Tuesday's sports activities vindicated two recent posts on this blog, one in a good way and one bad.
The good: the Padres finally added doubles to their arsenal and look what happened. Three 2-run doubles and they defeat the Rockies 6-0. Brian Giles, Kevin Kouzmanoff and Jim Edmonds, all well overdue for something more than a stream of one-baggers, each came through with a big knock.
Meanwhile, keep your fingers crossed that Randy Wolf is going to continue to be this good and remain healthy. If the Padres are fortunate on both counts, and the slappers become sluggers, they'll be in the race this season. In 19 innings-plus, he's allowed just 10 hits and seven walks. While early free passes ruined his shot later at a no-hitter, he still has an outstanding mark of fewer baserunners than innings pitched.
The bad: three players have left the San Diego State men's basketball program and will transfer to other institutions. The biggest loss was highly regarded G Quinton Watkins, whose perimeter play was being counted on to return the Aztecs to the NCAA Tournament. DJ Gay had a decent freshman season, but Richie Williams regressed as a junior and Kelvin Davis turned out to be all flash and no substance. Watkins, originally recruited by Illinois, was supposed to be a serious upgrade. The news said he left for family reasons. I read it as he came here, saw that SDSU basketball was nowhere close to where he heard it was and ran home screaming. The NIT loss at Florida was all he needed to see.
The other losses were F Jon Pastorek and F Jer'Vaughn Johnson, both role players. Pastorek has a great deal of talent that was wasted in coach Steve Fisher's system, such as it is. I feel bad for the kid that he made the choice to come here. Bad fit. Johnson was a role player who had no hopes for increased playing time, which he could receive by going to a WCC school.
I don't necessarily believe that San Diego State basketball will go no higher under Fisher. No question the program remains on a plateau after these personnel losses. The spring recruit signing season opens today, so we'll see if he's able to bring in someone for the post or a point guard who can actually command the floor. If not, then the plateau could also have a lid on it.
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