Wake Up, It's Baseball

The Dodgers smelled the coffee, too

Ten years ago this week, my wife and I hosted an unusual gathering at our Paradise Valley townhouse. A few friends and colleagues came over for what felt like a cross between a bad slumber party and an even worse cocktail party. In our defense, we had never held a gathering before for an Opening Day 17 time zones away.

From our living room, we watched Clayton Kershaw and the Dodgers take down Wade Miley and our Diamondbacks from the Sydney Cricket Grounds. I don’t remember much about the game. I have a vague recollection of it being boring, but that might just have been my body attempting to send my brain a message.

The first two games of the 2014 season were played in Australia. First pitch of game 1 was at 1:00 a.m. in Phoenix. On that night, nothing good happened after midnight.

The baseball season begins overseas again, this year in Seoul, Korea. I’ve been telling myself for a couple weeks that waking up at four in the morning is a better option than staying awake for the conclusion of a game around that same time. The best option, of course, is sleep. At WTP, we value your beauty rest, and that’s why I’m awake and watching the game so you don’t have to.

I’m smart enough to ask for a little help, too, and that’s why today’s WTP is presented by roastwestcoast.com. Last year, my friend Ryan from Roast! West Coast wrote a guest post about a Spring Training experience with his beloved Brewers. This year, he’s supplying the coffee to fuel my writing today. Thank you to Ryan and to Bridge City Coffee in Greenville, S.C.

It’s minutes before first pitch, and I keep thinking about the 2023 final standings. The Padres, who were 68-78 in mid-September, won 14 of their final 16 — mostly against terrible competition — and fell just two games shy of the final Wild Card berth in the NL. I don’t care if it’s March 20 in Korea, April 20 at Petco, or July 20 in Cleveland — every game counts. Every. Game. Counts. In fact, I’m starting to believe that the 108 games that the Padres will play before this season’s July 30 trade deadline count even more than the final third of the calendar. But that’s for another day and preferably another time.

There’s an old baseball adage that says you can’t win a World Series in April, but you sure can lose one. With the current Wild Card structure, I’m not sure that’s the case any longer. However, for a Padres team that was stuck in neutral for almost all of last year, returning home with one win would be a step in the right direction.

Every Game Counts

Betts. Ohtani. Freeman.

It’s what every starting pitcher facing the Dodgers likely thinks before falling asleep the night before opposing the Dodgers. should try not to think about upon waking up on game day. It’s reality today for Yu Darvish. Ball one, outside.

And on a 3-1 count, Darvish is called for a pitch clock violation. Ball four. Betts takes his base.

Now batting, number 17, designated hitter: Shohei Ohtani.

Betts successfully steals second base but is returned to first for an unknown reason. Ohtani hits what appears to be a routine double-play ball to Padres shortstop and Korean star Ha Seong Kim, but the Dodgers new star beats out the relay easily.

On the ESPN feed, the background noise at the ballpark is persistent and challenges the play-by-play call — drumming, constant drumming and, well, it sounds like the public address announcer forgot to mute the microphone, but I think it’s part of the drum team. For the bottom of the first, I flip over to the local Padres broadcast. With all the trouble surrounding regional sports networks, including here in San Diego, I’m encouraged to find that the game is on, and Mark Grant and Don Orsillo are back in my living room.

I looked down for a minute or so and the home-half of the first ended.

What’s clear to me at 3:25 in the morning is that baseball is baseball, no matter what time it’s being played or where, which reminds me that my son has a tee ball game in about 13 hours. I think it was “Wee Willie” Keeler who once said, “You can’t watch baseball all day if you don’t start first thing in the morning.”

Time for coffee.

This commercial break before the second inning feels longer than the bottom of the first took to play. The broadcast returns: There’s a Dodgers player (Max Muncy) on second base, and the count is full to Teoscar Hernández. At least my baseball clock is in midseason form. Looks like I spoke too soon about the health and well-being of the local broadcast. Darvish strikes out Hernandez, and the broadcast abruptly goes to commercial — with one out in the top of the second. I flip back to ESPN. I’m sorry I doubted you, Worldwide Leader.

Baseball Fans Unite

We have a neighbor who is a pilot and a huge Padres fan. His son checks both of those boxes as well. Guess where they are? It’s 3:37 a.m., and I’ve received multiple texts from my neighbor, who is nailing the audition for WTP foreign correspondent.

I’ve also received a couple texts from friends in San Diego, and one from a friend who works for the Padres. Early morning roll call adds an extra layer of fun to the experience.

Meanwhile, Ohtani steps to the plate for the second time. He hits a foul ball very far and very hard. It was foul off the bat, but it still draws the loudest reaction from the crowd so far. That is, until he belts a pitch later in the at-bat into right field for a clean, hard-hit single.

One pitch later, Ohtani is standing on second base. He got a huge jump off of Darvish. Padres catcher Luis Campusano had no chance. A borderline call on a 3-2 pitch goes Freddie Freeman’s way, and there are two men on base for the first time this season.

The singing and drumming continues. The audio levels of the background noise sound equal to those of the broadcast no matter how I adjust the volume. I feel like I’m in a Miracle Ear commercial. I elect to turn the sound way down, the mute button may want to get loose in the bullpen.

Ohtani walks Will Smith. The bases are loaded for Muncy. Looks like the mute button isn’t the only one stirring. There’s action in the Padres bullpen. Darvish is at 60 pitches and has labored through the last few batters. His night might be over if he can’t retire Muncy. Another full count. And on the 3-2 pitch, Darvish blows a fastball by the Dodgers batter at 94 MPH. We go to the middle of the third, still scoreless.

Somehow The Animals Are Always The First To Know

Tyler Wade leads off the bottom of the third for the Friars. I scouted him in 2015 when he played for the Yankees Double-A team in Trenton. Let me say simply that I didn’t have Wade in a big league uniform nine years later. Good for him. He draws a leadoff walk.

Twenty-year-old rookie Jackson Merrill digs in for his first Major League at bat. Ken Griffey Jr. peers through a fancy camera lens from the photographer’s well. Dodgers starter Tyler Glasnow bounces an 0-2 offering, and Wade takes second base. Can Merrill advance the runner?

The rookie lines a ball into center field. It hangs up and is handled routinely by James Outman, but Wade tags and takes third. This is the kind of baseball I hoped to see out of the 2024 Padres.

The baseball gods reward the productive out. Leadoff hitter Xander Bogaerts deposits a single into shallow center field. 1-0, Padres.

In the top of the fourth, the commissioner joins the broadcast. The mute button makes its first appearance of the season!

The aforementioned Tyler Wade makes a bad throw on a slow grounder and Teoscar Hernández ends up on second base. Darvish must contend with traffic on the bases again. After a couple productive outs, the game is tied. The camera cuts to Wade, who is shaking his head at no one other than himself. Padres manager Mike Shildt heads to the mound, and Darvish’s outing is over after 3.2 IP.

With a break in the action, I have time to share that when I came downstairs this morning, Mrs. WTP and the Warning Track Puppy were both on the couch. Why? Apparently the dog awoke around 1:45 a.m. and made her way downstairs. My wife followed. We haven’t quite figured out this dog-ownership gig yet. Safe to say, though, that the pup just couldn’t wait for first pitch.

After consecutive walks to lead off the bottom of the fourth, Padres glue guy Jurickson Profar bunts for a base hit. Bases loaded. Friends, I think I’ll be saying it all season: If this team can move runners over, San Diego will be playing October baseball.

Right on cue, Campusano grounds into a 6-4-3 double play. The Padres regain the lead, but Glasnow gets two much needed outs with one pitch. Meanwhile, if I wake up early to watch again tomorrow, I’m going to set the coffee maker before going to bed. Measuring the grounds at this hour is not a highlight of my morning.

Hoping the local broadcast has corrected earlier glitches, I’ve returned to the Padres Network. Left-handed reliever Tom Cosgrove gives up a leadoff single to Betts. The good news is two lefties await him next. The bad news is that their names are Shohei and Freddie.

Wade makes a very nice play on a ground ball against a shifted infield and gets the force out at second.

Finally, Coffee

Bridge City Coffee, I’ve learned, was named 2024 Roaster of the Year by Roast magazine. That’s the equivalent of being named franchise of the year by Baseball America or wine of the year by Wine Spectator.

After Cosgrove hits Freeman with a fastball that ran too far inside, Enyel De Los Santos enters the game and records two big outs. We’re through five innings, and the coffee is brewing. Glasnow navigates his fifth inning of work and the Padres lineup turns over for the second time. During a fairly routine inning of work, my coffee machine beeps four times. For a moment I can’t distinguish it from the other sounds of the game. My dog’s snoring grounds me in my surroundings. Time to pour the first cup of the day.

And Now A Word From Our Sponsor

I’ll say it again: The time between innings feels unusually long. I suppose you don’t fly two organizations to Asia and not take advantage of every second of advertising time you can sell.

Padres reliever Yuki Matsui isn’t given the same latitude, though, and he’s hit with a pitch-clock violation in his first MLB appearance. The extra ball hurts and James Outman draws a walk. While Padres pitching coach Ruben Niebla makes his way to the mound with Matsui’s translator, I realize that the broadcast didn’t return in time for the leadoff hitter (again). Hernandez flied out during the commercial break.

Matsui posts a clean inning and, as the bottom of the sixth rolls around, I’m grateful for my coffee. The slider-heavy repertoire of Dodgers reliever Ryan Brasier signals that we’ve entered the try-to-strike-everyone-out phase of the game. As this one-run game enters the seventh inning, there’s no reason to expect anything other than the best relievers out of both bullpens. Thanks again, Bridge City.

Goodnight, Ohtani?

The Padres made a four-year commitment to free agent reliever Wandy Peralta in the offseason. In a winter of odd agreements, Peralta’s deal is one of the strangest: It contains opt-outs after each of the first three seasons. Today, though, the matter of business is retiring the heart of the Dodgers lineup. The lefty executes a tricky play on a slow roller off the bat of Ohtani. He retires Freeman as well and moves the Padres six outs away from a win.

Friend of WTP Daniel Hudson enters in the bottom of the seventh for the Dodgers. Hudson was a member of the D-backs organization 10 years ago when the team faced Los Angeles in Australia. In early 2014, he was recovering from his second Tommy John surgery in a short period of time and wouldn’t appear in a big league game until September of that year. It’s nothing short of a medical miracle that he’s still pitching at the highest level today. Knee injuries have kept him off the field more recently. I’m very happy to see Hudson put up a zero in his inning of work.

The Final Innings

I swear I could have watched most of “The Godfather” in the time between these innings today. At this point, I’m starting to question whether I’ve been nodding off during commercial breaks. Teoscar Hernández singles in the first at-bat after the commercial break, and there’s Max Muncy — yet again — standing on second base. Was there a rule change I missed?

In only seven pitches, reliever Jhony Brito, who was part of the return from the Yankees in the Juan Soto trade and whose first name will challenge my autocorrect all season, finds himself facing pinch hitter Kiké Hernandez with the bases loaded. Hernandez ties the game with a well struck sac fly to left field.

Uh oh, Padres fans.

On a potential double play ball off the bat of Gavin Lux, Padres first baseman Jake Cronenworth had the ball go through his webbing. It becomes 3-2, Dodgers, and Mookie Betts comes to bat for the fifth time. This isn’t how it was drawn up in the Padres clubhouse.

Betts singles, Ohtani singles. The Dodgers exert their will and take a 5-2 lead. This coffee, by the way, is delicious. I usually don’t go for the lighter roasts, and I’m pleasantly surprised. Padres fans may already be opting for something a little stronger, though.

Daniel Hudson is in line for the win.

If you’ve made it this far, you may be relieved to hear that my weekday obligations will prevent me from watching this game, uninterrupted, to its conclusion. It’s been a strange game at times: a few pitch clock violations, umpire interference (that negated Betts’ stolen base in the first inning), and an equipment malfunction that undid the Padres. In the end (if I may be so bold to declare it as thus in the bottom of the eighth), the Dodgers took advantage of more opportunities than the Padres did.

Jeremiah Estrada takes the ball for the Padres in the top of the ninth, and I realize that I don’t know baseball as well as I did when I was in it every single day. Until three minutes ago, I didn’t even know that Estrada was a player on the Padres roster. He validates my ignorance and allows the first two batters to reach base. Estrada had a couple cups of coffee with the Cubs before San Diego claimed him off waivers this past offseason. He’s got a good changeup. He works around the baserunners and gets his team back in the dugout.

I’ll let the rest of you take it from here. Barring a ninth-inning comeback from the Padres, this missive won’t require revision. Besides, we’ve got another game tomorrow. Anyone want to come over for coffee?