Just a reminder, the memorial service for former Aztecs and Chargers football coach Don Coryell is Monday at 2pm at Viejas Arena. Should be an interesting event with greats like John Madden, Joe Gibbs and Dan Fouts speaking.
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The Padres are more or less where I expected them to be at the All-Star break, contending for an NL West title behind strong pitching that carries a rather weak offense. That was a reasonable preseason prediction that I bet a lot of us made. However, I doubt any of us realized the won-loss record would be as good as the 51-37 mark that is just a game behind Atlanta as the best in the league, or that the pitching would be this strong or the hitting this bad.
Needless to say, with the Rockies heating up, I still think a hitter needs to be brought aboard, and pitching depth will be tested again because Mike Adams pulled on oblique muscle on Sunday. I don't know if we can expect the Friars to keep pulling out low-scoring games in the eighth or ninth innings the way they have so far.
Here are some quick mid-season grades:
1B Adrian Gonzalez gets an A for a .298-18-56 first half, powered by a month of June that saw him raise his batting average by 34 points.
2B David Eckstein also deserves an A for flawless fielding, literally, and clutch batting at the end of games that made the difference several times.
SS Everth Cabrera and Jerry Hairston rate a D, which mainly reflects the starters ineffectiveness at the plate and constant injuries. Hairston has actually done fairly well as a backup, but here might be a good position to add a hitter via trade. Yes, good luck with that.
3B Chase Headley gets a B- for his amazing April that had him hitting .340 by May Day and his solid fielding at the hot corner. However, he has only 6 HR and 29 RBI, numbers that need to be more than doubled if the Padres are to win the division.
In the OF, Kyle Blanks obviously gets an incomplete. I give a C to Scott Hairston, Tony Gwynn and Will Venable because of their defense and late contributions to a few wins. Gwynn will never hit better than he does now, while Venable is too in-love with his power swing. I love minor league call-ups Aaron Cunningham, who should now start every day, and Chris Denorfia. Both are gamers.
C Todd Hundley and Yorvit Torrealba bring an A home to mama because if the pitching is that good, the guys behind the plate are doing a fine job. Hundley has won several of those games late with the bat, and Torrealba has at times been the only guy besides A-Gon who has a clue in the batter's box.
Pitchers get an A. Duh. We've received far more than expected from Mat Latos, Wade LeBlanc and Luke Gregerson, probably not as much from the ill-fated Kevin Correia and Edward Mujica.
I was worried by the four-game losing streak before Sunday's 9-7 win in Denver that pushed the Rockies two games behind in the standings, but I think the Padres will hang in there well into September -- more so if GM Jed Hoyer brings in a bat. The Rockies, however, scare me. They've got the same mojo as the past couple of years, so this might not be just a race to the finish, but a very long sprint.
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