• Game Day alerts

So what did Sunday night prove in the long run? Not a lot. While the Padres would have loved a sweep of the visiting Toronto Blue Jays, the extra innings took their toll and the Jays took the final game of the three-game series, 7-4, in eleven innings.

Mainstream media will ignore the fact that the Padres took two of three from the Blue Jays and instead will concentrate on the next series, because this is what mainstream sports media does. It goes for the throat, does media. Especially sports media.

Hype, the pretty little bridesmaid of mainstream sports media is counting on the Los Angeles Dodgers to draw and quarter Carlos Quentin for charging Zack Greinke after being plunked with a four-seam fastball in April. That’s apparently more important than Ramon Ortiz suffering what is likely a career-ending injury.

Ortiz has been in the bigs since 1999, and his baseball-playing days are likely over. He knew it, once his arm snapped on Sunday. So did media. And now, it’s nothing more than an afterthought. And it’s not fair to Ortiz and not fair to baseball and the fans that know better.

No, speculating on Carlos Quentin and some sort of revenge from the hands of the last-place Dodgers take center-stage in Padres-land. And Quentin is not even in the lineup on Monday.

Oh, wow, that must mean that Quentin is a-scared of them Dodgers. Or, it could be that he ran into the wall at Petco Park on Sunday while making a spectacular catch. Guess which way that sports media is leaning?

You won’t hear much of anything about Ramon Ortiz, so I’ll lay it out here. This is a 40-year old man from the Dominican Republic who left the mound with tears rolling out of his eyes. He’s in Miami right now, or near it, getting whatever bad news the doctor is going to give him.

Ortiz went 87-86 lifetime, and not a lot of pitchers can brag about getting more wins than losses in their careers. His reputation as a leader and a mentor to younger pitchers is the first thing his coaches and managers will tell you about.

Ortiz is now facing a career decision, and it likely doesn’t involve throwing a baseball any longer. He knew that the minute it happened. So did anyone watching that game.

It takes one pitch. One pitch ends a good pitcher’s career, another pitch causes a hitter to charge the mound and instigate a bench-clearing incident. Guess which one pitch that sports media is going to pay the most attention to?


Neither Carlos Quentin nor Yonder Alonso is in the starting lineup on Monday. Quentin crashed into the fence but you’ll hear more speculation that he isn’t in the lineup because of possible retaliation from the Dodgers due to the Zach Greinke incident. Greinke isn’t scheduled to face the Padres in this series. With Yonder, his bruised right hand is still an issue, although apparently he’s close.

Monday, the Padres are in Los Angeles to face the Dodgers. Eric Stults (4-4, 3.86) will go for the Padres and face some guy named Stephen Fife (0-0, 7.71) just called up from the minors to join the Dodgers. Game time is at 7:10 PM on radio 1090 AM and televised on Fox Sports San Diego.

  • Game Day alerts


Sign in to comment

Join our
newsletter list

Enter to win $25 at Broken Yolk Cafe

Each newsletter subscription
means another chance to win!