That's More Like it, Padres!

Where were THOSE Padres during the first week of the season?

Among the humorous parts of the Padres 17-2 home-opening win over the Braves Monday came before the big, big inning. Kyle Blanks had already been up twice with runners on base and two outs. Just the situation I blogged about previously. It's a situation in which he has to consistently come through. Okay, consistently in situational hitting in baseball means about 35 to 40 percent of the time. That's what he has to do. I don't care much about the times he opens an inning with no outs and no one on base.

So he comes up twice in those situations and ends the inning. I went to my Facebook page and on my status wrote something nasty. No more than 15 minutes later, Blanks comes up again with runners on base and he whacks a 2-run double. Yeah, there was only one out but we'll take improvement where we can get it. If I say nasty things about Blanks in the future, it will only be for encouragement. Really. I hope.

Let's hope that Blanks, a solid Kevin Correia and other key Padres make Monday's performance a habit -- at home and on the road.

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Santana High's Hayden Penn was designated for assignment by the Pirates after compiling a lofty ERA of 30.86 in three relief appearances. He allowed eight hits and three walks in just 2.1 innings.

On the good news front, the Mets activated first-baseman Mike Jacobs of Hilltop High right before the season began. He struggled out of the gate, too, but hit his first homer Monday.

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Mark down Dec. 4 on your calendar. San Diego State will be home this year for basketball's Mountain West-Missouri Valley Challenge, and the opponent is Wichita State. The Shockers are expected to supplant Northern Iowa as the best in the MVC next season. With the Aztecs positioned to challenged for the MWC title, it could be a heck of a match-up.