“Pitching and defense win ball games,” is a saying in baseball as old as the game itself. Seemingly against all odds, the San Diego Padres are employing that axiom to the fullest in 2010. Through almost exactly half of their season, the over-achieving Padres have the best record in the National League with a mark of 49-33 (.598), which also represents a tie for the second best record in baseball behind the New York Yankees (51-31) and tied with the Tampa Bay Rays.

Another tenet of baseball and indeed in all of professional sports is that the higher the team payroll, the better the team is. Consider the fact that the Yankees have absurd team payroll of $206.3 million in 2010. The Padres are ranked 29th (out of 30 Major League teams) in total payroll at $37,799,300, which is ahead of only the Pittsburgh Pirates ($34,943,000) and well behind the 28th team, the Oakland A’s ($51,654,900).

The club that I have followed since I was a youngster, the Chicago Cubs, is sporting a record of 36-47 and features a payroll of $146.6 million. They hold the distinction of being the biggest underachievers in the game. It’s not easy being a Cub fan, yet again.

In 2008 the Padres payroll was $73,677,616. In 2009 it dropped to $43,734,200 and then another $6 million to reach its current level in 2010. Less is clearly more as it relates to the San Diego Padres payroll.

On the field, the team ranks 25th in the Majors as a team for home runs; 24th in runs scored; 27th in total bases and 26th in batting average. Basically they could achieve the same results batting with a soggy, rolled up copy of “The Sporting News” instead of employing their bats.

But now back to the pitching and defense components, where the Padres excel. Their team earned run average of 3.05 is the best in baseball, with the St. Louis Cardinals in a distant second place with  a 3.28 ERA. In team fielding, the Padres are in a four-way tie for first with the Twins, Yankees and Reds at .990. Over-simplifying that last statistic, 99 times out of 100 the Padres are making a defensive play correctly, without an error.

So you would think local fans would be beating a path to the doors of Petco Park to see the young Padres play in person. Well, yes and no. Currently through 46 home games, the locals have drawn 1,091,925 fans for an average of 23,737 per game. That attendance has them on a pace to draw 1,922,000 fans, which is certainly respectable, but not on a par with the product on the field.

Now here is a correlation that you can engrave in stone. If the Padres’ paid attendance continues at the current pace for the balance of the 2010 season, the payroll for 2011 will be much the same. You can get lucky or fortunate once while bucking the Payroll Principle, but two years in a row is really unlikely.

In this space at the beginning of the baseball season, I mounted an impassioned plea against trading the Padres lone 2010 All-Star Adrian Gonzalez, encouraging ownership to retain the locally raised (Tijuana and Chula Vista) first baseman. I also suggested signing him to a long-term contract. In addition to being the team’s lone consistent power hitting source, the 28-year-old Gonzalez is an excellent defensive first baseman, and by all accounts is an outstanding community member who goes about his business the right way.

In reality the San Diego front office must be in a quandary. At $4.8 million per season, Gonzalez is the highest paid Padre, but is making roughly one-third of the amount he could earn by testing free agency. Specifically, here is what I said at the end of March 2010 in this column. “Consider the Padres retaining Gonzalez to be a referendum on the future of the franchise. The new ownership group headed by Jeffrey Moorad issued carefully worded promises to Padres fans that they would spend more money on players. If a home-grown All-Star caliber player approaching the prime of his career at age 28, and who is a role model in the community isn’t deemed worthy of retaining, then who is?”

The Padres hold a $5.5 million option for 2011. If that option is exercised at that salary level, it will guarantee that Gonzalez and his agent will look to leave San Diego for greener payroll pastures in the near future.

The second quandary is that the baseball people in the Padre front office know they have, is that they need to acquire another power hitter to protect Gonzalez in the lineup. Third baseman and switch-hitter Chase Headley is hitting .267, but his power numbers of five homers and 27 RBIs aren’t adequate for a team contending for a pennant. Intensity, and a great team attitude can carry you to a given point, but talent and the ability to score runs are paramount for the Padres.

The fact that the Padres, at least at this writing, were granted only one All-Star slot on a 34-man roster is unconscionable. Admittedly the only everyday player worthy of All-Star consideration is Gonzalez. However, starting pitcher Matt Latos with a 9-4 record and a 2.62 ERA certainly deserved All-Star consideration. His 91 strikeouts in 99 innings indicate the youngster is the type of power pitcher who does well in the mid-season classic.

Reliever Heath Bell, with 23 saves, a 4-0 record and a 1.72 ERA should be on the team. However Phillies Manager Charlie Manuel, who selects the pitching staff and managed the National League squad last year, likely remembers that Bell was the losing pitcher in the 2009 All-Star Game. Bell seemingly was over-awed by the moment and cost Manuel and his Phillies the home field advantage in the World Series in 2009.

To summarize, should the Padres go after the hitter that can make a difference in a pennant chase or will they plead small market economics and stand pat? Will they keep their best everyday player on Gonzalez or trade him to save payroll? Bell weighs in at $4 million a year and will they try to keep Bell in the fold?  The Padre front office and ownership are keeping a remarkably low public profile of late. Personally, I would like to see the little team that could succeed. But it’s not my money and to keep the ball rolling ownership needs to loosen the purse strings right about now.

CHS Boys Basketball

The Coronado Islanders entered the Imperial Valley Classic Basketball Tournament at Southwest (El Centro) High School recently and took on teams from the desert, and Arizona.  They ended up fighting the 115 degree temperatures and beating all the teams they faced for a perfect 5-0 record. 

The opposing teams included Palos Verde, Imperial, Brawley, and Southwest, and High Desert.
The leading scorers for the tournament were Danny Hebert, Billy Schmitt, and Harley Ralph.  Leading rebounders were the same three players, just in a different order, Schmitt, Ralph and Hebert. 

Other key contributions to the Islanders Varsity success were Dylan Guthro, Collin Green, Brian Turley, Jason Fielder, and Stavros Markakis.  John Scales, Jon Henry Langerman, and Sean Baker were all contributors to the Coronado victories.  CHS Assistant Coach Drew Zeller coached the squad in the tournament.

NBA Player Manute Bol Remembered

Manute Bol, all seven-foot, seven inches of him, was one of the most unique people I ever witnessed in person. Bol, who played for parts of 10 seasons in the NBA with four teams, passed away recently at the age of 47. The Sudan native had earned the respect of many after his playing days had concluded, as a humanitarian who worked to aid his homeland.

As a player, Bol stands alone in NBA history as the only player to have more blocked shots (2,086) during his career than points scored (1,599). Bol was the author of one of the most memorable moments I ever had while working in the NBA. As the public address announcer I was courtside during a regular season game and saw Bol standing on one side of the basket, jump slightly, place his arm directly over and then on the far side of the rim, and block a layup attempt from a player taken on the other side of the basket. I didn’t hear about it from others. I saw it in person.

My first reaction was that I couldn’t believe what I had just seen. The second thought was that a rule change was going to be needed in the NBA to prevent that from happening in the future. I don’t know if Bol ever did it again, but the rule change wasn’t necessary as it turned out.

Bol continued to raise money for Sudan throughout his life, which unfortunately ended too soon. He did everything he could to change the plight of his homeland.