West Coast fan in an East Coast city

As I have mentioned a few times, my San Diego days are long behind me even though I am still an avid Padres fan.

And having been born into a Washington Redskins family (my dad grew up in Northern Virginia) I know all about trying to show your loyalty for a team on the opposite side of the country. Even though I haven't lived in SD for around 13 years, I have always lived in NL West country and because I was still getting settled in from my move across the country last year, it didn't seem to hit me as hard but the East is a hard place to root for a team.

Whether it's because the games don't start (mostly) until after 10 p.m. or just the simple fact that West Coast teams have no media exposure out here, I have to say that following the Padres has been hard this year. I have MLB Gameday and all the wonderful data it provides but it still isn't a TV.

But thinking about the scenario, this is what has made me a dedicated fan. With a Redskins obsession on the West Coast, I constantly had to defend my team to people who didn't watch them much and only knew what they saw on ESPN. It's not necessarily a position I love being in but being more than a fair weather fan means rooting for your team even when the situation is less than ideal, and this is one of those cases.

So as I am surrounded by Nats and O's fans, I proudly let my friends know that I root for SD. And after explaining my long history of growing up during the Tony Gwynn era, I have another thing to take solace in, my team can beat theirs. And with both teams trying to get rid of the mess previous GM's left, I think I can safely say the Padres will be better than them for a while.

So while I may not be able to catch my team on TV or the radio most nights, it's still a good time to be a Padres fan despite losing 2-of-3 to Arizona to start the second half off. Because in the end, you could be a fan of the Nationals.

Flashback Friday: Justin Germano

Ok, I realize I never got a flashback up last week and I apologize - things get crazy, life happens and it becomes Friday. For this week, I decided to flashback to the not so distant future of 2004, a time when people had just finished watching the first season of the new hit show, The O.C. (ok, when teenagers started watching it) and gas prices were still less than $2.00 a gallon. Oh I remember the days.

Anyways, on May 22 a young pitcher named Justin Germano made his major league debut for the Padres, giving up 4 earned runs in 5 innings while picking up the win, 9-6 over the Phillies. After the Padres had jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the top of the second, Germano gave up four runs in the third. San Diego then chiseled away at the lead and had retaken it by the time Germano was pulled. Both teams combined for 15 runs and 23 hits and used most of their pens to try and win the game.

Germano would only start four more games and pitch in seven total the rest of the season, finishing with a 8.86 ERA, 16 K's and he gave up 31 hits in 21 1/3 innings. The next season Germano was traded along with pitcher Travis Chick to the Cincinnati Reds for IF Joe Randa.

Germano pitched 6 2/3 innings for the Reds in 2006, finishing 0-1 with a 5.40 ERA and 8 K's. He was then traded to the Phillies at the trade deadline for Rheal Cormier.

The Padres then claimed him off waivers as the Phillies tried to option him to the minors March and after optioning him themselves, the Padres called him up when Clay Hensley went on the DL. Since his call up March 30, Germano is 4-0 with a 1.76 ERA, 10 K's and a 0.81 WHIP.

While it still remains to be see how important of a role he will secure with San Diego, the Padres certainly have brought Germano back into the fold at the right time.

East Coast bias

So I'm looking through the baseball box scores in my Washington Post this morning and noticed one glaring omission, the box and recap from the San Diego-Seattle game. With two pages devoted to baseball, you'd think it would be hard to miss a game.

Now normally when the Padres play on the West Coast, their box scores don't make it into the Post the next morning as the game begins only an hour before deadline, but yesterday's game was an afternoon game and last night's Subway Series game made it in.

So those of you wondering if there is an East Coast bias, here's one more piece of ammo to back those claims. Go Padres!

Hello blog readers

Two weeks into the baseball season and I'm finally ready to become a blogger. For those of you checking this site out, yes it is basic. But as I get off the ground I hope that the quality of my content will outweigh the design until I can truly get into it. Now for a little about me.

I am currently a sports writer for a group of newspapers in Southern Maryland and I have started a blog for two reasons: One, it has always been a dream of mine to be a sports columnist and be able to give my views on national and important or quirky stories. Two, in my current position I am unable to do that but because the internet now allows anyone to write, I have decided to put my two cents out there.

Now I bet most of you are asking what a Maryland resident is doing rooting for the Padres and to keep the answer short I grew up in San Diego and got into baseball right as Mr. Padre Tony Gwynn was in the midst of his Hall of Fame career. There are two teams I am passionate about and as far as baseball goes, the Padres are it.

I hope that as I write real comments and posts that people will enjoy reading my point of view and maybe learn something in the process. While the second one isn't necessarily a given, it is a reason why a journalist writes. So enjoy and feel free to comment. Let's go Padres.