sandiegosports

San Diego Sockers, Fans Celebrate Title

 

Sockers head coach Phil Salvagio sprays champagne on fans.

^{Photo by Dan McLellan}

The San Diego Sockers defeated La Raza de Guadalajara, 9-8, capturing the North American Professional Arena Soccer League (PASL) Championship.

The last few seconds fell off the clock, and a dream return season was complete. Everyone associated with the San Diego Sockers—fans and players—rushed to the center of the field at the Del Mar Arena and embraced in a lengthy, joyful celebration.

 

Read the rest of the article at SanDiego.com

PASL Playoffs Kick Off In San Diego

The San Diego Sockers are undefeated at home this year. Two more wins this weekend at the Del Mar Arena and the Sockers will win the PASL-Pro 2010 North American Championship.

 

The PASL playoffs are at the Del Mar Arena.

Photo courtesy PASL

Beginning with first round action on March 11, six teams will be competing for the championship. The Sockers had the best the best regular season record at 13-3, andearned a first round bye.

Read the rest of the article at SanDiego.com

San Diego Sockers Enter Two Postseasons

Back-to-back wins have cemented the expansion San Diego Sockers as the regular season champs of the Western Division of the Professional Arena Soccer League. The 13-3 Sockers have a first-round bye in the PASL North American championship tournament, which will be hosted at the Del Mar Arena March 11-13.

 

Paul Wright scored a hat trick

against Tijuana.^{Courtesy of Socker}

The team went undefeated at home this season, their first in the PASL.

Read the rest of the article at SanDiego.com

San Diego Chargers Release LT: Tomlinson's future uncertain; players, coaches weigh in on departing superstar

He’s a future Hall of Famer,” says Chargers General Manager A.J. Smith. “My only regret is that he leaves San Diego without a Super Bowl ring.”

 

LT is no longer a Chargers player.

^{Courtesy Chargers.com}

Earlier today, Chargers president Dean Spanos met with LaDainian Tomlinson and informed the Chargers’ all-time greatest player that he is being released.

“This is a part of the business that I hate,” says Spanos. “It’s particularly hard when you’re dealing with someone I consider a friend.”

Read the rest of the article at SanDiego.com

The Padres Offense Has Disappeared

The Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde San Diego Padres (25-29) of 2009 have officially reverted back to their Mr. Hyde personality that hides its offense. On Friday night night, the Padres lost to the Arizona Diamondbacks (24-31) 8-0. The loss is their fourth in a row and sixth in seven games.

The home runs are still flying out of Petco, unfortunately not from the Padres’ bats. In the second inning Chris Young hit a solo home run off of Chris Gaudin and that was the entire offensive the Diamondbacks would need to defeat the Padres.

Adrian Gonzalez was 0-for-2 with two walks. This marked the first time in his career that he had multiple walks in four consecutive games. With Scott Hairston on the 15-day disabled list and not providing protection for Gonzalez, it looks now like Gonzales is going to get the Barry Bonds treatment by opposing managers by having their pitchers throw around him, even in situations that do not warrant it.

A Sick Outing for Peavy: As in Not Well

On paper it looked like a perfect opportunity for the San Diego Padres (25-27) to even up the series against the Philadelphia Phillies (30-20). The Padres had Jake Peavy (5-6) on the mound against Phillies pitcher Antonio Bastardo (1-0) who was making his major league debut.

The Padres were even offering up a rare double-header for fans that came out to the park early. In the afternoon game, the Padres Class-A affiliate the Lake Elsinore Storm took on the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes. However, only a few fans (mostly family and friends of the players) took in both games. Those who arrived early saw a dominating pitching performance by Storm pitcher Corey Kluber who gave up only 1 run in 6.2 innings in the Storms’ 7-2 victory. Unfortunately, fans were disappointed if they came solely to see a dominating performance by Peavy. What they got instead was a stellar performance by Bastardo.

Peavy was unable to get out of the first inning before Padre fans’ knew that it was not going to be a Peavy-like night. After retiring Jimmy Rollins to start the game, he gave up consecutive walks to Shane Victorino and Chase Utley. Then Ryan Howard and Raul Ibanez hit back-to-back doubles giving Philadelphia a 3-0 lead. Jason Werth then singled to put runners at the corners. Greg Dobbs followed with a sacrifice fly, extending the Phillies lead to 4-0.

Click Here for The Rest of the Story at SanDiego.com

Phillies Push Padres off of Home Winning Streak

On Monday night the San Diego Padres’ (25-26) 10-game home wining streak came to an end against Ryan Howard and the rest of the defending World Champion Philadelphia Phillies (29-20). In the loss Kevin Correia had a tough outing as he found himself constantly pitching with runners in scoring position because he allowed the lead off batter to reach base in every inning that he pitched. For fans, National League co-players of the week Adrian Gonzalez and Ryan Howard did not disappoint, as they both participated in back-to-back home runs.

Correia’s troubles started early as he gave up lead off doubles in both the first and second innings. However, he was able to get out of both jams without allowing any runs.

In the second the Padres scored first when Scott Hairston and Brian Giles lead the inning with singles that put runners on the corners. Kevin Kouzmanoff then hit into a double-play that scored Hairston, giving the Padres a 0-1 lead, but the double-play had killed the inning.

Click Here For The Rest of the Article at SanDiego.com

A Baseball Friendship: Adrian Gonzalez and Freddy Sandoval

“He is just one of the most unbelievable guys that I have ever met. Awesome person, awesome friend, someone that really wants to help out everyone,” said Freddy Sandoval in describing his childhood friend Adrian Gonzalez of the San Diego Padres.

Sandoval, a Tijuana native and alumni of the University of San Diego, credits his friendship with Gonzalez for turning his baseball career and his life around. Through baseball Gonzalez and Sandoval formed a lasting friendship. As children they played on opposing little league teams and later they played together competing in national traveling tournaments. Now as adults, they are frequently teammates in Mexico.

In 2004, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim drafted Sandoval in the 8th round of the Major League Baseball Amateur Draft to play third base. By 2006 he had not made it further than class-A ball for the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes and there his numbers were average at best. He hit only .258 and 5 home runs in a park that is typically a hitter’s paradise.

That off-season, Sandoval played winter ball for the Mazatlan Venados in Mexico. Joining him on that team was his life-long friend Adrian Gonzalez. Gonzalez noticed that Sandoval lacked focus. Sandoval recalled, “At that point in my life, I was partying a lot and living the dream. I had everything I wanted but it was in a completely different way.”

It was then that Gonzalez sat Sandoval down for a conversation about Sandoval’s goals. According Sandoval, Gonzalez told him, “You should be in the big leagues right now. There is no possible way that I made it to the big leagues before you did. What’s going on your life? What are you doing?”

Sandoval said, “I had no answers.” Adrian just laid it out there. “You can’t be [partying] all the time. It is OK to go out every once in a while, but your job comes first and if you really want to make it to the big leagues, you have to commit.”

 Click here for the Rest of the story at SanDiego.com

Padres Complete Perfect Homestand

With the help of Chris Young’s arm and his bat the San Diego Padres (22-22) won again Sunday 7-2. The win completed a 3-game sweep of the Chicago Cubs (21-21) and the Padres’ first ever perfect 9-game homestand. The Padres also extend their overall home winning streak to 10 in a row and for the first time since April 30, they find themselves at .500.

The Padres’ perfect homestand was in large part provided by great pitching. In the 9 victories the Padres’ starting staff recoded 7 wins and Padres relievers posted a 0.32 ERA.

Young (4-2) capped off the memorable weekend, by pitching a strong 7 2/3 innings. This included retiring the first 14 Cub batters that he faced. Young helped himself out at the plate with his third multi-hit day in his career including a 2 RBI single in the fifth inning.

Kevin Kouzmanoff hit a 3-run home run in the 7th, giving Young a 5 run cushion, a luxury no other Padre starter enjoyed during the homestand. Despite the 9 game win streak, yesterday’s 7 run output was an anomaly. Padre batters on the homestand only batted .209.

  Click here for the rest of the story at SanDiego.com

Sounds of Success: Glen Erath & Steve Vaus

This weekend the San Diego Padres gave tribute to their 1984 team that reached the club’s first ever World Series. For Padres fans and players alike, the music of Glen Erath and Steve Vaus’s album Sounds of Success remains an integral part of the magic that was 1984.

In 1984 the Padres broadcasts were on 760 KFMB. At the time, the KFMB morning show was hosted by San Diego radio giants Mac Hudson and Joe Bauer with sports updates from young Padres announcer Ted Leitner. Bauer would frequently tease Leitner with impersonations of First Baseman Steve Garvey and Manager Dick Williams. Padres Fan John Johnson of El Cajon remembers, “I couldn’t wait to get up in morning and turn on the radio to hear what they were going to do next.”

Often Erath would accompany the trio in the studio to perform timely, humorous songs about the Padres. Erath described the show as “a vehicle for entertainment.” In addition to Erath’s performances, Vaus would record and contribute his own songs. These performances quickly became the theme songs for the Padres’ 1984 season.

Click here for the rest of the story at SanDiego.com