Sports Report: Gauging Headley's Worth

After a disappointing first half of the season, Padres third baseman Chase Headley may have finally found his swing. Sort of.

His slashline (batting average/on-base percentage/slugging percentage) since the All-Star break is .310/.375/.414, which falls somewhere between his outstanding 2012 season and his efforts before that, when he was seen as a good hitter without home run power.

The good news is Headley’s no longer in a downward spiral. The “bad” news is the power that he flashed last season has yet to return. Padres fans continue to fear that he may never reach the level of superstardom he seemed destined for when he won player of the month in August and September. With the team eight games behind the blistering L.A. Dodgers (15-5 in July), it appears as if it’s too late for the Padres to have a chance at the playoffs this season.

In the next few days, the Padres will likely be shopping around many of their players to contending teams. Headley will undoubtedly be discussed in some of those trade offers. This season, it appears he’s has proved he’s not a franchise player, but he may have helped the team by demonstrating that he is still a solid hitter.

You’re reading the Sports Report, our weekly compilation of news and information for the San Diego sports fan.

National News With San Diego Ties

Phil Mickelson might go down as the best pro athlete to ever come out of San Diego. After his British Open win on Sunday, in which he shot an incredible 66 and birdied four of the last six holes, he has cemented himself as one of the greatest golfers in the sport’s history.
Beth Burns, who had helped build the San Diego State University women’s basketball program into one of national acclaim, retired unexpectedly in April. Many openly wondered what led to the retirement for Burns, who seemed happy, healthy and was in the middle of a recently-signed contract with the university. This week, we got answers in the way of a video that showed Burns elbowing her assistant coach on the sidelines during a SDSU game. I remain unconvinced that this is the entire reason for her retirement, but it’s enough of an answer that the school probably won’t reveal anything more.
When it was announced that Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Ryan Braun negotiated with MLB to reduce his suspension to 65 games, it sent ripples throughout every clubhouse in baseball. Some of the larger waves hit right here in San Diego, with Padres players Yasmani Grandal and Everth Cabrera’s connections to the Braun case. I wouldn’t expect to hear anything on their situations until the offseason, but I wouldn’t be surprised if both players start off the 2014 season suspended for a period of time.

Your Guide to Chargers Training Camp

The Chargers had their first day of training camp on Thursday, so I thought it would be important to recap every important story the team had this offseason. After all, not everyone obsesses about the team in mid-June, right?
Each year, the Chargers open up about half of their training camp practices to the public. Here’s the list of times and dates for open practices in 2013, including FanFest at Qualcomm Stadium on Aug. 3.
There’s no better way to follow your team’s training camp than by using Twitter. But sometimes it’s hard to know which people to follow to get the best information and observations. I did my best to make a list of the best tweets from the first day of Chargers training camp Thursday. Use it as a guide of which people to follow now.
In what has become a yearly tradition, I ran the Chargers 5K last weekend and made sure to be sick by the time the starting gun went off. It was still a great event and helped to raise a lot of money for charity, despite my poor pre-race choices.

Stories You May Have Missed

NASCAR held its first race on a dirt track in 43 years and it was awesome. Here’s to hoping that the TV races were good enough for them to make it a regular thing, which will help them in turning 20-year-old Kyle Larson into a star.
Madison Square Garden is 50 years old, and New York City has given the owners of the historic arena 10 more years before they will tear it down in an effort to redevelop Penn Station. This is after James Dolan, executive chairman of the Madison Square Garden Co., put about $1 billion into renovating the arena over the last few years.
GIF of the Week: I can’t choose between these two, so we’ll do both. First, San Diego native Phil Mickelson shot the round of his life to win the British Open. Second, the USA soccer team is really good.

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I’m John Gennaro, contributor to Active Voice and managing editor of Bolts from the Blue. You can tweet me @jmglion or e-mail me directly at boltsfromtheblue@gmail.com.

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