San Diego Padres: 2008 Preview

The date is October 1, 2007. The Padres are batteling the red hot Colorado Rockies in a one-game playoff for the wildcard spot in the playoffs.

Bottom of the 13th, the Padres are up, and seem to be on there way to a third straight playoff apperence thanks to Scott Hariston and his two-run homerun to put San Diego on top.

Hells Bells plays in the minds of Padres fans as Trevor Hoffman is put in to send the Padres to the playoffs. Kaz Matsui and Troy Tulowitzki hit back to back doubles of the all time saves leader, then Matt Holiday steps up to the plate and drives a triple through the gap to tie the game once again. San Diego then would intentionally walk Todd Helton to bring little Jamie Carrol up to the plate with the wild card winning run on third base. Carrol hits a fly ball to Brian Giles, Holiday tags, Giles guns the ball to the plate, Michael Barrett can't hold on to the ball! Rockies win the wild card! Sorry Padres.

And to think that this game didn't have to happen, all San Diego had to do was beat the Milwaukee Brewers. But thanks to another "clutch" performance by Trevor Hoffman, they were sent to play Colorado at home.

What's changed for the Padres for 2008? Let's see, they let there gold glove center fielder Mike Cameron walk in free agency, and picked up slightly injured Jim Edmonds who hasn't played in 120 games in two seasons. They also added Mark Prior, who isn't exactly 100 percent, Randy Wolf, and Tadahito Iguchi.

Even with one of the best pitching staffs in baseball, I don't see the padres getting enough offense to win games.

Here's a look at the Padres roster..
 

You're currently logged into Facebook

Do you want to share your Bleacher Report activity on Facebook?