Interesting bit of news coming out of the Diamondbacks, with the sic-man rotation going into effect, as of tomorrow - Randall Delgado is moving back to the rotation for the last month. We'll see whether that remains the case once the minor-league playoffs are no longer in effect, since that would give the team more options in regard to potential starters. It will take Delgado out of the bullpen, so I'm not sure who we'd use if we needed another long reliever tonight, after Cahill went four innings. So far, the only bullpen arm added has been Hudson, and Gibson seems to have an aversion to using him in close games. Somewhat understandable, I suppose.
Tankapalooza update. The Diamondbacks look fairly well ensconced in third spot at this point. They sit 2 1/2 back of the Rockies but 2 1/2 ahead of the Astros. However, we do have the worst record in baseball over the past 20 games, at 6-14 - the Athletics are tied for second, which isn't good for them. With 24 games left to go, if Arizona posts the same record as they did over the last 24 games, we will end at 65-97, which would tie the 1998 and 2010 seasons for the second-worst record in team history. Our offense continues to be awful. In 21 contests since the blowout win over the Rockies on August 9, we have hit .206/.276/.302 and averaged 2.7 runs/game.
Friars will try to lock up the series tonight in the third of four games against the Dbacks at Petco Park.
Andrew Cashner takes the hill tonight to try to help lead our Padres to a series-clinching win. Since his return from the DL last month, Cashner has had a couple of decent starts, including one against these Diamondbacks. He kept them to two runs through five innings of work, through he didn't factor into the decision as the Padres went on to lose 5-2. His last time out, he kept the Dodgers to one run on six hits in six innings, striking out eight batters along the way. San Diego went on to win that one, but Cashner once again didn't get the decision. Tonight he looks to not only get his first decision since June, but he's also seeking his first win since mid-April, a feat that would not only be a personal milestone for the right-hander, but an accomplishment that would take the team to just four games under .500.
And it would also secure a losing season for the Diamondbacks. But Josh Collmenter will try to stave off that defeat for at least one more game as he toes the rubber for Arizona. The righty has put together back-to-back brilliant starts for his team, going 1-0 with two runs (one earned) on six hits through 14 2/3 total innings, racking up 13 strikeouts in the process. The first of those two starts was against the Friars at Chase Field. He kept our boys to one run while through 8 1/3 dominant frames. But the Diamondbacks are riding an eight-game losing streak on the road, which the Padres hope to extend tonight.
Yes, Josh Collmenter had a great outing, and yes David Peralta continues to impress, but the story of the game was seeing Daniel Hudson back out on the mound.
In a contest that realistically had no impact on the rest of the Major Leagues, Wednesday night's game meant so much. Daniel Hudson pitched in his first big league game since June 26, 2012 after going through two Tommy John surgeries.
"I didn’t even want to look at him in the eyes at the end of the inning there because I was pretty sure I was going to cry" – Miguel Montero.
In a season that’s been absolutely awful to watch, seeing Daniel Hudson out there after two grueling years was terrific. Hard not to smile and enjoy watching that, especially when he was congratulated by all of his teammates in the dugout.
Before that point, there was in fact baseball going on.
Chris Owings, back from the dead, got things started with a single to left off Cashner. David Peralta then promptly knocked a liner to center for a triple, scoring Owings from first to give the D-backs the much-needed early lead.
The Padres tried to answer in their half of the first with runners on first and third and just one out, but Josh Collmenter escaped with no damage done.
San Diego tied things up in the third. With two out already recorded in the inning, Alexi Amarista singled to left. Collmenter fell behind in the count to Seth Smith in the next at bat and he paid for it when Smith hit a double down the right field line to score Amarista from first.
After a walk to start the fifth, Alfredo Marte was advanced to third on a Didi Gregorious two batters later. Josh Collmenter then hit a weak grounder to Corey Spangenberg at second base with the infield in who threw to home to try and get Marte out. On a controversial call, Marte was safe at home, just barely able to slide past the tag.
Immediately after, Ender Inciarte hit a weak grounder of his own to first base. The Padres had Gregorious caught in a run down at third, but Solarte didn’t see the ball into his glove on the exchange from Rivera and Didi scored, 3-1. On the third straight weak infield ground ball, this time from Owings, Collmenter scored from third but it was called back because Inciarte interfered with Amarista at shortstop.
David Peralta extended the lead to three by singling home Collmenter and I’ve already written too much about the fifth.
Collmenter's day was done at the end of the seventh. The final line: 7 IP, 1 ER, 5 H, 2 BB, 3 SO.
Arizona added to the lead in the eighth when Miguel Montero knocked Mark Trumbo home for his 71st RBI of the season.
And then this happened:
hey everyone @DHuddy41 is pitching. This is great news. Two Tommy John surgeries in two years. Great dude, great story.
A series of unfortunate events led to a big 5th inning for the Diamondbacks, who took the lead and never looked back.
Our Padres had the chance to give Andrew Cashner his first win since April, but they came up short tonight. Really short.
Things started off a little shaky when Cash allowed a Diamondbacks run to score in the first inning. But after that he went on to retire 11 straight batters. Friars got on the board in the bottom of the 3rd when Alexi Amarista hit a two-out single and was brought home on a Seth Smith double (and by "Seth Smith double" I don't mean Tim Stauffer).
Cashner's streak of 11 straight retired came to an end when he led off the top of the 5th with a walk to Alfredo Marte. Then two batters later, Didi Gregorius doubled to put runners on 2nd and 3rd. Pitcher Josh Collmenter was up next and he swung on the first pitch and that's when things started to crumble for our Padres. Collmenter reached on a fielder's choice as Cory Spangenberg threw the ball to Rene Rivera to try to get the tag out at home. The home plate umpire, Cory Blaser, called Marte safe, to Rivera's surprise and indignation. Buddy Black came out to challenge the call and as the replay was shown both on our TV screens at home and the big screen at the ballpark, Padres fans thought there was a very good chance the call would be overturned. The Diamondbacks announcers were pretty sure it would be overturned too (as you can hear in the following video). Of course, it was not.
So with the Diamondbacks up 2-1 and one out in the inning, Cashner went on to pitch to the top of Arizona's lineup. Ender Enciarte came to the plate, hit the second pitch, and reached on another fielder's choice. This time first baseman Yasmani Grandal threw the ball to Rivera and beat out Gregorious by a mile. Gregorious was now in a rundown, but Yangervis Solarte was too busy watching him run and failed to pay attention to Rivera's throw, which sailed past his head, allowing Gregorius to run home and put the Dbacks up 3-1. This allowed Collmenter and Enciarte to each move up a base. Collmenter later came home on a two-out single by David Peralta, making it 4-1 bad guys, before Cashner could record the final out.
Cashner allowed only one baserunner through his next two innings before handing the ball (and the possibility of a win) to the bullpen. Only two of the four runs he allowed were earned and he otherwise kept Arizona to five hits and a walk while collective five strikeouts.
Frank Garces took over in the 8th and allowed another Dbacks run to score. He was replaced by Leonel Campos, who ended the inning by getting Marte to ground into a double play. Collmenter's night was also done after seven inning of work. He ended his outing having given up only that one run on five hits and two walks while striking out three. Daniel Hudson too over in the 8th and retired the Padres in order.
R.J. Alvarez came out in the top of the 9th to make his major league debut. He led off the inning with a walk before recording his first major league out, fielding the ball and throwing to 2nd base for the forceout. But then he gave up a single, another walk, and a sac fly to give the Dbacks their 6th run of the game. That's when Alex Torres came out and shut the door.
Our Padres faced Aztec-For-Life Addison Reed in the bottom of the 9th. We kept the faith and hoped for a miracle walkoff, but Addi only needed eight pitches to get the final three outs of the game and secure the end to the Dbacks' eight-game road losing streak. Hopefully our boys can get the Snakes BACK in the L column tomorrow as they wrap up the four-game set. Ian Kennedy and Randall Delgado will get the respective balls for their clubs in the finale.
It was a small, intimate party in the game thread tonight, led mostly by Friar Fever. I got three recs and CurbEnthusasm and Friar Fever split the only other two. But even with just six of us tonight, we managed to SHUT DOWN GLB. We'll try to keep it down next time, but no promises.
I didn't watch the Padres game last night, instead I had it on the radio while I cleaned and did laundry. The game was apparently simulcast on both ESPN and Fox Sports San Diego, so viewers had a choice of which broadcaster team they wanted to watch.
Everything I read on Twitter said that ESPN's coverage was the worst they'd ever seen. With that said, it's not surprising that FSSD absolutely destroyed ESPN in last night's ratings locally. FSSD scored 4.23 households and ESPN .76 HH.
As an aside FSSD says that their ratings are up 24% over the last year. August was also their highest rated month ever with an average of 3.59 HH tuning in. That's a 7% increase over the previous high of 3.35 HH in June 2013.
For a time I was trying to keep track of the Top 10 most highly rated Padres games but it's been impossible to keep up this season. When last I checked only 8 games on my Top 10 had over a 4.0 rating. This season alone they've scored 25 games above that benchmark, 17 more than last year.
Here's some of the disparaging tweets aimed at ESPN during last night's game:
ESPN is utilizing a reporter (Pedro Gomez) and a studio analyst (Mark Mulder) for Padres vs. Dbacks announcing. Not sure that was a wise....
Our Padres will go for the series win in tonight's finale against the Diamondbacks. Ian Kennedy gets the ball to try to extend his eight-game undefeated streak streak at home. Over that eight-game stretch at Petco Park, Kennedy has gone 4-0 with a 3.33 ERA through 46 innings. He also collected 50 strikeouts and kept opponents hitting .227. Most recently, he allowed one run on four hits over seven innings against the Dodgers. Tonight will be his fifth start against his former team since they traded him to San Diego. He's posted a 5.73 ERA against them in his first four, but has a 2-1 record.
On the hill for Arizona will be Randall Delgado in his first start since April. He'll get the chance because of the Dbacks' decision to move to a six-man rotation (which the Padres are set to do this weekend as well). Delgado pitched the only complete game of his career against San Diego in July of 2013. He's faced the Friars three times since then (one start and two relief appearances), posting an 8.31 ERA while going 0-1.
Tonight will be Delgado's third start of the season, all of them having come away from Chase Field. It's safe to say that the first two did not go too well. Over 7.1 innings of work, first in Colorado and then in San Francisco, Randall threw 7.1 innings of work, allowing sixteen hits, with an 11.05 ERA. Now, some of that is a hellacious .469 BABIP, especially with a line-drive rate of only 18%, but a K:BB ratio of 3:5 wasn't getting it done either. You won't last long in any major-league rotation when you are allowing close to three base-runners per inning, all told, and he'll certainly need to be much, much better tonight.
Since moving to the rotation, he has been... better in some ways. Over 37 games, he has thrown 52 innings, and held hitters to a .205 batting average, which is very good. However, there have still been too many walks, jacking the OBP against up to .307. Even so, a .655 OPS generally suggests a better ERA than the 5.19 which has resulted, perhaps implying he had bad luck with the runners left behind after he left the game. I haven't been able to find stats this year for "bequeathed runners", only inherited ones, but a quick check shows 7 of the 13 runs Delgado has given up in August, came when he was no longer on the mound. Should be much less an issue tonight.
Five former Friars were born on September 4, which is about twice the average of any given day, considering that less than 900 players have been Padres. I guess days like today with a bunch of Padres birthdays help average out days like my birthday, which features a big fat zero. Like, seriously, couldn't just one of these guys have hung out in there for six more days so I could share a birthday with a Padre? At any rate, here are the guys blowing out candles today, listed with their new age and (parenthetically) the year or years he played in San Diego.
Pat Neshek, 34 (2011): The Padres claimed the eventual 2014 National League All-Star off waivers by the Twins at the end of spring training in 2011. Neshek posted a 4.01 ERA in 24.2 innings over 25 games; he had an nearly identical line in 24 games with AAA Tucson. He left as a free agent after the season, signing with Baltimore, who kept him in AAA until selling his contract to Oakland that August.
Matt DeWitt, 37 (2002): DeWitt signed with San Diego before the 2002 season after getting cups of coffee with Toronto in 2000 and 2001. He was called up in late April and made five stellar appearances, allowing just one run in 7.1 innings, before suffering a shoulder injury that sidelined him the rest of the year and all of 2003. He pitched two more seasons in the minors, but never made it back to the bigs.
Brian Myrow, 38 (2007-08): Myrow made his Padres debut on September 1, 2007, and contributed to the team's collapse by collecting one hit in his 10 at-bats. He wasn't much more successful in 21 games with the team in July and August of 2008; he went 3-21 (.143), but one of those hits was his only major league homer. Like DeWitt, he never returned to the majors. He played in AAA in 2009 and '10, and has played independent ball the past four seasons.
Luis Lopez, 44 (1993-94, 96): Lopez made his major league debut in the aftermath of the fire sale, and hit .228/ .274/ .309 in a full season's amount of games and plate appearances spread over three seasons. He went on to play eight more seasons with four other clubs, most recently the Reds in 2005.
Mike Piazza, 46 (2006): After a few years of gradual decline in New York, Piazza signed with the Padres for dirt-cheap and showed he had one good season left in him. The should-be Hall-of-Famer played in 126 games, starting 99 of them behind the plate. He hit .283/ .342/ .501 with 22 homers, earning himself one last one-year deal, as Oakland's DH.
The Diamondbacks finished the 4 game series with a win to get a split. Delgado made a spot start, and everyone got a hit.
Randall Delgado received his first start since April 10th and was helped by the inept Padres offense to get a good decision. 5 innings isn't normally what you're looking for from a starter, but given that he's spent all season as a reliever, it should be expected he wouldn't be stretched out. Still, 0 runs allowed on only 2 hits is a decent enough, and it put the D-backs in a position to win.
The Diamondbacks scored their first three runs in the 2nd off 5 hits. Aaron Hill led things off with a single, then moved to third with an AJ Pollock double. Both came home with a Gregorius infield single (combined with a lolPadres throwing error), then Didi scored off a Ender 'Bats Like a Third' Inciarte.
Everyone in the starting lineup got a hit except for Randall Delgado, but he only had 1 AB. Another win, another game closer to heat death of the universe the end of the season.
The Diamondbacks won. This recap is for the 5 people haven't already mentally transitioned to Footbaw Season.
Record: 59-81. Pace: 68-94. Change over last year: -12.
Good thing I watched this baseball game and certainly did not watch a handegg game on NBC. I have dedication to the craft, you see.
Early on it seemed like the Packers might be able to keep up with the Seah....wait. I mean the Padres, a baseball team played the Diamondbacks in a game that would determine who would win the game played in San Diego on September 4th.
As the game ended, I was struck by the though while Pollock stepped up to the plate: when the hell did he get taken off the DL? Baseball Reference tells me 9/2/2014 was his first game back, but so I guess that tells you how much I've been attention.
Randall Delgado received his first start since April 10th and was helped by the inept Padres offense to get a good decision. 5 innings isn't normally what you're looking for from a starter, but given that he's spent all season as a reliever, it should be expected he wouldn't be stretched out. Still, 0 runs allowed on only 2 hits is a decent enough, and it put the D-backs in a position to win.
The Diamondbacks scored their first three runs in the 2nd off 5 hits. Aaron Hill led things off with a single, then moved to third with an AJ Pollock double. Both came home with a Gregorius infield single (combined with a lolPadres throwing error), then Didi scored off a Ender 'Bats Like a Third' Inciarte.
Everyone in the starting lineup got a hit except for Randall Delgado, but he only had 1 AB.
The Padres flirted with scoring runs in the 8th, eventually loading the bases and scoring a run off a Oliver 'Pops Ollies' Perez wild pitch. But that would be their only run, which I'd hope you'd have already figured out by the title of this recap.
Only 150 comments, which I guess isn't shocking. Roll call: AzRattler, DbacksSkins, GuruB, Jim McLennan, Makakilo, Paulnh, Rockkstarr12, hotclaws, onedotfive, preston.salisbury, shoewizard, and xmet
Tomorrow the Diamondbacks continue on their path to the end by playing the Dodgers in the House of Pain. We'll probably face Kershaw all three games. Woo. First pitch will be around 7:10pm Arizona Time, so if you can't schedule a dentist appointment then you could watch the game.
Carlos Quentin's disappointing 2014 season officially came to an end on Monday, when he was transferred to the 60-day disabled list, but it really ended over a month earlier on July 26 when he struck out in his final at-bat of the year. He was placed on the 15-day DL the next day with a bone bruise in his left knee, and that was that.
This most recent, season-ending, DL trip was Quentin's second of the season. He was sidelined for San Diego's first 39 games with an injury to that same left knee. Although he managed to stay off the disabled list from May 13 through July 26, he received numerous days off, sometimes a few at a time, and occasionally went weeks between complete games. In that time, he appeared in a total of 50 games, the fewest he has played in a season. Not only were his counting stats accordingly the lowest he has ever posted, but so are his rate stats. Below are his 2014 numbers, along with his previous lows. In most cases, it's not even close.
G
PA
AB
R
H
2B
HR
RBI
BA
OBP
SLG
OPS
2014
50
155
130
9
23
6
4
18
.177
.284
.315
.599
prev. low
57
191
166
23
42
13
5
31
.214
.298
.349
.647
Ouch.
Quentin's poor showing didn't come out of the blue. His numbers have declined each of the three seasons he's been with the Padres, and in some cases it goes back farther than that. His games, at-bats, plate appearances, runs, home runs, RBI, and total bases have declined every season since 2010, when he set a career-high by appearing in 131 games.
The elephant in the room is Quentin's contract. He's owed $8 million next year and has a full no-trade clause. Fortunately from the team's standpoint, it is now impossible for him to play the needed 320 games from 2013-15 that would have triggered an $10 million option for 2016 with a buyout of $3 million. Most observers agree that Quentin would have his best chance of survival with an American League team as their DH, and Quentin was reportedly open to considering trades earlier this summer before he was re-injured, as Jon Heyman reported.
One would assume that this latest setback would make Quentin more open to returning to the American League, for the sake of self-preservation. With that in mind, it seems entirely possible that we've seen Carlos Quentin play his last game with the Padres. Wherever he is next year, I hope he can stay healthy. Whenever he does that, everything else falls into place.
Well, Ian Kennedy was not good tonight. He allowed 4 runs on 10 hits in 5.1 innings. Diamondbacks starter Randall Delgado? 5 innings, 2 hits. The entire Arizona pitching staff only allowed one more hit in 9 innings than the San Diego bullpen did in 3.2.
Things went downhill almost immediately, with Kennedy giving up 3 runs in the second. Aaron Hill led off the inning with a single, advancing to third on a double by A.J. Pollock. Didi Gregorius brought Hill home with a high chopper down the third base line. Racing to beat the speedy Gregorius, Cory Spangenberg, trying in vain to catch the speedy shortstop, rushed his throw to first. Pollock scored and Gregorius went to second on the error. Delgado bunted him over to third, and a single by Ender Inciarte brought home the last run of the inning. The scoring didn't stop for long; a pair of leadoff doubles by Mark Trumbo and Miguel Montero put the snakes up 4-0 after three.
Kennedy left the game in the top of the sixth, and Blaine Boyer stayed in through the seventh, when he allowed another run. David Peralta hit a leadoff single, but it looked like Boyer would strand him after Boyer retired the next to batters. Hill had other plans, hitting an RBI double for his second hit of the night.
The Padres offense finally showed up in the eighth inning. Will Venable and Rene Rivera hit a pair of singles off of Matt Stites. Spangenberg drew a walk to put a Padre on every pillow and bring pinch-hitter Yasmani Grandal to the plate. The Diamondbacks made a substitution of their own, putting former Friar Oliver Perez on the mound. His first move was to throw a wild pitch, scoring Venable and advancing the other runners. And that was it for the inning. Grandal struck out. Abraham Almonte struck out. Rymer Liriano struck out. So, uh, yeah. Let's just all agree to pretend that never happened.
The Padres start a 3-game series in Colorado tomorrow, so you don't really care about pitching matchups. But if for some reason you actually do, Eric Stults will toe the rubber at 5:40 PM.
Wrapping up the final week of August and taking a look back on this month of Padres baseball. With fresh faces and lovable team veterans; check up on who improved and what stayed the same.
The Friars were winning for the month of August. They went 16-11; winning 5 of the series, splitting one, and getting our first two sweeps of the season. Collectively we scored 102 runs and only allowed 93, keeping us in the middle of the pack in run support for our phenomenal pitching staff.
Week 4 was sorely missed due to a very busy Labor Day. If you want to catch up on Spangy's debut, peep Darklighter and Wonko's game recaps. There were plenty of new faces this month, some fantastic debuts, and a few great veteran performances.
Here's a look at the top three voted highlights of the past month:
Most Exemplary Display of Ninja Prowess
Just look at that scoreboard. Tie game, bottom of the ninth, two on two out. The Little Ninja had to cover a mile of ground. Nobody's going to usurp Amarista in the ninja category.
After being pitched hard inside for his first major league appearances for the Padres against Colorado, Liriano finally gets sick of it and turns very hard on an inside fastball. The homerun cleared the third story of the Western Metal Co. building, went straight through the window, and rolled all the way to the Hall of Fame Bar & Grill. Ominous.
There's a lot to savor about this moment in the game. Tyson's stellar pitching performance to match Kershaw's, his 9th hit of the season, but mainly the upset look on Clayton's face afterwards amplified by the loud groans throughout Dodger Stadium. Mmmsweet.
Pitching remains top tier, and hitting stays low. Although we balanced out our run support and are now running in the middle of the NL-pack, we've become very familiar with the unbalanced performances between the two.
With three walkoffs, 11 out of 16 of those victories came after scoring 4 or more runs. 10 out of 11 of the losses were when we were held to three or less. The curse of the 3 stands true.
Seth Smith 95 PA, 1 HR, 9 RBI, .358 OBP, 109 wRC+, 0.2 WAR
Pitching
Ian Kennedy 34.2 IP, 6 GS, 10.13 K/9, .52 HR/9, 0.5 WAR
Tyson Ross 32.1 IP, 5 GS, 3.34 BB/9, 80.7 LOB%, 52.9 GB%, 2.78 ERA, 0.3 WAR
Eric Stults 35.2 IP, .252 BABIP, 83.7 LOB%, 2.52 ERA
Yasmani Grandal hit for the most raw power/extra bases this month, but was sitting just below average. It did show up in the form of his two home runs (432ft. and 419ft.) and three doubles. He also led Padres hitters in swinging for contact. Overall he made contact 83% of the time he swung, and 92% when swinging inside the strikezone.
Jedd Gyorko was an RBI machine, and with 20 hits turned at least 15 of them into runs scored. He also struck out the most (23) with the second most plate appearances (103), which resulted in him getting on base the least.
Seth Smith saw his pitches. His walking percentage was up at almost 16%, and tied Yangervis Solarte with 15 walks.
Ian Kennedy was the strikeout king, with 39 K's in 6 starts, and Tyson Ross remained the groundball champ with more than half (52.9%) of the balls hit going straight into the dirt.
Nick Vincent and Joaquin Benoit saw no runs in their relief efforts, and Vincent left 100% of the runners he either inherited or created on base. Kevin Quackenbush allowed a few runs, but still notched his first major league save.
So what was your favorite moment of Padres baseball for August? Favorite player, favorite play, most exciting development for the team in general? A lot has happened this month. Heck, we're a nationally recognized blog now for crying out loud (skip to 1:08):
Last November I took a look at the six players who played just one game as a member of the Padres. Since then, two more players have joined the club. When both Billy Buckner and Hector Ambriz were released by the organization last month, their status as one-game wonders became semi-official. It is still possible that either of them could find their way back to the organization and pitch in another game with the big club one of these years, it seems fairly unlikely.
Before 2014, only six players appeared in just one game with the Padres.
Hector Ambriz was the first of the two one-gamers this season. On May 7, the Padres optioned Jace Peterson to AAA El Paso and called Ambriz up. He got into that night's game and was designated for assignment the next day.
In his sole appearance, Ambriz entered a home game against Kansas City to start the seventh inning with the Padres trailing 5-0. He started off by walking Alex Gordon, but promptly got Danny Valencia to ground to Jedd Gyorko, who fed the ball to Everth Cabrera, who recorded the first out and got the ball to Kyle Blanks in time to turn two. Mike Moustakas then lined out to Cabrera, and Ambriz's first frame was in the books.
Ambriz opened his second inning of work just as he began his first inning: by walking the leadoff batter. He looked like he'd get out of it once again as he recorded a strikeout and an infield pop that left Jarrod Dyson standing at first with two outs. A single by Alcides Escobar moved Dyson to third, and a passed ball by Rene Rivera brought him home while allowing Escobar to take second. Eric Hosmer drove Escobar in with a single of his own before Ambriz got out of the inning.
After the Padres designated him for assignment, Ambriz cleared waivers and headed back to El Paso, where he remained until he was released on August 21. His 51 games pitched for the Chihuahuas was second to Bobby LaFromboise's 58, and his 11 saves were second to Jerry Sullivan's 12.
Just 17 days after Ambriz became the Padres' first one-game wonder since Aaron Rakers in 2007, Billy Buckner was called up from El Paso, where he was 3-2 with a 2.89 ERA in five starts up to that point, to make a spot start on May 24 against the Cubs. He pitched fairly well but was, like just about everyone else who started a game for the Padres this season, a victim of absolutely no run support.
Buckner got off to a strong start, retiring the side in order. He allowed his first baserunner with a one-out walk to Luis Valbuena in the second inning, but left him stranded there. Future Dodgers infielder Darwin Barney recorded the Cubs' first hit with a leadoff single in the third inning. He moved to second on a bunt, then Ryan Kalish reached on a walk. Both moved over 90 feet on a passed ball with Junior Lake at the plate, but Buckner left them there by striking Lake out and getting Anthony Rizzo to ground into a 4-3 putout.
With the score still tied at zeros in the top of the fourth, Buckner allowed a one-out walk to Luis Valbuena for the second time. This time Valbuena made it around the bases, scoring the game's first run after singles by Welington Castillo and Nate Schierholtz. Buckner limited the damage, got out of the inning, and bounced back to throw his second 1-2-3 inning in the fifth.
In the sixth inning, Buckner faced Valbuena with one out yet again. He would have been better served to walk him a third time, because what happened instead was Valbuena's third home run of the year. Castillo grounded out for the second out before Schierholtz doubled. Buckner intentionally walked Barney to get to opposing starting pitcher Travis Wood, who then singled Schierholtz in for a 3-0 lead. Bud Black called on Nick Vincent to get out of the inning, and Buckner finished with three earned runs in 5.2 innings (4.76 ERA) on six hits and four walks. The Padres scored a pair of runs in the bottom of the eighth on a two-run pinch-hit shot by Carlos Quentin, but it was too little, too late; the 3-2 score held and Buckner was charged with the loss.
Like Ambriz, Buckner was designated for assignment the next day, cleared waivers, and headed back to El Paso until he was released in August. Two weeks after the Padres let him go, the Brewers signed him and assigned him to their AAA team in Nashville, where he got into four games, starting two of them.
You would think that having two one-gamers in one season would be unprecedented, but it actually happened once before, in 1996. Those occurrences happened in April and September, so Ambriz and Buckner's mere 17 days of separation are a new club record. Like I said earlier, there's still a faint chance one of them could come back some day some year, and pitch a second game, but until then they're in the history books.
Towers, who had been superseded by Tony La Russa, has been offered another job in the organization.
The Arizona Diamondbacks have announced that executive vice-president and general manager Kevin Towers has been relieved of his duties. He has been offered another position within the organization and is "evaluating the opportunity," according to Nick Piecoro of azcentral.com.
The move had been rumored for months. Coming off of consecutive .500 seasons, the Diamondbacks began 2014 with a devastating 9-22 April. In mid-May, the team hired retired Hall of Fame manager Tony La Russa as "Chief Baseball Officer." Team CEO Derrick Hall said, "The entire organization is obviously frustrated with the results on the field and we are looking to improve." This was widely, and as it turned out, correctly, viewed as a vote of no-confidence in Towers and manager Kirk Gibson.
Towers had previously been the general manager of the San Diego Padres from November, 1995 through October, 2009. He saw that organization reach the World series in 1998 and make two other postseason appearances during his tenure. He was hired as Diamondbacks GM in September, 2010, taking over for Jerry Dipoto, who had served as interim GM after the dismissal of Josh Byrnes.
Towers' moves included the trades of Justin Upton, Adam Eaton, Ian Kennedy, and Trevor Bauer, almost all of whom were demonized as they went out the door. The club saw little return on these deals and most were rampantly first-guessed in the media.
The interview process for a new general manager will begin this week, the club said.
As the team stumbles toward the end of a disappointing season, the Diamondbacks have fired Kevin Towers as the club's general manager. The team made the announcement Friday morning.
The move comes less than four months after the hiring of Tony La Russa as the organization's Chief Baseball Officer, a move that most believed would ultimately lead to changes at the top of the baseball operations department.
Towers' firing has been a long awaited inevitability since Tony La Russa was hired as Chief Baseball Officer of the Diamondbacks. La Russa for his part offered Towers another job but Towers has yet to accept it.
"I have offered him a new role in the front office, as I believe his skills fit well within the framework of what we are building. Understandably, he would like to see who the general manager is before making his own decision.
As to why they decided last night was the best time to cut their ties with him may be because they planned to leave him with the Padres. It's been rumored that he will eventually find a home in the organization as an Assistant to the General Manager A.J. Preller. One would hope that would be Preller's decision, if it does come to be.
For months, there has been industry speculation about Kevin Towers returning to the Padres as a special assistant. He's free to do that now.
Having Towers in an advisory role wouldn't be such a bad thing. He has proven in the past that he has a good eye for relief pitching talent and it's not like there are any Justin Uptons on this team to trade away.
Last night Ian Kennedy faced off against his former team and didn't fare too well. Hopefully Eric Stults has a better outing against one of his former teams tonight as our Padres kick off a series at Coors Field.
After taking the first two games in the four-game series at home against the Diamondbacks, the Padres offense was limited to just one run in each of the final two contests. Stultsy is no stranger to this lack of run support. in 14 of his last 27 starts, he's received one run or fewer from his offense. Tonight he'll look to get the Friars' road trip started on a positive note in Colorado. It'll be his fourth time facing the Rockies this year and he's still seeking his first win after going 0-1 with a 3.78 ERA in the previous three.
Tyler Matzek will go for Colorado, also looking for his first win in the season series between the two teams. He pitched twice against them earlier this year, losing both games while allowing five runs through six frames in each.
Tune in to FSSD at 5:40 PT for the opener of the series and see if our Padres can use Coors Field to their advantage to score some runs for Stults.
Although the run support has kicked up decently the past month, there was nothing to show for that tonight.
The Padres have been very good at one thing this season: Holding the opposition to three runs or less. They have also been very bad at another thing: Scoring more than three runs. Tonight, both of those trends collided for a spectacularly awful loss.
Despite Eric Stults posting six and a third inning holding the offense-heavy Rockies to three runs, Tyler Matzek - the Colorado rookie - handled the Friars like it was nothing, striking out six for a three-hit complete game shutout. That makes the 47th time the Padres have been held to one run or less.
San Diego only had three opportunities in which runners in scoring position could have even done damage, and all three opportunities were lost. The only hits of the night was a single and double from Abraham Almonte, and little single from Rymer Liriano.
The good news is the nightmare of tonight is over, for now, and tomorrow we get to see Joe Wieland's lovable face for the first time in two and a half years.
The Padres weren't favored statistically, emotionally, or physically tonight at all.
His start comes on the heels of Tyler Matzek's brilliant performance last night -- tossing a complete game shutout. Both Matzek and de la Rosa are a big part of the Rockies near future and maybe even long-term plans. In a season with a lot of anguish and little left to play for in the standings, the final weeks will be spent getting a feel for what the Rockies have going forward and they hope Matzek and de la Rosa can be valuable and reliable parts of that moving forward.
Jorge comes into the game with a 3.19 ERA in games at Coors Field this season.
Oft injured starting pitcher Joe Weiland gets the start for the San Diego Padres. He comes in sporting a 3.42 ERA on the season.
After a few really frustrating games, tonight potentially could be really fun to watch as Joe Wieland makes his highly-anticipated return to Major League Baseball after more than two years.
Wieland made his big league debut on April 14, 2012. He made four more starts after that before suffering the injury that would eventually lead to Tommy John surgery. He didn't exactly have a lot of success in those first five starts, going 0-4 with a 4.55 ERA. Now he looks to get a fresh start after working his way back from surgery. It's been a long 28 months (to the day) since he last took the mound for the Padres and he's been itching to get back, as Friar Faithful have been itching for his return. This year he's split time between the Rookie League AZL Padres, Double-A Missions, and Triple-A Chihuahuas; pitching a total of 38 2/3 innings through nine starts.
On the hill for Colorado will be Jorge De La Rosa, who just agreed to a two-year contract extension with the Rockies. Tonight he looks to ride that high and expand on his six-game home winning streak. Unlike most pitchers, De La Rosa actually seems to throw better at Coors Field. Not only has he won six in a row there, but his 44 total wins there are more than any other pitcher. That Coors Field success includes a 5-0 record in his last seven home starts against the Padres. The most recent of those outings was back in May, when he one-hit San Diego without allowing a run through seven innings of work.
Watch as our Friars try to end their three-game losing streak and even up the series tonight behind Wieland. Game time is set for 5:10 PT.
And don't forget to check out today's SB Nation Fantasy Baseball league on FanDuel. It's $2 to join and first prize is $2,000. Use this link to join.
