As the final weeks of outside division play end, the Dodgers increased their lead on all other NL West teams, while the other four teams seem to be set in their final positions with 5+ weeks to go.

TEAM RECAPS:

Diamondbacks: Arizona was 3-3 this week. The Diamondbacks went on the road and took two of three against the NL Central leader Pittsburgh but their good fortune did not continue in Cincinnati, where they lost 2 of 3.

Diamondbacks lost a game to the Dodgers, now trail by 8.5 games. Over the weekend, in Pittsburgh, D-Backs lost their opener but then blew out the Pirates by a 15-5 score. In the finale, the Diamondbacks survived a 16-inning getaway day marathon to take the series. They then traveled to Cincinnati where they lost the opener, came back on Patrick Corbin's masterpiece to win the second game but then got behind early and couldn't catch up in their third game against the Reds.

Rockies: Colorado was 2-4 this past week. They like Arizona and Los Angeles, played on the road during this stretch. Colorado traveled to Baltimore and Philadelphia and found neither very hospitable, going 1-2 in each locale.

In Baltimore, the Rockies started the road trip well winning the first game but then they lost the next two and neither was very close. Then the Rockies went to Philadelphia and gave their new manager, Ryne Sandberg, a chance to balance his books. The Rockies lost the first game by a run and then they won the second game. However, losing the third game meant for the time being, Ryne Sandberg was a .500 manager.

Giants: San Francisco was 4-3 this week. They concluded their series against the Nationals by winning their road finale, then they took their talents to South Beach (Miami), winning two of three before going home to host the Red Sox of Boston and the Giants took only one out of three. The Giants did have a brief 3-game winning streak, their second such streak since the All-Star Break.

The Giants were able to crank up their offense on road, scoring 29 runs in the first four games of this stretch. But then they went back home and scored 4 runs in losing 2 out of 3 to the Red Sox.

Padres: San Diego was 3-4 this week. The Padres were only NL West team to spend this period at home, hosting the Mets and Pirates. The Padres split four with the Mets and then lost the first two against the Pirates before winning the series finale by a run.

The Padres scored 2 or less runs in five of the seven games, losing all but one of those. In the other two games, they outscored the Mets 12 to 5 and won both games.

Dodgers: Los Angeles was 4-2 this week. They traveled to Philadelphia and saw Greinke and Kerhsaw pitch a pair of shutouts. On Sunday, they were held to 2 runs and lost the finale in the bottom of the ninth when Hanley Ramirez made his second error of the inning, that allowed the winning run to score.

They then flew down to Miami facing Rookie of the Year candidate, Jose Fernandez in the first game. Fernandez was great, though the Dodgers had their chances, Miami scored some excess runs off the bullpen to win going away. Yasiel Puig had an interesting Tuesday that was highlighted by a game untying home run in the 8th inning to lead the Dodgers to a series evener. The Dodgers then won game 3 on a solid performance by all involved.

WHAT'S IN STORE FOR THESE TEAMS NEXT WEEK?

Diamondbacks: Road finale against the Reds, three in Philadelphia against the Phillies, host the Padres for three

Rockies: Game 4 of their road set against the Phillies, three in Miami, host the Giants for three

Giants: Four games against the Pirates, three games on the road against the Rockies

Padres: Day off, Three games hosting the Cubs, three in Arizona

Dodgers: Finale in Miami, hosting Red Sox for three, hosting the Cubs for three

OVERALL PLAYER OF THE WEEK:

Zack Greinke won two games on the road, pitching 15.1 innings, 1 run, 9 hits, 4 walks, 10 strikeouts.

BEST INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCE:

Juan Uribe went 3 for 3 with a single, double and home run plus a walk, scored 2 runs and drove in 3 runs in the Dodgers 5-0 win in Philadelphia.

OVERALL TEAM OF THE WEEK:

The Los Angeles Dodgers for the sheer continuance of winning, the Dodgers are now 44-10 in their last 54 games (prior to Thursday's day game), a 132 win pace for a full season. They have a final stretch of 7 games in the coming week outside of their division, that will conclude a 39-game run of such games, as of this writing, they are 27-5 in the first 32 of those games.

WORST INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCE OF THE WEEK:

Barry Zito is in the final year of his contract with the Giants, so a final countdown surely has begun there. Zito started against the Red Sox in a Wednesday matinee and didn't make it out of the 4th, going 3.2 innings, allowing 6 runs, 7 hits, walked 2 and struck out 3 in a 12-1 loss.

Tony Gwynn interview with Darren Smith (MP3)

• "Ichiro is a great hitter. He's done some things in the game that have never been done before, but you can't combine his hits in the Japanese league with his hits in the Major Leagues.  Yeah, okay he's gotten to 4000, but to compare him with Pete Rose or Ty Cobb or put him in the same category with those two guys?  I don't think it's right, but I understand it."
• Gwynn says we should be celebrating the fact that he's gotten to his number of major league hits faster than anyone else.  "He's in a class all by himself, nobody has gotten there as quickly as he has."
• "As far as I'm concerned he's got two thousand seven hundred and whatever." -Tony Gwynn
  The Padres and Mariners shared a Spring Training Complex in Gwynn's last year and Ichiro's first. Gwynn thought it'd take a few years for him to figure out American pitching but it didn't.
• There was a sentiment in the Major Leagues at the time that they hoped Ichiro would fail.  Japanese hitters weren't getting the same respect as guys from Latin American countries.  Ichiro changed that.
  
• "Ichiro's style is completely different than anybody I've ever seen.  His bat control is better than anyone I've ever seen." 
  
• Gwynn always thought that he had to be able to do other stuff well as a "Punch and Judy" hitter and Ichiro brought all kinds of stuff to the table.
• Gwynn heard criticism that he was a selfish hitter because he wouldn't walk.  Ichiro may get the same criticism.  "I'm sure he's heard that a lot in his career."  Brett Boone told Gwynn that Ichiro's Mariners teammates would make critical comments thinking Ichiro wouldn't understand or hear about it, but it would get back to him.  Jack Clark's critical comments to Gwynn hurt, but helped him grow up.
  
• Ichiro will "absolutely" go to the Hall of Fame eventually.
• "You just can't combine his Japanese hits and say he's a 4000 hit guy. I don't."  "Again, that's not a knock, I get it."
• Gwynn watched ESPN last night and they had Ichiro in front of Cobb and Rose and Gwynn groaned.

With the Blue Jays making it quite apparent that they're fine not putting up much of a fight as the season winds down, the only thing left to do is start watching the standings and predicting where the team's second draft pick of the first round will be. Although I don't believe management has told the team to start losing every game, the performance on the field doesn't inspire much confidence. Combined with the fact that watching some sort of a race between different teams in the Major Leagues is fun, it's clear it won't be a playoff race we're following so it will have to be a draft pick race. Without further ado, here is the bottom part of the standings before play on this Friday afternoon:

With focus on the top ten teams' (Philadelphia and San Diego are tied for that spot) upcoming weekend series, here is a short preview of what to watch for and expect.

Philadelphia

The Phillies play hosts to Arizona this weekend as the Diamondbacks are still holding on to a slight glimmer of hope that they might be able to catch the NL Central teams for a wildcard berth. Tonight's pitching match-up features Cole Hamels going up against Wade Miley in a good contest. Another one of Arizona's great young pitchers, Patrick Corbin, gets the start for the D-Backs in the Sunday matinee. The Phillies have won two games in a row, while the Diamondbacks have lost two in a row. Series Prediction: 2 out of 3 for Arizona

San Diego and Chicago Cubs

The Padres welcome the Chicago Cubs to town in a 10th worst vs. 4th worst weekend series that sees a battle of underperforming  "aces" take the hill tonight in the form of Edison Volquez against Edwin Jackson. Andrew Cashner goes up against his former team on Sunday in the middle of a pretty solid season for the fireballer. The Cubs lost three in a row to Washington at Wrigley most recently. Series Prediction: 2 out of 3 for San Diego

Toronto and Houston

Toronto goes to Houston to visit the bottom feeding Astros this weekend with some horrible pitching match-ups on the cards. Todd Redmond takes on Jordan Lyles tonight, while Brad Peacock and Dallas Keuchel are the other two probable Houston pitchers this weekend. Both teams are riding losing streaks into the series thanks to their division foes, with the Astros being swept in Arlington by the Rangers and the Blue Jays being beat up by the Yankees. Series Prediction: 2 out of 3 for Toronto

What to expect:

via www.fangraphs.com

Minnesota

The Twins go to Cleveland to face the Indians who are still remarkably in the thick of the American League Wild Card battle. The Indians most recently went to Anaheim and swept the Angels, so they are riding some hot form back home for a quick weekend set before key road games against Atlanta and Detroit. They will place a lot of importance on these games. Ubaldo Jimenez faces off against Samuel Deduno (who is having a rough August) tonight. Series Prediction: Sweep for Cleveland

San Francisco

The Giants entertain the division leading Pirates at AT&T Park this weekend in what is another huge series for Pittsburgh, with St. Louis and Cincinnati breathing down their necks in the NL Central. The Pirates already took one game from the Giants on Thursday night. Tomorrow night sees a pitching match-up that features two pitchers going in different directions as Francisco Liriano takes on Tim Lincecum. Is it weird that the opposing pitcher's name is nearly identical to the city he's pitching against? Series Prediction: 3 out of 4 for Pittsburgh

Los Angeles

The Angels go to Safeco to take on the Mariners who are also close to a top 10 draft pick this season. Felix Hernandez starts tonight in what should be a victory for Seattle, while Jared Weaver starts for Los Angeles on Sunday against Aaron Harang, which should be a victory for the currently Trout-less Angels. Los Angeles has lost four in a row and are plummeting through even the most pessimistic preseason predictions for the squad. Series Prediction: 2 out of 3 for Seattle

Milwaukee

The Brewers go to Cincinnati to take on the Reds who are 2.5 game behind the NL Central lead. The Reds took 3 of 4 from Arizona and will want to sweep this series with a road trip coming up that features games against rivals St. Louis. Homer Bailey, Bronson Arroyo, and Tony Cingrani take the hill for the Reds and should be enough to sweep the Brewers minus Braun. Series Prediction: Sweep for Cincinnati

Chicago White Sox

The White Sox go to Arlington to face the Rangers who are battling for the AL West lead with Oakland. Chicago holds the longest active win streak in the league after taking 3 of 4 from Minnesota and sweeping the Royals, which is even more impressive when you realize both series' were in the opposing teams' ballparks. This series features some great pitching with Chris Sale going for the White Sox tonight and Yu Darvish taking the mound for Texas tomorrow. Matt Garza goes for Texas on Sunday in what likely will be the rubber match. Series Prediction: 2 out of 3 for Texas

Miami

The Marlins look primed for another high draft pick this year as they host the Colorado Rockies. The Rockies sit just outside the top/bottom 10 as well so there will probably be about 13 people in the stadium over the course of the whole weekend. The Marlins dropped 3 of 4 to the Dodgers, while the Rockies did the same against the Phillies. Rookie of the Year candidate Jose Fernandez goes for the Marlins on Saturday, which should be the only reason anyone tunes into these games. Series Prediction: 2 out of 3 for Miami

If the Rockies win:

via itsalwayssunnyindetroit.com

It doesn't look like this will be a good weekend for the Blue Jays to make up anymore ground on the draft pick front as a multitude of teams around them face playoff contenders that will be looking to sweep the weaker competition to continue their surge to the postseason. Hopefully you now know where your rooting interests lie if you turn on one of these games this weekend and decide to watch.

On this date, August 22, 2010, the Marlins let outfielder Cody Ross go to the San Francisco Giants on waivers, ending Ross' five-year career with the Florida franchise.

Originally a fourth-round pick of the Tigers in the 1999 draft, Ross worked his way through the minors and reached Triple-A in 2003, where his performance earned him Detroit's minor league player of the year honors and a brief Major League call-up. After he was traded to the Dodgers following the season, Ross continued to show solid hitting tools over two more full years in Triple-A, seeing brief time with Los Angeles in 2005. He began the season with the Dodgers in 2006 but was quickly shipped to the Reds on April 24. The Reds sent him just as quickly to the Marlins on May 26.

Though Ross had been something of a journeyman early on in his burgeoning big-league career, he would end up sticking with Florida despite a couple more seasons of inconsistent playing time. Ross didn't make a huge impact the rest of the 2006 season, putting up a line of .212/.284/.396 in 279 plate appearances, and only played in 73 games between in 2007 (though he did put up an impressive .335/.411/.653 line with 12 home runs in a small sample size of 197 plate appearances).

Finally earning a starting outfield spot in 2008, Ross took advantage and became a solid presence in the lineup for the Marlins. Playing mostly center field with the occasional start in right field, Ross notched an OPS of .804 in 2008 and .790 in 2009, with a combined OPS + of 105 and 46 total home runs over the two seasons.

Ross' numbers dipped slightly over his first 120 games with Florida in 2010, with an OPS of .721 at the time he was sent to San Francisco. Performance wasn't the reason the Marlins let him go, though; it was about money, as it often is with the Fish. With Florida out of the playoff race (10.5 games behind the Phillies in the NL East and eight games back in the Wild Card), team management decided to cut costs for the next season. Ross was already making $4.45 million in 2010 and was due for a raise in 2011, his final year of arbitration.

The Marlins took it hard, especially good friend Dan Uggla. The second baseman called it a "really sad day," and "a huge blow to this clubhouse."

Ross went on to have a huge impact on the Giants' World Series-winning playoff run in 2010. He exploded for three home runs and three doubles over 23 plate appearances against the Phillies in the NLCS, earning series MVP honors. He has played for two other teams since, most recently the Diamondbacks; his season ended on August 11 when he dislocated his right hip.

More from Fish Stripes:

• Miami Marlins Daily Minor League Report: August 21
• Miami Marlins Daily Minor League Report: August 20
• Miami Marlins pitcher Nathan Eovaldi's fastball, then and now
• MLB Scores: Miami Marlins 1, Los Angeles Dodgers 4
• Miami Marlins vs. Los Angeles Dodgers: Marlins commit too many errors, lose 4-1

Jim Callis of Baseball America was recently asked for his top 5 left handed pitching prospects in the minors right now, and Padres’ lefty Max Fried came in at #2 behind Marlins’ pitcher Andrew Heaney. This surprised me a bit, if only because I hadn’t been ready myself at the time to move Heaney ahead of Fried.

Fried was drafted by the Padres out of Harvard-Westlake High School in 2012, and signed with the Padres for a $3 million bonus. The team sent him to their Arizona Rookie league affiliate after signing, where he threw 17 innings, struck out 17, walked 6 batters, and allowed 14 hits while posting an excellent 4.17 GO/AO rate.

The Padres sent him to full-season Low-A for the 2013 campaign, and through 21 starts has posted a 3.58 ERA, 105 innings pitched, allowed 96 hits, struck out 94 while walking 55 batters and getting grounders at a 1.87 GO/AO rate. The walk total is a bit concerning, translating to a 4.7 BB/9 ratio, but that rate has improved as the season has gone along.

The scouting reports on Fried point to a pitcher who could slot in near the top of a rotation, and it’s easy to see why. Fried is listed at 6’4” and 170 lbs according to BR, which has led to projections that he can potentially develop into a front-end starting pitcher as he continues to grow and mature. His delivery appears to be lower-effort from his starts on MILB.tv, although from this eyewitness report from Nick Faleris ($), it sounds like there are some smaller details with regard to consistency that still need work. Not necessarily hugely concerning, given that he’s still just 19 years old and in Low-A.

Fried features a fastball which sits in the low-90s, but has shown the potential to have it move into the mid-90s at times as well. He’ll throw both a four seam and a two seam version at times, but overall the fastball projects as a potential above-average pitch. He also throws a very good curveball, which showed excellent break in the starts I watched, and projects to be a plus offering in the future. It’s not a 12-6 offering, but as Nick Faleris noted in the article mentioned above that it appears to be more 1-7 instead. He also throws a changeup, which is anticipated to be at least an average offering. He gets a ton of groundballs already, which should continue to serve him well.

At this point, I see a pitching prospect that could vault into the upper tier of pitching prospects, but still has a little work to do. He’s not in the same tier as pitchers like Taijuan Walker and Archie Bradley, but would fall in the next group of pitching prospects for me. The fact that he is already showing a propensity to get weak contact and ground balls bodes well for his long-term success, and I can see a pitcher who provides above-average ratios while striking out nearly a batter per inning at his peak. Add in that his numbers could be helped by pitching in San Diego, and he’s likely a top 10 pitching prospect for me in the long term. I don’t think we see Fried in the Majors for another 3 years at least, and would anticipate that the team will send him to High-A to at least start the 2014 season. After that though, I could see him moving at more than a level per year, similarly to how the Padres have moved Matt Wisler this season.

Baseball America

Baseball Prospectus

Baseball Reference

MILB.com

More from Fake Teams:

• Streamer Report: Saturday's Streamers
• Fantasy Football 2013: Position Rankings and More
• Roto Roundup: Ryan Braun, Clayton Kershaw, and Others
• Streamer Report: Friday's Streamers
• Hold Everything: "Fear the Beard" Edition

According to a tweet by his agents, and other tweets en espanol from others including ESPN's Alex Cora, Padres prospect Reymond Fuentes has been promoted to San Diego.

Congratulations to MDR client and friend @RFuentes2115 on his first big league call-up! What a proud day for all of us! @padres@mlb@debut

— MDRSportsManagement (@MDRSportsMgmt) August 26, 2013

Fuentes has been on a tear since being promoted to Tucson a little over two weeks ago. He put up a .418 BA in 55 AB over 14 games, driving in eight runs and stealing 6 bases.

No additional information about the corresponding moves has been made available yet but as soon as it's out there, we here at Gaslamp Ball will keep you updated on the situation as it unfolds.

Update (4:43 pm):

Official #Padres roster moves: OF Fuentes, RHP Bass up, RHP Brach and OF Decker out. More soon at http://t.co/HOuLRUqd1l

— Corey Brock (@FollowThePadres) August 26, 2013

Baseball Heaven is a lineup of Paul Goldschmidts and a rotation of Patrick Corbins. Baseball Hell is 2004 playing with 2010's bullpen. Randy Johnson makes 33 starts and pitches 240 innings with an 1.22 ERA every year in Baseball Hell. And every year he has a record of 0-3 and finishes tied for sixth in the Cy Young voting.

But Baseball Purgatory? Well, I'm pretty sure Baseball Purgatory is a Diamondbacks/Padres series for none of the marbles the week before rosters expand. Expect it to go on for eternity and for Tyson Ross to make every start.

What the Stats Say (Courtesy of Fangraphs):

When we last checked in with the Padres, they were a surprisingly good offensive team with impressively terribad pitching. It's still true, except for the offense part. As a team, the Padres hit .234/.298/.354 in July, which is probably a reason why they won one out of their first 13 games in the month.

As always, draw your own conclusions about Petco Park's park effects, given that they moved the fences in and skewed the numbers for a little while. But you probably already know that it's never a good thing to be in the same echelon as the Diamondbacks offensively.

Starting Lineups:

Arizona Diamondbacks

1. Adam Eaton, LF
2. Martin Prado, 3B
3. Paul Goldschmidt, 1B
4. Aaron Hill, 2B
5. Gerardo Parra, RF
6. A.J. Pollock, CF
7. Wil Nieves, C
8. Didi Gregorius, SS

San Diego Padres

1. Will Venable, RF
2. Chris Denorfia, LF
3. Yonder Alonso, 1B
4. Jedd Gyorko, 2B
5. Chase Headley, 3B
6. Alexi Amarista, CF
7. Logan Forsythe, SS
8. Nick Hundley, C

Yasmani Grandal was going to be their Buster Posey, you know. He put up 2.5 fWAR in 60 games in 2012 as a 23-year-old rookie. Just imagine what he'd do once he gets some experience in a full season.

Instead, he got suspended 50 games for PEDs (which might explain some of that WAR total), hit .216 in 28 games, and promptly got placed in the 60-day DL with a knee sprain. And now San Diego is back to fooling around with Nick Hundley. The moral of the story is simple: don't give the Padres a Buster Posey, they'll only ruin it.

Of course, Carlos Quentin is injured too, but that's a Carlos Quentin joke rather than a Padres joke.

I'm not honestly sure why Yonder Alonso isn't a star. He has the pedigree, and he has a good plate approach, or at least he does whenever he faces the Diamondbacks. Bob Brenly will talk about how much he likes Alonso at least five more times between now and the end of the season. And yet, he's 26 and has never had even an average full season at first. He's fast becoming Brandon Belt's floor, and it doesn't make sense.

Also, Will Venable has an OPS of 1.105 since the All-Star Break. That seems like a thing that someone should have mentioned at some point, since it's better than Miguel Cabrera, Mike Trout, Andrew McCutchen and anyone not named Jayson Werth over the same period.

Starting Lineups:

Monday: Brandon McCarthy (2-8, 5.44) vs. Tyson Ross (3-6, 2.85)

Insightful Commentary: I'm even more unqualified to evaluate McCarthy than I am to evaluate any other pitcher, which is saying something. But it's becoming increasingly clear that his issues are best left to pitching coaches, doctors, and psychologists. And maybe it should have always been clear: McCarthy suffered a life-threatening injury while pitching less than a year ago, and that isn't something that just disappears without ramifications.

When we last saw Tyson Ross, he did this to poor Patrick Corbin. I mean, technically he did it to the Diamondbacks offense, but they deserved it. Patrick Corbin deserved no such thing. That was Ross's best start of the season, but that shouldn't obscure the fact that he's been very good overall since rejoining the rotation. His velocity's up noticeably from last year, and he's using his slider more, both of which may very well help explain the giant uptick in strikeouts this season for Ross.

Tuesday: TBA vs. Ian Kennedy (2-1, 3.20)

Insightful Commentary: Two years ago, Ian Kennedy was in the middle of putting together a string of starts that would end with a 2.11 second-half ERA for a first-place Diamondbacks team. He gave up just six home runs and 22 walks during that stretch of almost 100 innings. Keeping this in mind is just going to make it weirder when we see him in an ugly beige jersey with "San Diego" on the front. But it is worth mentioning that his respectable ERA with the Padres belies a FIP that's worse than what we saw from him here this year.

Cahill would be starting this, but his stint at the end of the Phillies marathon may throw that off. It's possible this will end up being another Zeke Spruill start.

Wednesday: Wade Miley (9-8, 3.60) vs. TBA

Insightful Commentary: It wasn't a "good" start from Miley in Philadelphia. Two strikeouts in six innings isn't ideal, and he did give up the lead after being gifted some runs. But it says a lot about how far Miley has come that a Quality Start is his worst game in over a month.

Edinson Volquez was allowed to make 27 starts with an ERA over 6 before the Padres finally called things off, and this is where he would have started. People in the know seem to think this will be Tim Stauffer, which would make some sense. Still I'm expecting TBA to throw 8 scoreless innings before ripping off his fake eyepatch and revealing that he was Clayton Richard the entire time. That's the most Padres thing that could happen.

For People More Optimistic than I...

Dodgers (9.5 up) Upcoming Schedule:

Chicago Cubs at home

Monday: Grienke vs. Arrieta
Tuesday: Kershaw vs. Wood
Wednesday: Nolasco vs. Jackson

Reds (7 up) Upcoming Schedule:

Road against St. Louis

Monday: Leake vs. Lyons
Tuesday: Latos vs. Kelly
Wednesday: Bailey vs. Wainwright

Cool Standings Playoff Odds: 10.0%

Padres Blog: Gaslamp Ball

(All stats from Fangraphs or Baseball-Reference unless otherwise indicated.)

After yesterday's marathon game, the Padres took a late, but happy, flight to Arizona where they will begin a three-game set against the Diamondbacks tonight. Tyson Ross will get the call in the series opener and try to get his fourth straight road win. He's been brilliant, especially on the road, since returning to the Padres rotation after the All Star Break. He has won all three away games in that span, posting a 0.86 ERA without allowing a homer. That run already includes a win at Chase Field. In arguably his best outing of the season, Ross pitched eight strong innings of three-hit ball, issuing just one walk and striking out seven. He wasn't so sharp in his last outing however. He took on the Pirates at home last week, giving up five runs (four earned) in 6 1/3 innings, in his worst start since rejoining the rotation.

But despite an overall successful run since the All Star Break, Ross hasn't gotten much run support from his offense. In the last five of those six outings, he's only been given six total runs of support. San Diego hitters have been kept to a .155 average with runners in scoring position since the first week of August. Their .255 overall batting average this month ranks 15th in the majors, but they've scored the fewest runs (3.19 average) in August.

Brandon McCarthy will try to take advantage of the Padres' scoring struggles as he takes the mound for the Dbacks tonight. McCarthy spent two months on the disabled list earlier this season and hasn't pitched too well in his four starts since coming back. He's been on the losing end of each of those outings and has posted a 6.98 ERA in that stretch. His last win, in fact, came against San Diego back in May, before he hit the DL. He kept them to just one run on five hits in seven innings of work. That was one of Arizona's four wins in their last twelve games against San Diego.

Both the Padres and the Dbacks will need their starting pitchers to go deep into tonight's game. Over the last two games, San Diego's relief corps has pitched 19 innings. First in relief of Edinson Volquez Saturday night after he was tagged for six runs in just 2/3 of an inning. Then  despite an excellent outing from Andrew Cashner yesterday, the already-taxed bullpen had to pitch through a 15-inning game before the Padres finally ended it with a walkoff. The Diamondbacks are returning to Chase Field after ten games on the road which included an 18-inning affair on Saturday, in which the bullpen pitched 12 frames.

See if Ross and McCarthy can give their relievers some well-needed rest tonight as the teams take the field at 6:40.

This post is apropos of nothing; it isn't Callix Crabbe's birthday, and he didn't die, make a comeback, get arrested, or anything like that. I just got a couple new-to-me cards of one of my all-time favorite Friars and wanted to show them off. Of course, the audiences that are interested in baseball cards or Callix Crabbe are pretty small, so I tried to give this as straightforward of a title as possible so that people who care about neither of those things won't get "tricked" into reading this and demand a refund of their time.

The first is a 2008 Topps Chrome Certified Autographed card. I got it a few weeks ago in the virtual bargain bin of an online dealer for $2. Two bucks! You can't even get an energy drink for that. Or at least not a good one. Here's the back:

I wish I had a cool, flowery name that meant something. Instead I got stuck with "Joe". What the hell is that garbage? All that means is I had bland, unimaginative parents. That does it, I'm changing my name to "Stem".

Tangents about names now a thing of the past, on to the second card. It found its way into my mailbox a few days later, thanks to Marcus of All The Way To The Backstop, a Padres-centric card blog. As I mentioned before when he sent me my first Callix Crabbe card, he and I are frequent trade partners, although we never really trade. We know what the other one likes, and send one another random, unannounced envelopes every now and then. As a matter of fact, I have a few cool things I've accrued for him that I keep procrastinating on getting in the mail.

These two cards bring my Callix Crabbe collection to a grand total of three cards. There are still a few other cards of him out there, parallels and whatnot, but I'm in no hurry. I mean, if I get hit by a bus next month, my final regret will not be that I only had three Callix Crabbe cards.

Tyson Ross RHP, 3-6, 2.85

Brandon McCarthy RHP, 2-8, 5.44

Diamondbacks line-up

Saw that the Diamondbacks are 4-8 against the Padres this year, and if we don't win tonight, they will ownthe lowest winning percentage against any team the Diamondbcks hae faced this season. That got me wondering, what would the standings look like in the National League, if we only take games against teams in our own division into account? Here's what the NL West would look like.

1. Giants: 29-21
2. Rockies: 30-25
3. Diamondbacks: 23-26
4. Dodgers: 23-27
5. Padres: 24-30

Well, that's just slightly different from the current order, isn't it? San Francisco, instead of being 18 games back of Los Angeles, would be 1.5 games of Colorado, with Arizona a further four games back. What has hurt the Giants more than anything is their record of 11-23 against the Central, with a little help from their 5-12 record in interleague play this season. Conversely, the Dodgers are 19-8 versus the Central, and are 12-8 against the American League. Meanwhile, in addition to their record against us, the Padres swept the Braves, but are no better than one above .500 (and usually worse) against every other team they've seen.

It's interesting, because the Central doesn't show anything like the same splits. The Pirates, Cardinals and Reds, in that order, are all clustered within three games of each other in the intra-division standings, then things drop off a cliff to the Brewers (ten games below even) and Cubs (a league-worst record against their own division of 19-37). In the East, similarly, the Braves dominate, seven games ahead, though here, it's in front of the Phillies rather than the Nationals. In the American League, all three division leaders occupy the same positions, all the way up to the Rangers, who have destroyed the AL West with a 41-16 record, best in the league by 5.5 games.

Quite why the West should be so topsy-turvy with regard to playing each other, I'm not certain. It may just be random variation over the relatively small sample size, though we are talking fifty or more games for everyone in the division by this point. It didn't happen last year: the only change between the actual final standings and those between teams in the West, was that we swapped second and third with the Dodgers. You'd probably need to break down the Giants' strikingly-different record a bit further, and see where it comes from. They've scored 4.2 runs per game (overall: 3.8) and conceded 3.8 (overall: 4.4), so looks like all-round better play.

Hopefully, the D-backs will be able to improve their record tonight at Chase against the Padres. Mrs. SnakePit and I will be in attendance, with 'charmer bringing you the recap after the game.

Tyson Ross RHP, 3-6, 2.85

Brandon McCarthy RHP, 2-8, 5.44

Diamondbacks line-up

1. Tony Campana, CF
2. Adam Eaton, LF
3. Paul Goldschmidt, 1B
4. Eric Chavez, 3B
5. Martin Prado, 2B
6. Miguel Montero, C
7. Gerardo Parra, RF
8. Didi Gregorius, SS
9. Brandon McCarthy, P

Right back into the starting line-up go both Chavez and Montero, freshly activated off the DL just this afternoon, as previously noted by Clefo. Miggy didn't even need go on any kind of significant minor-league assignment to bring him back up to speed, instead playing half-a-dozen games with the the Arizona Rookie League roster at Salt River Fields, while the team completed their road-trip. For what it's worth, he went 5-for-19 there with a pair of doubled, four walks and four strikeouts. For three of those who was joined by Chavez, who went 1-for-8, in what appears more to have a test that his count of functioning limbs passed three than any meaningful action.

Saw that the Diamondbacks are 4-8 against the Padres this year, and if we don't win tonight, they will ownthe lowest winning percentage against any team the Diamondbcks hae faced this season. That got me wondering, what would the standings look like in the National League, if we only take games against teams in our own division into account? Here's what the NL West would look like.

1. Giants: 29-21
2. Rockies: 30-25
3. Diamondbacks: 23-26
4. Dodgers: 23-27
5. Padres: 24-30

Well, that's just slightly different from the current order, isn't it? San Francisco, instead of being 18 games back of Los Angeles, would be 1.5 games of Colorado, with Arizona a further four games back. What has hurt the Giants more than anything is their record of 11-23 against the Central, with a little help from their 5-12 record in interleague play this season. Conversely, the Dodgers are 19-8 versus the Central, and are 12-8 against the American League. Meanwhile, in addition to their record against us, the Padres swept the Braves, but are no better than one above .500 (and usually worse) against every other team they've seen.

It's interesting, because the Central doesn't show anything like the same splits. The Pirates, Cardinals and Reds, in that order, are all clustered within three games of each other in the intra-division standings, then things drop off a cliff to the Brewers (ten games below even) and Cubs (a league-worst record against their own division of 19-37). In the East, similarly, the Braves dominate, seven games ahead, though here, it's in front of the Phillies rather than the Nationals. In the American League, all three division leaders occupy the same positions, all the way up to the Rangers, who have destroyed the AL West with a 41-16 record, best in the league by 5.5 games.

Quite why the West should be so topsy-turvy with regard to playing each other, I'm not certain. It may just be random variation over the relatively small sample size, though we are talking fifty or more games for everyone in the division by this point. It didn't happen last year: the only change between the actual final standings and those between teams in the West, was that we swapped second and third with the Dodgers. You'd probably need to break down the Giants' strikingly-different record a bit further, and see where it comes from. They've scored 4.2 runs per game (overall: 3.8) and conceded 3.8 (overall: 4.4), so looks like all-round better play.

Hopefully, the D-backs will be able to improve their record tonight at Chase against the Padres. Mrs. SnakePit and I will be in attendance, with 'charmer bringing you the recap after the game.

The Padres have called up top prospect outfielder Reymond Fuentes the team announced on Monday.

Fuentes, a cousin of St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Carlos Beltran, was a first round pick of the Boston Red Sox in 2009 and was part of the package that was sent to the San Diego Padres that Adrian Gonzalez to Beantown. Although he struggled last year with a batting line of .218/.301/.302, but he has had a breakthrough season this season to the tune of .330/.413/.448 with six home runs, 43 RBI and 35 stolen bases in 107 games between Double-A and Triple-A.

Since being called up to Triple-A earlier this month, he has hit .418 (23-for-55) and his safely in 13 of 14 games.

With the Padres far out of the playoff picture and Carlos Quentin and Cameron Maybin rehabbing injuries, Fuentes will likely receive a large opportunity to show what he can contribute to the future of the San Diego franchise.

More from MLB Daily Dish:

• Kendry Morales rumors: Claimed by unknown team on waivers
• Clay Buchholz injury: Red Sox ace readying for September 4 return
• MLB Free Agency Preview: 2014 qualifying offer candidates
• Padres designate Edinson Volquez for assignment
• Dodgers interested in extending Hanley Ramirez

The game started promising. It began with the red hot Will Venable singling to ignite a rally. An Alexi Amarista infield hit and a ground ball would-be-double-play ball by Yonder Alonso was muffed by Didi Gregorius and let Venable come around to score the first run. Staked to a 1-0 lead, the Padres had the lately reliable Tyson Ross on the indoors hill. The Padres also made some great defensive plays in the first couple innings.

The promising start did not end with a good result for the Friars. Ross looked a little shaky early and that didn't bode well at the hitters park that is Chase Field. It wasn't until the 4th inning that things got rough though. The Snakes' slugger Paul Goldschmidt hit a near HR that turned into an RBI triple that drove in Adam Eaton. Eaton had been hit by a Ross pitch to get on base, a sign of Ross' aforementioned shakiness. Arizona would take the lead on a Martin Prado sac fly and never look back.

Ross made it through 6 full innings getting tagged for 4 runs before needing relief in the middle of the 7th. Hynes and Bass came on and got some ground balls that could have been run saving. However instead they resulted in 2 more runs both unearned due to a missed catch error by Nick Hundley. The game would end 6-1.

Reymond Fuentes made his major league debut, but went 0 for 3 with a strikeout. In the outfield he looked rangy and we should all be excited to see more of him out there. He empty stat sheet at the plate was duplicated by many Padres hitters as the bats seem to be taking a siesta the last couple of days. Venable got his 2 hits, but Amarista, Chase Headley and Tyson Ross were the only others to hit there way aboard. Hopefully the alarm clock goes off tomorrow for the sticks when Ian Kennedy faces his former team.

Brandon McCarthy pitched a solid seven innings tonight, though it didn't look good in the 1st inning. The first two Padres reached base, and an unearned run crossed the plate with only one out in the game. But after that, McCarthy settled down very nicely, only allowing three hits and a hit-by-pitch the rest of the way. He struck out five on the night and was very efficient and effective with his pitches.

The Diamondbacks took the lead from San Diego in the 4th inning, and they never looked back. Adam Eaton was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning, and Paul Goldschmidt just missed a home run and instead got a triple on a ball to the right field corner, scoring Eaton to tie the game up. A sacrifice fly by Martin Prado brought in Goldschmidt and the 2-1 lead.

Arizona added on in the 6th inning when Tony Campana and Eaton each reached, advanced on a double steal, and scored on a single by Prado. The bases were loaded a few times in the 7th inning and Arizona pushed two more runs across, making it 6-1.

Eury de la Rosa struck out four batters in two innings of relief work, nailing down the win.

OFFICIAL: #Dbacks announce LHP David Holmberg will start tomorrow vs. @Padres, corresponding move tomorrow

— Arizona Diamondbacks (@Dbacks) August 27, 2013

With Trevor Cahill pitching some innings in that marathon of a game against Philadelphia, it was more than likely that the team needed a spot starter for tomorrow. That spot has come in the form of David Holmberg. Holmberg, as you should recall if you read this website a lot which is a thing you should be doing, was the other player received from the White Sox in the Edwin Jackson for Daniel Hudson trade of 2010. In 152 innings in AA Mobile so far this year, he has put up an impressive 2.66 ERA and is averaging 6.8 Strikeouts per 9 innings.

He will make his start against Ian Kennedy's return to Chase Field. Kennedy, of course, was part of the initial trade that brought Edwin Jackson to Arizona. It's all connected, man.

The team has yet to announce a corresponding move, and such a move will require a shift in the 40-Man roster, as Holmberg is currently not on it.

Brandon McCarthy did indeed go seven solid innings tonight, but during the first inning, it didn't look like he would last that long. The first two batters of the game reached base, one on an infield single that was almost fielded by Eric Chavez. Didi Gregorius botched a 3-6-1 double-play ball and threw past McCarthy, allowing Will Venable to score with only one out in the game. But a strikeout and a groundout ended the first inning with Arizona trailing the Padres only 1-0.

The Diamondbacks tied it up when Adam Eaton, who was hit by a pitch by Padres starter Tyson Ross, to lead off the 4th inning, scored on a triple by Paul Goldschmidt. Goldschmidt was close to a home run, but the ball bounced off the bullpen fence and got away from the right fielder Venable, and Goldy stood safely at third base. He then scored on a sacrifice fly from Martin Prado, and the Diamondbacks had the lead 2-1.

In the 6th inning, Tony Campana and Eaton were both on base with no outs, and both advanced on a double steal (that was really a hit-and-run with Goldschmidt, but he struck out). Prado drove them both in with a base hit to left, just past the drawn-in infield.

The Diamondbacks scored in the 7th inning in a rather unusual manner. Gerardo Parra doubled, followed by a walk from Didi Gregorius. After a wild pitch moved both runners up, pinch-hitter Aaron Hill was walked to load the bases. Campana hit a slow roller to third, which third baseman Chase Headley threw home for the force out. Except, Parra was safe because the catcher's foot was off the plate when he had to reach high for Headley's throw. As broadcaster Steve Berthiaume pointed out, there are neighborhood plays at second base that are much more egregious than that called as out all the time, but it was a break the Diamondbacks gladly took. Gregorius was out at home on the next ground ball, and with one out, Goldschmidt beat out the double play (with help from a good slide by Eaton) to score Hill to give Arizona their sixth run.

Brandon McCarthy didn't need the pinch hitter until that 7th inning because, after the 1st, he was solid. No other Padre reached second base for the rest of the night. McCarthy allowed only three hits, all singles, and one hit-by-pitch. He was effective and efficient, and ended the night throwing only 93 pitches. He struck out five batters.

Eury De La Rosa, who came in to relieve McCarthy for the 8th and 9th, was quite effective himself. He pitched two clean innings and struck out four to close out the victory.

Source: FanGraphs

Sunshiny Day: B McCarthy, +30.5%
A Leaf in the Wind: T Campana, +11.4%
Haboob: E Chavez, -7.4%

On this quiet night, cole8865 led all commenters with 60 posts. Behind him were EatMeat and Clefo. All present were: Clefo, Dbacks4eva10101, Diamondhacks, Edwong81, Fangdango, FatBoysEatMeat, GuruB, JoelPre, PR151, Rockkstarr12, Zavada's Moustache, asteroid, azshadowwalker, cheese1213, coldblueAZ, cole8865, hotclaws, imstillhungry95, onedotfive, preston.salisbury, rd33, snakecharmer, and soco.

Clefo got 6 recs for his U of A chant, but he was pandering for recs and is disqualified. Pbbt.

You don't miss tomorrow night's game. Former ace Ian Kennedy returns to face, it was announced tonight, Double-A call-up David Holmberg. Be here or be at the game, but you'd better be following this game somehow.

The Padres couldn't get things going in the series opener last at Chase Field last night. Tonight they'll try to even up the series as former Diamondback Ian Kennedy takes the mound in his first start against Arizona since being traded to San Diego.

After having a career year in 2011 with the Diamondbacks, Ian Kennedy went 18-20 with a 4.47 ERA over the next year and a half before being dealt to the Padres last month. In his first four starts for San Diego, he's gone 2-1 with a 3.20 ERA. He's coming off the best of those four outings, a seven-inning shutout performance in which he collected eight strikeouts en route to a win over the Pirates.

Kennedy might need to pitch another shutout considering the Padres offense lately. They've scored a combined 18 runs over their last seven games and have failed to make timely hits, batting just .153 with runners in scoring position over that stretch. The struggles at the plate continued last night as they only strung together five singles (including one by Tyson Ross) and one run. Will Venable, however, continued to shine as he had a two-hit night against Dbacks pitching. This month he's batting .374 and has recorded a hit in 21 of 22 games. He hopes to continue the hot hitting tonight against a team he's been successful against this season. Venable is hitting .360 in 13 contests with Arizona this year. Tonight, though, the arm on the mound will be an unfamiliar one to him as he, and the rest of the Padres, face David Holmberg for the first time.

Holmberg will make his major league debut in a spot start for Trevor Cahill, who is unavailable after pitching the last four frames of Saturday's 18-inning marathon between the Dbacks and Phillies. The 22-year-old southpaw has been throwing the ball well for Double-A Mobile this season and is one of Arizona's top pitching prospects. He is 5-7 with a 2.66 ERA overall in Double-A this season, but has posted a 1.59 ERA over his last six starts.

Catch the action in game 2 at 6:40 tonight.

Ian Kennedy RHP, 5-9, 4.88

David Holmberg LHP, 0-0, N/A

Diamondbacks line-up

1. Tony Campana, CF
2. Adam Eaton, LF
3. Paul Goldschmidt, 1B
4. Martin Prado, 3B
5. Aaron Hill, 2B
6. Gerardo Parra, RF
7. Miguel Montero, C
8. Didi Gregorius, SS
9. David Holmberg, P

Having swapped recaps with 'charmer yesterday, I think I may have got lucky, and certainly have the feeling there won't be any shortage of things to write about in this game, win or lose. Even without the major-league debut of one of our top pitching prospects, we would have the return of Ian Kennedy to Chase Field, less than a month after he was traded to the Padres. Since then, he has pretty much covered the breadth of performances, with Game Scores for his starts ranging from 33 to 74. The bottom line is a very-respectable 3.20, and it's safe to say that if he'd give us that level of performance, he wouldn't have been traded.

However, it's a number which comes with a trio of significant caveats: small sample size of just four starts, only one of those appearances was away from Petco (a park certainly more friendly than Chase to a fly-ball pitcher like Kennedy), and a .222 BABIP, which is in unsustainable territory. His peripherals have continued to be weak, particularly a high walk-rate of 13 in 24.1 innings, though he has struck out close to a batter per inning with San Diego. Kennedy's FIP since being dealt is 4.73, which is actually higher than his number with us this year (4.58), so if his ERA wouldn't mind regressing this evening, we'd appreciate it.

Curious to see what kind of reaction he gets at Chase Field. I suspect it'll be fairly apathetic, though that will likely be partly due to the light attendance (last night's crowd of 16,871 was the lowest home crowd since June 2011). Even beyond that, Kennedy was never a divisive figure in the same way as Justin Upton. While his struggles this year were certainly annoying, there were other, better magnets for fan ire, earning larger salaries than Kennedy, who is pulling less than $4.3 million for 2013. All told, a 48-34 record, 105 ERA+ and no blots on his fan friendliness record of which I'm aware, will probably get him a pass, and perhaps a polite ripple.

I don't think it's coincidence Holmberg has been promoted to start against IPK. It seems kinda like an "out with the old, in with the new" statement by the club. Overall, Holmberg doesn't generally seem to be seen as a future ace, more in the "durable innings eater" mold of pitcher. He has a broad arsenal, with his best the off-speed stuff; the change-up is generally seen as his top pitch, some reports also giving him a curve that could flummox a lot of hitters. Those are set up by a fastball reported to possess late life, cutting in to right-handed hitters: it's around 90 mph, which isn't notable, but probably enough for a leftie. See John's report from about a year ago for more details.

Good afternoon prospect watchers. I finished up the trip report with a look at the non-Appel/Correa portions of the Quad Cities and Burlington rosters. Reymond Fuentes of the San Diego Padres will be Prospect of the Day tomorrow.

***Yesterday's Minor League Ball Gameday thread.

***I'm not a Mets fan, but the news about Matt Harvey and his bad elbow made me sad as just a general baseball fan. It is good for the game to have players of his caliber, and it is bad for the game when they get hurt. It is just a pleasure to watch him pitch. Normally I don't get upset about injuries. . .they happen. . .but for some reason this one bothers me more than most.

Have you ever had a player injury that bothered you for some reason even if it wasn't a guy playing for your favorite team?

***As you have probably heard, Jim Callis is leaving Baseball America and will begin working for MLB.com in September. Jim edited my Minor League Scouting Notebook back in the old days at STATS. He's extremely well-informed, really good at his job, and a genuinely nice guy. I wish him the best of luck with the new gig.

***Today's schedule of minor league games.

More from Minor League Ball:

• Observations of the Burlington Bees
• Observations: Quad Cities River Bandits
• Minor League Ball Gameday, August 26
• Observations of Carlos Correa
• Observations of Mark Appel
• Is scorekeeping a dying art?
• Minor League Ball Gameday, August 25
• Minor League Ball Gameday, August 24
• Community Discussion: Who is your secret Top 100 candidate?
• Minor League Ball Gameday, August 23