On this Sunday morning on the eve before the Padres play the Pirates for the third and final 3 games series in Pittsburgh. The Boys from Diego weathered the elements of mother nature and the Pirates last night by beating the Bucs 9 – 2. Padres’ pitcher Mat Latos threw six innings en route to his staff leading eleventh win of the year. It is good to see Latos back in the rotation and providing the Padres with another outstanding performance. The key will be, how does Latos holds up for the remaining of the season and when will the Padres coaching staff pull back Latos before he surpasses their projected workload for the season. In either case, this will be an interesting activity to monitor as the season winds down during a pennant race. Last night’s win, assures the Padres a series win and only a win today will produce a series sweep.
Bud Black earned his pay
The Padres Front Office gave Padres’ Manager Bud Black a 3 year contract and this was well deserved. In my humblest opinion, Bud Black is the right Manager for this Padres ballclub and franchise. Ever since the Padres hired Black, there has been a level of consistency in manager’s decisions throughout the game. This isn’t a knock against former Padres’ Manager Bruce Bochy, but we all knew that Bochy was supplied with better personnel than what Black inherited after his initial season (2007). Let’s be realistic, even Bochy could have done well with the 2007 ballclub which finished second place after the 163 game of the year against the Rockies. Though, from 2008 thru 2010, Black has endured a period where Bud had to steer the ship and keep the players positive. Let’s be realistic, this is no easy task in any environment including those who work for a living. It’s always easy to manage or better yet go to work when things are fine and rosy. On the other hand when times are troubling with inconsistencies, shuffling of personnel and management you will really find out what people are made of. It’s very true adversity builds and defines the true character of a leader. In this case, Padres’ Manager earned his stripes and has been rewarded for his consistent positive outlook, empowerment of his coaching staff, and keeping the clubhouse loose by integrating rookies with the major league club. It’s about time a former pitcher has a profound affect in managing a big league team and breaking that mode of only former catchers are the best qualified managers.
As I close out this post, let’s truly enjoy every game of this magical 2010 season where I have now officially termed it as “We Believe”. The Padres are about to fly back home once they close out the final game of a 3 game series with the Pirates. The Padres have already ensured of taking the series by winning the first two games and effectively have taken the Pirates to the River. Ahh !!! With this being said here’s a video by Blues Artist Delbert McClinton, a song titled “Take Me To The River”. Have fun watching the boys today, San Diegans and when tuesday comes around guess who’s in town ?? I will leave that up to the next post.
