MLB: Padres, hoo-boy

By Ed Piper, Jr.

Boy, am I glad I'm a Dodgers fan.

As a baseball fan who cares, and a San Diego resident who grew up in the greater L.A. area, I watched yesterday's Padre-Dodger season opener on TV with increasing disdain. Disgust.

For the Padres. After an early 6-1 deficit, the game increasingly became laughable as the local contingent flailed, flustered, and generally looked like the minor league unit that they are, falling 14-3.

Let me explain.

After moving to this area in mid-1993, I attended Padres games for $4 at what would be named Qualcomm Stadium.

Dianna, my future wife, had never seen a baseball game when we met. Then, I got her to 22 Padres games a season for a few seasons.

We parked in the dirt lot where IKEA is now located, walked down the hill to the stadium parking lot, and bought cheap seats. You could buy 'em then.

Then, after a few or trio of years, Dianna started bringing a novel to games. Then, after a year or two more, she said, "Honey, would you like to go to the game alone?"

I knew the honeymoon (for baseball-attending) was over.

So, I had my time with the Padres. It was a family thing. You get attached to something--or a baseball team--because of the person or people you follow the team with.

With that spousal baseball connection gone, I slowly drifted back to my childhood Dodgers.

Big, brash. The Giant to the North looks so different to people down here than when I grew up and lived in Dodger territory among Dodger fans.

But the love affair with the Padres was waning. As I said in starting out, I'm a baseball fan, so if you've read my Spring Training posts, you know that I visit all the parks, view many of the teams, ingratiate myself with Brewers fans--though I'm amazed there are any traveling to Phoenix for Spring Training--Indians fans, you name it.

Fast-forward to yesterday, April 3. Last week, I bought my first baseball jersey. It's being shipped. I haven't worn once since I played first base at Camarillo High School 46 years ago. Clayton Kershaw's is the one I ordered. I tried to find a Koufax, but they had a Kershaw one in 3XLT, more my present (enlarged) size.

That kind of says it all, where my allegiances lie now.

But, like I keep repeating, I'm still a baseball fan in general. I grew up reading the box scores for the Dodgers, as well as the hated Giants, Pirates (who had tons of stars then--Clemente, Stargell), and all the rest, in the Long Beach Independent-Press Telegram. The sports section in that paper was where I practiced a lot of my reading.

And I typed up mock sports newspapers, using my mom's carbon paper to make copies, on my mom's Smith-Corona electric typewriter, which she gave me permission to use. (And here I thought I came with my whole interest in writing. She played a major part.)

At one point later, in my adult life before moving to San Diego, I scored the Padres game on radio on KFMB simultaneously with the Dodger game on 570 radio in L.A. They were National League, just like my childhood Dodgers, so they carried a bit of credence that way.

So, having the Dodger background while still having given the Padres, my local team since 1993, a lot of my attention, I feel strongly: Padres fans, your franchise has never treated you right! Yesterday's blowout was Exhibit A. The owners' plea to you is to understand their plan to rebuild, having jettisoned any established major leaguers other than Wil Myers, who hit--what?--.258 last year, their centerpiece.

But the scandal is, while fielding this team that could well lose 120 games this year, they're still going to charge you Major League prices to attend games!

After a night's reflection of how much I enjoyed Spring Training at the end of February, how energizing the World Baseball Classic was in mid-March (I attended Team USA's games against the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico at Petco Park), and how much baseball means to me, I broke down the next day and bought a $34 ticket to the home opener Fri., April 7 (plus fees equals $43). That was a week ago.

That's not a discount, for a team with three players who have never played above minor league low A ball. (For those of you who need a refresher, the minor leagues go Rookie, low and high A ball, AA, then AAA. They say that the jump from AAA to the majors is gigantic, so imagine these three kids' jump yesterday--in front of 53,000 Dodger fans at Dodger Stadium on Opening Day--from low A ball to the Padres.)

I'll stop to take my breath.

What I was going to add was, the present Padres team reminds me of the Fire Sale days in 1993. Tom Werner and his gang of investors owners parceled off player after player during that season, with every other Major League team knowing they were going to do it. Meaning, San Diego couldn't get good value for the players they were trading for lesser talents. It made a joke of the franchise, and the commissioner's office stepped in to lend some advice and slow the dismantling of the 1992 team down.

The Fire Sale was a precursor to last year's effort in abandoning James Shields, Craig Kimbrel, Matt Kemp, Derek Norris, and all the rest, whom the Padres ownership had brought on board for big bucks in an effort to jump-start the team. We're in the year after Fire Sale II. Enjoy your baseball, San Diego fans.