Having the local baseball team suddenly known as "the second place Padres" does not concern me too much, since the ultimate goal of the regular season is to make the playoffs. A division title would be nice, but being the bridesmaid is nearly as good as long as you're the prettiest of the three.
In that regard, much has been made of the easy schedule the now-first place Giants have the rest of the season. While I have not given up on the Padres chances to actually win the NL West, it is important not to lose sight of the wildcard situation, and no one I know of has checked out the remainder of the season for the Braves.
Atlanta starts Friday a half-game in front of the Padres and are in the midst of a three-game weekend series at New York. The Braves then play three in Philadelphia and three in Washington -- and it should be noted the Nationals took two of three at Turner Field earlier this week. They are then home for the final week, with three against the Marlins and three vs. the Phillies in what could be a division showdown. That is no easy road, especially with the Phils on another hot streak.
The Giants, as you probably know, are currently home for three against Milwaukee, then travel to Chicago and Denver before ending the regular season at AT&T Park against the Diamondbacks and Padres. Manager Bruce Bochy's team looks like a good bet to be playing baseball after the first weekend of October.
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P Chris Young's start at St. Louis Saturday is huge. If he's on, then the starting rotation might hold together to the end of the season.
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There is no one overarching reason why the Chargers didn't sell out its home opener vs. Jacksonville on Sunday. I think nearly every reason mentioned has merit, from disappointment in last season's playoff loss to the way the off-season was handled. Three reasons clearly stand out to me:
1. The economy. The fact is if you're emotionally invested in the Chargers, you're going to go to the games no matter what happens to your bank account. You'll give up the Starbucks lattes and Friday evening happy hours to save money for football if you need to. However, lack of money will push the rock over the ledge if you're unhappy with the result of the playoff game, hating AJ Smith or missing LT.
2. It doesn't matter. Despite what happened in Kansas City, you know the Chargers are going to win the AFC West. Anything that happens now is merely a prelude to January, so why not save yourself for when it really counts? You can be like an NBA or hockey fan.
3. Television coverage. I actually like this self-defeating reason raised Thursday by Ben Higgins on XTRA 1360. Television coverage of NFL football games is now at such a high level that, while different, it's just as good as being there. In fact, I was shocked at what at times seemed to be only two-camera coverage of the San Diego State game at New Mexico State last week, in comparing the quality. You turn on the TV for a sports event, and you expect a crystal clear picture, tight zooms that can focus on a freckle and isolations on everyone down to the water boy. Why go when you can watch it on TV? Until you can't. Now you can't.
There are always complaints about the cost of tickets, parking and concessions, but there always have been. Wait until they move into a new downtown stadium. If the Chargers prices go up at the same rate the Padres' did, you'll need to take out a second mortgage for season seats. Such a move could also exacerbate the team's attendance problems. The NFL has been the corporate league for decades now, and San Diego really doesn't have many major corporations outside Qualcomm, Petco and Sharp Healthcare.
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I have no idea what San Diego State will do at Missouri on Saturday. I know the Aztecs are building from below, with younger players beginning to move into key roles on the team. I can tell they're good players and, with their youth, I don't care that they're only proving themselves against cupcakes.
The Missouri game, however, is all about the upperclassmen. Have Brady Hoke, his assistant coaches and ballyhooed strength coach Aaron Wellman done enough to make the kids who have been here for up to five years competitive with a good Big 12 team?
Can QB Ryan Lindley, WRs Vincent Brown and DeMarco Sampson, C Trask Iosefa and RT Kurtis Gunther put up a lot of points against a good team? The offense scored 61 points against their four quality opponents in 2009, nearly half of them in one game vs BYU. In 2008, it was 46 points against four top opponents. That didn't get it done and won't in 2010.
Defensively, can guys who have been around awhile like DE Ernie Lawson, LBs Marcus Yarbrough and Miles Burris, CB Jose Perez and Aztec Andrew Preston step up and keep the game winnable? Those four games last year and the year before saw the defenders allow 174 points (the lowest total being 33 to UCLA and a couple Bruins TDs were gifts) and 166 points (63 in one game to Utah).
If improvement is being made on both sides of the ball, we'll see it Saturday from the upperclassmen. The results will let us know more what to expect when the Air Force, BYU, TCU and Utah games come around.
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