The Padres call it brown & gold. To me, it’s brown & mustard. Either way, I’ve never been too crazy about the San Diego club’s garish color scheme.
Apparently, neither were the Padres, as they diverted to an ocean-blue look for a few years before returning to the original color combo in 2000. These days, among other looks, they break out some brown pinstripes and a kind of Raiders of the Lost Padres jersey top that they wore tonight. But it’s still a damn sight better than those duds they were rocking in the 1984 Fall Classic.
Back then, they were easily the worst-looking club in World Series history. It was just too weird to see Steve Garvey, Graig Nettles & Goose Gossage in those icky brown/mustard get-ups. (Hate the Dodgers and the Yankees all you want, but they got some great-looking/why-ever-change uniforms.)
I got to hating the Padres’ look at an early age. Why? My very first youth baseball team was the Padres of the National Little League in Columbus, Ga., and for a moment, I was mildly traumatized by our dreary unis.
I remember getting our uniforms the day before our first game. Even as a 5th grader, after I donned the new uni & looked in the mirror, I thought: “Ugh… that looks like shit.” I was convinced that all of Rigdon Park, with the entire National Little League’s 30 teams, would be dressed out the following day & we’d definitely have the worst uniforms. Get ready for some hazing.
Lucky for us, there was an even worse offender on opening day. I could be thankful that I wasn’t playing for the Angels that year. They, too, got their uniforms the day before their season opener & when they pulled them out of the boxes… every jersey was misspelled. They weren’t the Angels; they were the Angles. And, even though they eventually got new unis with the correct spelling, the Angles is what they got called the rest of the season. They got all the hazing. The Lesson: Be happy you’re just brown-and-mustard.
The Game: Speaking of things that are kinda brown & sometimes mustard, that’s how the Braves offense is going right now. Sorry for the scatological references, folks, but we’re having trouble scoring runs this month.
Tonight, the Padres defeated Atlanta 5-2, sweeping the 3-game series at Petco Park. It’s the Braves’ first 4-game losing streak this season and, with the Phils picking up another 9th-inning comeback win over the Nats, they stand a mere 4.5 games ahead of Philly & 7 games ahead of the Marlins, who have MLB’s best June record (16-5).
Little hitting, too many walks from starter Martin Perez tonight & lotsa San Diego stolen bases did us in. The Padres chipped in a run here and there – and in a few frames, like the bottoms of the 3rd, 4th & 5th, Perez dodged the even-bigger inning. (Eg. – A great diving catch by RF Eli White in the 4th allowed the Pads to score a sac-fly run, but he prevented another 2 tallies.) Still, going into the 6th inning, it was 3-0 San Diego.
In the top of the inning, new Braves catcher/ATL-area native Joey Bart made it a game with a prodigious 2-run HR several decks up the warehouse in LF to make it 3-2. He also made me wonder when the last time a catcher not named Drake Baldwin got a big hit for us. Nonetheless, welcome aboard, Joey. (Yes, yes… I know he went to the North Avenue Trade School. It might be Georgia Tech, but they do have some good unis.)
Unfortunately, the bottom of the 6th turned out to be the dribble-glass inning, as we gave the 2 runs right back. Braves reliever Tyler Kinley, just returning from the IL, inherited a first-and-third/one-out situation. After Jase Bowen stole second, he K’d Fernando Tatis, putting himself on the verge of wriggling out of another tight spot. But… no more luck tonight – on a 2-2 count, Samad Taylor dunked an oppo single into short RF, scoring both runs, making it 5-2.
After that, the Braves only managed a Matt Olson single & the score (and the song) remained the same. It’s a sweep and the Braves 9th consecutive loss at Petco Park (including the brief ’24 NLWC Series). How ‘bout we stay out of this brown town until our roster’s a little more stout?
There’s a day off before the Braves visit the San Francisco Giants, who won their game vs. the A’s tonight, 2-1, on a pair of solo HRs in the bottom of the 9th.
In Friday night’s opener of a 3-game series, Reynaldo Lopez (3-1, 3.50 ERA) will face a yet-unannounced Giant starter. Go Braves.
We all expected to hit a rough patch but this is rougher than I imagined. It’s a lot like our start to 2025 just in the middle. It makes sense when you lose Acuna and Baldwin and half your order is guys hitting .200. Mateo and Dom and Dubon weren’t going to all play like all stars forever but it sure was fun for a minute. We are going to need some offense. Is Jeremy Pena available? Gleyber Torres?
I believe Tromp got a big single late in a game the team won in 10 in April or maybe early May. He was interviewed after the game, and it was the first time I had seen him speak. It was before Byrd’s unfortunate interview of Yastrzemski, because I wasn’t cringing or hoping that Byrd didn’t say anything unintentionally demeaning to Tromp.
Ububba, your Columbus Little League uniform memories reminded me of an experience one Saturday morning last year. I met with a friend & her kids in Lakebottom to take pictures of the kids with trees that our organization had planted the previous year. We had to wait for the friend’s son to finish his Peach Little League game, and he was wearing a uniform with the same team name and typeface that I had worn around 1972. Turns out that nearly all the teams in the Peach League had the same names in 2025 as in the early 1970s. I guess there was no reason to change, but I was still a bit surprised.
Wasn’t Peach League the one with all the animal names… the Foxes, the Lions, etc.?
I remember playing the Foxes in the City Tournament (in ’76 at the Eastern League park) & this guy hit me with a pitch up and in, and I had a bruise on my wrist for a month that resembled baseball stitches. It looked like I’d gone to a Victory Drive tattoo parlor.
“Byrd’s unfortunate interview of Yaz?” I must have missed this. What happened?
In an unkind paraphrase, he asked Yaz how it felt to get the winning hit when everyone knows Yaz actually sucks.
Basically, Byrd was trying to compliment Yaz for being a glue guy, but instead of emphasizing that, he emphasized how much of a not-superstar he was.
Ah, thanks. I probably did see that and it didn’t even register. Yaz seems to be a super classy guy.
Ububba, it’s got to be a small mercy that you can change the channel from the Braves during the ad breaks and check out the sitcom in Flushing.
David Peterson’s the first guy they traded, but he clearly won’t be the last. Who’s next to go?
Yup, and now Mendoza’s been let go… surprised it wasn’t earlier & it took a DH where they gave up 20 runs… but they’re an expensive, ongoing mess at the moment.
And yeah, my ears are open to whatever version of a fire sale they’re gonna offer.
I sure hope they can scrape a game out of this wknd’s series vs. Philly.
Everyone is kvetching about the pitching but I think the pitching will be fine if we get back to scoring 5+ runs per game. Baldwin’s Ks are especially concerning. If you keep relying on the pitching to keep you in games eventually the pitching will break down. That is the story of last year……
In my estimation, the Braves season ended last year when CWS beat us 1-0. I hope the same thing is not true this year when we lost 1-0 to the Padres.
Suarez to the IL, but apparently they think they doddged a bullet and hope they’ll get him back after the break.
Wouldn’t be a surprise if this is a second-place team by the ASG.