Saturday, August 15, 2015

The Cycle: A Mystical Unicorn Becomes Reality

I still can't believe it actually happened. Matt Kemp hit for the cycle last night. Excuse me while I pinch myself. Yep, that happened, the Padres FINALLY hit for the cycle. The cycle was just one of the mystical unicorns the Padres have chased their entire existence AND IT FINALLY APPEARED!! It wasn't just a mystical unicorn for the Padres, it was also one for Kemp himself. I saw a quote on twitter of Glenn Hoffman talking to Kemp, as he stood there on third, about it being the first cycle. Kemp thought Hoffman meant his first cycle. How adorable. I do kind of really love that his entire career as a Dodger he never hit for a cycle and his first season here, he checks it off his list like it was nothing. Of course some Padres fans choose to look at the "negative" side of this historical moment. Yes, Kemp had been a Dodger his entire career prior to joining the Padres but guess what, that blue that he's wearing now, not Dodgers blue. And the deep hatred we used to have towards him vanished when Preller traded for him. I don't care that he was a a Dodger in his past, he's a Padre now and that number of his NEEDS to be retired. When you're the first to do something in a teams history, you deserve to be immortalized on top of the batters eye.

As a Padres fan, I was doubtful that we'd get the cycle last night. We have been so close so many times. We even had multiple players earlier this season in one game who were both one hit away. As I'm sure you have heard, the triple is often the most difficult hit to get. So many things had to go right for Kemp to get the triple to solidify his place in Padres history. And as one who likes to play into superstitions, I was beyond annoyed at how many times I heard or read that he was one hit away during the game. I transformed into the hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil monkeys and pretended like no one was talking about it. I like to believe that me pretending like people weren't talking about it is why it happened. Don't shit on my parade if you don't believe in superstitions or that my pretending it wasn't being talked about is why it happened. Just keep your mouths shut and enjoy the history that was made.

In freaky coincidence news, I got these fun facts off the Twitter last night, if you add up 7444 (the number of games it took to get a cycle) and break up the numbers in the date (8-14-15) individually, they both equal 19. How freaky and awesome is that?! Tony might not be alive anymore but he sure as hell is still with us. For all we know, maybe he went all Angels in the Outfield on us last night and that's why Kemp got the cycle.

Long story short, retire Kemp's number, build him a statue, rename the stadium after him. I don't care what you do, just immortalize that moment somehow. Also, pretty sure Preller deserves something too for pulling off the trade that allowed this happen. Best GM EVER.

Wednesday, April 8, 2015

This is the Dawning of the Age of Aquarius... I Mean A.J. Preller

I said it on twitter the other day and I'll say it again here, if Preller got to have a walk-up song I'd want it to be the Pinky and the Brain theme song. That man is doing his best to take over the baseball world and he's doing it all with us. Thanks to him, I have never been more in love with this team than I am right now and we've only completed game two less than an hour from the time I began writing this.

There is so much excitement with these games that I feel like I have ADHD. I can't sit still. I find myself sitting at the edge of my seat bouncing up and down with every hit we get and everyone we take away. It feels beyond amazing to have legitimate talent on this team and I don't mean only one or two good pitchers either. I mean All-Star caliber talent at multiple positions. Award winning talent. Talent the Padres haven't seen in years. The last time I remember even being close to this level of excitement, I was 10 and was surprised with a championship shirt on my way to gymnastics. Even at that it was a different kind of excitement. The Padres were already World Series bound at that point and I was a dumb 10 year old who didn't know half as much about baseball as I do now. Now, I'm so excited for every at bat. Well, almost every at bat. The 2014 part of the lineup kind of lowers my excitement levels. It feels like a sugar high and then the resulting crash. But holy hell, this team now, excuse me while I turn into a basic bitch, I can't even. This time around the excitement is a childlike excitement mixed with adult level knowledge. At one point, right before Kimbrel came in, I was channeling the little girl from Despicable Me.

Tonight's game just proved to me that I will be the most irresponsible parent because I will be letting my future kids stay up to watch games and if they have already gone to bed and the game gets good I will pull an Alan Matthews. If you didn't get the reference go to the 4:30 mark to see what I'm talking about. Homeschooling will need to be done. I have never once thought of homeschooling but if the Padres become one of those teams who compete on a regular basis, I'll do it. My future kids will just have to make friends at little league or Padres games. I mean seriously, who wants to have friends who don't like baseball anyway?!

The fact that there's this much excitement on game 2 out of 162 would be unthinkable in the past but AJ Preller is a God send. I like to think that this is Tony Gwynn's doing. He's definitely look out for us.