Here We Are

After the Padres lost two in a row I'm sure people started to feel like, "Okay, this makes sense." We were playing a very solid NL team and our starting pitching has been a bit shaky as of late. I've mentioned this before, but lets be honest KC has been through a lot this season and I honestly think he could serve us better in the bullpen for the second half. Middle reliever, less pressure, less mental preperation. Hang out with Heath Bell and maybe have a farting contest - I don't know. He is pressing like my pants right now and it's not going to just magically be fixed. KC needs a drastic move and now!

After our loss Monday night and through this morning I recieved a bunch of e-mails and texts about the situation:

"Well, that was fun."
"The Padres suck.
"Why does this feel right?"
"What happened to your Padres? They are getting hammered."

First off, it was two games and one loss came against Ublado Jimenez, arguably the best pitcher in baseball right now. AND, we got to him. We tagged him for a few runs and chased him out of the game.
Secondly, we didn't lose bad. It was one or two mishaps that could have gone either way mixed with some bad location on pitches.
Thirdly, we kicked the crap out of the Rockies today 13-3!

This Padres squad is tough. They're scrappy. They play full out all the time and it has showed. To get pushed around for two games and come back to win by 11 runs in game three is a big middle finger to the rest of the NL West. Like, hey don't forget we can do this any time we want. Whether we can or not doesn't matter. Why? Because they play like they can.

I probably shouldn't quote musicals, but Damn Yankees' most popular song was "You Gotta Have Heart" and boy do the Padres have heart. Miles and miles of heart!

Padres Fall to Rockies 10-6

Every time the Padres lose a game I think to myself, "Ok, here we go. This is what the team is really like. That was fun while it lasted."

I have no idea how to root for a first place team. It's so confusing.

The Kept Faith Podcast Episode 003!

Sorry for the delay with Episode OO3. You know, stuff happens. Listen here.

In this episode Josh is on vacation, we answer an e-mail, we play Scott Stapp's song about the Florida Marlins and we announce a song writing contest!

That's right we are calling any and all songwriters out there to write your very own song about the Padres! It can be as bad as Scott Stapp's or as good as Sean O'Donnell's! We will declare a winner AUGUST 6TH! The winner will get two tickets to a Padres game before the season is over!

Send questions and submissions to thekeptfaith@gmail.com

And keep listening to the podcast as we'll play submissions (good or bad) over the next month!

Subscribe to the only Padres podcast in the world by clicking here!

We're 15 games over .500 baby! It's a great time to be a Friar Fan!

Bill Center ruins my post

In his column this morning, Buster Olney asked if the Padres were for real. He answered his question with: "Since July 27 of 2009, only St. Louis has a better record among NL teams." So, yes, it looks like the Padres are for real. Does that mean we'll get to the playoffs? Does that mean we'll get to see what the NLDS looks like? Yes, that's exactly what it means.

I decided to look up some numbers of my own. Last year, our record against the AL was 5-10. Going into today's game with the Rays, we're 8-5. Meaning we're guaranteed a winning record against America's favorite league. Records of years past you ask?

2008: 3-15. (Seriously.)
2007: 6-9.
2006: Andddd, I'm going to stop here, because as I was manually counting these records over at Yahoo Sports, I noticed that Bill Center already covered what I was leading up to: it's only going to be the second time in 13 years of interleague play that the Padres come out with a winning record. Cool. You beat me to it, Center. You want a rivalry? You just got one.

So, to answer Buster's question one more time - Yes, this team's for real. I wonder how Eckstein feels about that...

I agree, Davy. PS. Glad to see you back hitting second.

Dusty! OR A Slow Day In Friar Land

Well, it's a big day for the second most famous "Dusty" in MLB. The Padres recalled C Dusty Ryan from the minors (the best name anywhere in the system). When googling for a picture, this came up:

Not quite sure what it means, but it's got to be a sign of good things to come, right? I mean it's a naked Obama riding a unicorn in front of the White House. Plus there's a rainbow. Rainbows are inherently good.

Pen-Itentiary

Heard about this on the radio broadcast today. Frankly, I'm not a fan. There have been much cooler names for bullpens.

I feel like we could do better. Anybody have any thoughts on nicknames for the Pen-itentiary? The Dogg Pound? The Funky Bunch? Digital Underground? Am I just naming 90's hip-hop acts?

I'm Worried About Jerry

I've talked in this space before about how difficult it is to be a Padres fan living in another city. If you're visiting us because you're a Friars fan you know all too well that these are not the Red Sox or the Yankees. If you don't try very hard, or fork over money for some sort of TV package (I don't, I'm cheap), you're not going to get a whole lot of information about your team. The major networks just don't have the motivation to deliver up-to-date information (Side Note: I was recently watching the MLB Network and they did not show highlights of that night's Padres game for over an hour. This is a first place team! I love you MLB Network, and I haven't watched Baseball Tonight since you entered my life, but spread the love around a bit). One advantage to this dearth of information is that it can offer you some perspective as a fan. It's like if you spend every day of your life with someone, you don't really notice that they're getting fat, but I go a month or two without seeing them and I point out to you that your best friend has been eating a lot of cupcakes and only then do you notice (I probably overwrote that metaphor).

Anyway, this weekend I was in town for The Kept Faith's resident cupcake expert Dallas McLaughlin's birthday and on my drive back up to LA I got a chance to listen to the Padres on the radio. I can usually catch radio broadcasts in LA, but it comes in and out and I'm usually in my car during games that happen on the East Coast, which means I'm mostly hearing away games. And these days the road crew is Ted Leitner and Andy Mazer. Our dear friend Jerry Coleman seems to be staying at home more often than not these days, and that's both a happy and a sad thing. His voice has been with us for a long time and it's sad to hear him being phased out, but all that is an aside to the point I'm actually trying to make. Which is that it had been a while since I heard Jerry Coleman call a Padres game. Which means that I saw how fat he was. And when I say "fat" I mean "old."

It's no secret that Jerry has been getting on in years. He rambles, he gets confused, these things are to be expected. In fact, I think it's a wonderful part of baseball. Hearing an aging announcer call a young baseballer by his Father's name (simply because said announcer has been calling games for forty years) is charming. It's also another thing that is totally unique to our national past time. In football games the announcers make mistakes because their brains are literally failing them due to head trauma, in hockey it's because the names are hard to pronounce (keep reading my columns for more original jokes and observations), but in baseball the announcers make mistakes because we literally let them work until the day they die. And that's a good thing.

But listening to Jerry yesterday got me a little worried for him. He seemed to have the brothers Hairston all straightened out, and he was calling us "gang" just like always, but then he descended into a rant about players wearing baggy pants. It was in the middle of the game, there were even runners on base. But all Jerry could talk about was how these guys should take a survey so they would learn that everyone else thought it looked "stupid" (not a real quote, but close). From there it became obvious that Jerry isn't what he used to be. He continued to randomly interject and distract from the game and I swear that at one point he said something that was slightly racist (slightly, like only someone who had been raised as a Unitarian would notice it). Poor Andy, who it would be tough to label as an "expert," did all he could to mask the fear in his voice as Jerry changed the subject time and time again, but you could tell that he was frozen. I like Andy a lot and I think he's getting better (and I prefer him to Leitner) but he's still getting his legs under him for these broadcasts and riding the Jerry-losing-it-train is not going to help him get better.

I'm sure that you've been listening to Jerry and thinking that maybe he's slowing down, but I'm telling you, I haven't heard him on the radio since maybe last season, and he's gotten worse. I'm hoping this season keeps going the way it has been, because I want Jerry to go out on a happy note and I have a feeling we'll be saying goodbye to him soon (hopefully only in retirement).

PS - Leitner sucks. Like really bad.

The Kept Faith Podcast Episode 002!

That's right, Episode 002 is officially up!

Here is the link to download it now!

It is also now searchable on iTunes!

We are the only PADRES podcast there is, so it's good to get in on the ground floor!

In this week's episode we welcome the founder of The Kept Faith, Nick McCann, to the podcast team! We talk about attendance issues, draft picks and the question: Do we trade Heath Bell? Don't miss it! Subscribe now to be immediately updated!

Also, you can now e-mail us any questions or comments about anything at keptfaithblog@gmail.com

Follow us on Twitter by clicking the Twitter icon on the right!

Let us know what ya think!

GO PADS!

Love,

TKF.

Cunningham? CunningSLAM!

How can you not root for a guy who sold his Lincoln Navigator to Ice-T?

Between Scott Hairston, Will Venable, Tony Gwynn and Chris Denorfia, we have a lot of solid fourth outfielders. Guys who can make the best out of two, three, maybe four starts a week. The problem is: They're who we're counting on to be our everyday guys. We're winning, so it's not a problem yet. But I'd prefer to not wait for that to happen.

And in the middle of talking about this exact dilemma at the game last night, in comes Cunningslam.

For the record, I did utter the words "Grand Slam Cunningham" before he hit the ball to deep CF last night. But, for the record, I usually try to call a HR at every game I go to. So I was bound to get lucky eventually. Oh, and the Padres record at games I go to this year? 11-1. Thanks for asking.

I want Cunningham to stick. He's only 24. Compare that to the previously mentioned outfielder's ages of 30, 27, 27 and 29. Yeah, we're not exactly running out guys who have much room to improve. But I'm strictly talking about the ceiling of baseball players here. TKF Titan Dallas McLaughlin is turning 30 this weekend and has nothing but good days ahead of him. Happy Birthday, Mr. McLaughlin. (You do go by Mr. McLaughlin now, right?)

Now, The Cunster hasn't exactly raked at AAA this year. But has already proven himself in every level of the minor leagues during his stints with the White Sox, Diamondbacks and A's. Yes, he's been traded three times (in deals for Danny Richar, Dan Haren and Kevin Kouzmanoff), but it's 'cause teams clearly like what he's got. Or at least that's what I'm telling myself.

I just want an outfielder who I can expect to see in the outfield everyday. Our mix n' match batch of guys right now might be getting the job done, but it's hard to expect that to last. And seeing that this may be the first year Cunningham sees more than 80 AB's in The Show, maybe this is the year that Cunningslam carves out a role as an everyday player, too.

But at the very least, he's led the Pads to one more W in this I-still-can't-believe-it's-real season.

Dallas' Running Diary Padres V. Mariners 6/11

Josh Elwell and I started out our night by heading to Dick’s Last Resort for a drink and some appetizers. The food at Dick’s was never that great, but people used to go for the fun atmosphere and hot waitresses. I can now officially say I have no idea why anybody goes to Dick’s Last Resort. Anyway, we were running late getting to the game because I was trying to finish a tall boy but had just taken a ton of Tylenol for a raging pulled muscle in my back. I was having an inner fight on how much I could drink with how many pills I took without dying. I didn’t die, but we did miss Ichiro’s first at-bat.

TOP OF THE 1^ST INNING

• Kevin Correia on the mound for the Friars. If you listened to the first Kept Faith podcast you know how he’s been struggling of late. It’s been a tough year for him.
• Correia strikes out Gutierrez and they play the theme from Beverly Hills Cop II over the PA. Um… why?

BOTTOM OF THE 1^ST

• So far the music selection at Petco Park this evening is reminiscent of 1989. That’s not a good thing.
• This is my first chance to see the Bobblehead (Davey Eckstein) hit leadoff. I don’t like this move. I think it’s a bad decision. It’s a mistake. I should stop writing because Eck just hit a single. I’m a mistake.
• Headley now in the 2-hole. Vargas just blew an 87-mph fastball by ‘em - strikeout!
• A-Gonz hits into a double play. It’s a mistake.

END OF THE INNING: PADS - 0 MARINERS - 0

Hey! There are some new bloopers on the jumbotron! Holy crap this is amazing!

TOP OF THE 2^ND INNING

• Milton Bradley (Former Friar, Cub, Indian, Expo, Dodger, Athletic and Ranger) hits a single and then hits everything else on his way to first.
• Josh Wilson, Jack Wilson’s dad, hits a single.
• Casey Kotchman having a banner year at .194 pops up.
• Correia cleans up the inning followed by the playing of “Funky Cold Medina.”

They play a Padres video from 1992. It’s a splice between the video of “2 Legit 2 Quit” and the Padres from 1992 doing the moves to the song. I’m officially concerned about the evening.

BOTTOM OF THE 2^ND

• Vargas is mowing them down with that blazing 87-mph heater! Is Brian Lawrence pitching? For those counting at home that’s my first Brian Lawrence joke of the season (expect more).

END OF THE INNING: PADS - 0 MARINERS - 0

“Poison” by Bell Biv Devoe

TOP OF THE 3^RD INNING

• The Petco Red Dog just walked by. God I hate the Petco sponsorship.
• The pizza guy just walked by and I swear to you uttered these words “Get your pizza here! Nice warm pizza right here in my box!” to which Josh replied, “Good line.”
• A double date just sat down in front of us. Unable to tell how long they’ve been together.

The Jumbotron is showing A-Gonz talking about and showing his two Chihuahuas. “Pedro” and “Princess,” and yes Padres fans he has dressed them up! Forget what I’ve said in the past, can we trade A-Gonz now?

BOTTOM OF THE 3^RD

• HEY Tony Gywnn JUNIOR has his average over .200 now! He hits an RBI triple to deep right center! That means a free number 2 at McDonald’s for Tony Gwynn Sr.!
• One style that’ll never die by the way: polo shirt tucked in to jeans with a cell phone clip and sandals - no socks. Classic Petco tourists.
• The Bobblehead knocks in Gwynn! At-a-boy!
• Bases loaded for Nick Hundley. His walk up music is Collective Soul, so… he let it shine and popped out.

END OF THE INNING: PADS - 2 MARINERS - 0

TOP OF THE 4^TH INNING

• Hey Padres fans, you can heckle Milton all you want but when he was a Padre in 2007 he was fantastic. True, he ripped up his knee trying to fight an umpire but still…

The kid guessed wrong with the Jack in the Box game and we all lost. I hope his parents ground him.

BOTTOM OF THE 4^TH

• They’re playing 311 now. I guess we’re getting a little more musically current (barely).
• Chris “Ducknorthia” Denorfia is up and he grounds out.
• Ok, so one couple on the double date is very in to each other and the other couple could not care less about being there.
• Gywnn JUNIOR hits a double off the wall! Hairston to 3^rd.
• It matters not.

END OF THE INNING: PADS - 2 MARINERS - 0

FOOD BREAK!! Josh got some dip ‘n’ dots in a souvenir helmet and I went with some soft serve. Although it’s pretty cold out it totally hit the spot. While we were gone the Mariners scored two runs on a Correia hit batsmen and other shenanigans. It doesn’t matter what, it just sucks.

TOP OF THE 6^TH INNING

• Milton hits a solo shot. People boo. Let it go, San Diego.
• The double date has gotten a little better. The happy couple is cuddling and the sad couple are showing each other iPhone apps - and why not? It’s not like you paid money to go see something else.

BOTTOM OF THE 6^TH

• The actual cops just kicked out a guy from Petco who had a pencil thin mustache and a Peavy jersey. I don’t know what he did, but do you really need a reason to kick that guy out?
• Did you know Tony Gwynn JUNIOR is hitting .421 in June and .438 in his last six games? Overall he’s hitting .210.

END OF THE INNING: PADS - 2 MARINERS - 3

Sorry Jerome, there is no way that is the best seat in the house.

TOP OF THE 7^TH INNING

• I like saying “Ichiro” the same way Sato says “Miyagi” in Karate Kid II.

It’s 7^th Inning stretch time! The happy couple stood up and sang the sad couple stayed seated. The sad girl just left to “get a beer.” If she comes back in 30 minutes I’ll be shocked.

BOTTOM OF THE 7^TH

• Headley hits a double.
• A-Gonz walks.
• Hundley strikes out.
• A drunken man in his 50’s cheers.

END OF THE INNING: PADS - 2 MARINERS - 3

TOP OF THE 8^TH INNING

• Milton hits another single. Steals 2^nd and moves to 3^rd on the bad throw from Hundley.
• Webb in to pitch gets out of the trouble and ends the inning!

Guess the attendance: a) Crappy b) Shitty c) Terrible

If you guessed all of the above you’re right! The first Friday night of interleague play and we drew a thin 20,049 fans. You should read Tim Sullivan’s’ article about this problem. It’s really good.

BOTTOM OF THE 8^TH

• One.
• Two.
• Three.

TOP OF THE 9^TH INNING

• They just showed the Dodger/Angels score. The Doyers lost. The place goes nuts! I can’t decide what I hate more: The Dodgers or the Petco Red Dog.
• Joe “Becky” Thatcher in to pitch.
• Matt Stairs has been put on the DL. To find out why read this. And while you do, notice the years.
• IIIIIIICCCHHHHIIIRRROOOOOO!!!! Pops out.

BOTTOM OF THE 9^TH

• Last chance for the chicken dance.
• Venable in to pinch-hit. He smokes a single!
• The Bobblehead bunts him over to second.
• Headley gets pegged with a pitch.
• A-GONZ DOUBLES HOME VENABLE! TIE GAME!
• Hundley up. All he’s got to do is hit a fly ball… and he does it! Son of a catcher! PADRES WIN!

Man, what a game! I am having way too much fun this season, and I am a constant pessimist. Do we trade for a big bat? Do we make any kind of deal? I like the chemistry on this team. I like the way they play and how much fun they seem to be having. Does bringing in a new guy screw that up? Has it ever pushed anyone over the edge, I mean really? Beside Beltran going to Astros a couple years back. It seems risky. And really whom would we get? Ken Griffey retired and by Padres standards that would have been the first choice. Decisions must be made and quickly because it looks like this team is sticking around.

Oh, and the sad girl returned right after the Padres won. She leaned in and said, "Are we going now?" as her group got up to leave. Then the guy in the sad couple walked by her and gave her a hug and kiss. My guess: they should have broken up years ago.

The Kept Faith Podcast 001

That's right Padres fans, there is a brand new podcast in town - ours!

This is the first episode of what we hope to be a weekly update on all things Padres.

Tune in each week as TKF contributors Dallas, Josh and Travis give their opinion and you the news on your favorite MLB club!

In this week's episode we talk about Kyle Blanks bobblehead night, Karston Whitson and The Strasburg!

NOTE: This being our first go-around we did have some technical issues. We are aware of them and they will be fixed. Also, by next week's episode you will be able to find The Kept Faith on iTunes!

You can subscribe to it NOW by clicking here: Subscribe to The Kept Faith Podcast

To the right of this post you'll also see a link to follow us on Twitter so click on that now! That's also a perfect way to ask us questions about this blog or next week's podcast. Whatever Friar related thing you want to talk about we will - because this podcast is by the fans for the fans.

Love,

TKF

BIG KEPT FAITH ANNOUNCEMENT!

Coming today! What will it be? Check in later today to find out!

Love,

The Kept Faith.

I'll Go First...

You do know Jonah Hill is signed on to play the role of a current front office assistant for the Padres, yes? Old news, sure, but it's worth being discussed at least once on here that Hill's playing Pauly DePodesta in the keeps-getting-delayed film adaptation of "Moneyball." And the role was originally cast with Demetri Martin. I just think it's cool.

Why is this relevant to this week's news? Because I've been hitting refresh every hour on DePo's blog, It Might Be Dangerous... You Go First. As far as I know, please correct me if I'm wrong, he's the only baseball executive keeping a regular blog with insights into how his team makes decisions. Here's his line to describe our second round pick, Jedd Gyorko, "a driven, hard-nosed player, Jedd is the type of grinder with the makeup to will himself to the Major Leagues." Emphasis mine.

Now, off Sean's post from yesterday, I can't help but look at an analysis like this and wonder where the hell DePo's predecessors in the front office went wrong with Matt Bush? Surely this has been asked by a much better writer than I, but how does the horrendous "makeup" of a local high school baseball star go so wildly unnoticed by the Padres brass? He had potential, sure. He was gonna be cheap to sign, sure. But did someone who'd go on to get in fights in Arizona nightclubs, drunkenly assault high school lacrosse players, trash John Moore's suite the day after he was drafted, and stand in a street throwing things at cars while crying really not have any red flags before he was drafted? Did he really deserve being picked first? And here's the better question: Will we ever get through another draft without hearing the name Matt Bush from either local or national media? I'll contribute to ending it... right after this next paragraph.

I want Bush to succeed. I do. It'll validate the whole mess and take the lump out of my stomach that appears whenever his name comes up. And it might happen: After being let go by the Blue Jays last year, he's attempting a comeback with the Rays this year. Out of the bullpen in their Class A affiliate, Bush has four innings pitched (he just came off the DL), a 2.25 ERA and 7 K's to 2 BB's.

If he keeps it up, maybe we'll even see him in Bud Black and Joe Maddon's hopeful Pad-Rays World Series later this year. I wish I could remember where I read this, probably an old MLBTR post, but an "unnamed Rays exec" recently said they hope to have Bush in their bullpen later this year. Probably just a September call-up, but still: The long shot combination of being in the World Series and having Matt Bush as the mop-up man in the opposing team's bullpen is a terrifying, exhilarating, confusing, relieving thought. It would help me deal with a lot of personal shit I'm going through.

Oh, and the Nationals will be on an Arizona/Los Angeles road trip from August 2nd to 8th. Who's coming with me to see Strasburg? Yesterday was magical. My fantasy pitchers are Halladay, Greinke, Liriano, Shields, Garza, Hughes. The obvious question: How many of them do I give up in a Strasburg trade? All?

DEEP (non)IMPACT.

The 2010 MLB Draft is upon us! The first round is in the bag! Bryce Harper is a millionaire! Can you feel the excitement in the air? NO?! Well that's probably because you are a Padres fan, you poor schmuck. The Padres haven't had a reason to be excited about a first round pick in a really, really, reeeeaaallly long time. For those of you who are aware of our first round draft woes, and also for those of you who are not, I decided I would do a little research to see just how bad our history with the first round pick is. To see what Karsten Whitson's chances are of making a difference.

Karsten, bro. It's not looking good.

Here's a rundown of our last 10 years of first round picks and what they are doing now:

2009 Donovan Tate OF Cartersville (HS)

Injuries since being drafted include a sports hernia, broken jaw, sprained shoulder, and a concussion. We at The Kept Faith have just learned Tate was also recently diagnosed with a "brain cloud" and is on his way to a remote island to jump into a volcano.

2008 Allan Dyskstra 1B Wake Forest U

Currently mashing .208 in single A.

2007 Nick Schmidt LHP U Arkansas Fayetteville

Up in Lake Elsinore, Schmidt is 5-3 with 3.26 ERA after last season going 2-8 with a +7 ERA

2006 Matt Antonelli 3B Wake Forest U

Played only 21 games in the majors, and hit .195 in AAA last year.

2005 Cesar Carrillo RHP U Miami

In AAA this year has a 4-3 record/ 3.97 ERA with 31 K's in 61 innings.

2004 Matt Bush SS Mission Bay (HS)

2003 Tim Stauffer RHP U Richmond Va

Started 14 games last year and was 4-7. Has spent this year bouncing around the rotation, the bullpen, AAA, and the DL.

2002 Khalil Greene SS Clemson

Currently working on his hip hop record.

2001 Jake Gatreau 1B/3B Tulane

Traded in 2004 for 3B Corey Smith. Neither ever played a game for the Friars.

2000 Mark Phillips P Hanover (HS)

Never made it past Single A ball.

In the last decade alone (if you take Khalil out of the picture) 1st round drafted hitters have played 21 games and racked up 1 HR with a .193 BA. Pitchers have made 42 appearances with a 10-15 record and a 4.5 ERA. And those two stats belong to Matt Antonelli, and Tim Stauffer, respectively. Now i know most would argue that the 1st round isn't as important as I am making it out to be. Jake Peavy was taken in the 15th round of the 1999 draft and he was awesome, right?! Even more recently, Mat Latos was an 11th round pick in 2006 and Chase Headley a second rounder in 2005. But here are a list of some dudes who were taken in the first round in the last 5 years:

2005: Ryan Braun, Ryan Zimmermann, Justin Upton, Troy Tulowitzki

2006: Evan Longoria, Tim Lincecum, Clayton Kershaw

2007: David Price, Jason Heyward

2008: Buster Posey, Justin Smoak

2009: Mike Leake and Stephen Strasburg.

These guys are all making a serious impact for their respective teams, with Posey and Strasburg about to be making one or at the very least drumming up a little enthusiasm. Remember enthusiasm? I mean, c'mon, how many of you just can't wait for Tim Stauffer to return to the bullpen?! Huh? HUH!? Now, I'm not saying we could have taken these guys, as a lot of them were taken before we had a chance to draft them. My point is that first rounders CAN make a huge difference, and in the case of Mike Leake, you don't always have to wait 5 years after you draft someone for that player to make a difference. Also, in the case of Tim Lincecum, a ball club who doesn't have a Yankee's type payroll can get a Cy Young pitcher for half a million dollars a year for his first few seasons.

Hey, just for fun, let's check out the next 10 years before that! Shall we?

1999 Vince Faison OF Toombs (HS)

Never advanced past AA.

1998 Sean Burroughs 3B Wilson (HS)

Hit 11 HR's in 5 seasons.

1997 Kevin Nicholson SS Stetson U

Played 37 games with the Padres. Batted .216 with one HR.

1996 Matt Halloran SS Chancellor (HS)

Never went past Single A ball with the Padres.

1995 Ben Davis C Malvern Prep HS

Played 1 full season with the Pads. Hit .239 and was traded to Seattle.

1994 Dustin Hermanson P Kent State

Made 34 appearances with the Pads, racked up a healthy 7+ ERA whilst doing so.

1993 Derrek Lee 1B El Camino (HS)

Played 22 games with the club before being traded. Since 2000 has hit over 20 HR's in all but one season for the Cubs and Marlins, hitting 46 in 2005.

1992 Todd Helton 1B Central (HS)

Did not sign. Has hit 326 HR's and has a career .329 BA with the Colorado Rockies.

1991 Joey Hamilton P Georgia Southern

Played 5 seasons with the Pads. Went 15-9 in 1996.

1990 Robbie Beckett P McCallum (HS)

Had "Rick Vaughn"-like velocity (and control) and was waived by the club in 1996, never making it to the big leagues.

In 20 years, the best first round pick was Derrek Lee. But we traded him after playing just 22 games with us in '97. Todd Helton didn't get the money he was looking for and refused to sign. Sure, Sean Burroughs was exciting when he first got to the bigs, but was soon known as "The Bachelor" because all he could hit were singles. Joey Hamilton could arguably be the best return on a first round pick from the last 20 years, but that's with him going 55-44 in 5 years.

I couldn't go back any further, because I just don't want to know. I did learn that of all our 1st round picks Dave Winfield is the only one to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. He was drafted in 1973.

We have Kevin Towers (GM from 1995-2009) to blame for the majority of the picks, and John Moores to blame for not firing him sooner. Did Towers deserve such immunity because of the '98 World Series? Sure, that was fun, until we were swept by the Yankees, popping our proverbial baseball dream balloon. How did this guy keep his job for 15 years making mistakes like this? San Diego, i would tell you it's like drafting Ryan Leaf, except that it's more like DRAFTING RYAN LEAF EVERY YEAR. To be fair, you also have to give the middle finder to Randy Smith (GM from 1993-1995) and Joe McIlvane (GM from 1991-1993). These two, along with owner Tom Werner decided not to spend the money and screwed up what could have been a Todd Helton-Derrek Lee-Troy Glaus led farm system. All three would have been coming up right around the '98 series time.

Lucky for us, Towers time is over. And while we can't judge Jed Hoyer's record as a GM since this is his first year with that job, a look back at the moves the Red Sox with Hoyer as Assistant GM made are kind of a mixed bag. They did take Jacoby Ellsbury in 2005. However Jason Place who they took in 2006 has progressively gotten worse each year in the minors and is batting a non robust .127 this year in AAA with the Portland Sea Dogs. 2008's draft pick Casey Kelly is 1-3 with a 4.57 ERA, also in Portland. Having said that, I would still trade most of our first round picks for a Jacoby Ellsbury. Or any dude that would actually be able to start in the big leagues and not be a total head case. But maybe in San Diego that's just too much to ask. Oh well.

Welcome to the Faith, Karsten Whitson. Here's hoping you can throw a wrench in these old wheels.

The next Joey Hamilton? Or Mark Phillips? You decide.....

IT'S DRAFT DAY!

Is it sad that I couldn't find a logo for the MLB Draft 2010? I guess so. MLB is new to the world of televised drafts and I for one couldn't be more excited they started! I would encourage all Padres fans to tune in today at 4pm on the MLB Network and see who the Friars take this year. Not only is it Jed Hoyer's first draft as GM but it's Jeff Moorad's first with the Pads as well. But honestly Friar fans the real reason to watch the draft is you get to see this guys mug for a few hours again:

It's a great time to be a Padres fan.

Kids and The Kid

At one point I actually traded a Sid Bream card for the one seen above. I still hate myself for it. The 90s are finally over.

"I'm Scared"

Yesterday after an afternoon viewing of the movie MacGruber, which is a lot funnier than you might think, I sat down to an early dinner. I was the first ever dinner patron at The Cheese Shop dowtown. They had literally just opened for dinner for the first time ever at 5pm and I walked in at 5:01pm. My waiter kind of made a big deal about it. Around 5:30pm I noticed I was still the only person in the place, so I asked the waiter, "I guess you're just trying this dinner thing out?" "Yeah, we were expecting a bit of a bigger crowd because of the game tonight." I had almost forgot the Padres were playing the Mets later that evening in game 2 of the series. I walked outside and got the paper to see the standings and read up on the previous nights 18-run romp. I saw that as of yesterday we had the best record in the NL! I then had this text conversation with fellow Kept Faith contributor Joe Chandler:

Me: "I'm Sacred."
Joe: "Sacred or scared? And if the latter, why?"
Me: "We have the best record in the NL."
Joe: "So weird right? Just embrace it and try not to think about it too much."
Me: "That sounds good."
Joe: "There are four more months left. FOUR! We just need to breathe."

While I enjoyed the Pearl Jam reference it didn't ease my concerns any. I finished my Italian grilled cheese sandwich and left. I saw some guys wearing Mets jersey's walking by and had quite the epiphany. Here I am getting worked up over my team, who by all accounts is overachieving. Then there are the Mets, who have a payroll over $100 million and aren't even in 2nd place! My mind went soft. I became like the Ninja - clear of all worry and pain. I need to enjoy this and that's all. It's just a game and we are winning it. Don't think about the future and rely on the past my friends; get out to a ball game and cheer on the grittiest team in the NL while it still matters. The Padres could always be like the Mets but the beauty is the Mets can never be like the Padres. We just need to breathe.