After the game ended with a 3-2 victory for the Padres yesterday I tweeted congratulations to Orlando. I had already heard that he is a modest man and plugs his ears when reporters try to talk about things he is doing well. So it didn't surprise me when he tweeted back and reminded me to thank the guys that got on base before him, otherwise his hit would have been just a single.
He was right about that, in the last few innings yesterday we saw a really good team effort and a tip of the hat has got to go especially to Brad Hawpe who was very patient at the plate and drew a walk from the Reds pitcher in relief to give us our first man on base in the bottom of the 9th yesterday.I am bringing this up today because I really like Orlando Hudson. I sort of cheated on the Padres a couple of years ago when he was with Arizona. I kept an eye on him over there and was pleased as punch when we signed him to a two-year contract.
Aside from his playing prowess and his work to help Autistic children off the field, this man reminds me a lot of Tony Gwynn, Sr.
Tony is one of the nicest and most humble men out there and was a wonderful hero- for 20 years straight with the Padres- for many who saw him play and lived here in San Diego.
Tony never wanted wins, even if he was instrumental in them, to be all about him. Instead I remember him minimizing his efforts on many occasions and giving credit to his teammates as well.
These days with players that sometimes have egos as fat as some of the MLB umpires that is a rare quality to see in a MLB player and Orlando seems to be the same sort of guy Tony Gwynn is. There definitely is no "I" and team and I stand corrected from yesterday on Twitter- Orlando made some fine defensive and offensive plays but we saw another team effort yesterday and the guys that came through in the 9th all need a big pat on the back from us fans.
Last night the guys hopped on a plane and headed to Houston, Texas.
The Padres will start their second road trip this season going against the Houston Astros at Minute Maid Field.Again, on this blog, I am not going to rewrite stats and pre-game stuff that you can find elsewhere...I just am going to say that we have a big chance to get a lot of wins on this visit to Houston and then in Chicago for three games with the Cubs.
We all know Petco Park is a pitcher's park so now that the guys are on the road I suspect that we will see some bats really come alive- especially Ludwick who is making contact but just missing home runs because they get caught in Petco.
So offensively against the Houston Astros, who are doing worse in the win-loss column then we are, we should see a lot of the hitting we have been waiting to see at Petco. After this last home stand I am sure the guys are happy visiting a couple of relatively hitter friendly parks.
The name of the Houston stadium also brings to mind something that bugs the crap out of me. Obviously I am not a kid and have been on the planet for well over 40 years now. I have been a baseball fan since I saw the amazing New York Mets in 1969.Back then stadiums were named after key players, owners, a person who was a big part of the ball club or the city it was in.
In the era of huge salaries and the need for teams these days to compete with payroll rather than raw talent on the field we also have the stadiums corporately sponsored. We have that here at home. I have pets, I shop at Petco but I think our new stadium should have been named Gwynn field or something.
So while it probably shouldn't, it irks me, that ball parks are named after big corporate sponsors, who buy the naming rights, and not anything to do with past players or the teams itself.
What disturbs me more these days is the blown calls by umpires and the egos they have that go unchecked.
That's MLB umpire Angel Hernandez getting reemed out, back in 2009, by Jim Leyland. Yesterday he threw out Buddy Black for making comments about his inconsistency at calling balls and strikes at the plate.In a post-game press conference Buddy admitted that he knows he isn't supposed to argue balls and strikes but my question is - why not?
I don't know who or when umpires were elevated to infallible god status but I think managers should be able to call umpires on their bad calls especially if it adversely is affecting a game.
Yesterday we saw yet another Padre runner called out at first base when the television replay clearly showed that he was safe and arrived well ahead of the ball.
In the last couple of years these aging umpires seem to blow calls throughout MLB on a daily basis...with no accountability what so ever.
Players can get ejected and fined for a number of offenses. But Major league umpires can do whatever they want and affect the honest play of a game without anybody saying a damn thing. If they do they are thrown out of the game.
I think there should be some monitoring of umpires. If they are consistently blowing calls or tend to call the same pitches, in the same location a strike and then later a ball then their performance should be reviewed.If they are consistently messing up calls or inconsistent behind home plate, just like a player that is not doing well offensively or defensively get sent down to the minor leagues until they re-prove that they are good enough to umpire a MLB game.
While Buddy may have broke the scared rule of not arguing balls and strikes yesterday he wasn't doing it just to heckle Hernandez.
He was right and MLB baseball...to make these games really fair contests...needs to start holding the umpires accountable for their missed calls or blatantly inconsistency that sometimes obviously favors one team over another.
Back to today's game...
Here is wishing the entire Padres team a successful road trip this next 7 days...I think we, the fans of the team, will be pleasantly surprised!
Today's game starts at 5:05pm PT (7:05 pm CT).
PLAY BALL!
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