It's October, which means it's Baseball Play-off time, and one team that should playing right now is sitting at home wondering what went wrong. The San Diego Padres, the NL West Champions for the past two years (until this year), stalled out at the end of the season and as a result, two other NL West teams are playing for the coveted title of World Champion: the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Colorado Rockies.
"What went wrong for the Padres?" you ask. Was it Mike Cameron's thumb injury? Was it Milton Bradley's ACL tear? Was it Trevor Hoffman's inability to close out two crucial games? Sure these are all symptoms, but the root of the Padres' collapse lies deeper.
Thursday, September 20th, 2007. The Padres are hot, having swept the Giants and the Pirates at home in PETCO Park. They are making an unbelievable run toward winning a third NL West title. Unbeknownst to me, my wife took my Padres hat, a hat I wear every day, and washed it that night (I estimate the event took place around 10:30pm), citing that it "really smells" and that it needed to be washed. This fatal event proved to be disaster for the Friars.
After my hat got washed, the Padres lost four straight games, including being swept by the Colorado Rockies (allowing the Rockies to have home-field advantage for the Wild-card play-in game). Not only that, but on the final Sunday against Colorado, both Mike Cameron and Milton Bradley sustained freak accidents which sidelined them for the rest of the season: Mike Cameron got his hand stepped on by Milton Bradley while fielding a ball (huh?), and then Milton Bradley tore his ACL when Manager Bud Black was trying to restrain him from assaulting an umpire!
The Padres managed to put together a minor run for the title, winning two in a row against the Giants (one via Brian Giles 9th inning 3-run homerun) and two against the Brewers, but then they lost their final three games. The tragedy is that greatest closer in history, Trevor Hoffman, blew two saves in two games, both of which would have iced a post-season for the Padres. Ironically, one of those blown saves came at the bat of Mr. Padres' son Tony Qwynn, Jr. It's tough to fault Trevor for blowing two in a row, but I think the Padres bull-pen is so great with Bell and Thatcher that when Hoffman comes up to close, opposing batters are able to dial into his pitches a lot easier since Hoffman doesn't throw 96 mph heat like Bell.
Anyway, if you're wondering why the Padres blew it down the stretch, now you know. One washed hat = four game losing streak, two key players on the DL, and two blown saves when the Padres needed it most. Next year my hat will smell like sulfur before my wife gets a chance to wash it again.
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