Herc

yeah great catch but that's gone in most other parks. it's pretty annoying but i guess i prefer it over a bandbox

our leading hitter is batting around .270 and i think we lead the majors in k's--they're just happy to make contact. thoughi was cursing the ballpark after gonzalez's 2nd double last night

yeah i dont know how uch of that was peavy's sore bicep or the mets awesome lineup, probably a little bit of both. i fell asleep when it was 1-0 nothing so i really couldn't say but i should've known el duque would have a good game

and on the flip side, rick ankiel has 26 hrs and 70 rbi in 309 AAA at bats

you're off the eli bandwagon but you want culpepper? the guy'[s never proven anything without moss

who cares. i dont care if he bats ninth, i'd take him over marcus giles

you can always trade for durham. blunatic said he'd be available

don't forget the BC connection

so....they were the defending champions and sported the previous year's mvp and that current year's mvp....and they were the sixth seed. meanwhile in 2007 a team that finished 8-8 and lost 6 of it's last 8 games was the sixth seed.

a solid bullpen is going to help you a lot more down the stretch than a .250 hitter.

didn't they do it recently too? like last year? i remember hearing something about that i have way more than 10,000 wins

hitting 98 on the gun, maybe he won't be the next brien taylor afterall i love his modesty too (and his k/ip) Bush Slides To Mound With Ease No. 1 overall pick in 2004 is touching 98 mph as a pitcher By Bill Mitchell July 12, 2007 Print this article PEORIA, Ariz.--Matt Bush is back with the Padres' Rookie-level Arizona League team . . . where his professional career started three years ago. This was not exactly the Padres' plan for Bush when they selected the high school shortstop with the first overall pick in the 2004 draft. After a well-documented, tumultuous start to his professional career, Bush struggled to hit at four minor league levels, compiling career batting numbers of .221/.291/.276 in his first three seasons. A series of injuries diminished his shortstop range, leaving him with only one plus tool--a powerful right arm. The organization finally pulled the plug on Bush's career as a shortstop on May 30 with a long anticipated move to the mound. As surreal as his three-plus years with the Padres had been, it's fitting that Bush's last game as a position player came when the Padres' California League affiliate, high Class A Lake Elsinore, had "Dr. Seuss Night" at their home park. The Storm players, including Bush, donned red & white horizontally-striped socks for the night. The players had to dodge "Thing One" and "Thing Two" as they made their way from the dugout to take the field. Right after the "Dr. Seuss" game, Bush was sent by the Padres to Arizona to begin his conversion to pitching. The results in the Arizona League were encouraging. Bush yielded no runs in his first four appearances, striking out 11 batters in just 5 1/3 innings. The composure and poise that he's shown on the mound belie the fact that he hasn't pitched competitively in more than three years. "Very impressive. I was pleasantly surprised," said Dave Rajsich, Bush's AZL pitching coach. "He throws a lot better than I anticipated . . . His command is much better and his velocity is a little more than I expected. (He's) much more polished than I was expecting." Bush, whose fastball has been clocked as high as 98, also did not expect to make such a rapid adjustment to the mound. "I was kind of surprised the way my arm reacted," he said. "It felt really good. I was throwing the ball really well, right around the strike zone. I was surprised at how hard I was throwing. I didn't think I would be throwing that hard so soon." Bush knows that he can't live by his fastball alone. The righthander has been using an effective curveball and a slider in games, while working on a changeup on the sidelines. "My slider and curve ball are really good," Bush said "At times, I tend to overthrow (the curve). It's still very effective. The break on it is very good." Bush's use of the slider caught Rajsich by surprise. "The first time I saw him throw one," said Rajsich, "he threw it in the game for a called strikeout. He hadn't even thrown one of those in sidelines sessions. I asked him what it was. He told me it was a slider and that he had occasionally thrown one in high school. Every day, it's a little more of an adventure to find out just how much he does know about pitching. I'm really pleased with his poise and his command down in the zone." Bush is already learning that he can't just rear back and try to throw everything past the hitters. "What I started doing here was I found out that I threw 98 so well," Bush said. "I wanted to do it again, and I wanted to do it again. My arm hurt a little bit, so now I understand I'm going to be a guy that's going to sit in the mid 90s. Every now and then, when I feel good, I'll hump it up. But I can't be trying to hump it up all the time; it's not going to work." Perhaps trying to throw hard is why Bush's arm was a little sore; he's not going to pitch for about a week, but an MRI turned up negative. Bush has noticeably added extra bulk to his body, looking heavier than his listed weight of 170. "He's getting stronger in the core, which is what you want," Rajsich said. "The torso, the hips and the legs . . . that's all about driving (his pitch). Now he's got to elongate everything, especially the upper body, and get the muscles stretched so that the pitching works fine and easy, utilizing the core strength that he has and incorporating that into his delivery and making everything smooth." Bush isn't convinced that he couldn't have made the big leagues as a shortstop. It's doubtful that he'd find many concurring opinions around the game. But he's still motivated to show the baseball world that he'll get there and repay the Padres for the significant investment they've made in him. "They (the Padres) knew what they got when they drafted me," he said. "If shortstop didn't work out, they could move me to the mound. Either way, pitching or shortstop, I'm going to do what's best for me. I'm trying to help out my career as much as I can. Making it to the big leagues has always been my goal. If it's pitching, then that's great." Rajsich has no doubt that this change is the right move for Bush. "When you watch him, you see how much more relaxed he is on the mound," Rajsich said. "Actually, the more I see him, I know he really was a pitcher. That's what he is."

i got gallardo, braun, AND pence. have had them all since they were called up too. picked up billy butler two weeks ago. the only young guy who failed me so far is bailey

your offense could be worse.....trust me

try again buddy, the st. louis rams were the sixth seed in 2000

i dont care either, but spending the offseason learning how tocover your own ass andkeep your job just doesn't sit right with me. it also creates the impression that he doens'tthink he did a bad job last year and that the media is out to get him (see hitler comment) fair enough, i just don't want to put up with another year of him. i never gave up on a coach that fast for either of my favorite teams. the padres went 7 years without making the playoffs and i didn't once want bochy fired a) because he's shown the ability to get my team to the world series and b) he wasn't supposed to make the playoffs those years with the talent the pads had. we've had the talent to make the playoffs and then some these past two years with tiki at the top of his game and strahan still a top player at his position. it took years to assemble this team and i felt like we wasted (hopefully not) the two peak years of this generation's team. i'm also not down with people giving him the injury excuse when no one gave fassel that excuse (who had more goodwill built up than coughlin--despite the 49ers loss), and then on top of that coughlin came inhere talking about stopping injuries like there was actually something a coach could do to prevent them i think a good coach can win with any team's 'personality' as long as they have talent. i also think what's left of coughlin's reputation is from what he did in jacksonville, and an expansion team is apretty unique situation so who's to say how he would've done with most other teams. and im honestly not interested in anything he's done outside of ny because his success occurred a long time ago and i haven't been impressed when i look athis 3 years here as a whole. i didn't even turn on him till a third of the way into the season cuz i totally bought into the whole 'this team needs a disciplinarian' theory and thought he was an intense guy, but there's an fine line between intense and out of control and the guy made a shitload of bonehead moves last year. i agree he's better than edwards and maybe 'lousy' is a little harsh but i don't think he's a good coach and i don't want him as coach of my team. as far as your last comment, it's sad but when you look at what ended up happening with tiki the past couple of years, in hindsight it might've been the right direction to go especially with the drafting of eli

stop it!

i dont blame them for not wanting to celebrate mediocrity. i would like that statement and that attitude if it weren't for the mantra you mentioned above, it just seems like he wasn't staying consistent with his attitude towards his team in that one instance because he didn't like the coach. and i understand why fassel was fired, i wont argue that, but i will argue that he's done a better job than coughlin. and im a pretty patient fan too (too young for giants super bowls, padres fan), but i know a lousy coach when i see one and coughlin fits the mold to a T. did you hear he did several off the record one-on-one's with ny media members to learn how to get along better with the media (obviously so they wont call for his head again)? pathetic

i just realized this is going to turn into a coughlin vs fassel thread and that my usual tag team partner in these debates, boohyah, hasn't been around lately. i pre-emptively surrender

haha,i dont know man, we didn't look sharp in the d-backs series and have our 2 worst starters going in this series. but yeah, when the pads DO sweep a team that's usually the total runs for the series

we would've made the playoffs back-to-back if fassel was running the team when the NFC was this pathetic. we went 8-8 after a playoff season under fassel but it wasn't enough to make the playoffs. you need to open your eyes and actually watch some games if you honestly think coughlin has done a good job here. when he gets us out of the first round (let alone to the superbowl) then you can start talking about him in the same sentence as jim fassel. i think someone who shits on a coach who brought his favorite team to the superbowl is the impatient one

that's a horseshit statement by mara, cuz all he ever asks from the giants is that the last home game of the season be meaningful (IE, possibly get them into the playoffs). i figured it was that sort of standard that led to coughlin retaining his job this past season.

i dont think it's right that coughlin was given the benefit of the doubt due to injuries, yet fassel wasn't despite a way better resume with the team

your guess is as good as mine. the owners' kids dont seem to have any balls at all.