Happy Thanksgiving!
President Lincoln first declared a national day of Thanksgiving 150 years ago. In honor of this anniversary, I was going to write a list of 150 things for Padres fans to be thankful for, but that wouldn't have been done until the 160th anniversary of Thanksgiving. So here's five to get you started.
Andrew Cashner
After struggling with injuries over the last couple years, Cashner shined in the rotation this season. He threw the most innings of his career, posting a 3.09 ERA, 18th among qualified pitchers. He also hit the first home run of his career. But the crowning jewel of his season was the near-perfect game against the Pirates. Cashner will be backed in the rotation by Josh Johnson and Ian Kennedy next season, and we can all forget we ever heard the name Kip Wells.
Jedd Gyorko
For some reason, rookie sensation Jedd Gyorko only placed sixth in Rookie of the Year voting, even though he led the entire pack in home runs with a whopping 23 (while playing half his games in Petco Park). He also quieted those who doubted his ability to play second base, flashing leather more than a few times during the season. Here's hoping he builds on this year's success in seasons to come.
Fox Sports San Diego
Don't get me wrong; I loved the Channel 4 days, and we all dearly miss seeing Bob Scanlan's perfect hair grace our TV screens, but the FSSD crew is putting together some top notch broadcasts. In their second season broadcasting the Padres, they're now carried on AT&T Uverse, DIRECTV, and DISH. Even with Time Warner Cable continuing their policy of caring about LA teams more than San Diego, the Padres are now available to more San Diegans than ever before. They also brought in a trio of new talent to fill Leila Rahimi's sizable shoes: Laura McKeeman, Kelly Crull, and Megan Olivi. The only thing they could do to further endear themselves to us is to move that eyesore in the Park at the Park.
San Diego
It's 1:53 AM on Thanksgiving morning as I write this, and it's still 55 degrees outside. Enough said.
Gaslamp Ballers
All of us at Gaslamp Ball are incredibly thankful to have so many of you in our community. We've shared high fives and jalapeño handshakes at the ballpark. We've read about your adventures in the Sisterhood of the Traveling Jersey. We're not the biggest or most active blog on SBNation, but our readers and commenters are the smartest, wittiest, and most gosh darn attractive people on the internet. To you and yours, happy Thanksgiving!