Lee Hamilton
5:13 PM (5 hours ago)

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“Traffic Jam-Petco Park-Outfield”

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I know it will wind up with a likely 90-loss season…currently (68-83)..

I know the pitching staff will finish with one of the worst ERAs in all of major league baseball..(4.60-ERA)..

I know the team will wind up last in batting and in most categories…(.232) at this point.

I know the attendance is struggling to get to the 2M mark, a low water mark in recent years, now at 1.994,000 today..

I know there are at least 30-players in the minor leagues, most of them in the lower minors, coming off good seasons at different levels, who might not be here for a couple of more seasons.

The big picture looks a bit brighter than the current snapshot of Padres baseball.

The fascinating story that is unfolding as we go to the final two weeks of the season, is the traffic jam in the outfield of guys, who have shown they can play and can contribute.

Hunter Renfroe may not have the batting average you hoped for (.231) but he has 21-homers, and has played a credible right field.

Manny Margot has arrived, at the tender age of 22, not getting overwhelmed (.265-13HRs), and playing a dynamic centerfield.

Jose Pirela is a late developer, who seems to be a professional hitter (.288) with some power (10home runs).

Travis Jankowski is back after missing most of the year with a fractured leg. If he hits back to last year’s numbers (.270), gets on base, and chases down flyballs, he is equal to a starter.

Corey Spangenburg has played in the garden in spots, and has established himself in multi position roles (.260-13HRs)

Jabari Blash shows flashes of power, has a cannon for an arm, and can play the corner spots, though hitting for average has been a challenge over multiple cups of coffee with the team…and he did hit 25-bombs and (.285) at AAA.

Matt Szczur has established himself as a super utility man, have glove, will play, lots of positions.

Add to the list of seven, might be the surprise package that is Franchy Cordero. He did hit for power here briefly, and slashed some, and struck out a lot. But on the fast track thru the minor leagues, he went for (.326-17HR) in El Pso.

Alex Dickerson, robbed of his season by a herniated disc, still has a (.309) career mark and 58-homers in 4-plus seasons. He goes into the mix next spring, post-surgery.

And further down the pipeline is Cuban sensation Jorge Ona (.277-11HR) in his first year in the states. Lower minor leaguers Michael Gettys (17HR)…Rod Boykin (.318), Rive Stevens (.287) and Edwin Moreno all excelled at Class A.

That’s nine outfielders plus five prospects in the chain.. Some will make it as backups, maybe some become trade bait.

The Padres will spend the winter trying to sort out who plays where in the infield.

And they will have to figure out how to acquire more pitching to compliment the two young arms in Luis Perdomo and Donelson Lamet.

But for the here and now, the outfield looks set. You can see that in the traffic jam on the organizational chart.

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Chargers to LA-How’s that Going”

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The Chargers home opener vs Miami.

At first glance on TV it looked like the game was sold out. From long distance shots, you saw a lot of blue.

Then you had close up shots, and yes, you could differentiate between the Chargers blue, and the Miami Dolphins aqua jerseys. Add in lots of Orange, the alternative Miami color, and as people told me, almost a third of the stadium was Miami fan.

About that crowd now. Don’t you remember AG Spanos telling us all, that all 27,000 season tickets were sold out. And you remember Mark Fabiani hinting Chargers fans would not be allowed to sell their tickets?

Attendance was 25,381, the second non-sellout at home in two weeks. And probably 8,000 of them were Miami fans dressed in their colors.

Dean Spanos can solve that. He can go back to ‘Central Casting’, and rent some fans for next weekend’s home game. He knows about Central Casting doesn’t he?

The alternative is to have a Red Sea tidal wave of fans in the yard next Sunday. You know, Kansas City Chiefs red?

And if you are keeping score at home, there were 56,612 for the Rams game at the Coliseum, and USC drew 84,714 for its game with Texas.

It’s tough to build something in Los Angeles, when the product is so poor.

An (0-2) start with a rookie coach, plagued by a bad field goal kicker, stymied by bad clock management and questionable play calling, makes it tough to sales pitch an attractive product, even with a Hall of Fame quarterback and tight end on the roster..

And the LA media, it is indeed piling on.

The LA Times lead column led with the description, ‘not wanted here…not needed here’, when making reference to the Chargers.

Spanos was shown sitting in the owners box, and was booed. The halftime ceremony giving LaDainian Tomlinson his Hall of Fame ring, saw him booed when he made reference to the Spanos family.

The stadium had tarps in the corners of the upper deck. There were bunches of end zone lower level seats empty. Shockingly, seats at the 40 and 50 yard lines were empty also. Hard to believe, that many no shows just two weeks into the season.

Of course in San Diego, the UT had four different columns and articles, all with negative slants about the team, the owner, the move, the bad blood.

On the 405 freeway, the electronic billboard, with the rotating messages deriding Spanos, Roger Goodell and the LA market, paid for by disgruntled Chargers fans.

The plane overhead flew with a trailing banner…Worst owner in sports-Dean Spanos-pay your rent. Ex-Dodgers owner Frank McCourt must feel relieved these days, there’s a new villan in LA.

You lose two games to start a season, in San Diego there would be panic. In their new market, no one cares, because the Dodgers are headed to the playoffs..the Trojans are ranked high with a Heisman Trophy type quarterback…and the Lakers are about to open the Lonzo Ball-basketball era.

The TV ratings, in LA, for that first home game, an awful (5.1) rating, worst home market TV rating for a team in its own city in 33-years. Rams football didn’t do much better, just (7.2)

Chargers football, fenced in by the Dodgers-Lakers and Clippers…om the shadows of the Trojans-Bruins and Kings…it’s like they don’t exist.

The Chargers have a real problem. It might be the product. It might be the prices. It might be the size of the market. But more likely, it might be the owner.

The Chargers have now lost 27-of-their last 37-games.

In modern day history, when I think of Dean Spanos, my mind flashes to others like him who have failed. Is he becoming Mike Brown of the Bengals? Is he the next Bill Bidwell of the Cardinals?

History is getting ready to write about Dean Spanos and his greed. AG Spanos, his son, an empty suit. John Spanos, the so-called football guru, in over his head.

Is it Sunday yet? Here comes the Kansas City Chiefs to town.

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“1-Town..1-Winning Team”

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They walked the talk.

They did what you would expect a Rocky Long football team to do…played hard..hit hard…got the turnovers…got the sacks…ran the ball…hit big pass plays…and out toughed another opponent.

Playing in a medieval football stadium, that experienced a 22-minute power display, San Diego State put the lights out on Stadium, winning (I20-17) with (:54) left on a Christian Chapman game winning TD pass.

For a program so used to failure, losing badly to big time teams, it was another step forward for the strong willed program, led by the strong willed coach, Rocky Long.

Long is now (57-26) in America’s Finest City, bring football fans the finest college football we have seen since the small college days of Don Coryell, the Aztecs Bowl in Division II football. And that was a lot of 3rd down coversions ago.

The scoreboard does not lie about SDSU struggles outside their own conference, whether it was WAC or Mountain West.

Goodbye all types of bad karma. Had never beaten two PAC 10-PAC 12 teams in the same year, ever. Were (0-30) vs ranked teams in the Power 5-Conferences. Were (5-56) against any ranked teams since 1981. Were (12-40) vs Pac 10-12 teams over the history of the program.

Long, every the student of cement-tough defense, told me he watched the schemes USC employed the week prior choking off the Cardinals power offense.

Copy-cat he is, he played a stacked defense against Stanford, walking linebackers into gaps, daring them to run power back Bryce Love. If they didn’t run it, he dared QB-Keller Chryst to think he could get the ball out of there before the pass rush outnumbered blockers, and nailed the quarterback.

Yes Love broke off 3-big runs of 47-51-53 when he busted to second level. The rest of the night, he did nothing.

Chryst was an anemic (9-19) with no deep balls and no time to throw.

In typical Red & Black style, Long’s defense recovered a fumble, had 2-picks and recorded 4-sacks.

Meanwhile, it was a typical night at the office for the Aztecs run game. Rashaad Penny gashed Stanford for runs of 11-11-14-14-23-36, behind a very young, but physical SDSU offensive front.

State QB-Christian Chapman did more than just ‘manage the game’. He got that off his driver’s license with a strong (21-29) 187Y-performance. His TE-David Wells, the next coming of Gavin Escobar, caught key passes, and the game winner.

And John Barron booted two more field goals enroute to the win.

Stanford was black and blue when it was over.

It may only be the third win of the season, but it counts for a lot. A (3-0) record, more national recognition for the big money running back ‘Penny’, and another quality win in a series of quality wins for Long, covering the last three seasons.

Next up the challenge that is all things Air Force. Aztecs coming off a brutally physical game. Short work week vs the Air Force option. The thin air of Colorado Springs.

And beyond that, a home game with Boise State, the team the Aztecs have replaced as the flag carrier of the Mountain West Conference.

As a talkshow host, I always loved saying ‘it’s your fault coach’. And it is. Rocky Long has coached em up…game planned them up…built the roster up…and seems primed to take SDSU football to new levels.

And now a new tradition…fans storming the field after a huge win, something I have hardly ever seen in 30-years covering this team. This should become the ‘norm’ every weekend.

Time for the ‘show’…the fraternity guys and student body to take that basketball tradition, and make it a football tradition too.

1-Town…1-Team….1-Winning Team…San Diego State.

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“Baseball-Real Time to Win-Now”

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Those in the dugouts and in the clubhouses, all use the same phrase.

“It’s a marathon”.

Talking about the 162-game season.

The stretches of games where you play 21-days in a row. The ever-tough afternoon games after the late night games. The 3-city road trips. Playing 28-of-38 on the road. The never ending nagging injuries and the always short bench or pitching staff.

It’s a marathon.

Everbody has to go thru it, get thru it, now it’s time to man up to it.

The Boston Marathon is much the same. You go out fast, then try to find a pace, to keep the leaders in sight. Then you ache, then you hurt, then you hit the hills. Then you hit the wall.

Baseball’s pennant race is approaching Heartbreak Hill in every city where a team still believes it is in a pennant race.

Baseball’s wildcard race, the last gift oft-criticized Commissioner Bud Selig gave us, works.

It keeps fans interest in a lot of cities just as the NFL season is beginning.

A couple of years ago, the pennant races came down to the final out in the final extra inning of a couple of cities, to determine who would go the post season. A great way to end a regular season.

On August first, we had 13-teams, within 5-games of each other, with 2-months left in the season.

Now we are into the final two weeks of September, and this morning you still have 2-pennant races to be decided.

And you have 7-teams fighting for the 4-wildcard slots in the two leagues. Add in the two leaders in close races, you now have 9-teams clawing each night, with postseason hopes still alive.

The Yankees trail the Red Sox by just 3-games in the American League East race with about 15 to play.

Over in the NL Central, last year’s World Series kings, the Cubs, just cannot pull away. They lead Milwaukee and the Cardinals by 3-games, with 14-days or so left in the seasonl.

In the American League wildcard race, the Yankees hold the top slot…but the Twins and Angels keep applying pressure. They just 2-back of New York, and three does not go into two. Somebody will be broken hearted the last day of the season.

In the National League wildcard chase..Arizona has pretty much locked up 1-spot building a 6-game lead over Colorado, thanks to a hot streak, and some head to head wins.

But Colorado has just a 2-game bulge over Milwaukee and St Louis with that second spot still out there for the taking.

The marathon race that is baseball’s 162-game season is headed into the final group of hills (the schedule), and it will be a wild final two weeks of the season.

The Angels keep grinding. Minnesota Is breathing hard-some days good, some bad.

Colorado is staggering after a spectacular first half of the year, and now we find out if they have enough ‘kick’ to outsprint the fast closing Cardinals and up and down Milwaukee.

The wildcard race is great. And as you finish the 162-game marathon, no time for a deep breath, because you have to then have the 1-game play-in game between the two wildcard teams to see who goes to the divisional series.

Gas tank empty. Hitters worn out. Pitching staffs on fumes. Got to win. By the way, the most important part of the season is about to begin…the post-season.

It’s been a marathon. Who has gas left to sprint to the finish line. But for the next two weeks, it is the real time to win in baseball.

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“Aztecs Football-Something Important”

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I love exchanging verbal gunfire with San Diego State football coach Rocky Long.

The man has done an exceptional job making Aztecs football relevant in the Mountain West Conference.

He is on the brink of doing something SDSU has never-ever done, and they’ve done alot of things in recent years.

SDSU hosts Stanford on Saturday night. A win then, coming on the heels of the road win State put up last weekend at Arizona State, would take the program to a different level in terms of notoriety.

In the modern day history of SDSU football, it has never-ever beaten two PAC-10 or PAC 12 teams in the same season.

Rocky Long sat there at his Tuesday press conference, and flat out denied this is anything more than the third game of the season for his team, and reminded us-lectured us in the media, that the most important game of the season is next week, the Mountain West Conference opener at Air Force.

Sorry to disagree with the man, who has taken his team to six straight bowl games, and has helped SDSU become an equal, in conference play of Boise State.

And yes, they have beaten Boise State a couple of times during the Long era, including wins ont he Blue Turf in Idaho, and yes winning a tough conference roadie a week from now, is important. .

But for SDSU to get ranked, to get more national notice, which continues to evade a really good MWC program, outslugging Stanford, and getting a second W would be a huge statement game.

Yes the Aztecs have beaten some PAC-12 foes. They outgunned a California Golden Bears team last season, but SDSU is just (13-58-3) against those PAC-10-12 foes in the history of the program.

They beat Washington State too, as the Cougars were just starting to build under Mike Leach, a couple of years back. .

And maybe a highlite game was the 31-31 tie with USC during the Marshall Faulk run and gun days, but Monty Montezuma’s team has never done much against the Pac, till this opportunity now..

I don’t disagree with the old ball coach much, aside from a bad 4th down play call at Wyoming last year, but I will argue with him on this one.

You beat 19th ranked Stanford and go 3-0, you put yourself in prime position to become a highly ranked team for the rest of the year.

You can take care of Air Force’s option attack a week from now, and yes there is Boise State still to come, but that game is here, as part of this fascinating 7-game home schedule SDSU plays.

Saturday night’s street fight is vital.

The old New Mexico Lobo quarterback and then coach, is (56-26) with 3-bowl wins. All that against rugged Power 5-non conference games, and an ever improving Mountain West Conference.

Whereas the Aztecs had to take all those payday games, losing at Michigan, Ohio State, Notre Dame, things have changed on the Mesa. Long, paired with the two most recent ADs, now gets home and home games, don’t have to sacrifice their players, and have become winners.

Maybe even displaced Chargers fans will come to understand how good the program has become, and how a man Long is as its leader.

Long likes to lecture me his team has arrived as a conference power, rightfully so, because they have punched Boise State in the mouth.

But I must remind the Rockster, Boise became a national brand, by beating Oklahoma State in the Fiesta Bowl, and the rest of Broncos history followed.

Don’t argue with a talk show host, coach. Just smack Stanford, and we’ll figure out Air Force starting on Monday.

Getting to (3-0) with back to back Pac 12-victims would put Aztecs football in the national spotlight. Donnell Pumphrey got them recognition last year. Rashaad Penny might this year.

But winning this game, definitely would.

Run the ball. Tough as cement defense. And the fiery spirit of the old ball coach has made this program special. Slapping Stanford would be another notch on the holster for the coach and his arrow pointed up program.

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