It’s a scary thing to witness, one I’ve seen at a couple of different levels.  For all the talk about baseball being the most sedentary of the major sports, perhaps none is more potentially lethal.  Hockey has the potential to come close, but as more and more players wear face shields, that danger is lessening.

But in baseball, the third baseman and especially the pitcher are playing at great risk, and despite batting helmets the men in the batters box also still face danger. As a fatal incident in the minors last year showed, even the coaches are not safe.

Young walked off the field under his own power.  But, with both batters and pitchers continuing to push the limits of what a human body can achieve (even without the pharmaceutical  enhancements) it may be only a matter of time before the grand ol’ game sees it’s first player fatality since Ray Chapman was killed by a fastball back in the days before helmets.

This team, which has never had a losing season in Petco Park, is faced with fighting for .500 rather than the NL West lead.   After years of seeing Kevin Towers pull off budget-wise banditry, the Friars are back with their feet on the ground.  The signing of Edmonds  failed, the bullpen has been pedestrian and Scott Hairston has looked very different from the player they were hoping September had shown him to be.

They will try to get a recent rarity, a series win, against the Cardinals tonight.  The hope is that they can ride the momentum of Kevin Kouzmanoff’s  dramatic three run shot and take that first step needed to walk before you can run.  Young will face off against Braden Looper.

And me?  I’ll be in a rare spot for me this year.  As my season tickets were a victim of financial and marital changes, I’m gonna use tonight to test the rather selfish theory that the losing is related to my more inconsistent presence.  Let’s hope it’s actually not all in my mind…

Yeah, I know.  But come on, something has to work here eventually!

The Padres, freefalling since mid-April, have lately been making changes and those continued with the acquisition of Corey from Boston for a player to named later and the second straight start by Carlin. There have been roster moves of some kind for three straight days, with Joe Thatcher being sent to Portland to make room for Corey.

Young went six plus strong innings, scattering five hits and striking out seven in his first game throwing to Carlin, who for the second straight game had a pitcher say how “fun” it was to throw to him in a postgame interview. C.Y. evened his record at 3-3 and at one point retired 13 straight Colorado Rockies.

Carlin showed off his arm, gunning down Jonathon Herrera stealing second in the sixth and then got his first major league hit with an eighth inning one out double.

Tadahito Iguchi had a three hit day for San Diego and Kevin Kouzmanoff had two hits (almost three, Ryan Spilborghs robbed him one with a headfirst sliding grab) and an RBI, while Scott Hairston and Khalil Greene homered for San Diego.

 Update: After the game, the Padres designated Calix Crabbe for assignment.  As a rule 5 draftee, he must first be offered back to Milwaukee.  If the Brewers pass on Crabbe, he must pass through waivers before accepting an assignment to Portland.  The move probably does not serve as a precursor to the awaited call-up of Chase Headley, as it leaves the club without a back-up shortstop.

A  corresponding move will be announced before tomorrow’s game with Chicago.

A three run homer, the ninth of the season for Adrian Gonzalez, plus three solid innings of relief that included Trevor Hoffman’s five hundred thirtieth save of his career added to six innings from the Professor himself equals win number three hundred fifty for the ninth winningest pitcher of all time.  That last time will change before season’s end however, as Roger Clemens is in the eighth spot with 354 and I somehow get the feeling that he is staying retired this time.

The victory came in the fifth attempt, as Maddux had been 2-0 through his first three starts and 0-2 since.  It also snapped a five game losing streak for the National League West cellar-dwelling Friars, who have been in freefall, losing 18 of their last 22.

A flurry of changes that have started in response to that fall claimed another victim veteran, as Glendon Rusch was outrighted to Portland to make room for waiver claim Sean Henn.  Rusch was 1-2 with a 6.41 ERA.  He has cleared waivers and has 72 hours to decide whether to report to Portland.  Most likely he will refuse and become a free agent.

Another change saw catcher Luke Carlin making his major league debut on this historic night.  It is well for Carlin that he will have a positive to remember the evening by, as he struck out three times and had a passed ball tat contributed to a run in the eighth.

Carlin, who was hitting .387 with 3 home runs in 11 games, will be taking his first trip to the majors.  The Canadian catcher recently told the Portland Beavers web site that he was looking forward to traveling to Memphis this year.  Hmmmm… sorry about that Luke.  How about Yankee Stadium instead?

It had been hoped that Edmonds would be the latest in a series of successful signings where the Padres have taken chances on guys having one or two more good years in them, a strategy that has paid off in the past with players such as Fernando Valenzuela, Ricky Henderson and Mike Piazza. But instead, Edmonds had posted a .178 average since coming of the DL, where he started the season with a calf injury. In addition, he had struck out in more than 25% of his at bats and was not playing center field with the proficiency expected from an eight time gold glove winner.

Gerut was hitting over .300 at Portland, with five home runs and 18 RBI’s in 27 games. Gerut and Scott Hairston are likely to share duties in center field, and this may create a three way platoon in left if the Padres continue to let Paul McAnulty work through some struggles of his own.

The Padres also claimed pitcher Sean Henn on waivers from the Yankees. It remains to be seen what roster move the club will make in response to that claim. The bullpen has not lived up to the expectations Padre fans have grown accustomed to after several seasons in which GM Kevin Towers made like Harry Potter with his bullpen acquisitions.

The National League West leading Diamondbacks took two out of three from the Friars over the weekend to follow two game sweeps by the lowly Astros and Giants.  Since they had to file their taxes on April 15th, the Padres have been hitting like the number one thing Uncle Sam asked for was wood.  Or at least Ash or Maple.  The Pads are still making contact, but the balls are coming back to the opponents like the bats they struck were created from balsa.  Cork in the center of the bat may fuel power.  A bat made entirely of cork does not.

Granted, Arizona didn’t exactly pound the Pads on Saturday or Friday, but that is largely a function of the excellence we are seeing in starting pitching and fielding. An especially interesting development  in the latter has been a couple of highlight reel plays from Paul McAnulty, who is not known for reminding people that they give out gold gloves annually.

P-Mac has also hit a couple of dingers to help his case to stick it out this time.  The kid is only hitting .231 but his defense has been better than advertised and he has gotten hits at some of the right times.  If nothing else, he is helping the Padres delay the call-up of prospect Chase Headley, something that could benefit the club greatly in the long term.  But if he can’t improve his average and on-base percentage, he may end up a victim of the Padres slow start.

The team is better on paper than they have been playing.  The question then becomes whether or not the paper is correct.  Certainly no one expected to find themselves in the cellar on April 28.  Hopefully, Philadelphia’s Citizens Bank Park has a box of Ash and Maple some other visiting team left behind.

The punchless Padres lost another extra inning game tonight too the Giants, 3-2.  That makes a poor San Francisco team 3-1 this year against the Padres and they have now won two extra inning games.  What’s more, they have twice been victimized by Benji Molina, not exactly Carlton Fisk when he is in the batters box.

This team is obviously not hitting the long ball, although on paper they should be better than last year.  Adrian Gonzalez had thirty last year, Kahlil Greene twenty-seven and for the last several years Jim Edmonds has hit more home runs than Mike Cameron.  Kevin Kouzmanoff started hitting in April this year and should be goods for twenty to twenty-five and Brian Giles is supposed to have more power again after that surgery.

It doesn’t seem to be working out.

The starting pitching is fine.  A couple of small bumps.  The bullpen is not performing the way we are accustomed to seeing them perform, and of course the “Trevor’s old” crowd will be out in full force after Hoffy gave up Molina’s dinger.

The ball club is just not getting enough scoring right now.

I am a lifelong Padre fan, and while I enjoy all baseball, I love my Pads. But when I went away for college, less than twenty short years ago, it was a very different thing to be in the east and be a fan of San Diego teams. Back then, you didn’t get west coast scores unless you could stay up for the two a.m. Sportscenter… assuming you could get cable in your hotel or dorm. In the paper? Nothing except a boxscore and a column inch. And not on Wednesday morning for a Tuesday night game, but on Thursday morning… because by the time the game was over the newspaper’s deadline for the morning had passed.

I returned to my hotel room last night and was able to know about the Padres 6-0 victory right away. And read the accounts, see a box score, track pitch by pitch through mlb.com and even find out what my fellow fans are saying by looking at the in-game discussion over at Ducksnorts.com.

And not only did get to see Brian Giles two-run double off the scoreboard, which Sportscenter might have brought me in the past, but I got to see the final pitch of each of Wolf’s nine strikeouts… and I get a recap of the game, and if I pay for it I can watch the whole game.

I love the Padres beating the Rockies… even more now. (and no, Rockie fans, he STILL has not touched home plate!) I love seeing another Kevin Towers “reach” work out for the Padres, I love that Giles looks strong, I love that Kevin Cameron had a successful start to his 2008.

But as I sit in a hotel room in downtown Pittsburgh and look out the window at a great view of an unfortunately empty PNC Park, what I really love is the internet.

13 men stranded on Tuesday night in a game the Gigantes eventually took in extras, 3-2.  Tonight, only 4 hits and questions about the speed of Edmonds, who not only could not get to  Daniel Ortmeier’s  2 out RBI double in the ninth, but also got thrown out at the plate to end the seventh.

It’s not the pitching.  Justin Germano pitched great, Randy Wolf was fine the night before.  And for all the short-sighted talk about Trevor, one of Hoffy’s losses came on Sunday in a tie game… a game where the Padres  had men on second and third in the first with no one out and could not score either runner.  Hoffy’s game is using the batter’s instincts to force early swings and frustration, and he is far more effective when desperation is gnawing at his opponent.  If the Padres had even managed a long fly ball, he would have had that to exploit.

With the exception of tonight’s pitchers duel, it could be successfully argued that the Pads are doing better average wise.  But they are not getting the hits when they need them.  Another base hit in the seventh tonight and the Padres have a two run lead.  Edmonds plays a little deeper, since the runner on second scoring on a single would have been meaningless.  He makes that catch, and the Padres leave San Francisco with a series win.

Maybe the off day tomorrow can shake some cobwebs out of the bat rack.