Tonight's Country Night at Petco Park. I will be there. The Avenger-in-Chief will be there. Dierks Bentley will apparently be there (psst...I don't know who that is). A mechanical bull is also rumored to be there, and for some reason only women are allowed to ride it (double psst...not really).

But, so help me God, if this little critter isn't there.....there will be hell to pay.

OK, I guess I should have left the "Oh My!!" out of that title, because this post has nothing to do with Dick Enberg. There are a TON of events coming up and I figured I'd better get the word out on all of them!!

First up we have Orlando Hudson's "Strike Out Autism" Bowling event. Orlando Hudson, Mat Latos, Clayton Richard, Brad Hawpe, Kyle Phillips, Anthony Bass, Mike Adams & Josh Spence are all scheduled to appear. Take the day off tomorrow and go to the Padres/D-Backs game at 12:35pm and then grab a bite to eat downtown & hit up O-Dawg's great charity event after.

(More after the jump!)

Last year, we shot 4 Beers with Bob's and the Padres won 90 games. This year we have done 0 Beers with Bob's and the Padres have won only 44 games and currently sit 13 games out of first place. Coincidence? Probably, but we had a blast doing all 4 of those last year and we wanted to get together again this year. Due to hectic schedules we have been unable to meetup with the legendary former Padres Radio/TV personality Bob Chandler.

But that ends TOMORROW night (Friday July 22nd, 2011) and we want you there! Come on down to the Randy Jones All American Sports Grill tomorrow, watch the Padres kick the Phillies butt while rocking the '83 Brown throwbacks (Game starts at 4:05pm), enjoy a special 35 Happy Hour for the during the game AND stick around after the game to join us for Beers with Bob! We'll ask some questions, you guys can ask questions, we'll drink, you guys can drink. Plus as an added bonus Randy Jones will be there as well!! How can you refuse?

The plan is for YOU guys to get involved, so bring those questions! Whether it be about his awesome book "Tales from the San Diego Padres", some questions about the Padres past or questions about the current team. Plus The Avenger-In-Chief & I are still hurting from the In-N-Out Challenge so we don't want to be the ones asking all the questions. This will not be filmed, so if you want in on this action then you have to come on down and join us!!

See you there!

PS - Another special LIVE Q & A, with an unnamed Padres personality, is planned for sometime during the Reds series August 12-14...More details on that soon. Let's just say get those craft/micro brew & indie rock questions ready.

As I was updating this years Promo Schedule, over at .400 in '94, I noticed something. The Padres are giving away "towels" about 97.78956890284% (give or take a few percentage points) of the time this season. Look I know we live in San Diego but "Rally Towels" do us no good at the beach. There was 1 Beach Towel give away on June 25th. Then there's Rally Towel's given away on April 8th, July 30th, September 24th AND let's not forget the "Whiteout" Rally Towel, in which mine had a brown spot on it (good news, the spot came out after I washed it!), given away on July 15th.

Every year, I'm like a kid in a candy store when the Promo Schedules come out and every year it's as if I walked all the way to said candy shop, only to see that it went out of business.... imediately followed by a little person running out from behind the dumpster to kick me in the crotch. It's as if they put no effort into the promotional items and churn out the same items, but rearranged, every season. Oversized shirts with clip art and the same hats with different patches on the back, make up about 6-8 of the promo items a season. Beach Towels (which is PERFECT for SD) are another consistent. Then there's all the kids items (lunch box, Hot Wheels, mini bats, etc).

Being that collecting/marketing is my thing, I'm a nerd and I'm always checking out other teams Promo Schedules as well. Year after year the Padres have the least creative/most boring stuff in all of baseball. 2003 was the last year where there appeared to be any effort at all put into it.

Anyways, enough of my ranting about towels. The Padres won yesterday!! YAY PADRES! And... YAY NO BROWN STAINS!

The trade deadline is lurking around the corner like the monster hiding in the hallways of those old black and white movies. The victims are the baseball players whose fate isn’t in their hands. In this case Padres closer Heath Bell. The All-Star sliding, Wii playing, bearded closer is the topic of many trade rumors these days.  Many teams who have a chance at the playoffs (Padres not even close), are seeking a closer, or a set-up man to seal the deal in the 8th or 9th innings.

Bell has made it clear he would rather remain a closer, but would opt for the setup man role on a winning club. Bell was a set-up man back in his days with the Mets when he set the table for J.J. Putz. How’d that work for the Mets? Bell then took over for future Hall-of-Famer Trevor Hoffman in San Diego.

For whom the Bell tolls: The Rangers and Phillies have come up in numerous conversations. There are many other teams seeking Bell’s talent. What will the Padres get? You can bet it will be prospects that have promise. How much promise? That is yet to be determined. I can see the Padres wanting to strike while the flame is hot on Bell, and get him out there on the market, but I also see the fans point of view of keeping him around as a local favorite. Many were and still are angry with the Adrian Gonzalez trade that has yet to pay off for the Friars. Gonzalez is now crushing American League pitching at an incredible rate as a member of the Sox. Do I think Bell will get traded this season? Yes I am afraid so. Do I want him to be traded?  No way Jose! There isn’t much to look forward to in the Padres organization right now, but when Bell enters the game, there's a feeling of security knowing he will get the job done.

There are other names I heard the Padres will dangle out there as trade bait. Setup man Mike Adams, who very well could be a closer somewhere or even take over the reins if Bell gets traded.  Ryan  Ludwick is currently having his best year as a Padre, but still quite a ways off from his Cardinal days. What is the value of Ludwick too? Would the Padres get much out of him? Ludwick would hit more homers in ballparks smaller than PETCO.  If Bell goes, and or Ludwick goes, what will put butts in the seats at the remaining home games. You really can only give away so many free t-shirts.

The trade deadline is lurking and any minute General Managers might jump out from behind the door to surprise a player, a team, or an entire fan base.  Only time will tell, and that time could be anyday.

There is going to be a signing in the Padres Store today

If you are headed down to the ballpark make sure you stop by and check it out!

Jane Mitchell from 3:30pm-5:00pm

Dave Roberts from 4:00pm-4:30pm

Randy Jones from 4:30pm-5:00pm

What do baseball bloggers do, when there's no baseball being played & it's a slow news day? We attempt a challenge where we match a pot smoking, long haired hippies eating habits..that's what. In case you missed it this off-season, Giants starting pitcher Tim Lincecum revealed his "traditional fare" at In-N-Out of having not 1, not 2 but thrice Double-Doubles (no lettuce, onions or tomatoes & ketchup instead of the spread), 2 orders of fries & a chocolate-strawberry shake. That's quite the meal and it made people cringe just hearing about it. But in case you also missed it, we here at the Fro DO. NOT. LIKE. ANYTHING. GIANTS. But we do like In-N-Out, so why not manufacture a challenge?!

So with that said, The Avenger-in-Chief, Beautown, one of the fine fellows from Bring Back the Brown, Jordan and myself threw down the gauntlet....all while discussing THE BET, a short preview of the current Padres/Giants series, yesterdays game (before it happened) in which the Padres rocked the BROWN '83 unis and what ever else we feel like discussing while engorging ourselves with delicious In-N-Out (suck it East Coast).

The intent of this challenge was to curse the Giants. I'll take the blame for the loss yesterday since I didn't get this video up before then. Now in the video I felt out of it the whole time & don't remember much of what I was saying. This could be from the heart attack I sufffered at some point during the interview. I think at one point I called Mat Latos "fine" when I meant to say "fun". I still to this day have nightmares about the mask the Avenger-in-Chief wore....and you surely will too. So this is your warning. Check out the way to long video (I edited down a ton too) to see how we did.

I know I haven't posted much lately...that will change shortly now that I am free...err..I mean "no longer to busy"*.

I just wanted to invite whoever wanted to come down to the Randy Jones All-American Sports Grill tonight. This isn't an "event" and it's not "brought to you by.." and I could care less about a "turnout". It's just a group of Padres fans/friends, getting together to enjoy some great food & drinks and watch the Padres DESTROY the Dodgers! The game starts at 7:10pm, so get there whenever you feel like it, but you may want to get there early to get a seat.

GO PADRES!!!!!!

-SDPads1

*That's what "they" wanted me to say...

Baseball is America's sport and we here at the Fro want wish everyone a very Happy Independence Day!