, at least once in Friday's fiasco and two times in last night's regular game, impatience at the plate and hitting bad pitches ended one rally and the collision of Chase Headley and Casey Blake to get the final out of the ninth inning was the straw that broke the camel's back.
The team that took the field in St. Louis, at the start of the season, was excited to play and in to the competition of the game. They came home and won the first from the defending World Champion San Francisco Giants and then lost the next day thanks to the stellar pitching of Tim Lincecum.
I am not sure what happened Thursday on the off day but when this same group of players returned on Friday for the first of three with our big rivals- the Los Angeles Dodgers they seemed as if they were defeated before we even got to the second rain delay of that game.
Conversely many of the Dodger players, who are back from last year, are aware of the bitter rivalry and gave it their all for the fans that traveled down to Petco.That was the difference in the two teams I saw last night.
And because the Dodgers played as a team, while our guys seemed to play as individuals at the plate- swinging to hard and hitting long fly balls to Tony Gwynn Jr. in center field that they intended to be home runs instead of getting the timely and well placed hits the Dodgers got to move their runners- The Los Angels Dodgers deserved to win the two games and we earned our losses.
The new and "improved" Padre team has no real allegiance to the fans here in San Diego.
The Dodger team, with players that have stayed on the team like Ethier and Loney, have more of an allegiance to the fans to go out and beat a rival team.
You could clearly see that when you compare how the two teams played last night.
The Dodgers were intense and aiming on winning while the Padres seemed more concerned with hitting a home run and upping their dwindling batting averages. I saw no intensity in our team like I did with the Dodger team.
I think that is what I dislike about baseball today as compared to when I was a kid.I understand that there is free agency and players these days go for the money rather than the principle of staying with a team regardless, for the fans, like Tony Gwynn Sr. did for twenty years with the Padres.
I think players switching teams and being traded like one changes their underwear has ruined the consistency and continuity of the game for many teams in this day and age.
Being consistent is the way a team wins.
When the line-up and the players keep changing from year to year it is like staring from scratch again and new players really have no allegiance to the fan base in big games and early on they are not given the chance to develop into a true nine man team that plays well on an every day basis.
So when they play high-profile games like the three this weekend- with a big time rival they don't have the drive or intensity to win for the fans like the Dodgers seemed to have last night.
The other thing that has bothered me for a while is the way Buddy Black fiddles with the line-up. Just when you get a line-up that seems to play well together- both offensively and defensively it is shaken up and non-regular starters are thrown in the mix. Buddy did that in St. Louis. Game two of that series produced a lot of offense and great defensive plays by the team. We won by a score of 11-3.
The line up was as follows:
Venable, Bartlett, Hudson, Hawpe, Ludwick, Headley, Maybin, Hundley and Richard
The next day we lost by a score of 2-0 and the line-up was totally switched around:
Barlett, Hudson, Cantu, Ludwick, Headley, Denorfia, Maybin,Hundley and Moseley
Of course I am just a fan and not a professional manager but even so I had to ask myself during that series and many times last season why Buddy Black keeps fixing things that are not broken?
I know there are rational reasons why line-ups are tweaked (the right-lefty factor) but again this does not help a new group of guys playing as a team get the consistency that we see in the Dodgers- who really don't tweak their line-up all that much and even the defending World Champion Giants.The New York Yankees keep the same line-up and that brings wins and consistency to that team.
You don't need a triple million dollar payroll to have a winning team but I think you do need to allow your every day players the chance to get settled into where they bat in the line-up and used to playing defensively with each other in the field.
Buddy Black is real nice man but you have to decide whether you want to cater to people's egos on the bench or consistently put a squad of guys on the field that produce runs, work well defensively with each other and use the rest as needed.
It may bruise some egos but sorry. The game of baseball is played so that one team wins and one team loses. It is not about being fair and giving every player a chance to play like a Little League team of boys. It is about winning the damn games- a winning team brings more fans to the stadium.
So I don't think we can blame the players on the Padres for the sloppy defensive play and the lack of drive to win for the fans that was apparent last night.
They lack continuity and consistency and I wish that when we get a line-up, that works well together, that Buddy Black leave it be and give these new guys a chance to work as a nine man every day player team and not make the line-up a big surprise from day to day.
We earned the losses yesterday and the Dodgers earned their wins.
Let's see what line-up we get today and if, after a good night's sleep, the Padres can manage to win one today for the fans who are out at the park rooting for them.
Today's game starts at 1:05 pm PT
PLAY BALL!
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