Opening day has come and gone. The regular season is in full swing. Baseball fans across America Are beginning to settle in and watch their team either go all out and miss the postseason or make the postseason. We'll just have to wait and see. Meanwhile, the Padres have started out slowly. More on that in a moment. On Sunday, less than 24 hours before the first pitch of the season at Dodger stadium, AJ Preller surprised the entire baseball world yet again by another trade. This time it was in the form of Craig Kimbrel. The Padres sent oft-injured Carlos Quentin and Cameron Maybin along with prospects Matt Wisler and Jordan Paroubeck and the 41st overall pick in this year's draft and in return received Kimbrel and Melvin Upton Jr. (and his burdensome contract). Upton is currently on the DL and will not return until May at the earliest. Melvin has struggled the past two seasons in Atlanta playing with his brother as he hit a combined .198 over those two years. Kimbrel, meanwhile, came into the league in 2011 and made an immediate impact. (I call him my wingman because of the look he has as he stares into the catcher to receive his sign.) Since then he has the most saves in the majors and the most strikeouts in the majors. He actually averages something like 12 strikeouts per nine innings, which is ridiculous. One other statistic of note, is that out of all pitchers with at least 250 innings pitched, he has the lowest ERA in the history of the MLB! That's pretty awesome! So far, however, we have not been able to see much of our new closer because how the rest of the team has been playing. On Monday, opening day, we played the Dodgers in LA. We took the lead in the top of the first, but, as always, the pesky Dodgers seem to come back. That team is stacked and has the league's best RBI guy in the form of Adrian Gonzalez. He pounded the league with 119 RBIs last year. This year...well...he's on pace for over 200. With the Padres up 3-2 in the 7th inning on Monday, Nick Vincent was on the mound. Vincent, normally good, yielded a game-tieing RBI single. The next inning, newcomer Shawn Kelley was on the mound and yielded an extremely deflating three-run home run to give the Dodgers a 6-3 lead. That ended up being the final score as well. On Tuesday, we finally had enough guts to win a tough team win and saw Kimbrel strike out the side. On Wednesday, the game was broadcasted nationally on ESPN. You know what that means, right? It was time for some fireworks...in Dodger blue. Adrian Gonzalez destroyed three fastballs right down the middle (or close enough) for three home runs. Cashner knew he missed with location. You cannot do that to a veteran like Adrian Gonzalez: the best Padres hitter that I have ever seen (who now haunts us in Dodger blue). The score ended up a final of 7-4 Dodgers. Upton and Middlebrooks each hit their first home runs of the year, but it obviously was not enough. Last night, in our home opener, the final score ended up being 1-0 Giants in 12 innings. The Padres had many, many chances to score but could not get the one hit when it counted, even if Casey McGee of the Giants had two errors. The Giants converted when they were given the chance. 
That brings me to another topic. Do you remember when the Miami Heat totally revamped their roster in the Summer of 2010? They brought in Chris Bosh and LeBron James and were primed to sail their way to the finals. Well, it didn't work out that way. Through the first month, they were only 7-7 before turning it on and eventually losing to the Dallas Mavericks in the finals. This is what I hope to see in the Padres. They have not hit like they were supposed to and are looking a lot like the Padres from last year with the major's worst statistics in many categories. (Go to utsandiego.com and type in the search bar: "so far, new padres same as old padres" and click on the second link. This article will shed some light on what I am trying to say). The stars have not begun to show quite yet and, as the season wear on, this may look like a managerial issue more than a talent issue. Even with the league's worst offense last year, Bud Black managed to win 77 games because of stellar pitching. In the final year of his contract, will he stay or be shown the door? I think that is what the front office people are looking at this year. Look at the Rockies and other teams in our division. So far they all look better than the Padres. Something better happen and happen quick or else attendance will decrease dramatically and some Padre faithful will quit.
Meanwhile, in the world of the NBA, the race in both conferences is quite hot right now. Both the Thunder and Pelicans have four games remaining in the regular season and they are currently tied for the last spot in the west. In the east, the race is just as compelling, albeit the teams have losing records. In the east, the Pacers are one game back and the Heat are two games back with four games left. As far as awards go, the MVP looks to be headed to Steph Curry from the Warriors. He has been amazing as the best point guard in the league this year. Let's see how things go down this year! One week left!
In college basketball, Duke won the title. That's all I can really say about the game because I didn't watch it, but I know Duke won 68-63. Many fans were complaining about the bad calls going in the favor of Duke. The referees were not the best this time around, but still a team wins because it plays through those tough calls. I'm sure Wisconsin had a few calls go their way during the game that should not have gone their way. Nonetheless, you see the result. Frank Kaminsky and Sam Decker will both be headed to the NBA this summer via the draft and Duke will also lose several players. But the team that looks to lose the most players is Kentucky, with 7 players declaring for the draft. Turns out, Kentucky will probably have another top-5 team again next year. We'll just have to wait and see, but John Calipari seems to always get recruits.
That should do it this week. Next week I will provide you with a preview to the NBA playoffs and a roundup of the action around the majors. Perhaps I will include a little hockey too! Have a great week and be sure to leave comments and suggestions as to what you would like me to do better or things that you would like me to write about. Have a great week!
