I’ve been traveling back and forth to the greater Los Angeles basin the past two weekends and I will tell you this much. The Angelenos are very very aware of the Padres. In fact, most of them are very reserved about making any type of remarks in regards to the Padres. What does this tell me? The Padres have many people outside San Diego wondering if this team is for real. As we draw closer to 4th of July, I guarantee the fans in LA, SF and Colorado will be more on the edge due to the rise of the San Diego Padres. How come ? To be quite honest a few well respected baseball people have noticed the Padres and here are some of the comments and quotes:

1. During St. Louis Cardinals series in San Diego, Redbirds Manager Tony La Russa came away very impressed with the Padres. You can read La Russa’s thoughts.
2. After completing six game series with the Padres, New York Mets RF Jeff Francoeur comments on the Padres.

I am sure as the season progresses there will be many more positive comments on the Padres. For now, the team will continue to play outstanding ball and make some noises. Speaking of noises, there has been a few made in the midwest from ex-Padre Ace Jake Peavy.

Hot Air has arrived in Chicago, though it’s not the Humidity….

Former Padres’ Ace Jake Peavy continues to take shots at the Padres organization. Unfortunately, this brings back memories of 2008 season when both Trevor Hoffman and Jake Peavy were very critical of the Padres Front Office (Sandy Alderson’s Regime) philosophy. Basically, it was the veterans who were very boring, slow and ineffective during the 2008 while Alderson, Grady Fuson, and a few others in the Front Office were rebuilding the Padres farm system. Ironically, now those two players whom were very critical of their franchise, are now non-productive for their respective teams Cubs and Brewers while the Padres are flourishing. Mind you, the pitching staff was built by former GM Kevin Towers but the positional players were all drafted by Alderson and Fuson oversight. The Padres current farm system is the reflection of the hard work that Alderson and Fuson put forth during 2005 thru 2009. Being a player, Jake Peavy should focus more on lowering his 5 + ERA and closing that 8 game gap from 1st place than his previous employer activities. We (San Diegans) still haven’t forgotten that Peavy did not win any post season game during the 2006 and 2007 seasons with the Padres.

Do you believe in Miracles?…..

Yesterday afternoon as I was spending time with relatives, we were watching MLB Network on cable. The MLB Network was showing the 1988 World Series game 1 and the heroics of Dodgers’ LF Kirk Gibson. I made a bold comment that I felt Padres’ 2b David Eckstein will be OUR Kirk Gibson for the magical 2010 season. Many people in the house simply look at me with deers in the headlight stare, as I had caught them off guard with the comment. I see many familiar traits between the 1988 Los Angeles Dodgers and 2010 San Diego Padres. Though, Padres have more team speed and a better pitching staff overall.

Well to close out this post, I will dedicate this music video to Chicago White Sox P Jake Peavy. A song by Ruth Brown and BB King titled “Ain’t Nobody’s business”, do enjoy.