Good times, bad times, Hoffman can handle 'em

Padres: Five things to know

PEORIA, Ariz. -- So much for the old baseball pick-me-up following a rough day at the ol' yard, "Don't worry about it kid, there are a billion people in China who don't care."

For maybe the zillionth time this spring -- unofficial count, but believed to be accurate -- San Diego closer Trevor Hoffman was reviewing the worst three-day period of his baseball career Tuesday morning, discussing those two blown saves in three days that sent the Padres from the best record in the National League last season to the October sidelines.

Trevor Hoffman is one to take responsibility, and that's a good trait. (AP)

As he spoke, he was packing his carry-on bag, less than an hour away from the Padres' charter flight for the first major league games in ...

China.

Don't worry about those excruciating moments that ended last season, I told him. There are probably a billion ... ah, never mind.

"It's probably not that they don't care," Hoffman says, grinning. "They probably just don't know anything about it."

Given the way his world has spun since that miserable night in Denver that ended one of the greatest games anybody had ever witnessed or participated in -- and ended the San Diego season -- you can easily imagine the Padres disembarking from their charter flight in Beijing on Wednesday and a handful of China's finest leaning into each other, pointing and whispering, "There he is! That's him! Hoffman, the guy who blew those games."

He is not shattered. He is not broken.

Those who know him never dreamed he would be.

Those who don't know him, well, maybe now's as good a time as any to take a few notes.

"That's what's made him so effective over the years," Padres general manager Kevin Towers says. "He's able to turn the page. Good closers have short memories. They have to.

"I'm sure he lived with it this offseason. Trevor feels worse for his teammates than he does for himself, he's such a team guy. He feels bad for the ballclub."

Lots of poetic odes have been written about this game through the years, oozing green grass and the smell of Cracker Jack.