With the Cardinals winning the World Series, the Padres 2012 season begins. The only good thing the Padres manage to do this past season is that we made the Cardinals earn their WS ring by sending them to an 0-2 start.

I have no illusions about what to expect from the Pads this coming season. Our off season will probably consist of picking up rejected has-been's to start the 2012 campaign and then dispatching them 3 weeks into the season and throwing in the towel.

Bud Black will be fired by week 6, which angers the team and ignites them to the longest winning streak of the season at 3 games. And then it's back to the same ho-hum attitude by the players. Glenn Hoffman is named interim manager, but still refuses to sit on the bench and can be found along the 3rd base line, even when the opposing team is at-bat.

Heath Bell will be the lone representative for the Padres at the All-Star game in spite of the fact that he is no longer on the team.

Jed Hoyer trades for A-Gon in a mega trade with the Red Sox, sending the Cubs to a 4th place finish and is promptly fired.

Mark Grant and Dick Enberg get into a fight in the broadcast booth that's caught live on TV for everyone to see. Overheard on the audio mic every time Dick landed a direct punch onto Mark's face, he was heard saying "Touch 'em all". What's unclear is exactly who was saying it. The Padres owner remarks that they were the only 2 people that showed life on an otherwise lifeless Padres team.

With the season all but over, the Padres Front Office names Tony Gwynn as their new Manager. Everyone in San Diego is happy and full of hope. That is until the press conference when it's Tony Gwynn Jr. that steps up to the mic to address the press. The front office explains their rationale of not hiring Gwynn Sr. by stating they decided the "youth movement was the way to go".

The Padres decide to give Matt Bush another chance and offer him a job... selling Beer at Randy Jones All American Grill. He is promptly fired and arrested for trying to climb over the fence to get into Petco Park when he didn't have a valid drivers license to prove he was a Petco employee.

The Washington Nationals win the World Series.

Now, you can skip this season and head straight onto 2013 instead.

Dare I say this? But I think Matt Bush is a bigger bust than Ryan Leaf. At least he tasted what it was like to be in the BIGS. This idiot is the definition of self-destructive behavior. He would literally hang himself as you were giving him the keys to the Kingdom.

Padres suck. 0-2. And they have looked bad getting there. Sigh.

This is the 2012 thread for the Padres, but I'm gonna post here as I just witnessed a historic event for the Padres franchise. Matt Kemp just hit the Padres first Cycle in Padres history. Mark this day (August 14, 2015) as the best day for a Padre fan that doesn't involve the World Series. I've been a Padre fan for pretty much my entire life and I had resigned myself to the idea that I would NEVER see anyone in a Padre uniform hit for the cycle. So, it took 7,444 games for a Padre player to get a Single, Double, Triple and a Home Run in one game. FINALLY I can cross this off my bucket list. All that's left for the Padres franchise is a No-Hitter and a Perfect Game. Wow....just....WOW! Way to go Matty!! To put this Cycle in perspective, our greatest player and hitter, Tony Gwynn had a a shot at a Cycle 22 times in his career and could never get that elusive hit. Bonus is that the Padres beat the Rockies tonight 9-5.