My Second Grade Teacher

Sorry for not writing until today. I started a new job which requires many hours plus I had to fit in a Padres game somehow.

Mrs. Forkner was perhaps my least favorite teacher in my 12+ years of adolescent education. She would always force me to do things I did not want to do and get me in trouble whenever she felt like it. I seemed unfair to me, but I had to deal with it. I wanted the district to let her go and replace her with somebody better. But due to her experience in teaching, I knew that would not happen. I also saw teachers I liked in high school get let go because of their lack of experience. Why am I discussing this? Because that is what I see from the San Diego Padres right now. Ian Kennedy has had his good years. This year, meanwhile, he has struggled. Saturday was no different. In pitching 4 1/3 innings on Saturday and yielding run after run to run his earned run total up to eight. Even though he is coming off the DL, Bud Black should have known that Odrisamer Despaigne was our hottest pitcher right now. To replace him with veteran Ian Kennedy totally reminded me of my early education. Despaigne has deserved the job, especially after limiting the Rockies to only 2 earned runs over 6 2/3 innings...in Coors field. Yet Kennedy will not be relegated to the bullpen as he ought to because of his track record. Sure he almost won the Cy Young award in 2011 with the D-Backs, but that was the past. Today is today. It's time to move on to the better pitcher, not the one with the best career.

Meanwhile, the rest of the team has been looking kind of iffy when it comes to consistency. After beating the Rockies twice in a row, they went on to fall twice in a row to the Rockies and then again at home against the Dodgers. We finally pulled out a win on Sunday with a brilliant start from Brandon Morrow, the second hottest pitcher on the roster. I just hope the Padres don't flop against teams like the Astros, who enter play in first place in the AL West. Right now it is looking like other teams are poised to make a run at the postseason while the Padres will stand idly by watching others dominate the scene.

As much as baseball is on my mind, basketball is as well. The NBA playoffs have begun! A few series are already over, including the Cavaliers and Warriors, arguably the favorites to make it to the finals. Those two teams swept their respective series and awaiting their next match-up. The Wizards also swept the series against the Raptors, which reminds me of a hilarious meme shown here in this paragraph. It will be interesting to see this week who will come out of their respective conferences into the second round because the Spurs and Clippers are all knotted up at 2 games apiece. I predict that that series will go to a game 7 scenario. Comment below to let us know what you think will happen in the remaining series.

I do not have much time, unfortunately, but I hope to be able to watch at least some of the draft this coming Thursday on ESPN at 8 ET. The NHL playoffs are underway and are broadcasted throughout the week on NBC sports network. The favorites out of the west, the Anaheim Ducks, and looking to take the Stanley Cup for the first time in over a decade. Thank you for reading this post and feel totally free to leave a comment or opinion in the comment box below.

Rebound

The title is meant for two reasons: one, the Padres have come back from a tough beginning of the season and two, the NBA playoffs begin this weekend. It was a very entertaining past couple of days to see the playoff picture come into full view. On Wednesday, there were only a couple of playoff spots up for grabs. In the west, the Pelicans had to either beat the Spurs or have the Thunder lose to the Timberwolves. Going into the night, it looked unlikely that either would happen since the Spurs were on a torrid streak going into New Orleans. Turns out, however, that the Pelicans beat the Spurs, giving them the 8 seed in the west and the spurs the 6 seed. In the east, the Nets wound up winning the 8 spot over the inconsistent yet talented Pacers. So the playoffs are set. Here are the games for Saturday, but to see the entire TV schedule for the first round, click here in order to do so. According to Vegas, the Cavaliers are the favorites to win the title, which is surprising to me since the Warriors and Spurs seem to both be on a mission for the title. It will be a duel, yet it will be entertaining to see all this basketball in the midst of some great baseball action.

5Wizards Game 1 9:30 AM 4Raptors	8Pelicans Game 1 12:30 PM 1Warriors
6Bucks Game 1 4:00 PM 3Bulls	7Mavericks Game 1 6:30 PM 2Rockets

All times are in Pacific Time

 

In the magical world of baseball, the drama continues each and every day. The Padres have recovered from a tough opening week with a series in LA by beating the Giants three times in a row and the D-Backs two times in a row. (Those games against the D-Backs were not gimme's either). With the Padres down 2-0 from a home run off the bat of Paul Goldschmidt, we rallied back to win 3-2 off of a solo home run in the bottom of the eighth from Justin Upton. Then today at Wrigley the drama rose above any game that I have witnessed this year. With the USD product Kris Bryant making his major league debut for the Cubbies and James Shields toeing the slab for the Friars, things got interesting in the third. James Shields yielded a leadoff double to the pitcher, Jason Hammel, and eventually caused an error which led to two runs (one earned). Then in the top of the fourth, Yonder Alonso drew a two-out walk with nobody on who was followed by Will Middlebrooks who simply went on to tie the game with an opposite field two-run home run. Then in the bottom of the fifth, Shields allowed an RBI single to Jorge Soler and an RBI double to Anthony Rizzo for a 4-2 Cub lead. Bryant finished 0-4 with three K's, all swinging. He is the first Cub to make his major league debut in the cleanup spot since someone in 1943. In time, Bryant will adjust to major league pitching and start crushing home runs. Time will tell. In terms of the game, with two outs and two men on and an 0-2 count on leadoff hitter Wil Myers, the Cubs burly pitcher, Brian Schlitter, threw a fastball down the middle at the knees. The pitch was clearly a strike from every angle, yet the umpire did not ring him up. With the Padres given a second chance, Myers sent the next pitch over the center field wall for his first home run of the year, giving the Pad-squad a 5-4 lead. Eventually Kimbrel came in and shut the door on the Cubs. Mark Grant commented on how it was about time that the Padres got a break. The past couple of years (two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven years, as he says it) those strikes would have been called or we would not have come back and beaten the Cubbies. Fortunately we did and now we have had a pretty good start to a laborious road trip to Wrigley and then on to Colorado: a Padre fan's worst nightmare. The forecast shows snow too.

To finish off the Masters golf tournament, up-and-coming star Jordan Spieth stole the spotlight, never relinquishing the lead after gaining it on day one. He had a four-shot lead heading into the final hole and had loads of momentum, taking home his first green jacket. This week, meanwhile, he is competing in a normal PGA event and struggled on day one, but today he shot a -9 to push his overall score down to -6. Things are looking up for him. Tiger was looking good as well. However, after striking a root in one of his shots that missed the fairway, his wrist was causing him issues and finished at +1 for the day. He looked much, much better overall and should be gaining confidence in himself after performing well on a difficult golf course at Augusta. Phil Mickelson raced into second place by the end of Sunday, but it was not enough as he finished behind Spieth. These new up and coming kids have really shown some power and it is exciting to see new generations have success in a sport dominated by older audiences. 

 

Well there ya have it for this week! Feel free to leave a comment as to how to improve my blog or whatever else you would like me to write about. The NHL playoffs are underway, so expect a brief overview of that next week. Thanks and have a great week!