Since last saturday’s game with the Philadelphia Phillies, I’ve noticed some lack of nastiness with the boys. Though, the opponents have been coming hard and with vengeance at the Padres. I will give you two factual incidents and they are as followed:

1. Against the Phillies last saturday afternoon, Phillies’ C Carlos Ruiz went in hard at Padres’ 2b David Eckstein with a late slide to break up the attempted double-play which led to a Phillies run. It was a very crucial moment in the game that allowed the Phillies to pull away.
2. Today’s game, Rockies’ P Esmil Rogers threw a hard and high one at Padres’ 2b David Eckstein which sent David down on the ground. Eventually, Rogers struck out Eckstein to kill the rally and leave the sacks loaded.

So, where am I going with this ? Well, I don’t see the same tenacity in the Padres. Here are my points:

1. Last Saturday against the Phillies, Padres’ C Nick Hundley was attempting to score from 2b on a base hit to right field. As Hundley approached home plate, Phillies’ C Carlos Ruiz was essentially an open target as  Ruiz was waiting for the ball from right field. Instead of taking out Ruiz and making him feel the affects of such a collision, Hundley decided to slide. This was a great opportunity to light a fire on the fuse for the Padres. Create something !
2. When is the last time, that you’ve seen a member of the Padres pitching staff throwing high and inside against the opponents? Once again, a lack of tenacity. You got to try to make something happen, being passive is not the effective way to winning baseball games.

It’s time for someone in that dugout to get their uniform dirty and spark this team. Who’s going to be the Ron Artest on the Padres? I know one qualified candidate but he’s on the DL currently.

Buddy it’s time for a major line-up shake up…….

If I were Buddy Black, I would make out this line-up for Sunday’s finale against the Rockies. Something needs to be done immediately, a potential 10-game losing streak could be very damaging. I equate this to the stock market dropping for 10 consecutive days. You start to lose confidence quickly.

1. 2b David Eckstein
2. Rf Aaron Cunningham
3. 3b Chase Headley
4. 1b Adrian Gonzalez
5. Lf Oscar Salazar
6. C Yorvit Torrealba
7. ss Miguel Tejada
8. Cf Scott Hairston

Come on boys ! It’s time for someone else to Pay the Price ! Let’s flatten someone and get back that tenacity on our side of the field. With that being said, I’ll close out this post with a Blues Music video by Chicago Bluesman John Primer, titled “Pay The Price”. Who would have thought the Padres would collapse before the Stock Market ? Not me that’s for sure, but then again that’s why they play the games. It’s September and we are still in the lead !!