Padres fans ought to count their blessings...their disloyalty and ingratitude is almost as bad as their driving.

Reason: I took a break from watching the DISMAL play of the Dodgers to check out the Giants-Padres game Sunday (July 2) at Petco Park.  Despite the fact that my blood always runs Dodger blue, I do have love for both the Giants-if you can believe that--and the Padres as well.  In this game, I wanted to see the old-guys pull one out, so it was GO GIANTS  for me.

Both teams played a GREAT game.  The Giants simply played better, lighting up the Padres for 5 runs in the 7th; Randy Winn fouled off SEVEN times, and eventually got a walk--it was about an 11-pitch at-bat.  Just some great baseball with two solid teams, and the better team won that day. 

I have much love for the Padres, with a good balance of veterans and new talent able to play and back-up in the outfield, at catcher, third base, and a bit at shortstop.  And that's not even mentioning a pitching staff with Young, Peavy, Woody, Trevor, and a pretty deep bullpen.  This is one very solid team, and if they get more of a killer instinct with puting teams away in late innings, they can beat just about ANY team on any given day.

With that said...

...Padres fans by-and-large do NOT like Bruce Bochy.  On the way home, I listened to the buzz-kill fans' comments on the radio, and I really got pissed.  Fans were saying that by starting Josh Bard instead of Mike Piazza, Geoff Blum instead of Khalil Greene, and Mark Bellhorn in place of Vinny Castilla, Bochy is not trying to win.  This one guy said something to the effect of "Bochy needs to man-up and play some real baseball, and really try to beat some of these teams and win."

In a different time in my life, I would have wanted to SMACK the hell out of that caller.  First of all, Josh Bard is batting .373; Khalil was sore from being hit by a pitch; and Vinny Castilla is not a spring chicken and could use the day off.  What San Diego fans collectively fail to realise is that this is a game of strategy as well as execution and numbers.  Bochy needs to rotate his players based on their ability to execute, their injury status, and their ages, since the veterans don't recover nearly as quickly as they used to.

That's why that guy is called a 'Manager' in baseball and not a 'Coach'. 

Yes, this may seem like some basic info, but apparently San Diego fans need the refresher.  This team does not have the mighty historical market value like my beloved Dodgers; yet ironically the Padres don't have to cross their fingers and toes and rub a rabbit's foot like Grady Little does every time a reliever trots out of the bullpen.  Moreover, the Padres backups players are very consistent in their execution and don't do a sign of the cross when a groundball rolls to shortstop like we do with Furcal this season.  I could go on...

...but the Padres fans need to give Bochy a break.  The guy is in first place in the NL West with a team that requires him to 'make do with what he's got'.  This Sunday, the better team just played better baseball, and perhaps the fans in San Diego should remember that sometimes that's just how baseball works.  There...another refresher.