San Diego, CA

Padres Daily: All it takes; Pivetta strikes again; good company; McCoy’s robberies

Published

11 months ago

April 23, 2025

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Padres Daily: All it takes; Pivetta strikes again; good company; McCoy’s robberies

Good morning from Detroit,

That was a fairly easy game to sum up.

“Fortunately we had Nick Pivetta,” Padres manager Mike Shidt said. “And Adam and Suarez and Diaz.”

That quote is in my game story too. But it really is an apt summation.

You can read (here) in that story about how pretty much all the Padres got and pretty much all they needed for a 2-0 victory over the Tigers was another gem from Pivetta, Elias Díaz’s two-run homer and an inning apiece from Jason Adam and Robert Suarez.

Sometimes, fortunately for a team down three of its core offensive players, that is all it takes.

The Padres are mostly getting by one way or another.

They have had the best record in the major leagues for more than two weeks.

They were tied with the Dodgers and Mets yesterday. They are tied with only the Mets this morning.

A lot has been said about how good the National League West has been so far this season. Today is the first time in 2025 that the four good teams from the division have been situated this high in the standings:

Crazy that it sometimes can seem the Padres aren’t playing that well.

But for whatever nitpicking we can do about throws to the wrong bases or runners not going when they should or bunts that weren’t executed, they do continue to play pretty well despite what they are missing.

They could not possibly have kept up what they were doing. They could not have continued winning as they were. They could not have continued getting all the good bounces they were.

We can divide their season into thirds. They went 7-1 at the start, then 6-2 and are 4-4 over the past eight games.

They are one of four teams that have yet to lose more than two games in a row.

Wins like last night, eked out against an exceptionally sharp Jack Flaherty, are precious.

Consistency

Nick Pivetta has cautioned multiple times the past few weeks that it is too early to make judgments about this season.

He won’t get any argument here.

But the fact is Pivetta has not only never been this good at the start of a season, he has never been this good over any five-start stretch.

You can read the game story to see how he went about holding the Tigers scoreless over seven innings while allowing a single baserunner in four different innings (two singles, two walks) and only once pitching with a runner in scoring position.

Through five starts, he leads the NL in ERA (1.20), WHIP (0.77) and batting average allowed (.155).

Here is what those five starts look like:

Pivetta had never before over the course of an entire season had three starts in which he went at least seven scoreless innings.

He did it twice in each of the previous three seasons.

In 2022, he had five starts in which he pitched at least seven innings without allowing more than three hits.

That was also the season he had a run that resembled this one.

In six starts from May 7 through June 4 of that season, he had a 1.32 ERA while going at least six innings in every game and throwing one of his two career complete games. He then allowed four runs over five innings in a start before posting a 1.93 ERA and going at least six innings in each of his next four starts.

In that 11-start stretch, he had a 1.95 ERA over 74 innings and allowed a .184 batting average.

Then … he lasted six innings in just two of his final 17 starts and finished ‘22 with a 4.56 ERA.

I wrote (here) after his first start with the Padres about mechanical changes he made. I wrote (here) after his third start about why his fastball, which isn’t exceedingly fast, plays so well.

“He looks better now,” said Padres shortstop Xander Bogaerts, who played three seasons in Boston with Pivetta. “I didn’t see so much of this. … He’s mixing it so well.”

Last night might have been Pivetta’s most impressive work in the sense that he was not sizzling right away.

The only start he was not effective this season was the one in which he was behind a lot. The way last night began, it seemed that might happen again, as he threw just 10 strikes among his 20 pitches in the first inning.

Pivetta contradicted an observation that he was “just missing” early.

The numbers said otherwise. So did his first walk.

So did his catcher.

“He was missing high … for a bit early in the game,” Díaz said. “But we were able to call some pitches a little bit down the zone more to the center part of the plate, and that gave him a little more confidence to be working with those pitches.”

Pivetta was behind 2-1 or 3-0 to four of the first five batters he faced last night. He would go on to face 21 more batters and throw two balls among his first three pitches to just two of them.

It is remarkable how much he has dominated counts this season, save for his one clunker.

Here is a breakdown:

Here for the fielding

Mason McCoy had exclusively played shortstop in his 25 previous major league games.

He had not played second base at Triple-A this season before being recalled Monday when Luis Arraez was placed on the seven-day concussion injured list. And he played there just twice in 2024 and a few dozen times in all his minor-league seasons.

He said before the game, “It’s gonna be interesting.”

It was spectacularly so in the eighth inning.

With one out and the Tigers’ Javier Báez on first base, Kerry Carpenter yanked a high popup down the right field line. McCoy ran a total of 113 feet to the side wall, leaped and caught the ball as he fell backward onto the tarp with his head going into the netting.

“There is so much foul ground over there,” McCoy said. “… There’s just a lot more foul ground than we’re used to. So as soon as he hit, I just kind of broke. I saw Gavin (Sheets) trying to give it a run too. I was just trying to beat it to a spot. I got under it enough to where I kind of called Gavin off (at the) last minute and just tried to get the glove up there.”

McCoy was not finished.

Two pitches later, he had a chance to make a play that was a lot harder than it even looked, as his line of sight was partially blocked both fielding and throwing the ball.

Gleyber Torres hit a ball 95 mph off the bat, up the middle, just missing pitcher Jason Adam and bouncing to the shortstop side of second base. McCoy dove to grab the ball, hopped to his feet and threw out Torres even as the savvy Báez was clearly moving as much as he could to position himself between McCoy and first base.

“It was right in line with Jason off the bat, and so I didn’t see it originally, and then it kind of kicked, and I dove,” McCoy said. “And I came with the throw, and Javy was, like, shifted over. He laughed. He was like, ‘I was trying, trying to get in the way.’ And I was like, ‘I know. I saw you.’”

Check out the 2014 @PSMLBaseball Rookie of the Year, Mason McCoy aka “The Human Highlight Real” make stellar defensive plays in his first big league game of the 2025 season!@ICC_CougarBsbll @wacohibaseball @UIBaseball @MillerLitePSML pic.twitter.com/dD6dJFRV7g
— Peoria Sunday Morning League Baseball (@PSMLBaseball) April 23, 2025

Good company

The Padres’ seven shutouts are tied for the most in MLB history through a season’s first 24 games.

It has been accomplished six other times since 1901, most recently by the 1992 Braves.

Those Braves shutouts came in games started by Charlie Leibrandt, Mike Bielecki, Steve Avery and Hall of Famers Tom Glavine (three) and John Smoltz. Six of those were complete games.

The starters for the Padres’ shutouts this season have been Kyle Hart, Randy Vásquez, Michael King (two) and Pivetta (three). King threw a complete game.

Tidbits

Fernando Tatis Jr. got a single in the last of his four at-bats last night to extend his on-base streak to 23 games, a new career high. He has at least one hit in 11 consecutive games and is batting .344/.417/.644 with eight home runs this season.
Tyler Wade has reached base safely in all seven games he has started. He is batting .286 (6-for-21) with a .444 on-base percentage (six walks).
Bogaerts got his sixth infield single of the season, tied for fifth most in the major leagues.
Last night was just the sixth game the Padres have played in which the home team batted in the ninth inning. That is because they have won 12 of their 13 home games and are 5-6 on the road.

All right, that’s it for me. Early game (10:10 a.m. PT) today.

Talk to you tomorrow.

P.S. If you are reading this online, there is an easier (and free) way to get the Padres Daily. Sign up here to have it delivered to your inbox the morning after almost every game.

Originally Published: April 23, 2025 at 6:30 AM PDT

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San Diego, CA

Sir Mohamed Mansour brought a global movement to San Diego, and nearly won MLS Cup in Year 1

Published

22 hours ago

March 26, 2026

Press Room

Sir Mohamed Mansour brought a global movement to San Diego, and nearly won MLS Cup in Year 1

As Sir Mohamed Mansour was finalizing a deal with the Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation to invest in San Diego FC in 2022, he reflected on their combined history. The Sycuan said they’d lived in the San Diego region for 12,000 years. Mansour looked to his own Egyptian culture’s 7,000-year existence.

“If we have 19,000 years of history we can’t lose,” said the 78-year-old.

When San Diego FC finally lost in the 2025 MLS Cup playoffs, it was in the Western Conference finals, capping the best debut season in the league’s history. Mansour spoke about the experience Thursday morning during the Business of Soccer conference at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.

“The first game, to me, meant everything. That night was a sleepless night because I’m very passionate about soccer,” he said.

Mansour would have settled for a respectable loss; they were playing defending MLS Cup champs L.A. Galaxy. But San Diego FC scored twice unanswered, winning the opener. And another sleepless night ensued.

Mansour discussed early life health issues, including being hit by a car when he was 10 years old, which left him bed-ridden for three years. He read American comic books and studied. His family’s wealth was confiscated by the Egyptian government during a 1965 revolution, and he later beat cancer as a 20-year-old while studying in the U.S.

Now the billionaire chairman of Mansour Group, an Egyptian conglomerate owned by his family, Mansour is also chairman of the Right To Dream Academy, which has made San Diego its fifth outpost. San Diego FC’s $150M Sharp HealthCare Performance Center includes residences and a school for Right To Dream participants in the club’s academy system. Mansour mentioned his plans to construct 100 pitches for underprivileged kids in San Diego.

“We are more than a football academy. We’re a global movement, built upon the belief that everyone has the right to dream,” said Mansour. “We’ve been rewriting the rules of talent development for over 20 years, guided by our core belief that excellence can be found anywhere.”

While creating hundreds of opportunities for children in underdeveloped countries, Right to Dream has generated tens of millions of euros in transfer fees for clubs within the network.

Mansour, who graduated from N.C. State in 1968 with an engineering degree and then earned a Masters’ from Auburn, differs from many MLS owners because he is a native soccer fan, he had extensive soccer business experience, and even an idea of how he’d like his team to play (possession-based).

Asked which he’d prefer — for Egypt to win the World Cup or San Diego FC to win MLS Cup — Mansour answered the United States (to win the World Cup) and San Diego FC to win MLS Cup.

“I tell you why. I’m a businessman too,” he said, grinning. “And if the US does well in this World Cup, soccer is going to grow.”

Rapid fire with Sir Mohamed Mansour

Comic book hero: Superman

Kryptonite: Worrying

Favorite athlete: Michael Jordan

Favorite soccer player: Mohamed Salah

Childhood hero: His father

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San Diego, CA

3 San Diego State players who won’t be on the roster in the 2026–27 season

Published

1 day ago

March 25, 2026

Press Room

3 San Diego State players who won’t be on the roster in the 2026–27 season

The San Diego State Aztecs are bracing for some possible serious turnover this offseason and it’s not all going to be via the transfer portal.

Leading scorer Reese Dixon-Waters is out of eligibility, as are Jeremiah Oden and Sean Newman Jr. Newman can petition for another season based on his junior college years, but it’s anyone’s guess if he’d get it.

Obviously, San Diego State’s roster movement is far from complete and the transfer portal doesn’t even open until April 7, the day after the national championship game.

The Aztecs’ once-promising season ended when they were left out of the NCAA Tournament following their loss to Utah State in the Mountain West Tournament championship game.

There are some players we know will not be on the squad next season, which will be the Aztecs’ first in the new-look Pac-12:

Guard Reese Dixon-Waters

San Diego State Aztecs guard Reese Dixon-Waters (39). | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

After missing all of the 2024-25 season with a broken foot, Dixon-Waters returned for his final season of eligibility and led the Aztecs in scoring at 13.1 points per game. He was a second-team All-Mountain West pick. He scored his 1,000th career point at UNLV on Jan. 24 and finished his career with 1,220 points.

Dixon-Waters played his first three seasons at USC before transferring to SDSU, where he started 23 of 37 games in 2023-24. He was a preseason All-Mountain West pick the next season before breaking a foot. He was so highly regarded that, despite missing all of last season, he was named to the preseason All-MW team in October.

One of his notable accomplishments was attempting more free throws (43) without a miss to start the 2023-24 season than any player in the country.

Forward Jeremiah Oden

San Diego State Aztecs forward Jeremiah Oden (25). | Isaiah J. Downing-Imagn Images

Oden started 15 games and played in 30 of 33 games in his final season of eligibility after transferring from Charlotte, where he redshirted in 2024-25. He averaged 4.6 points, 2.3 rebounds and 13.8 minutes.

Oden scored his 1,000th career point on Feb. 3 against Wyoming, where he played his first three college seasons. He finished his career with 1,024 points and 495 rebounds.

Oden didn’t play at all in a blowout home win against Utah State on Feb. 25, when Dutcher shortened his rotation from 11 to nine players. He had started the previous nine games.

Oden also played one season at DePaul.

Guard Sean Newman Jr.

San Diego State Aztecs guard Sean Newman Jr. (4). | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

The transfer from Louisiana Tech played in all 33 games and made four starts, including Senior Night in the regular-season finale against UNLV and all three games in the MW tournament, when freshman Elzie Harrington was out with an injury.

Newman averaged 3.3 points, 2.4 assists and 15.4 minutes.

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San Diego, CA

The Streamline: Concerns raised over future of Tecolote Canyon Golf Course

Published

2 days ago

March 25, 2026

Press Room

The Streamline: Concerns raised over future of Tecolote Canyon Golf Course

Here is what you need to know in the March 25, 2026, Streamline newsletter:

This morning, we’re tracking San Diego Unified School District’s decision to rename Cesar Chavez Elementary School in the wake of serious allegations against the civil rights icon.

We’re also following the City of San Diego’s search for a new operator to reopen Tecolote Canyon Golf Course — and the neighbors pushing to safeguard and restore the surrounding natural space.

Plus, consumer reporter Marie Coronel shows why brand loyalty might be costing you more on your cell phone bill.

THE STREAMLINE

WATCH — ABC 10News brings you The Streamline for Wednesday, March 25 — everything you need to know in under 10 minutes:

The Streamline: Wednesday, March 25

TOP STORY

The San Diego Unified School District board voted Tuesday night to begin renaming Cesar Chavez Elementary School following allegations of sexual abuse against the labor leader.

The process will start with school leaders meeting with parents, teachers, students, and community members to select a new name.

While renaming a school typically takes several months, district officials said the timeline could be expedited in this case.

San Diego Unified usually limits itself to one school name change per year — in February, Clairemont High School’s mascot was changed from the Chieftains to the Captains.

However, board members said they would make an exception for this situation.

San Diego Unified initiates renaming process for Cesar Chavez Elementary over abuse allegations

RELATED COVERAGE:

MICROCLIMATE FORECASTS

Coasts

Inland

Mountains

Deserts

BREAKING OVERNIGHT

(AP) — Iran received a 15-point proposal from the U.S. to reach a ceasefire in the war, two Pakistani officials said Wednesday.

The Pakistani officials described the proposal broadly as touching on sanctions relief, civilian nuclear cooperation, a rollback of Iran’s nuclear program, monitoring by the International Atomic Energy Agency, missile limits and access for shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf.

The Trump administration reportedly offered the plan to Iran as the U.S. appears to seek an end to the war even while more troops head to the Middle East.

The plan was submitted to Iran by intermediaries from the government of Pakistan, which has offered to host renewed negotiations between Washington and Tehran, a person briefed on the plan’s contours but who was not authorized to speak publicly told The Associated Press on Tuesday.

The U.S. military is preparing to deploy at least 1,000 troops from the 82nd Airborne Division to the Middle East in the coming days, according to three people with knowledge of the move who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military plans.

Any talks between the U.S. and Iran would face monumental challenges. Many of Washington’s shifting objectives, particularly over Iran’s ballistic missile and nuclear programs, remain difficult to achieve, and it is not clear who in Iran’s government has the authority or would be willing to negotiate.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi’s office said he has been discussing the war this week with several counterparts, but Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, the speaker of Iran’s Parliament, denied Trump’s claim of direct talks and an Iranian military spokesperson declared that the fighting would go on.

Alluding to progress in talks, U.S. President Donald Trump claimed Iran shared an oil- and gas-related “present,” a day after telling reporters that the Middle Eastern nation is eager for a deal to end the war.

Story by The Associated Press

CONSUMER

While loyalty is usually a good thing, it’s possible it could be costing you money when it comes to your cell phone bill.

WATCH — Consumer reporter Marie Coronel goes over the simple checks you can do right now to make sure you’re not overpaying:

Comparing cell phone plans to save money on your bill

WE FOLLOW THROUGH

The City of San Diego is seeking proposals from companies to lease and reopen the Tecolote Canyon Golf Course. While golfers welcome the move, some nearby residents argue it could harm the environment.

WATCH — Reporter Dani Miskell spoke to some neighbors about their expectations for whoever comes in to run the golf course:

Concerns grow over future of Tecolote Canyon Golf Course

RELATED COVERAGE:

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