The Rockies won in 12 innings on a walk off singe from Drew Stubbs. Michael McKenry had a nice game, getting on base four times, as the Rockies outlast the Padres 7-6.

It was touch-and-go there for a minute but Michael McKenry's big night and Drew Stubbs walkoff led the Rockies to one of those ... what do you call them? ... wins! Yeah, they got a win!

Michael McKenry got the scoring started with a solo home run to straight-away center field in the bottom of the second and Justin Morneau added a two-run bomb in the third that ricocheted off the façade of the second deck . McKenry drove in Corey Dickerson, who had singled, later in the third to make it 4-0.

San Diego broke up the shutout when Jed Gyorko singled in Yangervis Solarte in the top of the fourth. First baseman, Tommy Medica, tacked on with a solo home run in the bottom of the fifth.

The Rockies would get both runs back in the bottom of the fifth though on a bloop single from DJ LaMehieu into right field scoring McKenry, who had walked, and Josh Rutledge, who had doubled.

Jorge de la Rosa was chased with two outs in the sixth inning with a three-run lead after allowing a single to Rymer Liriano who was plated on a Jed Gyorko double which gave way to the walk to Yasmani Grandal that would finish de la Rosa's day. Brooks Brown came on in relief and got our old buddy Seth Smith to pop out and end the threat.

Jorge de la Rosa's final line: 5.2, 6H, 3ER, 1BB, 4Ks

The Rockies kept the bats going in the bottom of the sixth when Justin Morneau reached on a fielding error (still a well struck ball) by shortstop Alexi Amarista, followed up by a line drive single from Nolan Arenado. Corey Dickerson reached on a fielders choice and Micahel McKenry has just decided to become one of the toughest outs in the NL and drew another walk to load the bases for Josh Rutledge who unfortunately struck out before any runs could cross.

Things got closer in the top of the seventh as one might expect with the Rockies bullpen. This time the culprit was usually reliable Tommy Kahnle who gave up a two-run home run to Corey Spangenberg. Apparently, the Padres insist on employing only players with awesomely weird names.

The Padres invariably pulled even because the Rockies bullpen is gonna Rockies bullpen. Adam Ottavino struggled with his command to start the eighth, giving up a single and walking a batter. After getting a fielders choice from Yasmani Grandal, Rex Brothers came in to face the left handed Seth Smith. Brothers gave up one of the least surprising base hits of the season and the score was evened at 6-6.

After a back and forth affair, the Rockies and Padres hung out in scoring purgatory for a few innings, providing some free -- if not particularly exciting -- baseball into the 12th inning. DJ LaMehieu led off the bottom of the 12th with a double down the right field line and he was advanced to third by a Charlie Culberson sacrifice bunt.

A not-so-welcome for the return of Joe Wieland and an insanely long back-and-forth featuring plenty of home runs, RISP LOB, and an entire cast of relief pitchers and pinch hitters results in a fun game, but a cruddy loss.

It has been about two and a half years since we've seen the handsome face of Joe Wieland on a big league mound in a Padres uniform. Since his first start back in April of 2012 he's had four solid appearances, until that was cut short due to the seemingly accursed Tommy John trend with young star Padres pitchers.

Although it was nice to see WieWie back on the mound, the Colorado Rockies didn't make his return a pleasant one. Wieland only lasted 2.1 innings before getting cut short after giving up two early second and third inning home runs by Michael McKenry and Justin Morneau, bringing home 3 runs and making things 3-0. McKenry struck again with an RBI single and WieWie's return would be cut short before any more crud could be knocked from him.

Taken to the 4th and 5th, Jedd Gyorko started the San Diego scoring off with an RBI single, followed by a sexy solo HR from Tommy Medica (his 8th of the season). But by the time things reached the 5th inning an error by Rymer Liriano would have things at an ugly 2-6.

Medica looks almost impatient as he blasts one into left center.

To get back into the action in the 6th for the Padres, Gyorko would pop off another RBI; this time in the form of a double, plating Liriano and putting the Friars within a reasonable 3-6 defecit. Once things moved to the 7th inning and Alexi Amarista up to bad, a fat 95MPH fastball found its way into the Ninja's thigh. With a runner on first now, Corey Spangenberg pinch-hit in the exact way you would want him to: his second MLB HR, a hard-hit smack into the left field front row bleachers.

Spangy comes off the bench to hit what might be the best weakest HR ever.

With the 4-HR game now at a tight 5-6 score and runners on first and third with one out, Seth Smith came up wagging his bat in the 8th inning to single in the tying run. At 6-6 the Rockies ended the inning, and an intense back-and forth would begin.

Smeth ties things up and prevents everybody from going home for 4 more innings.

By the time it was the 11th inning, neither side was budging all that much. Once the Padres started to pull the game in their direction with two on and two out and no choice but to stick Cashner up to bat the extremely fortunate opportunity for Andrew Cashner to take an at-bat with RISP - resulted in a very hard effort and a line-out into right center.

Quackenbush was clean shaven when this game started.

— Gaslamp Ball (@gaslampball) September 7, 2014

47 at bats. 13 hits. 3 walks. 11 strikeouts. 18 left on base. Here is your full cast for tonight's game:

Abraham Almonte (Jake Goebbert), Rymer Liriano (Dale Thayer, Nick Vincent, Rene Rivera, Kevin Quackenbush, Andrew Cashner, Jesse Hahn), Yangervis Solarte, Jedd Gyorko, Yasmani Grandal, Tommy Medica (Seth Smith), Cameron Maybin (Will Venable), Alexi Amarista, Joe Wieland (Tim Stauffer, Adam Moore, Leonel Campos, Alex Torres, Cory Spangenberg)

The game started at 6:10 PM, and unfortunately it took until 12 innings and almost 5 hours for the "human element" to get tired of standing behind home plate and start calling inane balls and strikes to end the game as soon as possible. Pushing the Padres out of offensive opportunities on some questionable strike calls, and forcing Jesse "burning the late-night oil" Hahn to narrow down his location gave the Rockies all they needed to walk it off.

FINAL GAME TIME

4 HOURS 52 MINUTES

From the get-go the Rocks had the game in their favor. Early on the board and packing on insurance runs; it wasn't until Seth Smith's home run that our win probability actually dipped into a Padres positive. Things zig-zagged until ultimately shooting in the wrong direction.

Source: FanGraphs

Plenty of the Gee El Bee showed up for tonight's marathon.

Although FriarFever bombarded the thread with almost 100 comments, it was jodes and yours truly that fought the rec battle. TheThinGwynn took home the Mario Party star for the comment with the most recs, but with jodes at 8 recs and daveysapien at 7 recs, I would argue that daveysapien won the rec war (at least 3 of jodes recs were from me). That's my impartial sabermetric analysis of the thread.

The rec battle wasn't all to be had. A Bud Black.gif-off started early in the thread. Frankly, jodes should have been disqualified for posting a non-gif of Bud Black, but I'll leave it up to you all to decide who the winner is.

TL;DR version: He has an unparalleled ERA in a very small sample size.

I sometimes find myself bouncing around on Baseball Reference for hours at a time, like a procrastinating student on Wikipedia. In the most recent of these sessions I wound up on Mike Adams' page and realized he was even more dominant while he was with the Padres than I had recalled. I remembered he had a couple great seasons, but it somehow slipped my mind that he was lights out year-in and year-out, with nary a bad one in the bunch. In three seasons and most of a fourth with San Diego, Adams recorded a 1.66 ERA in 217 innings. I figured that had to be a franchise record for anyone with at least 200 innings, so I ran that query through the B-R Play index and sure enough.

Hey, I was right! It was bound to happen at some point. With my suspicion confirmed, I decided to see how low I had to drop the innings limit before he lost his crown. I slashed the innings minimum by half and there was Adams again, still on the top of the heap.

Of pitchers matching the 100-inning criteria, Nick Vincent is the highest ranking current player; his 2.48 ERA in 120 innings the past three seasons ranks sixth. When I dropped the innings limit to 50, Vincent fell to eighth and another current Padres pitcher came out of nowhere and shot to the top of the list.

From there, I kept making the sample size smaller and smaller, shaving off 10 innings at a time. Benoit was still the all-time leader at the 40, 30, and 20-inning marks; it wasn't until I got down to 10 innings that Benoit fell to second. In his three appearances with the big club this season, Jason Lane allowed one run in 10.1 innings for an ERA of 0.87.

Benoit is expected to return in about 10 days and be active for the last couple weeks of the season, and is under contract for next season, so his ERA is still a very fluid thing. It remains to be seen if he'll hold steady and keep his top spot as he reaches new innings milestones. I'll let you know where he stands when (if) he gets to 100 innings.

Rockies set sights on sweep of San Diego, looking for strong finishes from returning players.

"Finish strong," was the mantra coming from Walt Weiss before todays matchup against the San Diego Padres. "With Wilin [Rosario] coming back and Cuddy soon, we just want to see guys finish healthy and with some confidence."

Catcher Wilin Rosario is available today but Jackson Williams gets the start behind the dish. I'd look for Rosario to get a chance with the bat if a pinch-hit opportunity presents itself.

Another player returning tomorrow or the day after, according to Weiss, is much maligned (read: injured) Michael Cuddyer. Weiss says we should absolutely expect Cuddyer to be inserted back into his usual starting role despite the teams lack of contention or any number of September call-ups (KYLE PARKER) who could use some live reps.

Still, Weiss' job is to win professional baseball games and he is intent fielding the best team capable of doing that.

The Colorado Rockies aim for a rare sweep against the Fathers in this one, sending Franklin Morales to the hill for the start.

Opposite him is big righty Tyson Ross, who comes in sporting an intimidating 2.60 ERA but he does pitch half of his games in a cacophonic swamp. Maybe some mountain air will do that ERA some good.

 And in case you forgot, go Rockies!

September hasn't been kind to the Padres so far, and being swept by the cellar-dwellers of your division isn't all that great either.

Coming off a very good August posting a 2.78 ERA, Tyson Ross entered his second start for September after kicking off the month with a home win against the D-Backs. Unfortunately for Ross, this wasn't Petco Park and these weren't the D-Backs. But with the current Rockies lineup batting a collective .221 against Tyson, things could have gone well. But then again, this is Coors Field.

At the tail end of the second inning Jackson Williams aired a three-run HR on a hanging slider, making things 0-3. After a few short Padres three-up-three-down plate appearances, Ross would have already left the game after 6 innings of damage control. Robbie Erlin came in to relieve (after a marathon of spent pitchers from the game before) and gave up a 2-run HR of his own, another hit, and a triple gave the Rockies a fat 0-6 lead.

In nine innings of baseball the San Diego Padres couldn't be bothered to produce much more than 6 hits, leaving seven on base and squandering 7 RISP opportunities. Jedd Gyorko showed up and went 2-3 with a walk, and Cory Spangenberg collected another hit to add to his new collection. Regardless, the Friars somehow managed to get shutout in Coors Field.

The win projection graph today looked just as stupid as the dumb Rocky Mountains.

Source: FanGraphs

Tomorrow the Pads will head back west to bring some of the misery to the Dodgers to further soil their lead on the NL West. Odrisamer Despaigne will get the ball against some dude named Clayton Kershaw. My suggestion is bring Tyson Ross in for some pinch hitting. After all, we've got some killer power off the bench.

Not a whole lot of action one would have expected on a hot Sunday afternoon. TheThinGwynn won at recs. I also heard there's some new sportball competition that premiered on the game channels today.

Why didn't news leak out about this earlier?

The Angels renewed Jerry Dipoto's contract for the 2015 season by picking up their option on his contract for next year. That is news enough but Alden Gonzalez reported that the move was made around the All Star Break in Mid-July.

Since then their move has been underscored as brilliant as the Halos have built baseball's best record up. But why the silence on a seemingly important detail?

Hmmmm...

Was word of Jerry's job security kept secret to motivate a certain someone else to prove himself on the field?

One thing for certain - there was a conspiracy theory that Jerry made the Huston Street trade, where he gave up four minor leaguers to the Padres for the All Star closer, as a desperation move to guarantee him job security for the future. Well at least that has gone poof in all this.

The biggest beneficial move by Dipoto was the trade of fan favorite Mark Trumbo to the Diamondbacks for Hector Santiago and Tyler Skaggs but he he basically remade the bullpen with trades for Street, Jason Grilli and Fernando Salas and the signing of free agent Joe Smith. The Halo bullpen has one inherited non-Dipoto piece: Kevin Jepsen. Think about it.

LOS ANGELES -- The Dodgers welcome the Padres to town for a three-game series at Dodger Stadium, their final meeting with San Diego this season. This will end a recent stretch of nine of the last 20 games against the Padres, so these two teams are quite familiar with each other. Here are the pitching matchups beginning Monday night in Los Angeles.

Monday, 7:10 p.m. PT (SportsNet LA)

Clayton Kershaw managed to avoid pitching at Petco Park this season, but beat the Padres twice in Los Angeles. Both starts were similar, with Kershaw allowing one run on three hits in both games, with 11 strikeouts in nine innings on July 10 and 10 strikeouts in eight innings on Aug. 21. Odrisamer Despaigne on July 10 in his fourth major league start allowed only two runs in seven innings at Dodger Stadium with seven strikeouts and no walks, but suffered the loss.

Tuesday, 7:10 p.m. (SportsNet LA)

Roberto Hernandez didn't allow a home run in any of his first four starts as a Dodger, but allowed four home runs in his last start, last Monday against Washington. He allowed four runs in five innings in a loss to the Padres on Aug. 20, his only start against San Diego this season. Andrew Cashner has been very effective in three starts since returning from the disabled list, with a 2.50 ERA, 14 strikeouts and three walks in 18 innings in his three starts. But he has no wins since the Padres have scored three runs with him in the game during those three starts.

Wednesday, 7:10 p.m. PT (SportsNet LA)

Dan Haren is 1-1 with a 2.91 ERA in four starts against the Padres this season with 19 strikeouts and five walks in 21⅔ innings. Ian Kennedy will make his sixth start of the season against the Dodgers - surpassing Wade Miley for the most this season - and still in search of his first win. Kennedy is 0-2 with a 3.90 ERA, with 30 strikeouts and 12 walks in 30 innings.

Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw pitched eight innings and struck out eight for his 18th win, backed by home runs from Juan Uribe and Carl Crawford on Monday night against the Padres.

LOS ANGELES -- The Dodgers welcome the Padres to town for a three-game series at Dodger Stadium, their final meeting with San Diego this season. This will end a recent stretch of nine of the last 20 games against the Padres, so these two teams are quite familiar with each other. Here are the pitching matchups beginning Monday night in Los Angeles.

Monday, 7:10 p.m. PT (SportsNet LA)

Clayton Kershaw managed to avoid pitching at Petco Park this season, but beat the Padres twice in Los Angeles. Both starts were similar, with Kershaw allowing one run on three hits in both games, with 11 strikeouts in nine innings on July 10 and 10 strikeouts in eight innings on Aug. 21. Odrisamer Despaigne on July 10 in his fourth major league start allowed only two runs in seven innings at Dodger Stadium with seven strikeouts and no walks, but suffered the loss.

Tuesday, 7:10 p.m. (SportsNet LA)

Roberto Hernandez didn't allow a home run in any of his first four starts as a Dodger, but allowed four home runs in his last start, last Monday against Washington. He allowed four runs in five innings in a loss to the Padres on Aug. 20, his only start against San Diego this season. Andrew Cashner has been very effective in three starts since returning from the disabled list, with a 2.50 ERA, 14 strikeouts and three walks in 18 innings in his three starts. But he has no wins since the Padres have scored three runs with him in the game during those three starts.

Wednesday, 7:10 p.m. PT (SportsNet LA)

Dan Haren is 1-1 with a 2.91 ERA in four starts against the Padres this season with 19 strikeouts and five walks in 21⅔ innings. Ian Kennedy will make his sixth start of the season against the Dodgers - surpassing Wade Miley for the most this season - and still in search of his first win. Kennedy is 0-2 with a 3.90 ERA, with 30 strikeouts and 12 walks in 30 innings.

Yet another example of the fungibility of closers.

The Pittsburgh Pirates have cut ties with embattled right-hander Ernesto Frieri, reportedly releasing the former closer, per Baseball America's Matt Eddy. Frieri had been designated for assignment by Pittsburgh last month, ultimately accepting a demotion to Triple-A.

Frieri's release caps off a rough season for the 28-year-old who began the seasons as the Angels' closer. After watching as Joe Smith eclipsed him as the Angels' primary ninth inning option (a job since handed to Huston Street), Frieri was soon dealt to the Pirates in a swap of struggling closers that sent Jason Grilli to Anaheim. While Grilli has been great since landing with the Angels (2.28 ERA, 1.78 FIP), Frieri had been downright atrocious (10.13 ERA, 6.59 FIP) prior to exiting the Pirates' organization.

A secretly brilliant reliever with the Padres in 2010 and 2011, Frieri burst onto the national season after an early-season trade to the Angels in 2012. Frieri didn't give up a single run in his first 26 appearances with the Angels, ultimately landing the club's full-time closing gig by the end of the season. He regressed last year, but was still solid, posting a 3.80 ERA, 3.72 FIP, 12.8 K/9, and 3.9 BB/9 in 68.2 innings pitched, while also picking up 37 saves.

Frieri should receive plenty of interest as a rebound candidate this winter.

(9/1 - 9/6) A weekly roundup of Padres performances. This first week saw an entire week of Diamondbacks and the first chunk of the series against the Rockies. Joe Wieland returned to action for the Padres, and Cory Spangenberg had a phenomenal debut.

Back in June of the year 2011, the San Diego Padres drafted a lil' Cory Spangenberg very first (10th overall) from the Indian River Community College in Fort Pierce, Florida. He's the first first draft pick for the Pads since 2005. Now, just last week of 2014, Spangy got the call up and started in his first major league game for our Friars. In this same week, a familiar face with the name Joe Wieland's Face, returned for the first time in almost two and a half years.

This Week's Record

9/1 vs D-backs W 3-1 (Game thread | Recap)

9/2vs D-backs W 2-1 (Game thread | Recap)

9/3 vs D-backs L 1-6 (Game thread | Recap)

9/4vs D-backs L 1-5 (Game thread | Recap)

9/5 @ Rockies L 0-3 (Game thread | Recap)

9/6@ Rockies L 6-7 (Game thread | Recap)

Two more names for the beginning of September's callups are Leonel Campos (contract selected from San Antonio) and Robbie Erlin (recalled from El Paso). The AA right-hander R.J. Alvarez acquired in the Huston Street trade made his quick Padres debut. Casey Kelly, Adam Moore and #2 prospect Matt Wisler both got lockers for the month as well.

Other than that, here are the highlights:

Spangy's first HR is a walkoff

Spangy broke a club record with his second pinch-hit HR on Saturday against the Rockies. The 11th pinch-hit HR for the Padres this season exceeded the previous record at 10 set back in 1995. But for this one, Speisenberg made his first MLB HR one to remember.

Game: vs Arizona
Friar: Cory Spangenberg

WieWie's first MLB strikeout in two years

The Wie has been through a lot these past two years. Tommy John in July 2012, constant arising soreness and MRI's, and then even more elbow surgery. So stringing together enough healthy playing time to get himself called up for a September is always a victory, despite being blasted for three straight innings, that K must have felt a little bit good. It did for me.

Game: @ Colorado
Friar: Joe Wieland

Spangy is a showoff

The first highlights of the Spang's career debut were leathery and flashy. In his small sample size (26 innings), he's already posting good range, showing that he's somebody you'd want at third base. Hell, somebody to get a little excited about too.

Game: vs Arizona
Friar: Cory Spangenberg

Smeth Sith guns down Dickerson

Amplified by the fact that Smethxy had just tied the game in the top of the inning, seeing him make Dickerson look like a dumb little jerk had a satisfying pop to it. Regardless of the outcome of the 4 hour 52 minute marathon, both The Smith made the record-breaking game what it was in more ways than one.

Game: @ Colorado
Friar: Seth Smith

Spangbob Spangypants dribbles out his first major league hit

The least peacocky of the Spang-highlights, but still a milestone. Cory's first hit was a dirty little bases-loaded bloop into the gap. I don't know about you all, but a Padres hit with RISP always gets me flustered.

Game: vs Arizona
Friar: Cory Spangenberg

Top Performers

Cory Spangenberg 2 HR, 5 RBI, 1 SB, .353 ISO, 1.095 OPS, 16.7 K%, 211 wRC+

Andrew Cashner 7 IP, 1.29 ERA, 6.43 K/9, 1.29 BB/9, 0.3 WAR, 75 LOB%

• Rene Rivera drew the most walks (4) this week. With a 16.7 BB%, he also led the team taking first pitch strikes (66.7%) and swinging and missing at strikes (16.8%).
• The Spang was the only one to hit any home runs (2) this week, both of them pinch hit fresh off the bench.
• Jedd Gyorko made the least amount of contact (56.8%) with his swings, yet collected the most hits (7) and the second most extra bases with 3 doubles, with an ISO rating of .130 behind Spangy's .353.
• The longest game of the season was played on Saturday against the Rockies. 4 hours and 52 minutes, previously 4 hours and 35 minutes, after 12 innings.

Other Things that Happened This Week

Last Sunday jodes and Darklighter attended the Padres SD Social Summit. jodes did an amazing writeup on it, so go read it right now.
SD Social Summit: a summary

It's final, GLB single-handedly saved Park at the Park.
Area around Tony Gwynn statue restored, footprint of Fox Sports set has been re-sodded

December 5th the Padres will be hosting a neat holiday themed event
Padres announce Holiday Wonderland at Petco Park

A certain Padres shortstop did a really, really really stupid thing.
Everth Cabrera cited for DUI

The Hall of Fame plaza debacle is more clearly outlined.
Mike Dee lets Social Summit attendees in on plans for new Padres Hall of Fame

LOS ANGELES -- The Dodgers open up their finale series against the Padres with no real surprises in the starting lineup for the opener on Monday night at Dodger Stadium.

Yasiel Puig starts in center field, batting sixth, the fourth time in the last nine games he has batted lower than cleanup. Puig has bounced around the lineup recently, hitting first, second, fifth, sixth and seventh, and hasn't hit in the same spot in the lineup on consecutive days since batting second three games in a row from Aug. 24-27.

Left-handed pitcher Onelki Garcia pitched a scoreless sixth inning for Double-A Chattanooga on Sunday in Game 4 of the first round of the Southern League playoffs and came out of it with no problems. Garcia has been on the 60-day disabled list all year after elbow and knee surgeries.

Manager Don Mattingly said Garcia could be an option for general manager Ned Colletti to add to the roster this month, but that he hasn't yet heard his name come up in conversations in that regard. But Mattingly did hear good reports on Garcia medically.

"It went well," Mattingly said. "He's healthy, and the word out of the rehab assignment was that he felt great."

Paco Rodriguez threw a bullpen session Sunday and will throw another one this week. Rodriguez could be another left-handed option depending on whether he is ready in time to be activated.

Should the Dodgers ultimately decide to activate Garcia, they would need to make a corresponding move to make room on the 40-man roster.

LOS ANGELES -- Clayton Kershaw pitched another gem and was backed by an offensive bonanza in the Dodgers' 9-4 win over the Padres on Monday night at Dodger Stadium.

The victory gave the Dodgers a four-game winning streak, their second-longest of the season, and pushed their lead over San Francisco in the National League West to 3½ games.

The Dodgers gave Kershaw early support. Dee Gordon singled to open the first inning then stole second base, his 59th steal of the year, and scored on a single by Hanley Ramirez, one of a season-high-tying four hits on the night for Ramirez.

Juan Uribe took Odrisamer Despaigne deep the other way, just inside the right field foul pole in the second inning for a quick 2-0 cushion.

Kershaw, as he does, retired the first nine batters of the game, the sixth time in 24 starts this season he took a no-hitter through at least three innings.

Yangervis Solarte broke up any thoughts of a second Kershaw no-hitter with a leadoff single in the fourth inning, then one out later advanced on a walk and scored on an opposite-field single to right field by catcher Rene Rivera to cut the Dodgers' lead to 2-1.

Magic number

Team	W-L	GB
Los Angeles	82-62	---
San Francisco	78-65	3½

Photo: Getty Images

Kershaw was able to wiggle out of the jam by striking out Yasmani Grandal and getting Tommy Medica to pop out to first base. Kershaw shut San Diego down after that, though he ended up not needing to.

The Dodgers answered the Padres' run in the top of the fourth with two more of their own in the bottom of the inning, including an RBI single by Yasiel Puig, a sharp line drive to center field that gave Puig his first RBI in 17 games, since Aug. 15.

An RBI double by Matt Kemp and a three-run home run by Carl Crawford in the fifth inning blew the game wide open. The hit for Kemp extended his hitting streak to 14 games, during which he is hitting .345 (19-for-55) with 13 RBI.

Kershaw ended his night allowing one earned run on three hits, just like his other two starts against the Padres this season. He walked two and struck out eight in his eight innings, pulling to within five of Stephen Strasburg for the National League lead.

But Kershaw's best play of the night came on what was likely the worst play of the season for the Dodgers.

With runners on first and second base in the sixth inning Rivera flew out to Puig in short center field, then chaos ensued. Puig threw to first base trying for a double play but the throw got away, then A.J. Ellis, backing up the play, threw wildly to second base, then Ramirez, backing up in short center field threw home wildly.  After the third wild throw, Ellis threw home to Kershaw, who wisely moved out of harm's way as Liriano slid in.

"I didn't know where the play was, that's why I jumped out of the way. I thought I might have been right on top of it," Kershaw said. "I felt like we could have had a bunch of outs. We'll probably be on 'Not Top 10' in a while."

The end result was three throwing errors on one play, and two unearned runs.

"That one just got crazy. It's not going to overshadow because we won, but if you lose it could have," manager Don Mattingly said. "I did look up and see a full moon."

Kershaw was pulled after 89 pitches but still lasted eight innings for his sixth straight start, joining Hideo Nomo (June 1995) as the only Dodgers starter in the last 26 years to do so.

For the first time since joining a major league roster, Joc Pederson did not play. Ending his consecutive games played streak at six, just 2,676 games shy of Cal Ripken's record.

Monday particulars

Home runs: Juan Uribe (8), Carl Crawford (7); Yasmani Grandal (12)

WP - Clayton Kershaw (18-3): 8 IP, 3 hits, 3 runs (1 earned), 2 walks, 8 strikeouts

LP - Odrisamer Despaigne (3-6): 4⅓ IP, 8 hits, 7 runs (6 earned), 3 walks, 3 strikeouts

Despite a big defensive miscue, the Dodgers have no problems going home with a victory.

So you were watching the Chargers game and missed the Padres game. Or perhaps you didn't see either and still want to know what happened with the Padres. Well, I got you and this will be quick. First off, with Clayton Kershaw on the mound the question is did he throw a perfect game? A no hitter? A shutout? No, no and no. Yangervis Solarte led off the fourth inning with a single, Rymer Liriano took his place on a fielder's choice and Rene Rivera drove Liriano in with an RBI single.

Did the Padres match Kershaw and produce a pitcher's duel? They did this before back when Odrisamer Despaigne faced of with Kershaw in LA in July and when Tyson Ross did the same in LA in August. However that would not be the case today. The Dodgers scored early, getting a run from the speedy Dee Gordon in the first and kept scoring later. Juan Uribe and Carl Crawford provided the fireworks with home runs. Crawford's was a 3 run shot off of rookie Frank Garces.

The Padres did manage 4 runs to the Dodgers' 9. Two of them came on a ridiculous 3 error play by LA. With runners on first and second, Rene Rivera blooped a ball to CF. The runners strayed a bit too far and Yasiel Puig tried to throw out Rymer Liriano at first base. The throw sailed. There was a chance to get Liriano at second base, but that throw went into the outfield. Another throw to the plate to get Solarte went to the backstop and Liriano came around to score. Yasmani Grandal would hit a late inning solo shot for the 4th run.

LOS ANGELES -- For Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw, most of 2014 has been a breeze, putting up unfathomable numbers. Though on Monday night, in a rare true blowout, Kershaw was removed after eight innings despite a low pitch count of 89.

With the Dodgers leading 9-3 and the game comfortably in hand, manager Don Mattingly called on Pedro Baez to pitch the ninth, despite a plea from his ace to try for his seventh complete game of the season.

"He definitely wanted to finish. I just didn't feel like it was the right thing," Mattingly said. "I was just trying to save him an inning there more than anything."

With the caveat that we may never know with certainty the point at which riding an innings horse shifts into overuse, but it's safe to say Kershaw hasn't really been taxed in 2014.

Yes, he is averaging 7.39 innings per start on the season, and has lasted eight or more innings in six straight, 10 of his last 12, and 12 of his last 15 starts. But Kershaw has also thrown 110 pitches just three times all season, with a high of 115. Despite his high innings totals, Kershaw is averaging under 100 pitches per start, at 99.5.

His 89 pitches through eight innings on Monday was his lowest pitch count since throwing 73 pitches at Coors Field on June 8, in a rain-shorted five-inning complete game win. That was also the last time Kershaw pitches less than seven innings in a start, 16 starts ago.

"You always want to keep your pitch count low, to give your manager options," Kershaw said. "You always want to try and get deep in the game. It's something you can control as a starting pitcher. For me, you want to go eight or nine innings every time."

For the most part, Kershaw has gone eight or nine innings just about every time, averaging 8.06 innings per start.

"He just wants to pitch. A guy like that, he looks at it like 'I want to throw a complete game every time out'," Mattingly said. "He knows his pitch count is low, he knows he has an extra day [coming up], he knows he's coming off an extra day. All those factors.

"You don't want to make a decision as he pleaded his case. We made the decision in between the innings. What I told him was it was the best thing for the team. There will be games, if everything is on the line I'll let him go even if he's at 110. I'm saving him 10 pitches now for later."

Kershaw wanted to stay in but knew he wouldn't win the argument.

"I wanted to, but Donnie gave me the 'it's not best for the team' speech.' You can't argue with that," Kershaw said, grinning. "I don't know how you comeback from that one."

Monday was also Kershaw's third straight start with an extra day of rest. His next start, on Sunday against the rival Giants, is also on five days rest. The Dodgers shuffled their rotation such that Hyun-jin Ryu, Zack Greinke and Kershaw, in that order, would start against the Giants on Sep. 12-14 in San Francisco and Sep. 22-24 in Los Angeles.

The Dodgers are 6-2 against the Giants this season in games started by that trio, and 0-5 in games started by anyone else. Kershaw is 12-5 with a 1.40 ERA in 24 career games against the Giants, including 23 starts. He is 1-0 with a 1.69 ERA in two starts against them this season, and two of his next three starts are against the Dodgers' chief rivals.

"You obviously know that the Giants games are pretty important, but you can't take any team for granted, either. They've been marked on our calendar for a little while," Kershaw said. "It's nice that now this is my next start. It's not in the back of my mind anymore, which is good."

Up next

The Dodgers will send Roberto Hernandez to the mound on Tuesday night in the middle game of the series. The Padres will counter with Andrew Cashner.

LOS ANGELES -- The last two meetings between the Dodgers and Padres have done damage to their reputation for having low-scoring affairs.

The Dodgers closed out their series in San Diego with a 7-1 win on Aug. 31, then opened this current three-game series with a 9-4 explosion on Monday night. But in 12 of the previous 15 games against one another this season, the clubs combined for six or fewer runs.

The Dodgers' 16 runs in their last two games against the Padres match their total for the previous seven games, but even that low-scoring stretch featured four Dodgers wins.

Roberto Hernandez would like to get back to the low-scoring ways, at least on one side Tuesday night. The right-hander is coming off his worst start of the season, allowing a career-high four home runs in a loss to Washington.

After striking out five batters in six innings in each of his first two starts with Los Angeles - allowing three runs total - Hernandez has allowed 12 runs in 15⅓ innings in his last three starts, with nine strikeouts. That includes a loss to the Padres at Dodger Stadium on Aug. 20, allowing four runs in five innings.

Injuries have cut into what has otherwise been a fine season for Andrew Cashner, with a 2.39 ERA in 15 starts. He has allowed two or fewer earned runs in 13 of his 15 starts.

Cashner in his last 11 starts has a 2.86 ERA and has allowed two home runs in 66 innings. But he's 0-6, thanks in part to 19 Padres runs in those starts, including 12 runs with Cashner in the game.

Game info

Time: 7:10 p.m. PT

TV: SportsNet LA

Riding a season-long six-game losing streak, our Padres will turn to Andrew Cashner to put together another strong performance in the middle game of the series against the Dodgers. Cashner had some bad luck his last time out when he yielded four runs (though only two were earned) in seven innings against the Diamondbacks. Prior to that, he combined for 11 innings of three-run ball in his first two starts back from the disabled list. But no matter how well Cashner has pitched lately, he can't seem to catch a break - or receive any run support. The right-hander has gone 11 starts, spanning almost five months, without a winning decision. In that span he's received a total of 12 runs of support - or just over one run per start. Not only will he be seeking his first win since April tonight, but he's also hoping to notch his first win ever against Los Angeles. In five career starts (totaling 46 innings) against the Dodgers, Cashner is 0-1 despite a 1.06 ERA.

And there isn't much to suggest that he'll get any better treatment tonight. Through their six-game skid, the Padres offense has combined for only 12 runs while hitting just .175 with a .472 OPS. They've collected 45 hits while striking out 48 times in that stretch as well. They team has fallen to 15 1/2 games out of first place in the division and nine games out of a wild card spot. They'll have to hope Roberto Hernandez has a repeat of his most recent performance.

Hernandez (formerly Fausto Carmona) is coming off one of his worst starts. He gave up a season-high four homers, and five runs overall, in 4 1/3 innings against the Nationals. This will be his second start of the season against San Diego. On August 20th he was on the losing end of a game against our Friars after giving up four runs (three earned) in five innings of work. And he's particularly had trouble pitching at Dodger Stadium, posting an 8.28 ERA in three career starts there (two this season as a Dodger).

Game time is set for 7:10 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.

The Dodgers and Padres battle on Tuesday night at Dodger Stadium, with Roberto Hernandez and Andrew Cashner.

LOS ANGELES -- The last two meetings between the Dodgers and Padres have done damage to their reputation for having low-scoring affairs.

The Dodgers closed out their series in San Diego with a 7-1 win on Aug. 31, then opened this current three-game series with a 9-4 explosion on Monday night. But in 12 of the previous 15 games against one another this season, the clubs combined for six or fewer runs.

The Dodgers' 16 runs in their last two games against the Padres match their total for the previous seven games, but even that low-scoring stretch featured four Dodgers wins.

Roberto Hernandez would like to get back to the low-scoring ways, at least on one side Tuesday night. The right-hander is coming off his worst start of the season, allowing a career-high four home runs in a loss to Washington.

After striking out five batters in six innings in each of his first two starts with Los Angeles - allowing three runs total - Hernandez has allowed 12 runs in 15⅓ innings in his last three starts, with nine strikeouts. That includes a loss to the Padres at Dodger Stadium on Aug. 20, allowing four runs in five innings.

Injuries have cut into what has otherwise been a fine season for Andrew Cashner, with a 2.39 ERA in 15 starts. He has allowed two or fewer earned runs in 13 of his 15 starts.

Cashner in his last 11 starts has a 2.86 ERA and has allowed two home runs in 66 innings. But he's 0-6, thanks in part to 19 Padres runs in those starts, including 12 runs with Cashner in the game.

Game info

Time: 7:10 p.m. PT

TV: SportsNet LA

Roberto Hernandez turned in another stinker in his shortest start since joining the Dodgers, giving the Padres a 6-3 victory on Tuesday night at Dodger Stadium, snapping a four-game winning streak for Los Angeles.

The loss, coupled with a 5-1 victory by San Francisco, dropped the Dodgers' lead in the National League West to 2½ games.

The carnage began innocently enough with two outs in the second inning when a grounder by Rymer Liriano for whatever reason went under the glove of shortstop Hanley Ramirez. Alexi Amarista then singled, followed by a double by pitcher Andrew Cashner, who advanced to third on another error by Ramirez, not catching a relay throw from center field.

Somebody named Cory Spangenberg singled home Cashner, giving San Diego a 3-0 lead. Sure the inning should have been over with no damage, and all three runs during the frame were unearned, but that doesn't exonerate Hernandez, who still needed to make pitches. Giving up a two-run double to the opposing pitcher is not a way to stick around in a game.

San Diego continued their assault on Hernandez in the third inning with a walk and a two-run home run by Jedd Gyorko. Hernandez was done after three innings, and in his last four starts has allowed 17 runs in 18⅓ innings.

Down 5-0 early, the rest of the game was filled with a few trivial nuggets:

• Adrian Gonzalez hit a two-run home run to right field in the sixth inning for the Dodgers' only runs. His 23rd home run of the season was his fourth home run in four games.
• Matt Kemp followed with a double, extending his hitting streak to 15 games. But one batter later Kemp was erased when he was hit by Carl Crawford's ground ball.
• Yimi Garcia pitched two innings of scoreless relief in the fourth and fifth frames.
• Kevin Correia, in his first appearance in a week, pitched two scoreless innings of his own in relief.
• A.J. Ellis entered the game 4-for-43 (.093) against the Padres this season, including 1 for his last 31, but was 1-for-3 on Tuesday.
• The Dodgers did manage to bring the tying run to the plate in the ninth, but Kevin Quackenbush struck out Dee Gordon and got Ramirez to fly out to end the game.

Up next

The Dodgers and Padres meet for the final time in 2014 on Wednesday night, with Dan Haren starting for Los Angeles and Ian Kennedy for San Diego.

Tuesday particulars

Home runs: Adrian Gonzalez (23); Jedd Gyorko (10)

WP - Andrew Cashner (3-7): 7 IP, 9 hits, 2 runs, 1 walk, 2 strikeouts

LP - Roberto Hernandez (8-11): 3 IP, 5 hits, 5 runs (2 earned), 1 walk, 3 strikeouts

Cook scoffs at Yusmeiro Petit's 84-pitch complete game.

Sometime during San Francisco Giants starter Yusmeiro Petit's 84-pitch complete game on Tuesday -- probably when he was at 29 pitches through four innings -- I got to thinking about one of the more underrated accomplishments not only in Colorado Rockies history, but in Major League Baseball as a whole over the last two decades.

Aaron Cook was barely more than a league-average pitcher during his 11-year MLB career. He allowed 10.5 hits per nine innings and whiffed just 1.35 batters for every walk that he issued. Pretty middling numbers, for sure. But what Aaron Cook possessed was one of the heaviest sinkers of his era. And when it was on -- which, more often than not, came when the San Diego Padres were in the opposing dugout -- it was truly a sight to behold.

Cook amassed 14 wins and a 3.10 ERA in 27 career starts against the Padres, but it was a pair of outings at Coors Field in the span of a calendar year that really made Cook stand out.

On July 25, 2007, Cook tossed a 74-pitch complete game against a team the Rockies would later beat in a one-game tiebreaker to advance to the postseason. In that game, Cook threw 55 strikes compared to just 19 balls and induced 15 ground-ball outs. The 74 pitches to this day is tied for the fewest amount of pitches in a nine-plus-inning complete game since the Rockies broke into the league in 1993.

Not even a year later, Cook one-upped himself.

Yes, he threw five more pitches, but Cook did not allow a run and faced only three batters over the minimum in a 79-pitch shutout on July 1, 2008 -- also at Coors Field, and also against the Padres. Cook induced 16 groundouts and produced a Game Score of 81, which was tied for the second-best of his career.

Cook is one of only six pitchers -- a list that includes Hall of Famers Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine -- since the start of the 1993 season to throw a complete game on fewer than 80 pitches. Cook is the only one to do it twice. Don't believe me? Check this out:

Pretty impressive, right? Well, let's go back a few years before 1993. Like, say, 1914. The list doesn't get a whole lot bigger:

There are only nine pitchers since 1914 who have accomplished what Cook has. And, aside from Cook, only one -- Bob Tewksbury -- has done it twice.

Aaron Cook has a nice little niche in MLB history, but he's certainly a huge part of Rockies lore not only because of achieving the vastly unheralded feat described above, but also because he was the ultimate poster boy for pitching to contact when stuff and repertoire called for the approach.

The Dodgers close out their nine-game homestand on Wednesday night against the Padres, with Dan Haren on the mound facing Ian Kennedy.

The Dodgers are 11-7 against the Padres this season, the fourth straight season they have won at least 11 games against San Diego. Since 2011 the Dodgers' record of 46-27 (.630) is their best four-year mark against the Padres since 1972-75, when they were 49-23 (.681).

Ian Kennedy will be the 14th pitcher to make six starts against the Dodgers in a season in the last 15 years, and the first since Clayton Richard in 2012. Kennedy has a 3.90 ERA with 30 strikeouts in 30 innings in his first five starts against Los Angeles this season but is 0-2.

Dan Haren is making his fifth start against the Padres this season, at 1-1 with a 2.91 ERA in four starts, with 19 strikeouts and five walks in 21⅔ innings.

Notes

Hanley Ramirez is hitting .248/.318/.350 with two home runs in 31 games since the All-Star break, and made two errors at shortstop on Tuesday night. Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register has an even-handed account of Ramirez's current media blackout.

Yasiel Puig has a .235 slugging percentage and five RBI since Aug. 1. Steve Dilbeck of the Los Angeles Times has seen enough, and thinks Puig should be benched in favor of Andre Ethier.

On Babe Ruth bobblehead night on Tuesday, Vin Scully told a fun story about getting an autograph as a child from Ruth.

Game info

Time: 7:10 p.m. PT

TV: SportsNet LA