Dreary ballgame.  No Junior, no Tui, just a lineup full of Josh Bards and Josh Wilsons and Chris Woodwards -- in other words, it wasn't the Mariners we were watching on TV.  It was some sort of baseball exhibition, but it warn't us playin' in it.

We understand of course about the "alternate starters and Rainiers" idea, but is it really out of the question to put a few exciting players in, when there's one TV game every 7-10 games?  :- )

All the Padres pitchers are at 85+ pitches, I guess... they know their 25-man, and are just waiting for the start of the season.   The one redeeming quality of the game was that it was a Padres broadcast.  A Padres exec, in the TV booth, was asked if spring training is too long... "The veterans would tell you it's 10-14 days too long.  But the young guys, we can use the looks at them..."

If the players don't care about winning or losing, and they don't, scouting them is tough.

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=== Adrian's Gone, Dept. ===

Now, as a rule, I've got nothing against TV guys selling tickets during game action.  It's not "selling out." 

When I go to work for (say) Boeing, I'm there heart-and-soul to help make their company better - including, of course, selling more airplanes.   They fork over good wages and they have a right to my best effort in whatever capacity they need me in, international espionage and visits to San Francisco notwithstanding.

But this broadcast was unique in my 35 years of watching baseball.  They announced a promo on-air:  buy a partial season ticket package, and you get to go on the field during batting practice.

Five people called in during the first six innings -- four of them purchasing 20-game packs and one a full season ticket package.  The TV guys read the names of each ticket buyer -- I kid you not -- thanking and congratulating them exactly as if it were a PBS drive.

In the sixth inning, they had a Pads VP in the booth and ramped it up:  The Next Caller In!  Who buys a full season ticket -- gets to sit in the booth during a live game with GM Jed Hoyer!  Think of the insight you'll gain.  How many fans ever get to watch a ballgame with a GM!  yada yada ... one of the announcers phoned in.  (Yep.)  The other announcer told him he was not eligible.  I think he was kidding.

Two innings later.  Nobody has called.

They go down to the dugout.  A flirty little brown-eyed number is asking the Padres players if they like her scarf.  An announcer says he's giving out her cell (of course, her name is Jenny).  She laughs.  Instead, he reads the phone number to buy a season ticket and sit with Hoyer.  She gets it instantly and holds thumb and pinky to her ear like a phone and whispers breathily, "Callll meee."

End of the game, nobody called.

This ballclub, selling $300 and $1500 season tickets at the rate of 5 partial-packages per TV broadcast  ... is going to pay $100,000+ a game to Adrian Gonzalez?

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