Last night, Logan Allen became the 19,522nd player to appear in the Majors. That number always blows my mind. You could take every big leaguer ever and they wouldn’t fill half of most stadiums. Heck of a club.
Bill Russell story…
Senior year of college. I’m the GM of our student radio station. Get a PR pitch email asking if we are interested in interviewing Mr. Russell, who was promoting what I recall to be an arthritis medication….
“Young man, I don’t know if there’s a Hall-of-Fame for what you do, but if there is, you’re going to be in it someday.” And if you don’t think that’s one of the coolest moments of my life..
Anyway, I will always remember his kindness and his time and his absolute willingness to sit with a dumb college kid and talk about every imaginable topic. His memory is one big blessing.
After intros, I started with a couple of softballs to the doc and he pitched the meds and so I figured ok I covered that and then conducted what was basically a 1-on-1 interview with one of the greatest athletes of all time for AN ENTIRE HOUR.
I asked every question I had prepared and a million more and Mr. Russell was kind and patient and thoughtful and eloquent and I couldn’t believe they never tried to cut the interview off. Any sense of intimidation I had at the start was totally gone and it was just surreal…
Just the most heartfelt thank you to everyone who hung with us this year. The energy you created, the energy we felt--even with empty stands--was remarkable. Thank you for making us a part of your days and nights.
Can't wait for what's to come. Special times ahead..
🤎💛
I finally wrap up and give them endless thanks for their time. And then Bill Russell, two-time NCAA champion, 11-time NBA champion, first Black head coach in North American pro sports, Hall-of-Famer, all of it, turns to me and says…
To illustrate just how versatile (and successful!) Nick Martinez has been this year, he's just become the first guy ever with 10 or more starts, 8 or more saves and 4 or more holds in the same season.
Quick moment to just say how happy I am for our fans. You guys have gone through it all and then some. Being a fan, like playing baseball, is about handling failure. And about celebrating success. I hope you all are celebrating in your own ways. Soak it in. Let’s do playoffs. 🤎
The Padres have won six straight for the first time since 2013.
In that time, they have scored 51 runs (8.5/game), hit 17 homers, five of which were grand slams.
Enjoy your Saturday night..
Jake Peavy (
#44
) will throw out the first pitch tonight before Joe Musgrove (
#44
, because of Peavy) makes the start. Tyler Anderson (who wore
#44
in Colorado) is on the hill for the Dodgers. In Anderson's first start at Petco this year, the crowd was 44,444. Padres walked it off.
My final thought: aside from all the obvious beauty of the moment and the guy...tonight was just another piece of evidence that things are different now. And that's big. More to come..
Anyway, I get to the station and sure enough, right at 7, a limo pulls up and the long legs of this 11-time NBA champion stretch out of the car and onto the sidewalk. We shake hands and I walk the two of them into our dingy little recording studio.
Here’s a fun one: five of the eight scheduled starting pitchers around baseball today were part of the Padres organization at some point in their careers.
The reply came that he would still be happy to do it and that he and a Dr. (who would speak about the medication) would be there at 7am on Saturday. This is where I remind you I’m a 21-year old college kid. 7am on a Saturday was not a time I was generally up. But sure!
I have never boxed 12 rounds before, but I feel like I just boxed 12 rounds. Maybe the most remarkable baseball game I've ever watched. We'll go ahead and talk to everyone tomorrow...
Salute to Victor Caratini. One year with the Padres, managed to catch the first no-hitter in franchise history and hit one of the coolest homers any of us have ever seen.
With profound sadness, the Padres announce that their Chairman and Owner Peter Seidler passed away today in San Diego. He will be dearly missed.
Please see the attached press release for further detail:
43,171 in the building. 18th sellout of the year. Biggest crowd Twins have seen since 2019. Not that it's because of them...this is just the place to be. Thank you all. So fun.
As a college kid and not an actual professional, I sensed I had to ask about the meds, but had no idea how long this whole thing should last and what percentage of our conversation should be basketball and what percentage arthritis…
Peter Seidler asked about outside opinions on how he’s running the Padres: “I don’t spend too much time, if any, thinking about what other people are thinking…We’re here to win a title.”
An organization completely committed, if not obsessed, with one thing: winning it all. Literally all you can ask for. A golden era. 78 days to the first Spring Training game…
I wrote back that while it would be an honor to interview a legend of his stature, I didn’t know that it was much of a fit considering A-we had maybe a couple hundred listeners and that B-I doubted many of them were arthritic…
Great news on the Bob Melvin front: out of hospital and doctors did not find any evidence of cancer. Possibly back as soon as SF on this trip. Continue to wish him all the best.
Joe Musgrove has made 10 starts this season...
-The Padres are 9-1 in those games (he's 6-0)
-He has yet to allow more than 2er in any of them
-He has thrown at least 6 innings in all 10
-And just for fun, he threw 7.2 no-hit innings tonight
The Padres hang an "L" on Kershaw for the first time since June of 2013, when Tim Stauffer beat him. Oh, and Pads have won 8 straight for first time since 2012. Game 1 goes to the Brown.
The Padres have won seven straight. The Padres will officially finish above .500 this year. The Padres welcome the Dodgers to Petco tomorrow night. Lamet/Kershaw.
Just FYI/if anyone cares/etc…had some family stuff come up and heading back to SD. Scans and Tony have you covered on radio. Appreciate them and the whole crew for having to make adjustments on my behalf. Talk soon! 🤎⚾️
There are not enough ways to say thank you to everyone for tuning in this year. But thank you, thank you, thank you. So lucky to work with the people I do and so appreciative of the love you guys show us all. Until next time…
🤎💛
My first day working for the Padres was seven years ago today. Thank you to all of you who welcomed me and helped turn San Diego into home. It has been so wonderful so far and I can’t wait to see what lies ahead.....
The Padres have swept the Giants for the first time since September of 2016. The three winning pitchers that series? Paul Clemens, Jake Smith and Luis Perdomo.
So happy to be back at Petco for tonight's game. And to everyone who reached out this week--man...I don't even know what to say other than thank you. What an incredible community we have here. Huge thanks to Tony, Scans & our entire tv/radio crew for helping. Best of the best. 🤎
Thanks to an official scoring change from the weekend in SF, Manny Machado now has 100 RBIs on the season. Fourth-career year w/100 and seven shy of career-high.