You may think the importance of this game lies somewhere between the season debut of ace Dan Haren and what may be the start of Adrian Gonzalez' curtain call as a Padre. But you'd be wrong. No, today is all about DICK ENBERG returning to the booth to call baseball games once again. Oh, my! Enberg is staying classy by doing the play-by-play on Channel 4 in San Diego. There will be flutes playing and trombones and flowers and (Jon) garlands of fresh herbs. I don't know how to put this but he's kind of a big deal. Scotchy, scotch, scotch. Great Odin's raven!
Moving to sunny San Diego in the twilight of his career to live out his days announcing pitching changes and scoring decisions...you'd do the same damn thing if you were 82 years old. Just watch out for earthquakes, Dick!
Oh, this game started an hour ago.
| DADS | SNAKES |
| Tony Gwynn, CF | Conor Jackson, LF |
| David Eckstein, 2B | Stephen Drew, SS |
| Adrian Gonzalez, 1B | Justin Upton, RF |
| Kyle Blanks, LF | Adam LaRoche, 1B |
| Chase Headley, 3B | Mark Reynolds, 3B |
| Will Venable, RF | Miguel Montero, C |
| Nick Hundley, C | Chris Young, CF |
| Everth Cabrera, SS | Kelly Johnson, 2B |
| Jon Garland, P | Danny Haren, P |
I think Dick Enberg is terrific, even now, but I'd be much more likely to buy Dick Enberg's HUMONGOUS Quotes for All Occasions.
And thus begins another season of wondering whether Nick Hundley is related to Todd Hundley. No no, don't look it up. I enjoy the mystery of it all.
The Padres' offense: Even with Venable, venerably vulnerable.
I'd do that now at 28 if I could.
Holy crap, I can't believe that is a real book. Dick Enberg is legendary in the first Naked Gun.
I'm pretty sure Will Venable played basketball for Princeton when I was covering Penn. He wasn't bad; I guess he was a lot better at baseball.