Gwynn Thoughts: The statue, the brick

On Thursday I wrote of a few initial memories that arose from the ashes of my mind after hearing of Tony Gwynn's pending cancer surgery. I meant to continue with my Gwynn thoughts on Friday but life found a way to interrupt my little plans. This was from the 2007 season . . .

I knew this girl. She was not a baseball fan. But it was tickets to a ball game she had received for some demonstration of excellence. She knew I was a baseball fan however and quickly approached me to make the sale.

Sheepishly, I replied to her sales pitch, "Awww . . . I don't know. Those seats are pretty expensive." 

She reduced the price and I guiltily scooped them up. This particular game was to be played off in the future. July 21st to be exact. Against the Phillies. Excited that the seats were right behind the visitors' dugout I filed away the tickets and didn't give the game another thought . . .

As the date came-up on me over the summer I realized it would be the game in which Tony Gywnn would be immortalized with a statue at the Park in the Park. 

Earlier that year as a Valentine's Day gift for Mrs. AJM I had purchased a brick inscribed with our daughter's name to be placed around the base of the statue. Perfectly, I had purchased tickets to the game in which Tony Gwynn would be recognized for his career accomplishments. One week later he would head to Cooperstown to be enshrined in Baseball's Hall of Fame.

The seats were three rows behind the visitor's dugout, the best seats I ever had to a game. And that is my most vivid memory* -- being close to the Phillies players as Ted Leitner served as Master of Ceremonies. Each player -- Ryan Howard, Jimmy Rollins, Chase Utley, and the rest of the Phillies -- stood at the top of the dugout with stares fixed on Gwynn. I may have spent more time watching them pay their respects to Gwynn than watching Gwynn receive a career summation from Leitner. I didn't feel too bad about it though -- I have a brick.

*This game was absolutely brutal. The Phillies stomped the Padres into the ground. The fossil known as Jamie Moyer, baffled the Padres into submission and Ryan Howard destroyed whoever was pitching for the home nine.

***
Research tells me that the match-up between Jaime Moyer and David Wells (both 44 years old) combined to be the second oldest pitching match-up in the history of the game:

On Saturday, the second-oldest match-up will take place at PETCO Park between the San Diego Padres' David Wells and the Philadelphia Phillies' Jamie Moyer.
The 44-year-olds will have a combined age of 88 years, 307 days when they take the mound, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

They didn't think to mention who was #1 so I went and found it for you (us). Here it is: The oldest pitching match-up occurred in 1987 when Don Sutton and Phil Niekro got after it at 90 years and 135 days. Interestingly enough, in 2007 the mark for the oldest lefty match-up was set four different times:

April 12th: Jamie Moyer versus Tom Glavine
April 24th: David Wells versus Randy Johnson
May 9th: Jaime Moyer versus Randy Johnson
July 21st: David Wells versus Jamie Moyer.

What a fun year for old people.

***
To be specific regarding Ryan Howard. He hit two HRs, one of which landed in the upper deck in left center field, and finished with 5 RBI. Just so I can describe the destruction with a degree of precision, ya know.

***
Milton Bradley fell a double short of the cycle. It was his 10th game as a Padre.

***
Khalil Green left three runners on base and Kevin Kouzmanoff struck out twice. I. Am. Shocked!

***
Thank you, Mr. Padre.

Alternative Sports on the Tube/Laughing your Ass off/Week in Review/The Future of this Blog

Where to begin? Let's get right to the sport of watching television. In the last three days I've seen three of the funniest things ever---busting my gut, coughing, tears flowing from the eyes. I must share and I don't feel in the least bit guilty that these videos are off of our topic of sports. This is sport!

DATING:
For those who enjoy watching train-wreck television we bring you Daisy of Love. What happens when you lock up a bunch of dudes in a house with an unlimited supply of alcohol and they irresponsibly leave the patio doors wide open? Naturally, a skunk will wander in to house and drunks will try to trap it. What ensues is the funniest shit you will ever see (think Stand By Me during Gordy's tale about Lard-Ass and the pie eating contest.....)

FIGURE SKATING:
I had never seen the Will Ferrell film Blades of Glory and I still haven't. But I did watch one scene and I believe it was the first time they skated together in competition. In searching for a video that best captured the same disaster on ice that I witnessed, I settled on this one. It also has the perfect song to go along with it. Enjoy.

MOTHER LOVING:
This was the Justin Timberlake/Andy Samberg follow up to Dick In A Box. It originally aired a few weeks back for Mother's Day and then I saw it at the beginning of the week.....and then it re-aired last night. Perhaps not as good as D.I.A.B but hilarious none the less...

SDSU AZTECS:
Stephen Strasburg got his first loss of the year on Friday night against Virginia in the opening game of the Irvine Regional. Dude pitched like crap.....gave up two runs.....only struck out 15. At least he went out guns blazing. SDSU was eliminated tonight by the UCI Anteaters who are facing UVA as we write and looking to force another game against the Cavs tomorrow. I'd like to see Irvine representing SoCal in Omaha so we'll throw our support behind the Uncircumcised Penises of UCI. For more on SDSU's season you should go to 619 Sports.

PADRES:
Padres went 3-3 on their road trip this week to maintain their .500 winning percentage. Jake Peavy is still a Padre. Adrian Gonzalez is destroying National League pitching--hit his 20th HR today and The Effect picked up his 15th save after blowing one last night. While there has been talk of when Jake Peavy will be dealt and not if, SI.com's Jon Heyman proposes that the Padres would be much better off dealing Adrian Gonzalez. It pains me to say it but he's right. AG's contract is so cheap relative to his talent (Gold Glover and potential HR leader) that the Friar's could get a boat load for him. Not to mention that we have two 1b prospects as well as the possibility that with the 3rd pick in the draft we might take a kid out of UNC who plays...1b. I'd hate to see him go though.....he's a guy who could end up being like Gwynn: Synonymous with the San Diego Padres. A legitimate retired #....unlike Winfield and Garvey.

In addition to trying to write entertaining blogs I also try to collect and gather other good examples from the field. I came across a great blog by a Twins fan called The Daily Something. Great analysis and a nice little piece on the mystery that is The David Eckstein Love Fest. It's a reasonable question to ask of a player who's hitting .220 but has been described by GM Kevin Towers as our 2009 MVP. I did my best to explain it to him in that blog's comment section....maybe you could add something about the little fella.

More Peavy trade potential as well as the downward spiral of Khalil Greene from SI.com's Jon Heyman.....poor guy. And to think I actually thought that the Padres could have held him until July and sold high...waiting 'til July would have got us a bag of balls and a case of Budweiser from the Cards.

VOTE FOR MANNY:
Other good blogs I came across: It is about the money, stupid and Vote For Manny. Both of which come from a New York blogger named Jason Rosenberg. The former is his primary site and the latter is a little movement to get Manny into the All-Star game. Purpose: to shed light on the stupidity of the whole process as well as to make Bud Selig acknowledge the PED issue as it pertains to Manny being elected while serving a suspension. It's a great idea on many levels the least of which is to show how bogus the selection process is (Suspended player ManRam is running in 4th place so as an OF he needs to move up one spot where as Adrian Gonzalez is running in about 8th place....PEOPLE...He plays in a pitcher's park and has 20 bombs! Do The Right Thing!). I wrote a post on it so go read it and then sit on-line for 10 minutes and cast 25 votes for Manny Ramirez and Adrian Gonzalez. BTW: Manny Ramirez is an unequivocal A--HOLE!

CHARGERS:
SI.com's Jim Trotter writes about some Running Backs who he thinks are on the rebound in '09......take a guess....

NFL NEWS:
A good site for NFL/Entertainment news is FJuice @ nfljuice.com, and it's not just because we got linked from there. If you want a great way to start the day check out Morning Wood....isn't that the way everyday should start?

THE FUTURE:
We have changed our URL and exported all of our posts here. The previous URL is shite and was never intended to be a long term address primarily because we never really intended to do this long term. Anyways, this new address honors San Diego sporting history and will have a post written shortly to explain why we're even doing this.........aside from the fact that all parties involved are somewhat crazy. Await further word, ye Faithful Eleven.