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Hacksaw’s Monday Pondcast….1pm…from Dublin, Ireland
You Tube Channel-Lee Hacksaw Hamilton
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“GREAT WEEKEND-TOUGH WEEKEND”
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A weekend of excitement…a weekend of emotions.
We covered the full spectrum of excitement and sadness

PADRES…Win 2-out of-3 against the red-hot first place Dodgers, that was impressive.  Set 2-attendance records at Petco Park, even more impressive;

It was like a playoff atmosphere on Friday, the (2-1) pitchers duel, between Michael King and Tyler Glasnow.  When they were done, King reeled off 11-strikeouts in his 7-innings and kept the ball in the yard.  Glasnow matched him with a 1-hitter adding his own brand of zip, with a 10-strikeout day.

Come Saturday, it was vintage Dodgers baseball, a Teo Hernandez grand slam HR, before a ton of Dodger Blue fans in the stands.  The game set the single game attendance record in the yard, (46,701) a mob scene as LA won (5-0).

On Sunday Yu Darvish was dazzling, 7-shutout innings, a 2-hitter and the Friars crashed two HRs off Walker Buehler in the (4-0) whitewashing.  And when they were done, another weekend record (133,970), an all time mark for any 3-game series at Petco.

More importantly the Friars could have been 9-and-half out of first place if they got swept, instead they are 5-and-half out now, with easy pickings Colorado showing up next.

What a Weekend.

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IN MEMORIUM…A tough weekend with the Friday news on the passing of ex Padres 1st round pick Sean Burroughs, then the passing of longtime player agent Barry Axelrod, and the Sunday news ex-Chargers GM-AJ Smith lost a long battle to cancer.

SEAN BURROUGHS…What could have been, but never was, a career lost by disappointing performances, alcohol and drugs, and then a life rallied back by rehab and friends.  Power hitters were supposed to play 3B.  So much expected of Burroughs, but four years with the Friars, dealt away, having become only a singles hitter.  His career spiral was fast, released by Tampa then Seattle, and out of baseball.  His life went into the gutter with substance abuse, but he rallied himself with support from the Jeff Burroughs family and former Padres GM-Kevin Towers, who helped guide him thru rehab and then a final contract with Arizona.  But Burroughs admitted he was no longer driven to handle the pressures of being an MLB-first round pick.  He did save his life and family, but what could have been, never became that.  He died of a heart attack at (43) watching a Little League game in Long Beach, where he started it all in the Little League World Series.

BARRY AXELROD…Encinitas based, a very dynamic agent, who wanted good deals for his players, many of them Padres, and good deals for the GMs of teams, including what would become his best friend, Kevin Towers.  They argued about contracts for a wide variety of Padres players, then would go eat and drink wine and tell stories.  And it was Axelrod, at the end, who walked step by step with Towers in the final years as KT fought a bitter fight with cancer.  Axelrod was cut from a different cloth, but a really good man.  In fact he left the agent’s business to go work for Towers-the Gunslinger-with the Arizona Diamondbacks.

AJ SMITH..He was his own man, calling things the way he saw them.  He knew how to scout, how to find players, and would not be bullied either by players nor agents.

His record shows a stockpiling of a ton of talent, some he inherited when John Butler was GM before his sudden death.  You can like him for standing up to Eli Manning and drafting him even when father-Archie tried to power his son away from the Bolts.  I never forgot the draft pick when Eli came to the stage, held up the Chargers jersey-still folded, never opening it, and never showing a smile.

He wound up being traded to the NY Giants in the Philip Rivers deals that netted other draft picks too.  It was win-win.  Eli led the Tom Coughlin-Giants to 2-Super Bowl wins.  Rivers rewrote the Bolts passing records, (59,000Y-397TD).  AJ landed the likes of 955-receptioin TE-Antonio Gates, who never played college football.  He found Vincent Jackson, drafted Shawne Merriman and Eric Weddle tool

But the AJ era was about mistakes too, the brutal firing of Marty Schottenheimer after a (14-2) record, and the hiring of substandard head coach Norv Turner.  And the Bolts never got to a Super Bowl either despite a roster led by LaDanian Tomlinson and more.

Owner Dean Spanos praised AJ Smith for accomplishments.  But Spanos was equally responsible for firing Bobby Ross and eventually Bobby Beathard, and allowing Smith to run off Martyball.  The team never recovered from either decision.

So AJ leaves us with a scowl on his face,. his go to demeanour dealing with us in the media and having wasted a tremendous team by coaching decisions.  You play to get to Super Bowl Sunday.  He never held a job of significance after his Chargers chapter was completed.

Some weekend of pretty good highs, but pretty bad lows too.  People come and go, but memories will always linger.

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