The San Diego Padres lose as Greg Maddux collects his 354th win of his career. Chris Youngwent 5 innings giving up 6 hits 4 ER 3 BBs 3 SO AND 1 HR. The bullpen followed as so: Cla Meredith and Justin Hampson combined to throw up 2 scoreless innings allowing one BB. Clay Hensley went one inning giving up 3 hits one run it was earned.

The Bats went like this, Chase Headley went 1-4 with an RBI,Kevin Kouzmanoffwent 1-4 with an RBI and a SO, also did Headley.

Brian Giles Claimed On Waivers
By Tim Dierkes [August 6, 2008 at 8:56pm CST]
According to Ken Rosenthal, Padres right fielder Giles was claimed on waivers by an unknown team. Giles has about $2.7MM left on his contract this year. He also has a $9MM option for ‘09 with a $3MM buyout (which logically should be exercised). Giles gets another $2MM if traded. Rosenthal adds that Giles can block deals to the Orioles, Red Sox, Tigers, Rays, Marlins, Brewers, Pirates, and Nationals.
Rosenthal says the Padres will attempt to make a deal with the claiming team, though it won’t be a salary dump. Giles, 37, is hitting .318/.405/.438 away from PETCO this year. Not too many players are capable of a .400 OBP.
Players Who Cleared Waivers
By Tim Dierkes [August 6 at 9:59pm CST]
I will make this post a permanent sidebar link. This is a running list of players who have cleared waivers, based on published reports. Once a player clears waivers, he can be traded to any team (barring a no-trade clause).
• Greg Maddux - Maddux is earning $10MM this year and will only accept a trade to a West Coast team. The Dodgers wanted him but asked the Padres to pay more than 80% of his remaining salary according to Peter Gammons.

Greg Maddux $10,000,000
Brian Giles $9,666,666
Jim Edmonds $8,000,000
Trevor Hoffman $7,500,000
Jake Peavy $6,500,000
Randy Wolf $4,750,000
Khalil Greene $4,500,000
Tadahito Iguchi $3,850,000
Michael Barrett $3,500,000
Chris Young $2,625,000
Josh Bard $2,237,500
Mark Prior $1,000,000
Tony Clark $900,000
Adrian Gonzalez $875,000
Glendon Rusch $850,000
Jody Gerut $700,000
Wilfredo Ledezma $620,000
Heath Bell $420,000
Cla Meredith $415,000
Clay Hensley $410,000
Kevin Kouzmanoff $410,000
Scott Hairston $406,000
Justin Germano $404,500
Justin Hampson $402,500
Joe Thatcher $393,000
Paul McAnulty $391,250
Tim Stauffer $391,200
Callix Crabbe $390,000
Enrique Gonzalez(not Edger Gonzalez) $390,000
Carlos Guevara $390,000
Justin Huber $390,000
Total $73,677,616
Source: USA Today, LoHud.com

Here is something pretty big that is stuck in my throat that is hard to swallow as a Padres fans! Can you find the holes where the money is going. One thing its not going too the players that are performing well this year Adrian or Edger, oh but wait I can’t even find him on this list. Because he on a minor league contact, if I was going to guess and I know the Padres either splitting a contact with someone or a few; or he’s making under 50k. 

The San Diego Padres started the series off right against the Diamondbacks by out slugging them 8-5 in route to their 4th straight win in a row. Khalil Greene went 2-3 with a two run shot off of M.Owings in the 2nd innings to start the scoring, he also hit Greene.

In the third the rest of the scoring came with 6 runs on 5 hits. Nick Hundley had a three run shot in that inning and Jody Gerut went 2-3 with 2 runs scored and one RBI, Kevin Kouzmanoff 2-4 with a runs scored two RBIs and two strikeouts.

Greg Maddux finally got the win he deserved,351st win of his career going 5 innings giving up 9 hits and 4 runs all earned with 4 strikeouts and gave up one HR moving him to 4-8 on the season. Wilfredo Ledezma, Mike Adams, Clay Hensley, Heath Bell and Trevor Hoffman combined to throw up 3 and 2 thirds innings scoreless only giving up one hit collecting 4 strikeouts and Hoffman picking up his 22nd save of the year, three in the last 4 games. A bad note to reportBryan Corey is starting to becoming a liability in the bullpen giving up 2 hits one earned run in 1 third of an inning.

Today is the return of Big’ol Chris Young(4-4) to the mound against Slow’mo D.Davis(3-5) game starts at 7:05pm pt/10:05pm et  4SD/704-HD | RADIO: XPRS 1090/105.7 FM , XEMO 860.

4:32pm: More from The San Diego Padres GM Kevin Towers - he’s had inquiries on Jake Peavy, Trevor Hoffman, Heath Bell,Kevin Kouzmanoff, and Khalil Greene. Potential deals will be assessed after the season, though Towers wants Hoffman to stay until the end of his career.
2:43pm: MLB.com’s Corey Brock has the latest on the Padres and Greg Maddux.
Maddux apparently will only accept a trade to a West Coast team, preferably the Dodgers. Padres GM K.Towers doesn’t mind trading within the division. The only piece missing is interest from L.A. They’ve got good pitching depth, but if Maddux could be added at a reasonable price, why not? The Professor has a 4.18 ERA this year.
Don’t expect to see younger Padres like K.Kouzmanoff, K.Greene, or Josh Bard on the move. Towers said a trade of any of those three is “very doubtful.”

As The San Diego Padres fall again to the Reds, it seems like the padres are throwing in the towel on play baseball for the year. If so we should send down the players we won’t trade that have low production and bring up the farm league for some pre-major league training, then at least with the veterans in triple A, then at least one of our teams have a chance to win something all be it a triple A championship.
For today game Greg Maddux started out throwing up 4 scoreless innings, then in the 5th the reds scored 1 then in the 6th they scored 3 and the 7th scored five runs and that’s all they needed, Maddux went 5 and one third innings giving up 3 runs 2 of them earned 7 hit and 4 strikeouts plus one HR. With the way Maddux was on a short leash it led me to believe that this start may be the last time we’ll see Maddux in a padre’s uniform.
The bullpen:besides the return of Wilfredo Ledezma going one and one third innings scoreless the bullpen didn’t have a lot to be proud of with Cla Meredith and Joe Thatcher going 1 and one third innings giving up 6 hits 6 runs all earned 2 HR and one strikeout.

In the firstJody Geruthit a solo home run to lead off the game making us think that their picking themselves back up after the sloppy game they played yesterday, he also walked in a run, scored a run and got one more hit on top of the homer.
Other dim spots in the lineup where, Kevin Kouzmanoff homered in the 6th a 2 run shot he also had one run scored one other base hit and one strikeout. Luis Rodriguez went 2-3 with a BB 2 runs scored and one hit,Brian Giles had a hit a RBI and a strikeout,Khalil Greene had a hit and 2 strikeouts,Chase Headley a hit, Nick Hundley2 hits and 2 strikeouts and good old mad-dog Maddux had a hit he went 1-2.

Tomorrow’s game will highlight the return of Clay Hensley as a starter 1-0 0.00 ERA in 3 appearance this year 5 IP 1hit 1BB 3SO , he will counter The Pittsburgh PiratesY.Herrera 0-1 19.50 ERA in 2 starts, the game will be televised at 7:05pm et, 4:05pm pt.

A day after a close win for The San Diego Padres and hours after the news came down from up stairs about the trade of Randy Wolf, the padres lost to the Reds 4-3 in 11 innings. The Padres look like they didn’t want to be there. Jake Peavystarted out strong going 5 scoreless then in the sixth inning it came undone, as P.Bako hit a 2run single fallowed by a one run single by J.Votto.

Then in the 11th inning J.Keppinger hit a double which Chase Headleylooked like he gave up on it,  scoring the winning run in J.Burce, it was given up by Byan Corey it being the second walk-off giving up in as few days.
Mike Adams,Heath Bell,Cla Meredithcombined to throw up 4 scoreless innings only giving up one hit,2BB and 8 strikeouts.
Batting and fielding wise the padres seemed like they didn’t not want to play,they kind of look like boys who lost their dogs or best friends, very depressed look and play. They made basic plays into errors,they were swinging at balls and most of the time it was swings at ball 4, instead of taking them they looked comfortable walking back to the dougout.
The Padres had a combined total 6 hits three of them coming for Edger Gonzales and brother Adian Gonzales had one with a RBI,BB,SO.
One other bright spot is Brian Giles had one hit,one run two RBI’s,two walks,two SO
also Khalil Greene had a hit and Luke Carlin had a run scored.

All-in-All the game started out good but throughout the game you could since the Padres were not on top of their game, making clearly mental mistakes fielding and batting.
Tomorrow’s game will not be on T.V as Greg Maddux(3-8) vs B.Arroyo(8-7) at 9:35am can listen on XPRS 1090/105.7 FM , XEMO 860.

At this point in time if The San Diego Padres become sellers here are a few key suggestions for good trades too upgrade the team for 09′ and the years to come!
Take the 08′ season to be over as of right now this is what I would do, Trade:
Brian Giles-RF, RHP-Justin Germano and Randy Wolf-LHP trade them to St.Louis for Colby Rasums-CF, Micthell Boggs-RHP AND (AA) C-Matt Pangnozzi.
Greg Maddux, Cla Meredith and Sean Henn LHP (AAA) to the Phillies for Kris Benson and T.J Bohn OF (AAA).
Scott Hairston and Edwin Moreno CL (AAA) to the Dodgers for SS-Parker Dalton and RHP-Robert Blevins (both A).
Then trade Josh Bard, Shawn Estes, Clay Hensley and Cha Seung Beak to Boston for SS-Iggy Suarez (AA) and RHP Kyle Weiland (A).
Trade Tampa Bay RF-Erik Hinske, Jeff Niemann RHP(AAA) and Reid Fronk LF(A) for Jody Gerut and Trevor Hoffman.
The big one being Kevin Kouzmanoff ,Tadahito Iguchi ,Joe Thatcher ,Michael Barrett, Paul McAnulty , Justin Huber ,CL(AA)Greg Burke ,RHP(AA)Gabriel DeHoyos and Jon Schemmel 2B(AA) for Brian Fuentes and Garrett Atkins.
Making the rest of the 08′ and the Padres for 09′ look like this;
Starting Pitching: 1.Jake Peavy 2.C.Y or Joshua Geer until C.Y gets back. 3. K.Benson 4.Josh Banks
5. M.Boggs or J.Geer whom ever steps up for the 5th spot in the rotation.
Bullpen: (CL) B.Fuentes, Heath Bell, Byan Corey, Mike Adams, Justin Hampson, Kevin Cameron and Will Ledezma until Brett Tomko returns from the 15 day-DL
Fielding squad: Luke Carlin or Nick Hudley at catcher, Adrian Gonzales-1B, Edger Gonzales-2B, Khalil Greene-SS, G.Atkins-3B, LF-Chase Headley, CF-Chip Ambres
RF-E.Hinske. Backup’s: OF-C.Rasums and T.J Bohn.INF-Brian Myrow and Louis Rodriguez.
The Batting lineup: 1.C.Ambres 2.Ed.Gonzales 3.G.Atkins 4.A.Gonzales
5. C.Headley 6.E.Hinske 7. K.Greene 8. L.Carlin or N.Hudley.
9. Starting Pitcher.

For the second game in a row The San Diego Padres get out dueled by The St. Louis Cardinals, 7-11 the cardinals starting the series off strong as they hit two home runs adding too a total of six in the series so far. the padres used a total of six pitchers in the game as the cardinals used the same amount. Greg Madduxwent 4 innings giving up 8 hits 6 runs all earned one walk 4 strikeouts and gave up one home run.

Bryan Corey, Cla Meredith and Mike Adamscombined to throw 2 one third innings scoreless only allowing 3 hits while getting 3 strikeouts. Joe Thatcher allowed one HR and one hit on two and third innings pitched, in a rare outing Heath Bell gave up 4 run on 4 hits all earned walked 2 strikeout 2 and earned the loss on one inning pitched.

The bats where out tonight they just were out swung by the cardinal. Khalil Greene andJody Gerut both homered, Edger Gonzales was 2-4 with 2 hits and a run also one strikeout brother Adrian Gonzales had a hit and an RBI. Brain Giles was 3-4 with RBI and one run scored, Kevin Kouzmanoff and Chase Headleycombined to hit a 1 for 9 with one hit and one RBI and 4 strikeouts, G.Maddux went 1-1 with a run scored.

It was a good tight Baseball game like game are supposed to be, unfortunately the padres came out on the losing end of it, maybe with tomorrow’s game being on FOX (some prime-time) they will find away to pull one off in this series, the starter being Randy Wolf(6-9) vs T.Wellemeyer(7-4) game starts at 12:55 pt.

The latest on the team’s trade candidates:

Neither team may be interested, however.  Bowman says The Atlanta Bravesare looking for offense and prefer to develop their young pitchers.  And Maddux himself doesn’t think The Dodgers need pitching (after all, they’ve got Clayton Kershaw in the minors).

We learned on Friday That Padres GM Kevin Towers has informed Greg Madduxof which teams are interested, and Maddux will take the break to consider his options.  Would he be up for The Philadelphia Phillies or  The St. Louis Cardinals?  Are those teams interested?

• GM Kevin Towers recently told Greg Maddux which teams have expressed interest in him.  The Professor will ponder his options over the break, since he controls his fate with a full no-trade clause.  Possible suitors like The Chicago Cubs and The Milwaukee Brewers may have backed off, I imagine.
• As expected, Randy Wolf is drawing interest.
• Tony Clark could be moved within a few days, with The Arizona Diamondbacks the rumored suitor.
• The Padres are only looking to move veterans, and want prospects in return.
• The Cubs recently inquired on The Padres shortstop Khalil Greene. Who prefer not to sell low on Greene, however.The Cubs have been linked to Khalil Greene in the past, and The Padres were asking about Felix Pie about a year ago. Perhaps Pie has lost the untouchable label with his .264/.315/.442 performance at Triple A.  He’s hitting better lately, though.

   Khalil Greene is on the first year of a two-year, $11MM deal.  He’s said he wants to stay in San Diego, though Kevin Towers once suggested he might prefer to be on The East Coast near his family. Khalil Greene’s had a rough year with a .216/.264/.329 line in 375 plate appearances.