Our Padres go for the series split this afternoon after suffering just their third loss in ten tries last night. The series finale pits Robbie Erlin against Giants rookie Chris Heston.

Since San Diego recalled Robbie Erlin from Triple-A El Paso, he's gone 1-0 with a 4.50 ERA in three outings (two starts and a relief apearance). He kept opponents to three runs in his two starts, totaling ten innings and collecting six strikeouts. The southpaw, in his second big league season, has gone 0-2 with a 4.97 ERA in two starts against San Francisco this year.

Chris Heston will make his third major league appearance and first major league start in today's series finale. In 28 starts with Triple-A Fresno this season, Heston went 12-9 with a 3.38 ERA.

Have the tissues ready and tune in at 1:05 PT to see if our boys can split the series.

A bummer of a season that we don't want to end (but totally do). A game that went nine innings too long. A final dagger, piercing the heart through a damp, bloodied, brown robe.

Well, here it is. The final episode in the 2014 season of San Diego Padres baseball. It kind of feels like a beloved TV show gone wrong: A lot of our favorite characters are no longer on the show, even more didn't develop into the types of characters that we wanted to watch. A few stood out and charmed us, but collectively this is the type of show you would not renew for a second season.

Unfortunately, today's game can't really be alluded or compared to the rest of the season in any playful ways. Unless you point out that it was another game that the Padres were stonewalled at three runs. But today featured Robbie Erlin and his (not-very-Padres) pitching being absolutely clobbered, followed by Tim Stauffer being beat-up, then Alex Torres and Nick Vincent being held down and socked until their arms went numb.

Erlin barely lasted one inning, giving up 4 earned runs in 4 hits (one of them a home run). He walked two Gnats, and was succeeded by Stauffer (who lasted 2 innings before giving up a solo HR). Torres and Vincent arrived just in time (to concede 2 more runs each). Although the Giants and newbie Chris Heston didn't initially fare too well either, giving up 3 earned runs off 6 hits, and walking two as well, once the rotation of Tim Lincecum, George Kontos, Erik Cordier, and lil' Bochy combined with each other the Padres stayed dead-quiet.

Our only runs came off of Cory Spangenberg (RBI single), Yasmani Grandal (RBI single), and Seth Smith (sacrifice  fly). Towered by the Frisco offense, Spangy ignored the performance of his team and had himself a heck of a day, getting two hits and showing off his defensive versatility. Cory posted a .290 batting average for his MLB career debut month, which is something to skeptically be excited about, maybe.

Please stay good next year, please stay good next year, please stay good next year.

Before the score had even reached 9-3, most San Diegans had completely tuned into the simultaneously running Chargers vs. Jaguars game, which featured a team who was in more of a "winning" appearance. But the best way to describe a very sad, bitter-bitter game to end the season was put simply:

The wheels are off and on fire. #Padres

— Gaslamp Ball (@gaslampball) September 28, 2014

Today was hard to face for a few reasons. Losing isn't fun. No more Padres baseball isn't fun. And the deprivation of lovable stuff like: Little Ninja's tiny feet feet pitter-pattering over to a diving play, Cashner's flowing golden mullet, Smith and Medica's heart-melting smiles, Maybin's little windmill arm-pump thing he does, the Enberg on-air flubs, the dancing Mudcat, Sweeny's dimples, etc. in the off-season. It was an ugly disgusting beautiful hilarious depressing horrible season.

But it's over.

The game could have been in our favor if the pitching tightened up a little more today, but it didn't. The season could have been in our favor if the hitting sharpened up a little, but it didn't. Our win expectancy for today paralleled a lot of our season losses: a quick spike in the beginning followed by a slow death-by-crushing finish.

Source: FanGraphs

Eleven of you beautiful GLB'rs showed up today for our final game thread of the season. I had the pleasure of meeting a few of you the past couple of weeks. You guys made this season my most enjoyed year of baseball since the late 90's when I was a kid falling in love with the sport. Thank you all for that.

For our final day Darklighter was a chatterbox and kept the conversations going. TheThinGwynn was clutch with his tendancy to collect recs with a total of 6.

Keep the faith everyone.

Today is a banner day for Padres birthdays. Seven former Friars are blowing out candles today; among them are two former closers, a one-game wonder, and a trio of fan favorites, but this isn't about any of them. The youngest of the bunch of birthday boys is catcher Ali Solis, who turns 27 today. Solis was briefly a member of the 2012 Padres, but don't feel bad if you don't remember him. He appeared in just five games and was hitless in four plate appearances; Rays fans can similarly be excused, as Solis also failed to reach base in his seven trips to the plate this season, his only other major league service time.

Between his hit-free stints with San Diego and Tampa Bay, Solis spent a year in the Pittsburgh organization. The Pirates claimed him off waivers the week before Halloween in 2012, just in time for Topps to depict him wearing a Pirates hat in his 2013 Heritage rookie card. Since the 2013 Heritage set was based on 1964 Topps, and 1964 Topps featured two rookies to a card, Solis shared his card with former minor league teammate Casey Kelly.

One difference between this card and a 1964 Topps original is that in 1964, Topps grouped rookies from the same team, with the team name only at the top of the card. As you can see, this card has guys from two different teams, with the style changed to accommodate a second team name, in the center of the card. At first I thought it was a last-second change since Solis had just left the Padres organization, but several other rookies from separate teams got this treatment in 2013 Heritage. As it stands, it's just another example of Topps putting forth half-measures because they have a monopoly.

Last Friday I got an unexpected slew of awesome cards in the mail. I read on my pal Marcus's blog that he was planning on sending me a copy of Jedd Gyorko's 2014 Bowman card, so I was expecting a plain white envelope at some point. What I got instead was a padded mailer containing, among other things, 27 autographed cards. Lucky me! Luckier still, today is the birthday of two of the 27, giving me an excuse to show off a couple of my new additions.

Craig Lefferts is pictured here on his 1985 Donruss card, during his first stint with the team. A middle reliever at the time, Lefferts left in the trade that netted Mark Grant, but came back as a free agent before the 1990 season. His second time around, Lefferts served as the team's closer, bridging the gap from Cy Young Award winner Mark Davis in 1989 to former Nasty Boy Randy Myers in 1992.

Much as Lefferts began his Padres career setting up for Hall of Famer Goose Gossage, Bell's days in San Diego began as an apprentice to a legend. After Trevor Hoffman headed to Milwaukee for the 2009 season, Bell stepped into the closer role and was chosen for the All-Star game three straight years. He's shown here on his 2011 Topps card, which is my least-favorite Heath Bell card. It would probably be my favorite if he were wearing anything else on his head other than that stupid, MLB-mandated, ice-cream-man-lookin', "patriotic" white cashgrab clownhat. Gaw, I hate those.

Happy birthday to both Lefferts, who turns 57, and Bell, 20 years his junior. Thanks for vicariously signing for me.

General manager Jeff Luhnow announces the hiring of A.J. Hinch as Astros new manager.

Shortly after the announcement of a press conference today, the news of the Astros hiring of A.J. Hinch leaked out. The Houston Chronicle's Evan Drellich was the first with the report, now the Astros now make the move official.

#Astros GM @jluhnow on A.J. Hinch. "He will be the manager here when we win the World Series." pic.twitter.com/anYQ5JmN8s

— Houston Astros (@astros) September 29, 2014

Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow talked about the fact that Hinch stood out compared to the ten candidates the team spoke to. Luhnow and Hinch had even talked about a trade during his time with Padres. Hinch put on a number 14 jersey (sorry Jesus Guzman) and talked about his philosophy and plans going forward -

New #Astros manager A.J. Hinch: "To know me is to know I like winning. I like to compete. The talent here is evident."

— Houston Astros (@astros) September 29, 2014

Hinch: "The goal is to win championships. It's going to take energy and commitment and great coaches, some of which are already here."

— Brian McTaggart (@brianmctaggart) September 29, 2014

Hinch: "The arrow is pointing in the right direction... The talent is real here."

— Brian McTaggart (@brianmctaggart) September 29, 2014

Hinch: "Do I want to shock the world? Of course I do."

— Brian McTaggart (@brianmctaggart) September 29, 2014

The Astros new manager said he texted back and forth with former Astros manager Bo Porter before taking the job. Porter was a former teammate with Hinch and coach under the Astros kipper while the Diamondbacks.

"I didn't talk directly to Bo. We texted back and forth," Hinch said of former manager Bo Porter, a former teammate and coach under him.

— Jose de Jesus Ortiz (@OrtizKicks) September 29, 2014

Luhnow stated that Brent Strom would be returning in 2015, but didn't say in what capacity. Hinch added:

"Brent Strom, one of the best pitching coaches around, has made great strides," Hinch said.

— Jose de Jesus Ortiz (@OrtizKicks) September 29, 2014

Luhnow stated when he hired Bo Porter, that he wanted Porter around when the Astros start winning. This time he said Hinch will be around when the Astros win a World Series. We will have to wait in see on that.

The Yankees are sending the wrong message to Chase Headley by saying that Alex Rodriguez will be their third baseman

Reuniting with Chase Headley next year makes a lot of sense. He won't be the best option out there with Pablo Sandoval and Hanley Ramirez hitting the free agent market at the same time, but he'll be more reasonable. The team is already constrained by massive contracts for declining veterans like CC Sabathia and Mark Teixeira, but Headley might be the right fit for the Yankees in 2015. It makes perfect sense to bring Headley back; the only complication is Alex Rodriguez. (of course!)

While Headley and the Yankees have yet to officially discuss a possible reunion, it seems that the third baseman is open to coming back. As long as the terms are favorable:

3B Chase Headley reiterated that he loved his time in NY, but wants to play every day, somewhere (1st/3rd/DH). W/ Arod back, could be tough.

— Daniel Barbarisi (@DanBarbarisi) September 28, 2014

Despite having a lousy first half, he ended up hitting .262/.371/.398 with great defense at the hot corner and adding 2.7 WAR for the Yankees. It's definitely earned him the right to start naming his own terms. The problem is that it appears, maybe only in public, that they're welcoming Alex Rodriguez back with open arms and, worst of all, giving him the run of the yard:

Girardi expects A-Rod to be the Yankees' third baseman next season.

— Mark Feinsand (@FeinsandNYDN) September 29, 2014

Whether this is the organization's actual thoughts on the matter or just something to say publicly to downplay the drama, it's still the wrong thing to say. By essentially telling the world that A-Rod already has his spot locked up, it's going to discourage players from wanting to come to the Bronx. While Girardi did also say that they'd have to see how he does in spring training, that's still also far too late to be signing anyone anyway, so that part of the statement really doesn't matter. Declaring A-Rod the starting third baseman right now is only going to push Chase Headley, and any other free agents that could possibly fit the 3B/1B/DH niche, away because their playing time is going to be put at risk by a player that is making a lot more money than them. That will leave the Yankees in another situation where they'll have to rely on someone like Eric Chavez or Kevin Youkilis if they don't just go with Brendan Ryan as the backup third baseman.

The Yankees need Headley, they don't need a 39-year-old Alex Rodriguez who hasn't played a full season in years and didn't play over the last year. They should open their arms for potential additions and make Rodriguez an afterthought. Instead, it feels like the Yankees have already gotten off to a poor start in the 2014-2015 offseason, and while those comments might end up being meaningless in a few months, right now they speak volumes upon volumes to someone like Chase Headley.

Winners of the 2012 World Series, the Giants return to the playoffs against last season's October upstart in the Pirates.

The San Francisco Giants and Pittsburgh Pirates came up short in their respective divisional races during the season, but both are within a win of the NLDS with Wednesday's Wild Card game on tap. San Francisco has won the World Series twice in the last four years and is back in the postseason after missing out in 2013. The Pirates, on the other hand, are returning to October for the second straight campaign following their thrilling run a year ago.

If the Giants will have any advantage Wednesday, it will be because of Madison Bumgarner, who has developed into the club's ace six years into his career. Still just 25, Bumgarner finished the 2014 season with a 2.98 ERA and 3.05 FIP in 217⅓ innings pitched. He struck out more than fives times as many batters as he walked and was also named to his second All-Star team. In six career playoff starts, Bumgarner has a 3.79 ERA.

The Pirates will hand the ball to Edinson Volquez, who has enjoyed a bounce-back year in his first season with Pittsburgh. Following a disastrous tenure with the Padres and Dodgers the past two years, the Pirates signed Volquez last winter, hoping to rejuvenate the once-promising right-hander's career. The result has been a 3.04 ERA over 31 starts, but a strikeout-to-walk ratio that is less than impressive. Volquez's success in 2014 is a credit to the Pirates' coaching staff and front office. But a matchup against Bumgarner and the Giants with Pittsburgh's season on the line will be a tall order.

How to Watch

Where: PNC Park

When: 8:00 p.m. ET

TV: ESPN

Radio: ESPN radio (national) | Pirates radio listings | Giants radio listings

Online streaming:Watch ESPN or the Watch ESPN mobile app

In a season in which quite a lot went wrong for the Rockies, Justin Morneau provided a bright spot for fans.

We'll get to the playoff coverage in a minute, but first some Rockies links and notes as the post mortem of the 2014 season continues.

Injuries take their toll on Rockies in tough season | rockies.com

Thomas Harding writes about the effect injuries had on the Rockies in 2014. It's a sordid tale of finger aliens, bat vibrations, and so many broken body parts. One of these days this offseason we'll have to list all of the 2014 injuries and rank them somehow. Harding also looks at some of the things that went right for the Rockies and writes down some superlatives for the 66-96 squad he spent all year covering.

One of the things that went very right for the Rockies in 2014 was the play of free agent acquisition Justin Morneau at first base. Not only did Morneau win the NL batting title (an accomplishment cheapened somewhat by his home park, but still impressive), he's going to Japan as part of a MLB All-Star team to play some Japanese All-Stars in a five game series. USA!

Furthermore, Morneau has been nominated as Colorado's representative for the Hank Aaron award, a fan-voted award for the best offensive player in each league. I think that Troy Tulowitzki, even in his reduced role this year, would have been a better choice, but Morneau is absolutely worthy of recognition for the season he just had. You can vote for the award at this link through Sunday.

In any case, Morneau represents an interesting case this offseason - after all, he's just the kind of player that a team hoping to contend for the playoffs is looking for. He's a respected veteran on a reasonable contract who plays good defense at first base - it's a luxury for a 66 win team like the Rockies, but then again, it's up to the powers that be to determine if Colorado will be going for it in 2015. If nothing happens with Morneau this offseason, that will be an indication that the team is committed to putting a competitive team on the field in 2015. Whether they succeed is an entirely different question.

Affiliation Shuffle: The Radio Guy’s Perspective – The Hardball Times

The radio announcer for Colorado's new AAA affiliate, the Albuquerque Isotopes, writes about what it's like for employees of a minor league team that switches affiliations.

MLB Playoffs Coverage

In last night's play-in thriller extra inning win over the Oakland A's, Kansas City Royals fans under the age of 30 have their Rockies game 163 in 2007 moment. My advice to Royals fans: enjoy every last moment of the playoffs, soak in the ecstasy of winning that game. Just look at the WPA graph! For A's fans...well, you'll have to talk to Padres fans about how it feels to have a gut-punch loss in a play-in game. Probably like a gut punch, I would imagine. I can only hope that Giants fans will be able to tell us all about it this time tomorrow.

Royals, A's and the maddening nature of baseball - SBNation.com

That Grant Brisbee's at it again. He does a wonderful job of defining the undefinable - the nature of baseball and how it manifested itself yet again in last night's game.

Were the Royals proven right about the James Shields trade? - SBNation.com

Brisbee asked this simple question before yesterday's marathon game. As a reminder, the Royals traded for play-in starter James Shields and shutdown reliever Wade Davis before last season and parted with Wil Myers, who was the AL Rookie of the Year in 2013, among other pieces. The poll results lean toward yes, though I would still say no. Who's to say that the Royals wouldn't have made the playoffs (or better, won the division) with Myers and without Shields this year? Failing that, the Royals would still have Myers under team control for another five years. In this case, I think it's a case of bad process, decent outcome.

NL 2014 Wild Card Game Preview: Giants vs. Pirates Q&A - SBNation.com

Now that the AL playoff field has been reduced to four, it's time to turn our attention to the NL side as the Giants and Madison Bumgarner travel to Pittsburgh to take on Edinson Volquez (?!?) and the Pirates. Read Brisbee's preview to achieve enlightenment on the subject.

Purple Row will be of course providing playoff news and analysis as well as daily game threads for those who can bear to watch other people be happy. Stay tuned and commiserate with fellow Rockies fans about the success of others!

Going into the final day of the 2006 season, the Padres and Dodgers were tied for the NL West lead with twin 87-74 records. A win would ensure the Padres the division, regardless of what the Dodgers did; San Diego owned the tiebreaker thanks to their dominance in the season series against Los Angeles. Likewise, the Padres could have gotten away with losing if the Dodgers lost, but that was not an issue as the Dodgers beat the Giants to put the pressure on.

Regardless of the Dodgers' victory, it looked like the Friars were poised to stroll into the postseason after they jumped out to a huge lead over Arizona in the fourth inning. San Diego got on the board in the first when Adrian Gonzalez singled and Mike Piazza doubled him home.  With the score still 1-0, Gonzalez led off the fourth with his second single and Piazza once again followed up with a double. Gonzalez didn't score from first that time, but no matter. He scored his and the team's second run three pitches later when Diamondbacks starter and that year's Cy Young Award winner Brandon Webb threw a wild pitch past receiver Chris Snyder. Webb struck out Russell Branyan and Terrmel Sledge, but then his wheels came off. The next six Padres batters reached base. Geoff Blum, Josh Barfield, and starting pitcher Woody Williams singled, followed by walks to Dave Roberts and Brian Giles. Gonzalez doubled for his second hit of the inning, and by the time Piazza struck out for the third out, the Padres were up 7-0.

Arizona got on the board in the bottom of the fourth on a solo homer by Craig Counsell, and scored another run on a sacrifice fly in the fifth. They got within slam-range in the bottom of the seventh, when Williams allowed a two-run home run to Chad Tracy which narrowed the score to 7-4. Two batters later, rookie outfielder Carlos Quentin mashed a drive deep to right that had home run written all over it, but Brian Giles used his glove to erase that writing, making an incredible catch.

After both teams traded zeros in the eighth inning and the Padres failed to tack on any insurance in the top of the ninth, recently crowned all-time saves leader Trevor Hoffman came in to record number 482. He got obnoxious false-hustler Eric Byrnes to pop out before Tracy made the score 7-5 with his second homer run in as many at-bats. That score lasted for all of three pitches, as Conor Jackson added one of his own. Hoffman walked Quentin, who was then forced at second on a grounder by Snyder for the second out. Pinch-hitter Alberto Callaspo then grounded to second, and that's when the confusion broke loose.

This really seems like something MLB Multimedia would have a clip of, but they just had dead links and I couldn't find one anywhere else. In place of that, here's a succinct retelling from the AP recap:

Pinch-runner Chris Young was on first base when Alberto Callaspo hit a two-out grounder to second baseman Josh Barfield, whose throw pulled Gonzalez off first base.

But Gonzalez alertly threw to second in time to get Young, who slipped as he let the grounder get past him. Second base umpire Larry Poncino originally signaled safe when shortstop Khalil Greene failed to tag Young, then changed the call on a forceout when Bochy protested.

I remember going from sheer "even when things go right, they go wrong" frustration to amazed jubilation when the umpiring crew corrected the call, something that happened much less frequently in those pre-replay caveman days. Now if only the umpires could have gotten the final call right one year to the day later...

The game last night in Kansas City was certainly great, but it doesn't have anything on the classic that took place at Coors Field seven years ago today.

As I watched what many called an instant classic last night between the A's and Royals at Kaufmann Stadium, my mind couldn't help but wander to a similar game in Denver seven years ago. In fact, I tweeted as much as the AL Wild Card playoff was unfolding.

I'd say I've never seen anything like this, but I was at a game like this seven years ago.

— Jordan Freemyer (@jfreemyer) October 1, 2014

However, last night's game didn't have a journeyman facing a Cy Young winner, a comeback against one of the greatest closers of all-time, a controversial non-home run call or a team winning their 14th game out of 15 to reach the playoffs, which is why I still rate the Rockies win over the Padres in 2007 as the best one-game playoff in baseball history.

I remember being at that game like it was yesterday, but I honestly had to look up the final score of the 2007 tiebreaker because when you were there at Coors Field, it didn't matter if it was 2-1 or 9-8, all that mattered was that the Rockies had one more run than the Padres and were going to the playoffs.

Before the one-game Wild Card playoff became a treasured part of MLB's postseason, the Rockies won 13 of their final 14 regular season games in 2007 to force a playoff against San Diego for the NL Wild Card. By virtue of a coin flip, the playoff took place at Coors Field on October 1.

The Padres seemed to have the advantage entering the game, as their rotation was set up so that Jake Peavy, the unanimous NL Cy Young Award winner in 2007, would get the start. As for the Rockies, they had Josh Fogg, who entered the playoff with a 4.79 ERA in 161 2/3 innings. However, Fogg earned the nickname "Dragonslayer" in 2007, having taken down the likes of Roy Oswalt, Curt Shilling, Mike Mussina and Brandon Webb over the course of the season.

Here were the lineups for the tiebreaker that night:

The Rockies got to Peavy in the top of the first, with Kazuo Matsui leading off with a double, which was followed by a Troy Tulowitzki single and a walk to Matt Holliday that loaded the bases for Todd Helton. Peavy did finally retire a batter as Helton flew out to deep center field, but it was enough to score Matsui for the first run of the game. Garrett Atkins then singled home Tulowitzki, giving the Rockies a 2-0 lead before Peavy got out of the inning.

Yorvit Torrealba then extended the Rockies lead to 3-0, lining a 2-1 pitch over the left field fence to lead off the second inning against Peavy.

San Diego battled back in the top of the third, as Fogg gave up singles to Peavy and Scott Hairston sandwiched around a walk to Brian Giles, meaning the bases were loaded with one out for Adrian Gonzalez. Gonzalez, as he did so often in 2007, provided the offense for the Padres, taking Fogg deep to right field for a grand slam, giving San Diego a 4-3 lead.

The Padres loaded the bases a second time in the third, but Brady Clark could only muster an RBI ground out, giving his team a 5-3 lead through two-and-a-half innings.

The Rockies got a run back in the bottom of the third against Peavy, thanks to a solo home run from the best player in franchise history, Helton, who belted the first pitch he saw into the right field stands. They then tied the game in the fourth with Tulo leading the inning off the inning with a double and scoring on Holliday's single to tie the game at five.

Colorado took the lead in the sixth with a second sacrifice fly of the game, this one from Matsui to score pinch hitter Seth Smith, who had tripled.

Controversy then struck in the bottom of the seventh, as the Rockies looked to have extended their lead to 7-5 when Atkins drove a ball to left that looked to have hit a railing beyond the fence in left-center, but was ruled to have hit the yellow line at the top of the fence for a double. As for my opinion of the play, let's just say if we had 2014's replay procedure in 2007, Atkins would have hit a home run and the Rockies win that game 7-6 in nine innings.

Atkins' double did chase Peavy from the game, and reliever Heath Bell stranded him on second, keeping the game at 6-5 through seven frames.

After the controversy, San Diego leveled the score at six in the top of the eighth against Brian Fuentes, who gave up a leadoff single to Geoff Blum and retiring the next two hitters before Giles doubled on a fly ball that fell in over Holliday's head, plating Blum as the tying run.

Neither team threatened again until the top of the 10th, when Rockies reliever Matt Herges issued a two-out walk to Terrmel Sledge and a single to Michael Barrett before retiring Giles to end the inning. Herges again found himself in a jam in the 11th, with two on and one out, but got out of it by inducing a double play ball off the bat of Greene.

The Rockies mounted a two-out rally of their own in the bottom of the 11th, as Helton walked and Jamey Carroll singled, but noted lefty-killer Joe Thatcher struck out Hawpe to end the threat.

The deadlock was finally broken in the top of the 13th as the Rockies brought in their eighth reliever of the night, right-hander Jorge Julio. Julio walked Giles to lead off the inning before giving up a two-run home run to Hairston, giving the Padres an 8-6 lead. Julio then gave up a single to Chase Headley before being removed in favor of Ramon Ortiz, who retired the next three batters to end the inning. (By the way, Ramon Ortiz as the winning pitcher in the 2007 tiebreaker is a great piece of Rockies trivia.)

The good news for the Rockies entering the bottom of the 13th was that they had the top of their order, Matsui, Tulowitzki and Holliday, coming up, but the bad news was they would be facing Trevor Hoffman, who at the time held the MLB record with 524 career saves, including 42 in 2007 to go with a 2.53 ERA. He had also allowed just one baserunner, who was erased on a double play, in five appearances against the Rockies in 2007.

Matsui got the inning started on the right foot, lacing Hoffman's 2-2 pitch into the right-center field gap for his second double of the game, bringing Tulowitzki to the plate as the tying run. Tulowitzki followed Matsui's double with one of his own, cutting the San Diego lead to 8-7 and giving Holliday, whose defensive blunder in the eighth allowed the Padres to tie the game, a chance to be the hero.

Off the bat, it looked like Holliday had hit a two-run, walk off home run, but his line drive hit the out-of-town scoreboard in right field as Giles crashed into it and the Rockies' left fielder wound up at third with an RBI triple, tying the game at eight. Hoffman then intentionally walked Helton to set up the right-on-right matchup with Carroll.

After a mound visit from Padres manager Bud Black, Carroll hit Hoffman's first pitch into shallow right, Giles caught it, and Holliday tagged up from third. The throw beat the runner, but Barrett never caught it cleanly, Holliday was safe and the Rockies were in the playoffs, having won 14 of their last 15 games to get there.

Obviously what the Rockies did next, sweeping their way to the pennant, makes the win over the Padres that much more special, but that one-game playoff was a classic on its own merit. The Kansas City win last night was a great game no doubt, but for me, it wasn't as good as the game in 2007, especially if the Royals flame out in the Division Series against the Angels.

The Rockies-Padres tiebreaker in 2007 remains the greatest game I've ever seen, in person or otherwise, and it will take something truly epic to knock it off its perch. Here's hoping we get more October baseball in Colorado sooner rather than later.

Our first of what should be many official trips back to the past takes us to the dark ages of the '80s, when the Atlanta Braves, San Diego Padres, Braves fans, and Atlanta police all got involved in one of the biggest brawls in baseball history

Ah, the 1980's. The time of music that tried too hard to sound futuristic, fashion that looked like something you'd see in an episode of The Jetsons, and the decade where this guy won a Super Bowl. What a fun time to be alive -- unless you were a Braves fan, then the Summer was mostly a time of misery and sadness because the team didn't do much winning in the '80s. In fact, the team only had 2 winning seasons and only 1 divisional title in the entire decade, and 1984 wasn't one of them. In fact, 1984 was sort of familiar to 2014 for the Braves: Not much offense (their run production fell off a cliff compared to the 1983 squad), and they finished a few games under .500 and a distant 2nd place. If a Braves fan fell into a coma after the 1984 season and woke up recently, they'd probably want to go back to sleep because they'd figure that nothing had changed.

However, August 12th, 1984 ended up being anything but a typical day at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium. For starters, the Braves won so that made it a special day in the '80s since that was a relatively rare occurrence, but what happened during the game made the result nearly inconsequential. The 1st place Padres came into town in their funky brown-and-gold uniforms with hopes to bury the Braves 10+ games deep in the NL West (as an aside, remember when the Braves played in the Western Division? Good Lord, what an archaic time). They didn't accomplish that (though they did eventually end up winning the West with no problem and eventually made it to the World Series), but they did end up making history by participating in one of the most infamous brawls in the long history of Major League Baseball.

The game itself started off on the wrong foot (or right foot, if you're here solely to enjoy the fisticuffs), as Braves starter Pascual Perez drilled Padres lead-off man Alan Wiggins right in the back in the top of the 1st. Since those cosmic "Unwritten Rules" were still in the process of being written at the time (just as they are now), the Padres decided that they wouldn't get revenge by beaning the Braves' best player (Dale Murphy, who deserved better. Not just in this game, but in his entire Braves career. The Murph Dog deserved better.). Instead, the Padres decided to get back at the source, so they decided to try to bean Perez not just for his next at-bat, but for the rest of the entire game.

Here's the result of the first time the Padres threw at Perez, which came in the 2nd inning. They missed him, but the tone had been set, and at this point, Pascual Perez was 'bout that life.

Perez had a couple of great seasons as a pitcher for the Braves, but he was never a good hitter. With that being said, he looked like he was ready to go Babe Ruth on the next Padre that stepped to him. But that was the extent of the drama at that point. The benches cleared, there was a little pushing and shoving, but nothing crazy had happened. At least not yet.

The 4th inning arrived, Perez came back up to bat, and like clockwork, Padres pitcher Ed Whitson threw a heater aimed for Perez's ribcage. With the all of the grace of a gazelle in the wild, Perez avoided the projectile, and we got our first two ejections of the game as both Whitson and the manager, Dick Williams got the hook. The Padres were down 2 members of their team, also down by 3 runs, and had failed on their first 2 attempts to plunk Perez.

The 3rd attempt on Pascual Perez's midsection came in the 6th inning, which is when Greg Booker tried his luck. Again, Perez used his lithe frame to avoid the beanball, but Booker and acting- Padres manager Ozzie Virgil both received trips to the showers. However, that was after the first brawl of the game broke out. I haven't found the video of the fight that took place in this inning, but most reports around the internet tend to indicate that it was a garden variety baseball fight (unlike the next 2 [yes, 2] fights that had yet to happen on this day). Meanwhile, the Padres wouldn't get another chance at vengeance until the bottom half of the 8th.

In that fateful 8th inning, Perez came up to bat once again. By this point, the game was well in hand for the Braves and Perez was pitching a beauty in the midst of all the heated tensions. All of that beauty went out of the window in this inning, which is when Craig Lefferts succeeded where the 3 previous Padres pitchers had failed: He finally beaned Perez, and plunked him right on the elbow. That touched off Brawl #2, which was A) by far the nastiest of the day's brawls and B) one where full video evidence of the entire fight still exists!

During all of the hullabaloo, it's interesting to note that both Lefferts and Perez had moved out of the way. It's especially hilarious because back in the 2nd inning, Pascual Perez was ready to bop someone with his bat, but now he's decided that he wants no parts of this thing. Maybe it was because he had Typical 80s Villain Champ Summers barreling down on him, ready to throw hands. Seriously, look at this dude:

He looks like he's ready to go back to San Diego so that he can hatch a plan to tear down the youth rec center for at-risk kids so that he can build a mini-mall on top of it. Yes, I'm judging a guy from 30 years ago based on a grainy still taken from a video, and I feel absolutely no regret about the matter.

Anyways, while it seemed like Perez was through with the trifles of fisticuffs, Ol' Champ wasn't, and he sprinted to the Braves dugout in an attempt to flat-out get Perez. He was cut off at the entrance to the dugout by the lavishly coiffed Bob Horner (who was on the DL!), and that's when 2 fans decided that enough was enough and they took this opportunity to attack Summers. This led to the players on both teams banding together to get the idiots off of the field so that they could go back to being idiots, themselves. It was complete chaos. Once the smoke cleared, both the Padres and Braves sustained multiple ejections, and there were 2 fans taken from stadium in handcuffs. Amazingly, this was not the end!

The top of the 9th came along and the Braves decided that it was their turn for beanball revenge. Donnie Moore drilled the first batter he saw right in the back. That batter was Graig Nettles. In the featured video above, you can see Nettles do a bit of a spin after he got drilled. I'd like to think that he was using that pirouette to contemplate whether or not he'd kick off Round 3. Either way, he made the decision to charge the mound. As you can see, this was not a wise decision for Graig Nettles to make.

Round 3 of this now-legendary brawl almost spilled into the stands, which is when the gloriously-named Kurt Bevacqua tried to enter the stands to fight some fans who had slung beer on him. This was after Bevacqua stormed the field throwing haymakers left and right as if he were Bane in "The Dark Knight Rises." Clearly this wonderfully-named Padre was all the way turnt up for this one. Fortunately, that was the last of the fighting, as the game ended shortly after that, The Braves ended up winning 5-1, but I'm pretty sure that not a single soul cared about the result of the game after that harrowing experience.

As dumb as I find beanball and "unwritten rules" to be, I can't lie: This. Was. Awesome. This wasn't one of those typical baseball fights where it's just a bunch of pushing, shoving, and cussing while announcers get indignant over the air. This was a good ol' fashioned donnybrook, and if you're going to have one of these, you may as well go all the way. The Braves and the Padres certainly did 30 years ago, and it's a true testament to the quality of this near-riot that we're still talking about it and watching video of it to this day. If you're reading this and you were actually there or watched it live on TV, please don't be afraid to share your experience of that day, because I'm sure it was crazy for everybody involved, even the spectators.

The Braves may not have won much in that decade, but at least they have this wild moment to look back on.  Now, enjoy this image of Hall of Famer Joe Torre in the throes of balding even 30 years ago.

The other day I received a plain white envelope in the mail with the return address of "P. Jagoff". At first I thought it was a letter from my cousin who lives in Quebec, Pierre Luc Jagoff, but that wasn't the case because it was mailed from California. That, and I don't have a cousin who lives in Quebec, let alone one named Pierre Luc Jagoff.

It turned out to be from Pedro S. Jago-- I'm sorry, I misread that. It's actually from Padres Jagoff: everyone's favorite source of pictures of Dodgers players with MSPaint-ed male members spraying their faces, and then some. An example of that signature artwork was present on the back of the envelope.

As much as I appreciate a good image of one of those doing that, I was more interested in the contents of the envelope. It contained three incredible cards -- one relic and two autographs -- but today I'm going to focus on just the most recently released one.

This is only my second Tommy Medica card, and it's about 832 times cooler than the one I already had, for obvious reasons. It's his 2014 Topps Finest Rookie Autograph issue. Aside from the fact that it's autographed by Tommy, which is cool enough in and of itself, it's actually a nice-looking card. I haven't always been the biggest fan of Finest, but this year's edition relegated the more garish aspects to the borders while still maintaining the iridescence and layers we've come to expect.

Where it gets really interesting is on the back.

Medica is listed as a catcher on this card even though he has only played five pro games behind the plate, most recently in 2012, when he caught one game as a member of the High-A Lake Elsinore Storm. Oddly, his 2014 Topps base card was released before this one but lists him as a first baseman.

The final quirk is a result of the numbering system Topps has adopted for its relic and autographed cards. They go with the initials of the insert set, followed by the player's initials. This Rookie Autograph card of Tommy Medica therefor gives us a card "number" of RA-TM. As a fan of Rage Against The Machine, I think that might be my favorite thing about this card.

Okay, second-favorite. I got a little carried away there for a second.

Eric Stults is a 34-year-old average starting pitcher who is in his last year of arbitration before being eligible to hit free agency. While the market for him might be shallow now, a simple change in his pitching repertoire could open up some doors.

Eric Stults has a vast repertoire of pitches. According to Brooks Baseball, he throws a four-seam fastball, a changeup, a slider and a curveball, while very rarely mixing in a sinker and a slow curve. Even for a starting pitcher, that's a lot of pitches.

But that doesn't mean they're all worth throwing, and this piece is about a pitch he shouldn't be using, hence the title.

Stults' curveball is terrible. There's no other way to say it, really. Of the 77 qualified pitchers identified by FanGraphs as those who throw curveballs, Stults' curve has been worth the fewest number of runs in 2014 -- -12.7. It wasn't as bad in 2013, but it was still only worth -7.8 runs, which is obviously still dreadful. His curveball is Randy Wolf-esque and averages 67.8 mph; only Henderson Alvarez throws a slower curve.

Stults talked to Corey Brock of MLB.com about his curveball before the commencement of the 2013 season.

"I always had a fastball, changeup and slider, but the curveball wasn't a pitch I started throwing until the last couple of years. But now, being able to mix in a fourth pitch for strikes has helped me and kept me going."

He didn't start relying heavily on his curveball until the 2012 season, and hasn't really shied away from it yet despite it getting worse every year. I would argue that, contrary to what Stults said, his curveball is actually holding him back.

Let's look at some charts.

Hitters have feasted on Stults' curveball during the last two years. A .415 isolated slugging is just nonsense. Stults cut back on his curveball usage a bit this season compared to 2013, but part of that can be explained by the fact he threw 27 fewer innings.

Now, let's look at his vertical release point when he throws a curveball and see if we find anything telling.

Stults' vertical release point dropped two inches in 2014 after staying relatively steady the past two years. This is unusual. A curveball usually requires a higher release point in order to get the type of break it requires. This could explain Stults' curveball struggles.

He doesn't need a curveball to have success. His changeup, which was his best pitch this season (4.5 wCH) and most used behind his fastball, does a nice job taking pressure off his low velocity fastball, and his slider has been worth positive runs throughout his career. Adding a pitch, such as the curveball, just to expand the number of pitches in an arsenal is fruitless, especially when it's not even an effective pitch. And that's essentially what Stults did.

If Stults wants to continue throwing the curveball, he needs to mix it in a lot more sparingly. He definitely doesn't need it to remain a mediocre pitcher, which he's been his entire career. But he can be less mediocre if he forgets about his curveball.

. . .

All statistics courtesy of FanGraphs and Brooks Baseball.

Justin Schultz is a Featured Writer at Beyond the Box Score. You can follow him on Twitter at @JSchu23.

Corey Kluber was the best pitcher in baseball in 2014. He was never a top prospect. Were there any clues in his profile that this could happen?

According to Fangraphs WAR, the best pitcher in Major League Baseball in 2014 was Corey Kluber of the Cleveland Indians, with a 7.3 WAR.  Not everyone likes WAR as a metric, but even if you prefer a more traditional approach, his numbers were undeniable: 18 wins to lead the American League, 2.44 ERA, 269 strikeouts in 236 innings, just 205 hits and 51 walks, 152 ERA+, and a league-best 2.35 FIP.

Now the funny thing here is that Kluber's 2013 season (2.8 WAR in 147 innings) was already considered a great example of a sleeper waking up. He's not just awake now; he obtained a zenith of baseball consciousness that few pitchers reach.

Okay, so where the heck did this one come from?

Kluber was a fourth round pick in 2007 out of Stetson University in Florida, drafted by the San Diego Padres. He was quite effective in college, posting a 2.05 ERA with a 117/36 K/BB ratio in 114 innings with just 90 hits allowed.

Keep in mind that this was before the NCAA adopted less-potent metal bats: that was a very, very good performance. Also note that Kluber came out of Stetson University, the same school that produced New York Mets surprise Jacob deGrom this year.

While Kluber performed well in college, his stock was hampered a bit by a high school injury, a stress fracture that required the insertion of a metal pin in his throwing arm. He pitched well in his pro debut, posting a 3.51 ERA with a 33/15 K/BB in 33 innings for Eugene in the Northwest League. Here's the book comment for 2008:

Corey Kluber’s excellent spring for Stetson University garnered him a spot in the fourth round of the ’07 draft. A four-pitch starter, he has a 90-93 MPH fastball, a curveball, a slider and a changeup. While none of his pitches are terrific, none of them are bad, either. He held his own in his pro debut, and if he can sharpen his command a bit more, he could be a surprise in ’08. Kluber, along with fifth round Padres pick Jeremy Hefner out of Oral Roberts, is a possible breakthrough guy. Grade C+.

He got off to a good start with a 3.21 ERA and a 72/13 K/BB in 56 innings for Low-A Fort Wayne in '08, but found the going much rougher after moving up to the California League, with a 6.01 ERA and a 75/34 K/BB in 85 innings with 93 hits allowed for Lake Elsinore. Kluber still struck hitters out at a decent clip, but the league environment is awful tough in the Cal and scouting reports weren't very enthusiastic.

I had him as a Grade C type entering 2009 and did not put him in my book.

Kluber posted a 4.54 ERA in 109 innings for Lake Elsinore in 2009 with a 124/36 K/BB, followed by a 4.60 ERA with a 35/34 K/BB in 45 innings for Double-A San Antonio. The K/IP rate in the Cal League was excellent, but his ratios were much worse after he moved up. He did not make it into the 2010 book, although the strikeout rate showed some promise. Nowadays I would be more likely to find room for someone like him, in part because of the example that Kluber himself set.

He returned to San Antonio to open 2011 and performed much better, with a 3.45 ERA and a 136/40 K/BB in 123 innings. He was traded to the Indians in late July and continued to pitch effectively for Double-A Akron and Triple-A Columbus.

I should definitely have included him in the 2011 book, but failed to do so. Baseball America did not make that mistake, ranking him 26th on their Indians prospect list entering 2011.

2011 was a strange year. He posted a 5.56 ERA for Columbus, obviously not good, giving up 153 hits in 151 innings with a 143/70 K/BB. He made his major league debut with four relief innings for Cleveland.

Entering 2012 there was no objective reason to be impressed. Baseball America dropped him out of their Indians prospect list, but when I saw him pitch in person something caught me eye, so he went back into the 2012 book with the following comment:

Kluber was a fourth round pick by the Padres out of Stetson in 2007. The Indians picked him up in 2010 as part of a three-way trade involving Jake Westbrook. Kluber has average stuff: 88-93 MPH fastball, decent slider, decent changeup. He has this little hook-hitch in his delivery that helps his stuff play up, and he’s always had good strikeout rates. A little kink can take some people a long way. Kluber is not spectacular but he can eat innings. With some command improvements he could be a useful utility pitcher. Grade C.

He showed those improvements in 2012, with a 3.59 ERA and a much better 128/49 K/BB in 125 innings for Columbus. He held his own (4.29 FIP) in 63 innings with the Indians. As noted he pitched pretty well in '13 and was truly outstanding this season.

***There was statistical evidence that Kluber was a sleeper type well before he reached the majors, back when he was in college and A-ball, as noted in the old reports.

***It took several years for that to fully manifest, but even when he struggled at times, he maintained good strikeout rates.

***His velocity has picked up; he gets his fastball up to 97 MPH these days, averaging about 93, up a good 3-4 MPH from earlier in his career.

***Even more important than the velocity is an improved breaking ball, as pointed out by Jeff Sullivan a few weeks ago. Kluber's work ethic and constant adjustments are also a major factor as Sullivan points out.

***Looking at every piece of video I can find, including this extensive multi-angle view from Indians Baseball Insider dating back to 2012, I'm not seeing the hooky action in his delivery I mentioned a couple of years ago. Either he smoothed that out, it was a one-game aberration that I just happened to see, it was an optical illusion, or it was an hallucination on my part.


The bottom line: even the most-optimistic appraisals of Kluber did not come close to predicting this type of dominance. Even when he was considered a sleeper, Kluber looked more like an inning-eater than an ace.

That said, in my view Kluber is for real, maybe not Cy Young quality every year but certainly a legitimately excellent pitcher.

We've looked at several of these sleepers lately and we'll have a summary article shortly, looking for commonalities.

Cuban prospects Roenis Elias of the Seattle Mariners and Odrisamer Despaigne of the San Diego Padres both pitched solidly in their big league debuts this year.

Two of the more successful rookie pitchers in Major League Baseball this year were Roenis Elias of the Seattle Mariners and Odrisamer Despaigne of the San Diego Padres. Neither Cuban defector received a great deal of pre-season attention, but both performed well enough to solidify their roles on big league pitching staffs for 2015.

A reader recently asked for a take on both pitchers, so here's a look.

Roenis Elias signed by the Mariners as a free agent in May of 2011. He pitched 48 innings that year between rookie ball and the Midwest League, posting a combined 4.28 ERA with a 41/21 K/BB ratio. At age 23, he was quite anonymous at the time.

That began to change in 2012: he made 26 starts for High Desert in the High-A California League, posting 3.76 ERA with a 128/41 K/BB in 141 innings. Keep in mind that this was at High Desert, which is a terrible place to pitch. Here is the comment from the 2013 Baseball Prospect Book:

SLEEPER ALERT!! Elias is a Cuban defector signed by the Mariners in 2011. He’s received almost no attention, but he had a really nice year in the California League, not an easy thing to do when pitching for High Desert. He’s a thin lanky lefty with an average fastball, but his curveball is very good, he throws strikes, knows how to pitch, and is said to perform very well under pressure. It remains to be seen if he’s a future fifth starter, relief option, or just a minor league inning soaker, but anyone who survives High Desert with his confidence (and his statistics)  intact needs to be watched closely in Double-A, whether or not he shows up on top prospect lists. Grade C but very interesting.

Elias lived up to the sleeper alert and followed up with a fine '13 campaign, posting a 3.18 ERA with a 121/50 K/BB in 130 innings for Double-A Jackson in the Southern League. That led to this comment entering 2014, written in early April due to the delay in the book this year:

I had Roenis Elias as a Sleeper Alert! guy last year based on his ’12 performance at High Desert. The Cuban defector ended up having a strong ’13 season in Double-A and opened ’14 in the Mariners big league rotation. Despite this, he has received little attention from mainstream sources. Elias has an 88-92 MPH fastball that hits 93-94 at times. He has a curve, slider, and changeup, with the curve being the best of the group. Although his command has held up in the minors thus far, he comes at hitters from different arm angles, which confuses hitters as much as it turns off scouts who (understandably) want to see a guy repeat his delivery and prove he can throw strikes. While Elias doesn’t have the upside of a Taijuan Walker or James Paxton, he has a chance to be a decent back-end starter or bullpen asset despite (or maybe because of) his unconventionality. He’s looked good in big league action so far this spring. Grade C+.

Elias went 10-12, 3.85 in 29 starts for the Mariners this year, with a 4.03 FIP, 143/64 K/BB in 164 innings, ERA+ 95, 1.40 WAR. Although not ace-quality, it was a worthy debut season and I think it is an exactly fair representation of his ability.

The problem now is health: his season ended early with an elbow injury, a "strained flexor bundle."  IF he is healthy, I think we can expect more of the same type of pitching from him in the future, but we'll have to see what happens with his arm.

Odrisamer Despaigne got even less fanfare than Elias did. The Padres signed the 27-year-old Cuban in early May for $1,000,000, a price which was regarded as excessive by some clubs given a fastball that is usually around 90. He made seven tuneup starts in the minors then entered the Padres rotation in June. He made 16 starts for San Diego with solidly decent results, posting a 3.36 ERA in 96 innings, 65/32 K/BB, 3.74 FIP, 0.7 WAR, ERA+ 100.

Like Elias, Despaigne doesn't burn radar guns and tops out around 94, but he has a wide assortment of secondary pitches from which to choose including a change-up, a slider, and a slow breaking pitch as low as 62 MPH.

In comparison, Elias gets more strikeouts, but also gives up more walks; Despaigne doesn't generate as many whiffs as Elias, but has better control and gets more grounders.

Although their styles are a bit different, the overall results were very similar in terms of value, with ERAs around league-average and extremely close xFIP marks (3.95 for Elias vs. 4.01 for Despaigne). Elias generated 1.4 WAR in 164 innings, Despaigne 0.7 in 96 innings, which pro-rated comes out to 1.2 WAR if he'd pitched as many innings as Elias.

Overall, I don't think either guy is a fluke: both are capable of being league-average starting pitchers, eating innings and filling a fourth or fifth spot in a rotation for most teams. The main glitch at this point is Elias' elbow trouble.

Bringing back Headley could spell the end of Alex Rodriguez's run as the Yankees' third baseman.

The Yankees' infield has been mired in uncertainty over the past couple years, so it makes sense that the club is considering re-signing third baseman Chase Headley (per CBS Sports' Jon Heyman), who was quite good for New York after coming over in a mid-season trade with the San Diego Padres. The 30-year-old Headley is currently scheduled to reach the open market at the end of the month.

Headley hit just .243/.328/.372 with 13 home runs this season, though those numbers are slightly suppressed by him playing a large number of games at the pitcher-friendly Petco Park. Adjusted for ballpark, Headley hit for a more notable 102 OPS+ and 103 wRC+, and combined with some solid defense, he wound up posting a 4.4 fWAR season, the second highest tally of his career.

Headley was among the brightest players in baseball after a monstrous 7.2-WAR 2012 season that saw him finish fifth in NL MVP voting, but he fell off in 2013, as his OPS+ dropped from 145 to 116 and his WAR fell to 3.6. Headley's decline appeared to be continuing this season, as he posted just a .646 OPS in the first half. However, he turned things around after joining the Yankees, as he had a .768 OPS and 119 OPS+ in pinstripes.

It's unknown exactly how large the market will be for Headley's services this offseason, though his second-half turnaround makes him a likely candidate to receive multiple years. Due to the trade, he is not eligible to receive a qualifying offer, which should bode well for his free agent stock.

Of course, bringing Headley back would likely put Alex Rodriguez, who will be returning from suspension next season, out of a job. Just last week, Yankees' manager Joe Girardi said that he expected Rodriguez to be his starting third baseman next season, so there is reason to be skeptical of just how far the Yankees would be willing to go to retain Headley. If New York does add a third baseman this offseason, it is likely that Rodriguez would become a full-time DH.

Today I received a much-anticipated parcel; it contained 109 (Buck-O-Nine!) cards, the vast majority of which are of Padres. Since those are the ones you want to see, I'll dive right in.

#1 & 2: 1973 Topps - Vicente Romo and Derrel Thomas
Vicente Romo's 1973 Topps card has a fine example of Topps' atrocious airbrushing during that era. The Derrel Thomas card from that set is not retouched, which is good because it's a great photo with a lot going on. First of course are the uniforms. I also noticed that Thomas opted to go for the seldom-seen look of wearing a batting glove only on his top hand. Most one-glovers wore it on their bottom hand. Additionally, the three players whose numbers are visible wore consecutive digits. While this is a 1973 card, the picture was taken in 1972, so number 31 is not Dave Winfield; it's Rafael Robles. Number 32 that year was Jerry Morales. That won't be the last time you'll see Morales.

#3 & 4: 1975 & '76 Topps - Danny Frisella
I didn't have a Danny Frisella card yet, and I couldn't decide between either of these, so I got them both. I can't get enough of 1975 Topps, and it's also airbrushed which adds a few more kitsch points. By the time the 1976 set came out, Topps had taken a proper photo of Frisella as a Friar. You know how nowadays when there's a throwback game, some players will wear their everyday blue accessories under the brown and yellow? Here's an odd twist on that. It was en vogue during this time for players to wear windbreakers under their jerseys for warmups. Since the Padres had never worn blue to that point, I'm assuming Frisella's windbreaker was a holdover from his days with the Braves; he may have even been holding onto it since his Mets years. It reminds me of Ball Four, when Jim Bouton gets permission from the coaches to practice in his old dark-blue Yankees sweatshirts instead of having to buy a bunch of lighter-blue undershirts. Times have changed.

#5: 1970 Topps - Padres Rookie Stars

See, I said you hadn't seen the last of Jerry Morales. He shares this 1970 Topps card with Jim Williams, who I didn't have a card of before. That was the biggest goal of this order: to snag up cards of Padres I had none of. I knocked about 40 off the list. It seems like I would have completed all the Topps Padres team sets from the 1970s, but I keep seeing ones I didn't have before. I guess it hasn't been a priority and I wouldn't notice anyway since I organize cards by player, not by year or set. I do know that if I did decided to complete the team sets from those years it wouldn't be difficult since I know I do have the team checklists from each season. That brings me to my next set of pickups.

#6-16: Various team checklists and six identical 2006 Upper Deck Robert Fick cards
Topps abandoned the team photo team checklists for quite some while, but brought them back around the turn of the century. I played catch-up with these five. The six Robert Fick cards are for an arts-and-crafts project I have up my sleeve.

#17-19: 1981 Fleer - Willy Montanez, Dennis Kinney, and Mike Armstrong
1981 was the year that Donruss and Fleer showed up on the scene and busted up the Topps monopoly. I really like the basic design on Fleer's inaugural set. I needed a card of each of these guys, so even better that they each had a Padres card in this set.

#20 & 21: 1981 Donruss & 1981 Fleer - Dave Winfield
Donruss and Fleer arrived just in time to capture Dave Winfield as a Padre for the first time, for the last time. Note that Fleer reached way back for that photograph; that jersey was worn only in 1978, plus you can see the patch on his sleeve commemorating the 1978 All-Star Game, which took place at San Diego Stadium.

#22 & 23: 1982 & '83 O-Pee-Chee - Garry Templeton and Juan Eichelberger
O-Pee-Chee was Topps' longtime French-Canadian sister set. Typically their sets were identical to that year's Topps, only with the addition of French to go along with English. Since they were released a bit later, they had a chance to make note of some transactions that Topps didn't. I've always had an affinity for cards that list a player as a member of one team but picture them with another, and both of these are great examples of that.

#24-27: Various Ken Caminiti cards
That Pacific card in the top left is my favorite of these four Cammy cards. I previously had just the Joey Cora and Tony Gwynn from this set. The Dugout Axcess card beneath it is garish and ridiculous, as well as printed on thin cardstock, but it's a good document of the times.

#28 & 29: Ken Caminiti and 2011 Topps Jorge Cantu
No, I didn't foul up and count that Ken Caminiti Headliners card twice. I actually got those other four Caminitis for someone else, but liked this one so much I got one for myself. I ordered the Jorge Cantu card because I didn't have any cards of him yet; about an hour after I ordered these cards, I got an unexpected autographed Jorge Cantu Padres card in the mail.

I've liked this Jorge Cantu custom since the first time I saw it on http://t.co/c2qR5agJNX ...thanks, @marcusSDTXpic.twitter.com/UoIo2fZyAX

— Joe Lies (@TheThinGwynn) September 26, 2014

#30-33: Various Tim Stauffer cards
Like the first four Caminiti cards, this batch of Stauffs is only in my possession temporarily. I already had copies of all of them except his 2006 Topps (top right). I should have picked up two copies of that one, but since I've managed to get by this long without one, I think I'll survive until it occurs to me to pick one up for myself.

#34-38: Various Bud Black cards
Topps is a big fan of recycling images, as you can see on his 2007 flagship and 2007 Allen & Ginter's cards. I really like that Topps Micro card of him with the Blue Jays. A small card for a small tenure. The 1984 Fleer shows his mustache in full glory; he needs to pull a Trebek and bring it back. I was thinking that maybe he could do it as a motivational thing; say, if they win ten games in a row or something, he'll grow it back. Black's 1995 Fleer card in the bottom-right corner is from his second stint in Cleveland. I like 1995 Fleer so much that I got a copy of this one for myself, too.

#39-41: Three copies of Lance McCullers' 1988 Topps card
Alright, back to cards I got for myself. For those who don't know, my main collection is Joey Cora cards. I'm out to acquire as many copies of all of his cards. Just Commons had exactly zero Joey Cora cards, because I bought all of the ones they had on my last order, so I cleared them out of cards he cameos on. Several months ago, I mentioned something about Cora being in the background of that Lance McCullers card, and promptly forgot about it. You know who didn't forget about it? Jodes. A couple of weeks ago, she sent me a copy of it, amongst many other things. So, thanks a million for the reminder, along with everything else.

#42 & 43: 2014 Bowman - Jordan Paroubeck and Hunter Renfroe
How bad is that Photoshopping on Jordan Paroubeck's 2014 Bowman card? There's no outline around the unrealistically stretched lettering, and note the lack of "headspoon" piping. Hunter Renfroe's card from the same set is also sloppily 'shopped, but at least they remembered the headspoon.

#44 & 45: 2014 Topps Pro Debut - Travis Jankowski and 2011 Topps Heritage Minors - Jaff Decker
Decker isn't in the organization anymore, and hasn't been for a year, but I still needed a card of him. I chose this Topps Heritage Minors card for multiple reasons; it's a good picture, I don't have many San Antonio Missions cards, and I love the 1962 Topps design. The 2014 Topps design is okay, I guess, but my main takeaway is that Travis Jankowski needs to work on #gains.

#46 & 47: 1992 Classic Best - Sean Mulligan & 1971 Topps - Tommy Dean
No Padres cards exist of two-game wonder Sean Mulligan, so this minor league card will have to work as a place-filler. The 1971 Topps Tommy Dean card is well-worn, but I think I like it better that way. It has character and stories I'll never know; plus, it helps that cards aren't investments to me.

#48: 1982 Topps - Padres Future Stars
Topps' split rookie cards have always been a good source of guys who didn't get many, or even any, cards of their own. This is my first card of Fred Kuhaulua; a brief search suggests it's the only one of him as a Friar. It would have been my first Mike Armstrong card as well, but I also got that 1981 Fleer of him. As for Doug Gwosdz, I have a couple other cards of "Eyechart".

#49 & 50: Kevin Jarvis Brown
When they arrived, these cards of Kevin Jarvis and Jarvis Brown were back-to-back. Well, back-to-front, technically. The point is that they were one-after-the-other, and it was perfect.

#51-53: Early-2000s short-termers
I was glad to find a Roger Deago card, since he's a two-game wonder. The understated Fleer Tradition design isn't half-bad, either. It seemed like I would have already had a Bret Boone card because he was a semi-star in the heart of the overproduction era, but this is my icebreaker. As you might imagine, there were far more Bret Boone cards to choose from than ones of Domingo Guzman.

#54 & 55: 2003 Topps - Gary Bennett and 1997 Donruss - Trey Beamon
I got these just to have one of each guy, but it turned out that I already had a card of Gary Bennett with the Padres. Oh, well. It won't hurt to have another. Beamon was a member of the Padres during the down-year of 1997. He appeared in a career-high 43 games, sandwiched between his debut season with the Pirates and his sunset season with the Tigers.

#56-63: Topps Total, 2002-'05
Topps Total was great. As the name implied, it included a lot of players that got overlooked in other sets. That made it the go-to set for relievers and fringy non-prospects. I'm glad to finally have a Rod Beck from his Padres days, even though it features a fairly awkward photo, presumably of him flipping the ball to first base. Also, how great is that bat-barrel shot of Mark Sweeney?

#64 & 65: 2001 Topps Chrome - Alex Arias and 1993 Fleer Update - Mark Ettles
As you might have suspected, I got these because I didn't have any of either player. I wish I had selected any other card of him, because this one has a bad case of "Chrome curl" In older Topps Chrome cards, they warp outward over time, and it makes them a pain to store. The Ettles card is nice and flat though, so that's nice.

#66-68: 2006 Upper Deck - Dewon Brazelton, Alan Embree, and Vinny Castilla
I used to have copies of all three of these cards, but they somehow fell off the face of the earth. I needed a Dewon Brazelton card; the fact that this one has a sweet bunting shot is just a bonus.

#69-72: Topps, 2007-2009 - Jose Cruz, Michael Barrett, Chip Ambres, and Chris Burke
This 2008 Topps Chip Ambres card is also one I used to have, but the others are new-new to me. I liked Jose Cruz while he was briefly with the Padres in 2007, and have a Michael Barrett road jersey, so it's about time I got Padres cards of them. I don't have any reason to be particularly excited about the Chris Burke card, other than that he's one less Padre I don't have a card of.

#73 & 74: 2008 Topps '52 - Jack Cassel and 2014 Topps Tyson Ross
This seems like an unusual pairing, but I didn't have Padres cards of either of these guys. It's kind of embarrassing that I hadn't gotten around to picking up a card of Tyson Ross, but I do have a couple of cards from his A's tenure if that helps. Jack Cassel didn't have the success of Tyson Ross, but both of them have brothers who throw things for a living. Jack's brother is injured Vikings quarterback Matt Cassel, formerly of the Patriots and Chiefs; Tyson's brother Joe Ross is a minor league pitcher in the Padres organization.

#75: Tim Stauffer 2005 Bowman Game-worn Futures Game USA jersey

I probably should have grouped this with the other Tim Stauffer cards, but it seemed worth saving until the end. One thing I don't like about some game-worn jersey relic cards is when the player is pictured wearing a jersey that doesn't match the swatch. That isn't the case here, as the jersey is the one from that particular one-time-only event.

It wasn't the flashiest or priciest bunch of cards, but I feel like I got the most bang for my buck and covered all the bases I had in mind, and some I didn't.

The Padres already have a Yonder, a Yangervis, and a Yasmani, so "Y" not add a Yasmany? San Diego has shown a strong interest in international free agent Yasmany Tomas; he had already worked out privately for Padres officials once, and Baseball America's Ben Badler reports that the Cuban-born outfielder did so a second time on Sunday.

Back in June, when it became official that Tomas left Cuba to pursue a major league career, Badler wrote a must-read overview of Tomas. In it, he explains that Tomas is exempt from international bonus pools due to being 23 years old and having five years experience in Cuba's Serie Nacional. Essentially, teams are free to pay him what they please without it affecting the amount they can spend on other international signings. Badler also made not that Yasmany's power is rated a 70 on the 20-80 scout's scale, and that he will be a corner outfielder despite having experience in center.

Tomas had a down year this past season after performing well the previous two. From Badler's June article:

During the 2012-13 Serie Nacional regular season that year, Tomas hit .289/.364/.538 with 15 home runs, 34 walks (10 intentional) and 52 strikeouts in 324 plate appearances over 81 games, ranking fifth in the league in slugging and sixth in home runs. That came one year after his breakthrough 2011-12 campaign when he batted .301/.340/.580 with 16 homers in 240 plate appearances over 69 games.

...

This past season in Cuba, which ended with Industriales losing in the semifinals in April, Tomas seemed to regress, even losing playing time in the second half, which one source said was the result of an arm injury he sustained crashing into an outfield wall in February. He finished the season at .290/.346/.450 with six home runs, 21 walks and 46 strikeouts in 257 plate appearances.

Since then, Tomas has taken residency in Haiti and has been working out in the Dominican Republic. Perhaps, oh just perhaps, his next stop might be San Diego.

I was looking at the final 2014 MLB standings and noticed that the Padres had the worst record of all the third-place teams. Meaningful? Barely, if at all! But it did seem notable enough to throw together a bar graph, something I hadn't done in a while.

Mariners fans can take solace in knowing that Seattle's 87-75 record was best among all third-place teams. I don't think any of them will take solace in that, but they can. The Braves and Mets tied for second in the NL East at 79-83, which was not only worst -- by far -- amongst second-place teams, but nearly bad enough for worst of the thirds. So close.

Of first-place teams, the Angels led with 98 wins, while the Tigers and Cardinals tied for the fewest with 90. The Royals paced all runners-up with 89 wins, a full ten more than the Mets and Braves. Both Florida teams tied to lead all fourth-place teams with 77 wins, while the Phillies and Cubs led all the cellar-dwellars with 73 victories apiece. The Rockies and Diamondbacks both had the worst records in their positions, fourth and fifth, respectively.