Gaslamp Ball

Padres forgo turnover in '09 roster - for radio

More info on broadcast contracts:

• Ted Leitner - 2 year deal with club option
• Andy Masur - 2 year deal
• Jerry Coleman - Under contract through 2009
• Matt Vasgersian - Year to year
• Mark Grant - Under contract through 2009
• Tony Gwynn - No Contract
• Steve Quis - No Contract
• Channel 4 - Under contract through 2011

Tough times for Channel 4 this season:

As it turned out, all the good-luck charms ever created couldn't have helped Channel 4 this season. The Padres got worse and worse, and ratings on Channel 4 dropped to near record lows, with more than one game failing to draw even 1 percent of county households.

With four games remaining, including last night's, the average Nielsen rating was 4.3, just two-tenths of a point above the lowest average in Channel 4's 11 previous seasons. It's a staggering 39 percent drop from last year's 7.0 average rating.

Gaslamp Ball was hurt by poor Padres performance too, with visits only increasing +52% from 2007 to 2008.  Just think if the Padres were above .500 how powerful we'd be, but we don't do it for power, we do it for fortune and glory.