The Padres head out on a death march of a road trip tonite, heading in the wrong direction, out of the playoff race..

The pitchers aren’t pitching well. The big bats are not hitting consistently. The defense keeps kicking balls around.

And the leadership doesn’t have any answers either.

This 10-game road junket will likely end the Padres season, before it even gets to the All Star break. So much for my prediction back in the Cactus League, they could go (90-72). Of course, that was based on what was on paper and what these guys had done in the past.

Matt Kemp is not a leadoff hitter, and unfortunately he hasn’t shown he is much of a hitter in the 3rd spot, 4th spot or in the 5th hole. He plays hard, his defense has been better than expected. But there are too many (2-for-18) stretches, and a batting average now in the .240s.

Justin Upton has been solid, especially hitting home runs, and has held up better than expected in left.

Derek Norris has been all out every night, glove, bat, grit. He seems the only thing holding this roster together.

Wil Myers has shown he can hit, and a willingness to play anywhere they want him, but he has been hurt. He gave the Padres whatever credibility they had in the leadoff spot.

Yonder Alonso is now living up to the expectations he brought with him from Cincinnati, healthy and hitting, and playing a rock-solid defense.

Jedd Gyorko has stopped hitting. It’s really be almost a year and a half, and you wonder if he will ever gather his rookie season credentials back in.

An occasional big hit from Will Middlebrooks, and once-in-awhile contribution from Clint Barmes, and a hope Alexi Amirista can get hot, is just not enough, coupled with the defensive liabilities we have seen.

And how do you like Melvin Upton’s 15M a year contract and that batting average in the .150s?

The pitching is so far removed from a year ago, it’s shocking, but that’s what lots of innings to arms last year, can mean this year. They have never gotten dominant on the mound this season. And aside from Craig Kimbrel’s glare and stare and saves, and the early success of James Shields, there isn’t enough on that staff to trust.

Pat Murphy has seen lots of good baseball in his career, but he probably cannot believe what he sees now. Not much of a leadoff hitter, no table setter, and not much consistency, aside from Upton after that. They cannot find the right bats for the right slots. Cannot find a catalyst. Can’t create rallies consistently.

Sure they have an explosive inning here or there, or beat up a bad team’s pitching staff, but there is never a connection one game to the next where you can say it’s come together.

This is a big disappointment here at midseason.

GM AJ Preller took all these gambles, and only half of them are working out. And he traded away 11-top young prospects and five former first round draft picks, to make these winter transactions. Now there is nothing left to call up; he has a bunch of bad contracts he’s stuck with, and some significant roster problems.

The international signing period for Caribbean players opens today, and even the GMs track record of signing those type of players, since coming to San Diego has not been impressive. They said they bid on some key Cubans, but you don’t see any Yasmany Tomas’ in this biatting order yet.

Guess we will have to hold off on his Hall of Fame induction, just like we may have to hold off ordering postseason playoff tickets.

The language of golf you understand. Birdie-Par-Bogey.

The language of the golfer that needs some explanation. Hobby-Habit-Addiction.

Phil Mickelson’s illustrious golf career is headed to its twilight stage. His personal life now seems entrapped in dark shadows.

Lefty has given us the greatest of joys on the courses over the years. The Grand Slam wins. The wild shots. The ever-constant smile. The heart-warming story of his battle with arthritic issues in his joints. The global support of his family in his wife’s fight with breast cancer. He has been special in every facet of his public life.

His private life has taken some twists and turns.

The revelations of his heavy involvement with a known gambler out of LaQuinta. The transfer of nearly 3M from his bank accounts, that wound up being laundered thru other bank accounts, for placement of bets with off-shore accounts. The allegations the money was used to further fund a gambling ring.

This comes just years after Mickelson was tied into a probe of ‘insider trading’ on stocks, that caused a look-see into his business dealings.

Mickelson has never been charged with wrong doing, but you wonder about his decision making, and the people he has done ‘big business’ with, convicted gamblers and people penalized for SEC frauds.

We’ve all know the fun stories of Mickelson, he, the sports fans, the big-time events, placing big bets on sporting events. When you make big money, 77M in reported earnings, you have big dollars to play games with. He loves golf, and he loves the Las Vegas nightlife too.

But the latest episode of “Outside the Lines” on ESPN, the huge amounts of money being filtered to a gambler, tantamount to money-laundering, could sure leave a stain on one of San Diego’s greatest athletes and personalities of all time.

I guess you give him benefit of the doubt, till something more significant occurs. You’d hate to think Phil Mickelson’s reputation would wind up in the same gutter as Tiger Woods.

But business transactions of this magnitude, with people like that, open you up to more significant scrutiny than just standing over a critical putt on a sudden hole in a Grand Slam event. Why do I think of Pete Rose right now? Why do I imagine Gordon Gekko in the movie Wall Street, and ‘Greed is Good’?..

The always talkative golfer isn’t talking right now about all this. You would hope he would sometime soon. Talk that he made a mistake, that maybe he has a problem, or he just hung out with the wrong people.

Phil Mickelson has to tell us whether his placing bets like this a “hobby, habit or addiction”. This sure looks like a bogey in life, not a birdie from a superstar.

 
 
Boy money does not buy you what it used to buy you.
 
Anybody remember when gas was 18-cents a gallon….your newspaper was 25-cents…..a loaf of bread 49-cents?
 
Now it’s 3.25 for gas, 1-50 for your paper, loaf of bread 2.99.
 
Same thing in baseball.
 
Money just doesn’t buy what it used to, especially when you are talking star-power players.
 
The Padres are just about to the halfway mark of the National League season.  They play Seattle tonite and tomorrow, before going back on the road.
 
For the 110-M payroll they currently have, they are 10th out of 15-teams in the National League.  6-teams are in front of them for the chance to play the ‘one and done’ wildcard play-in game.  That’s an awful lot of teams to hop scotch over, and we can no longer use the favorite term ‘small sample size’.
 
The National League West standings sure don’t lie, with this (37-41) record they drag onto the field tonite at Petco Park.  And the stat sheet does not lie either.
 
The Padres team batting average, with all those additions this winter, is (.244)….ranked 23rd out of 30-in all of baseball.
 
All the promise of power hitters in that lineup, aside from Justin Upton, not much to shout about.  Shout at them with 65-homers, ranked 20th in baseball.
 
On base percentage, grab something so you don’t fall, all that payroll has brought you is an on-base percentage (.297), 4th worst in baseball.
 
The Swinging Friar is still more swing and miss…664-K’s this year, 3rd most strikeouts in the game.
 
Pitching is just as bad.  The once proud staff, which always had ERA’s around 3.00 and led baseball much of the past couple of years, now with a (4.11) mark, placing it 23rd in baseball.
 
The starters, so brilliant a year ago this week, are at an abysmal (4.23ERA), and the relievers, once known for numbers like 1.90, are at (3.89).
 
And the balls are flying out at Petco Park and other places.  The staff has given up 24-bombs this year, that’s 2nd most in baseball.
 
Not piling on here, but just telling you the scoreboard does not lie, halfway thru what could be a most disappointing non-playoff season.
 
I can’t believe it.  Bet GM-AJ Preller and lead owner Ron Fowler can’t believe it either.
 
Money sure doesn’t buy now what it used to.

Sitting here looking at a loaded notebook

Chargers-It is amazing Dean Spanos, who has donated some much money to charities in San Diego, would stain his public reputation by how his club is conducting (not-conducting) talks with the city about the new NFL Stadium.

Chargers-Radio analyst Hank Bauer gets bounced off the broadcasts.  Reports are LA-bases former receiver Curtis Conway will replace him?  Why? Nick Hardwick, Jim Laslavic, Dennis McKnight, Darren Bennett, who live here, not worth considering?

Padres-You have to feel sorry for pitcher Josh Johnson, setback after setback in trying to comeback from 2-elbow surgeries.  This year alone, strained elbow tendon, pain above the elbow, tricep strain, neck nerve issue.

Tommy John Surgery-The results have been amazing..82% of pitchers who have had the operations get back on major league rosters, except here in San Diego.  The Padres had 12-arm surgeries in a 17-month span, and not one has made it back yet.  Corey Luebke, Casey Kelly, Josh Johnson all in long term rehabs.

Lakers-What happened one night influenced what happened the next night.  When LeMarcus Aldridge (Portland) and Kevin Love (Cavs) opted out of contracts to enter free-agency, it changed the Lakers thoughts about the 2nd pick in the draft.  Thus G-D’Angelo Russell of Ohio State, not Duke big guy Jahlil Okafor.  Now with 23M cap space available, the Lakers can make a max bid on Aldridge or Love.  Now we find out if the franchise has any luster left?

Aztecs-Count football coach Rocky Long as a ‘yes’ vote on the early signing period for recruits.  He believes by getting the big time powers to sign commitments early, it frees up players for Mountain West school to be able to go after, in  the group left behind.

NBA Draft-That picture of UNLV center Christian Wood sitting alone in the Draft Green Room should tell the story of underclassmen who get bad advice, leave school, come out early, then don’t get drafted.  The NCAA is now proposing a new rule,which allows players to file for the draft, go to the NBA Evaluation camp, and then drop out of the draft and return to school if the scouts don’t believe they will be picked high.

Gulls-The AHL team hired a good coach, regardless of what Dallas Eakin’s NHL record with the Edmonton Oilers showed.  He had two great seasons with the Toronto Marlies, is an ‘on the edge’ guy with Xs-Os, cares about players, and loves to communicate, and has won in the AHL.  Now Anaheim just needs to get the next wave of young talent to the Valley View Casino Centre..

Ducks-An interesting couple of days for Anaheim on NHL Draft weekend, saying goodbye to wingers Emerson Etem, Kyle Palmierei and soon to be free agent Matt Beleskey.  They did get a good one with Rangers acquisition Carl Hagelin and veteran goalie Anton Khudobin.

Gulls-They won’t say it, but I will.  With the Ducks trade for another netminder, it probably means 21-year old goalie phenom John Gibson starts the AHL season here.  He had a (2.60) GAA average with the Ducks last winter.

Kings-Good news-bad news on draft weekend.  They paid an enormous price to rent Boston Bruins goal scorer Milan Lucic, not so much the lst round pick they gave up, but rather young goalie Martin Jones.

Kings-It was a horrid acquisition and it will cost them 14.6M with the decision last night to buyout-eat the contract of forward Mike Richards, the ex-Philadelphia Flyer.  He stopped scoring when he got to LA, and it loooked like he stopped competing.

Jimmie Johnson-He gambled and lost in the Sonoma 500-Grand Prix.  He didn’t take on tires when everyone pitted, and Kurt Busch, on fresh rubber, blew by 6-cars, including JJ, on the final seven laps.

Indy Car…Fontanta’s Auto Club speedway looked empty.  No one came to see the Indy cars.  They missed a wild day of pack racing, running four abreast, and a spectacular flip on the final lap.  Drivers are very upset with Indy car rules regarding downforce.  Auto Club Speedway needs to ask itself what has happened to fan support for Indy cars in So Ca.

 
 
Dateline Los Angeles Lakers, where losing has washed away all the great years and decades of winning.
 
But in the NBA, one night can change everything, and possibly last night, coupled with what happened a day before, will turn the Lakers back into greatness.
 
In a span of 24-hours, the Lakers made two surprise picks in the NBA draft, and were surprised also when two top big men, opted out of contracts, and headed for the NBA free agent window, that opens next week.
 
Rumored ready to make a run and make a trade to acquire unhappy Sacramento Kings center DeMarcus Cousins, a deal that hasn’t come down, the Lakers instead stayed put with the second pick in the draft.
 
They went guard, not big man, and in the process set themselves up for an acquisition of a big man, big money, free agent.
 
The Lakers elected not to choose Jahlil Okafor, the 6-11 Duke center, a quality player and person.  Maybe because there are some limitations to his game, or maybe the truth is, D’Angelo Russell of Ohio State, is everything they need and want, as a lead guard, a shooter, a feeder, and speed freak.  The Lakers still have Julius Randle, last year’s number one pick, who got hurt opening night, broken leg, and might be the same type player as Okafor.
 
At the end of the opening round, another surprise, the drafting of Wyoming’s 6-10 shooting forward Larry Nance, son of the ex Cleveland Cavalier-Phoenix Sun.  He is not the leaper his dad was, but more of a grinder.  Most everyone was stunned anyone would take him as an opening round pick.  But beauty is in the eyes of the beholder.
 
But Thursday’s nights draft will be superseded now by what happened on Wednesday.  Because the day before the draft, two marquee big men jumped into the free agent water.
 
Kevin Love is bolting Cleveland, after just one season.  He is casting eyes towards coming home, an ex-UCLA star, and he will command a 4-year max contract.  Then LeMarcus Aldridge, the leading scorer in Portland, opted out of his deal, putting his 6-11 frame squarely in the spotlight.  A banger and a fierce inside scorer..he wants to be surrounded by star players.
 
Connect all the dots here.  The Lakers have 23M cap space, have a healthy Kobe Bryant, developed a bright guard in Jordan Clarkson, just drafted the blazer Russell from Ohio State, and want a veteran star-status player to join the roster..
 
They figure to be a player for either Love or Aldridge.  They just have to find out which one is the better fit.  Which one is the better team player.  Which one wants to play in LA.
 
You can turn an NBA team around in one night in the draft.  The day before may wind up playing as big a part in returning Lakers basketball to greatness as anything.
 
Draft night was much anticipated in Lakerland.  Day one in free agency will likely surpass that.