Early season report

Playoff odds over at ESPN has the padres at a 9.8% chance of making the playoffs. I say fuck that. Nobody in this division is running away with it. Sorry, Los Angeles. The rest of your team sucks and Matt Kemp isn't going to hit .450 and Ted Lilly isn't going to have a 0.90 ERA for the rest of the season. And while I'm not sold on the Lincecum is done story, his velocity is down and he's having trouble locating. So Fuck You, coolstandings, the Padres have a shot.

St. Louis looks like the cream of that division.  Philadelphia is still breathing, kind of. Cliff Lee might cripple them. I have no idea how they're scoring runs, that lineup sucks. I like me some Victorino and Pence but I always thought Chooch was a product of the massive bats around him (Utley and Howard). Utley and Howard would make any lineup better (Howard some lineups better.) but more importantly, the Phillies have legitimately terrible options behind them. They're using worse than replacement level hitters as substitutes for MVP candidates (well, at least in Utley's case).

And Boston, man, Boston is a train wreck. How...man, that team is...dysfunctional. I mean, I think they'll pull it together and make a run at the postseason because they have too much offensive talent (Youkilis-Gonzalez-Ellsbury-Pedroia-Ortiz is a juggernaut lineup) but that pitching staff is atrocious.

Texas has played out of this world. Which is all I can really say for them. They've got a nuts team right now. Absolutely nuts. I don't want to jinx them but...they're +55 in run differential and last  year the Yankees had the best run differential with +210. And the Rangers have played 19 games. Which means the Rangers have outscored their opponents by 2.89 runs per game on average. Yankees? Outscored their opponents last year by 1.29 runs per game on average.

I mean, I don't want to get carried away. They've played really good baseball over 19 games, though.

Hope. Chase Headley is my favorite.

Opening day loss

So I caved and bought MLB.tv last night so I could watch me some padres. Its an awesome package. I watched some Boston-Detroit highlights and Phillies-Pirates (I'm in Philadelphia).

So: the game. First interesting note is that Clayton Kershaw left after three innings with a stomach virus? It was kind of a whatever for me. I checked into the game in the fourth when he left the game so I didn't get to see him dazzle.

I did, however, get to see Edinson Volquez underwhelm. The line on Volquez is that if he would just stop effing walking people he'd be elite. He has nasty stuff (which was on display last evening) but when its a foot off the plate, no one is going to swing at it. And that's what happened. Volquez walked in two runs on (if I'm remembering correctly) 3 straight walks and he got bailed out on a wild pitch that failed to score a runner from third.

I suppose I had high hopes for Volquez this season moving from the Great American Ballpark to Petco. I was hoping for a John Garland/Aaron Harang kind of year. But, what I saw last night doesn't bode well and I guess I should temper my expectations for Volquez. He owns a career 4.86 BB/9 and he's really only put up one good season. 2008 was a pretty good year, to be fair, but his pitching last night indicated another year of 5ish walks per nine innings which means he'll be average to below average and maybe even replacement level. He couldn't find the strike zone much at all.

I saw me some Cameron Maybin last night. That was a spectacle home run, it was, a no doubter. Maybin is my hopes and dreams player of this Padres club. Well, him and Yonder Alonso. We can dream that they turn into 4-7 win players and drive the team back to the playoffs. I'm not worried about Maybins error last night--I know he's a plus defender and he'll more than make up for it this season.

Yonder Alonso didn't look great last night, as far as I saw. I liked his at bats but he didn't seem to put good wood on the ball all night. For me, the jury's out on him.

I hate Dee Gordon already. Already I hate that kid. Vacuum cleaner of a defender. I think he's like a spider, all limbs and webs and snags. We hates him. He stole a Yonder Alonso single and hit the ball that Maybin couldn't handle. Thorn in my side, Dee Gordon is. Also, his speed was on full display last evening.

Ernesto Frieri also disappointed me last night as he struggled through the top of the 9th. He was pretty nasty last season and his curves and sliders had some real sick bite last night but he couldn't find the plate. I'm blaming Volquez.

Dodgers new ownership

So, apparently the Dodgers are getting new ownership for $2.1 billion dollars.

This is ridiculous. I, a Padres fan, hate the Dodgers and wish them nothing but ill will (in a business and sporting sense. No one needs to die). I honestly don't know how to take this news.

The Dodger deal, I'm assuming, has to mortgage the future by taking on assloads of debt in order to purchase the team. Frank McCourt leaves which is good for the Dodgers but I have to think that future baseball operations are going to be harmed by the debt burden the team will be forced to carry. Magic Johnson becomes the smiling face of ownership, that's good for the Dodgers I guess.

I suppose any situation where the McCourt debacle is finished is good for the Dodgers but I have to say as a Padres fan, this is probably the best case scenario--a new ownership group comes in and immediately cripples themselves.