Seau, Weaver, Padres combine for a roller coaster day

Today has been one of those days.

For me it was wrapping up production for the final paper of the semester this morning. And then, Kaity and I took off right after we finished (ish) and headed to San Diego for a little bit of celebratory baseball.

In the world of sports we have seen death, wins and no hitters. It’s been a roller coaster.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the tragedy that happened in San Diego today with the death of Junior Seau. I don’t know his life, I don’t know what he’s been face with, so I can’t comment that. The only thing I can say is that it’s tragic and heartbreaking. It is a huge loss to football, the Chargers and our community.

Today’s Padres game kicked off with a moment of silence for Seau. It’s funny, usually there is that one fan who cannot respect a moment of silence and yells or does something stupid during it. I didn’t hear a thing. Not a cell phone ring, not a cough nor a sneeze. I don’t even recall hearing a baby cry.

From there, the game took off– at times. It was mostly uneventful until the third. Padres saw nine batters step up to the plate that inning and three of them scored. Venable gets on with a single. Then, last night’s hero Mark Kotsay doubles to right, Venable scores and Corey Hart throws home, advancing Kotsay to third. Headley walks, O’dawg walks and suddenly the bases are loaded for Cameron Maybin. With his single, Chase Headley scores and suddenly we’re up 3-0.

A few more innings of nothingness. Parrino copies Alonso’s move yesterday and goes over the wall in foul territory (doesn’t make the catch sadly). And in the bottom of the 8th, some more action from the Padres in the form of two more runs. Maybin walks, Parrino singles. Guzman doubles scoring both Maybin and Walker.

This was the first series that the Padres took, and they are perfect in May. It feels great to have a team that is up for once. Padres fans don’t get to see that often.

It should be noted that Luebke is on the 15-day DL and didn’t pitch tonight. Padres brought up former Brewer and now Padres minor leaguer Jeff Suppan to take his place. A part of me was dragged kicking and screaming to watch Suppan pitch. I wanted Cory and you weren’t going to give me anything different. Well, that didn’t happen. However, Suppan stepped in and really owned the game. He obviously didn’t allow any runs, just four hits and two walks. I still prefer Cory, but if Suppan can pitch this well, perhaps we can remove Weiland from our rotation. Weiland is good, but he’s just not strong enough yet. Batters are owning him now, but he will get there. I really can’t wait for Luebke to get back. We have a really strong rotation of three with Volquez, Luebke and Bass, we really can’t afford to have him hurt longer than 15 days. However, I would rather have him heal and be 100 percent than throwing injured and obliterate his arm.

Definitely should mention the no-hitter thrown just north of us for Jered Weaver. Moments like that should remind us how gripping this game can be. Who doesn’t like watching someone succeed? And to see him start crying as he hugged his parents just capped the moment. I don’t think it matters that Weaver is an Angel, most fans of the sport can cheer for someone who does well (except of course Twins fans– they’re just not happy about it).

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