Vicente Padilla News

The Rangers usually go into the Winter Meetings looking hard for pitching. Now they have teams coming to them for pitching, especially the young guys.

All Major League Baseball teams are urging their fans to cast ballots for the This Year in Baseball Awards.

The final issue Grant raises, though, is one that I've been thinking about, and I wanted to speak to: 4. Entitlement: Manager Ron Washington has taken "the Era of Entitlement is over," as his official motto.

Vicente Padilla 's pitching ability wasn't the issue when the Rangers released him in midseason.

Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Vicente Padilla is recovering from a bullet wound in his leg after a target shooting instructor accidentally shot him.

Figuratively, he shot himself in the foot. Literally, the wound was a little higher.

The coach turned back into a pumpkin. The emperor realized he wasn't wearing any clothes.

When Vicente Padilla is home he often hears stories from his uncles about the day the Sandinistas came to his house in Chinandega, Nicaragua, to recruit him as a boy soldier.

ASSOCIATED PRESS Philadelphia pitcher Chan Ho Park sprays champagne in the clubhouse after the Phillies won the National League Championship Series with a 10-4 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 5 Wednesday, ASSOCIATED PRESS Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Vicente Padilla towels off in the dugout after being removed from Game 5 of the ...

Back when pitcher Vicente Padilla had a modest fan club in Philadelphia, his backers in an outfield section would respond to strikeouts with an enactment of "Padilla's Flotilla," acting like they were rowing.

When the Dodgers signed righthander Vicente Padilla in August for a prorated share of the major league minimum, they probably did not anticipate that their season would rest on his shoulders in October.

Easiest decision of the 2009 baseball season? When Vicente Padilla was somewhat surprisingly released from the Texas Rangers in August despite a winning record, he had, according to him, two options: The Washington Nationals , buried at the bottom of the NL East.

Surprise, surprise. After all these years, Joe Torre can still pull a stunner. When Torre announced his rotation yesterday for the National League Championship Series against the Phillies, it offered more than one unexpected development.

He has gone from August castoff to October conqueror. At this rate, Vicente Padilla could start the World Series opener should the Dodgers make it that far.

Not everybody speaks of Vicente Padilla's time in Philadelphia as glowingly as pitcher Randy Wolf and third-base coach Larry Bowa.

Game 5: 8:07 Wednesday, at Philadelphia* Game 6: 8:07 Oct. 23, at Los Angeles* Game 7: 8:07 Oct.

Wonder if they'll be watching in Texas today, when Vicente Padilla takes the mound for the biggest game of his career.

When the Dodgers picked up Vicente Padilla in late August on the rebound from the Rangers, the often-voiced theme was that the right-hander would be on his best behavior for the remainder of the season.

When the Rangers released Vicente Padilla in mid-August, I was in Dallas. Judging from the quotes from his elated teammates and the critical local media, you would have thought Padilla rivaled Osama bin Laden in popularity in Texas.

Nothing really out there locally on the Rangers today. In other ownership news, the Rangers could be sold in the next few weeks, with three groups in the final stages of negotiations.