Here we are a couple of weeks into the season (depends if you count those weird Mariners A’s games in Japan) and there is no clear cut leader.

A lot of big bats haven’t gotten hot yet and a few smaller bats have (Emilo Bonifacio and his .421 avg).  Two weeks into the season and Ozzie Guillen is already serving a suspension for his comments about Fidel Castro.

ESPN already thinks the Tigers will run away with the American League Central, while their magazine and Sports Illustrated both pick the Tigers to win the division and the Kansas City Royals to be a distant second.

Now the let’s chat about two wild card team playoff?  Is this a good idea?  This makes the season even longer, extends the risk that pitchers arms will get injured, and gives teams with perhaps a good record and would’ve finished second, a chance to be in the plaoffs.  I don’t like it.

I do like the purposed idea of putting the teams with the best records in the playoffs despite where they might have finished in a division setting.  Sorry Padres!
Let’s get to the Friars now.  I think Cameron Maybin is going to be HUGE this season.  If he can stay healthy, he will be a constant in a less than productive Padres lineup.  While on base, Maybin can steal, giving the Padres a chance to score runs they might not have earned otherwise.

Now for the question of the week?  How much money did Joey Votto of the Reds get?  Good Lord, I can’t even count that high (and I took my shoes off too).  What is it with first basemen and the astronomical contracts.  With that, I will wrap up my ramblings with my closing thought (Jerry Springer style) - Baseball is out there, it’s in the air, its everywhere and I’m loving every minute of it.

I just got word from the Padres about a pretty cool thing they are doing this season. For every Saturday away game in 2012, they will be having some OFFICIAL viewing parties at various places throughtout San Diego. So if this weeks locations are a bit far for you, don't worry! Next time they will be in different locations. You should still come to one this week, but just know that the next time there's a chance you could crawl there (or crawl back depending on your condition) it'll be so close.

I'm shooting on going to the Fleetwood myself.

RELEASE:

The team is on the road, but you can still enjoy Padres Baseball at an official Padres watch party! Enjoy the game with the Pad Squad, plus Padres Watch Party specials and have the chance to win great prizes.

San Diego Padres vs. Los Angeles Dodgers at 6:10pm

This week’s parties will be at:

ž   Miller’s Field – 4465 Mission Bay, San Diego, 92109

ž   Fleetwood – 639 J St, San Diego, 92101

ž   D Street – 485 South Coast Highway 101, Encinitas, 92024

We’ll see you there!

For more details visit padres.com/watchparty

Padres' early-inning woes lead to loss in extras - Padres.com
Moseley's shoulder has extensive damage - Padres.com
Padres need Luebke to step up vs. D-backs - Padres.com
Moores says Padres sale will proceed - Padres.com
Hard to tell, but Padres purchaser could emerge quickly - San Diego Union-Tribune
Arizona tops Padres on Young's 2-run homer in the 11th - San Diego Union-Tribune
Moores puts Padres up for sale again - San Diego Union-Tribune
News not good for Moseley on latest shoulder injury - San Diego Union-Tribune
Team loses to Arizona in 11, vows not to let uncertainty at top affect them - North County Times
Volquez froze on broken-bat single - North County Times
Moseley to be treated for now - North County Times
Moseley to be shut down after MRI on shoulder - North County Times
Padres hang tough, falter in 11th vs. D-backs - Fox Sports San Diego
Moseley's shoulder has 'extensive damage' - Fox Sports San Diego
Padres owner announces he's selling team - Fox Sports San Diego

SCORES - April 10, 2012
Arizona 4, PADRES 2 F/11
Sacramento 18, Tuscon 6
NW Arkansas 2, San Antonio 10
Inland Empire 7, Lake Elsinore 2
Fort Wayne 8, South Bend 1

PADRES PRESS RELEASE

San Diego Padres Chairman John Moores announced today that the ownership group will move forward to sell the club. Steve Greenberg of Allen & Company and John Moag of Moag & Company have been retained to advise on the sale of the team and to work with prospective buyers. They have advised the club that the process could take a number of months.

"Three years ago, I made the difficult decision to sell the club, and I didn't expect to have to make that same decision again," said Moores. "I have been honored to own the San Diego Padres and have enjoyed the experience tremendously."

THE FRO SAYS...
This looks like a good sign John Moores is willing to keep the sale of the Padres moving forward and hopefully this time we get a more financially solid ownership group.  

Powell's acute eye for video honed overseas - Padres.com
Hundley the handler for Padres - San Diego Union-Tribune
On-deck Tuesday: Padres open series vs. Arizona - San Diego Union-Tribune
Minors Report: Everett Williams has big night - San Diego Union-Tribune
Gwynn Jr. holds dad accountable during recovery - North County Times
Volquez looks to right ship vs. D-backs - Fox Sports San Diego
Doubts about pitching on rise after weekend - Fox Sports San Diego

MINOR LEAGUES
April 9, 2012 Scores
Sacramento 5, Tuscon 4
NW Arkansas 3, San Antonio 4
Inland Empire 1, Lake Elsinore 8
Fort Wayne 1, South Bend 5

While most of you people were drinking enough alcohol to kill a bear, getting arrested or doing God knows what yesterday, I on the other hand was on my couch at home. You might be saying "But SDPads1, you said you were going to be at Opening Day. What happened!?!" Well I'll tell you what happened. I stabbed someone and have to lay low for a while. OK, OK I didn't stab anybody (I guess I shouldn't be joking about that, especially when the Dodgers are in town). What really happened was I had explosive diarrhea and felt I should stay close to a bathroom at all times. OK that didn't happen either (Diarrhea is also no laughing matter). What REEEEAAALLLLY happened was Tony Gwynn told me not to go. True story. I'm a "real fan" and you guys aren't, therefore I'm going to tonight's game (tickets in hand) and plan on going to the game I dubbed the true Gwynn Opener for 2012 on Tuesday (Soon to buy tickets).*

Most Padres fans are aware of what Avenging Jack Murphy dubbed the "Gwynn Opener". Tony Gwynn has made it clear that he loves the 2nd game because anyone will show up to the Opener but the "real fans" are the ones who show up the next day.

The day after the Padres' home opener typically was Tony Gwynn's favorite day of the baseball year, so it was only appropriate that Mr. Padre walked into Petco Park on Wednesday afternoon, smile on face one day after San Diego sold out and won its home opener.

"This is my day, yeah, ha, ha, ha," Gwynn said. "You find out who's who. Sellout crowd yesterday, so we'll find out today who the real fans are."

Usually this is a true statement. Home Openers often fall during the work week on Mondays, Tuesdays or Wednesdays and are always sellouts. People take off work for this and make a whole day out of it. Game 2, on the other hand, usually posts dismal attendance figures as per the norm for mid-week games. There is no pomp and circumstance for that game, if you are going, it's for the game itself. This year though it just so happens that the Opener falls on a Thursday followed by the 2nd game on a Friday, oh did I mention the Opening Series is also against the Dodgers? I don't think the Padres will have any problems selling out the whole opening series this year.

With that said, I call for the Tuesday April 10th game against the Arizona Diamondbacks to be the Gwynn Opener this season. Of course show up to Petco Park for the entire Dodger series and chant "BEAT LA" until your head explodes and sport the Blue & White Brown & Mustard all series long. Because remember....you don't want to look like a dirty Dodger fan do you? But also come to the game on the 10th and be a "real fan" with me.

(Padres Press Release)

SAN DIEGO – The San Diego Padres today announced they have reassigned right-handed pitchers Casey Kelly, Jeff Suppan and Joe Wieland and infielder/outfielder Matt Clark to minor league camp. Executive Vice President/General Manager Josh Byrnes made the announcement.

With today’s announcement, the Padres currently have 30 players in Major League camp.

In this special Spring Training episode of Padres and Pints we are joined by Dan Hayes of the North County Times at the Fox and Hound in Peoria, Arizona. The interview takes place at the beginning of Spring Training (March 4th), the day after Dan broke the news of the Cameron Maybin contract. I would have liked to have gotten this up sooner but as you know I had some issues with Episode 3 & actually had some issues with this video as well. One of these days we'll turn into a well oiled machine and churn these out without any problems. We are huge fans of Dan's and can't thank him enough for taking some time to chat with us. Check it out!!