After resting the regulars on Friday, the Dodgers inserted nearly all their starters into the lineup with ace Clayton Kershaw on the mound. The game followed the Kershaw script, as the NL Cy Young favorite dominated opposing batters for seven innings before the Dodgers bullpen closed the door on a 4-0 shutout of the San Diego Padres.

While it seemed the Dodgers could break the game open before Kershaw stepped on the mound, Mark Ellis found himself looking at strike three with the bases loaded in the first inning.

The two teams traded scoreless frames before A.J. Ellis cracked things open in the 4th inning with a 2-run home run to left field that scored Mark Ellis.

That would prove to be more than enough for the Dodgers, especially with Kershaw on the mound, but Yasiel Puig decided to get in on the fun with an incredibly long home run to dead center in the 7th inning. The Dodgers estimated the home run at 457 feet.

Following Puig's blast, Kershaw would take the mound to record three more outs before calling it a night. Only 1 of the final 12 batters Kershaw faced would reach base. The seven scoreless innings lowered his ERA to 1.88 on the season over 230 full innings of work.

It was an effortless outing for the 25-year-old Kershaw, who threw just 99 pitches while helping his own cause at the plate by reaching base a pair of times, before the bullpen made an appearance. But you'd figure that's the Dodgers just playing it safe with their ace.

Brian Wilson closed the door for Los Angeles, taking care of San Diego's better hitters in Chase Headley, Jedd Gyorko and Jesus Guzman in a harmless 9th inning. Wilson induced a grounder and two more strikeouts in his one inning of work.

Up next

Zack Greinke will take the mound for the Dodgers while opposing Andrew Cashner, who has been putting up gaudy numbers with his impressive arsenal this season.

Saturday particulars

Home runs: A.J. Ellis (9), Yasiel Puig (18)

WP - Clayton Kershaw (15-9): 7 IP, 3 hits, 2 walks, 10 strikeouts

LP - Burch Smith (1-2): 6 IP, 3 hits, 2 runs, 5 walks, 6 strikeouts

The Padres have had the number of 2011 SBNation Cy Young Award Co-Winner Clayton Kershaw all season, but he finally figured them out tonight.  The Dodger ace threw 7 shutout innings, giving up just 3 hits and 2 walks while striking out 10. While Burch Smith threw a quality start, A.J. Ellis made him pay for a mistake, taking an 0-1 change up deep to left field. Tim Stauffer was also burned by the long ball, giving up a 457-foot bomb to Yasiel Puig. It was the second longest home run in Petco Park. If you're wondering who hit the longest, it's some other Dodger that played here for a while.

Your last chance to boo the Dodgers this season is at 1:10 PM tomorrow when Andrew Cashner takes on Zack Greinke.

Friar Fever dominated the comments tonight, but because he was the only one there, there were no recs to be had.

Clayton Kershaw pitched seven scoreless innings to lead the Dodgers to a shutout win over the Padres at Petco Park in San Diego.

SAN DIEGO -- Though he is likely still the favorite for the National League Cy Young Award, Clayton Kershaw has two more starts to finalize his case for the honor. After the Dodgers rested all of their regulars for the bulk of the series opener, expect most regulars back in the lineup behind Kershaw as the Dodgers battle the Padres on Saturday night at Petco Park.

Manager Don Mattingly said after Friday's 2-0 loss that mostly everyone will get back in the lineup except for shortstop Hanley Ramirez, who will mostly be encased in bubble wrap until the playoffs begin.

Kershaw has had an uncharacteristically down year against the Padres, with losses in all three of his starts against San Diego. Kershaw is 0-3 with a 4.67 ERA against the Padres this season, and in those three starts has allowed five of his 11 home runs on the season.

In a loss on June 21, his only start at Petco Park this season, Kershaw allowed four runs in six innings, matching his total allowed in his three starts in San Diego in 2011-2012, in 19⅓ innings. But even with that June loss, Kershaw is 3-2 with a 2.54 ERA in his career at Petco Park with 44 strikeouts and 16 walks in 49⅔ innings.

Kershaw leads the major leagues with a 1.94 ERA, but don't be surprised if because of his relatively low win total he gets pushed for the award by another ace of a division-leading team in Adam Wainwright of the Cardinals.

Wainwright, like Kershaw, has two more regular season starts left, so it's likely many of their numbers will remain similar. It will be a question of whether Kershaw's near run-per-game advantage is outweighed in the minds of some voters by Wainwright's advantage in wins.

But Kershaw has two more chances to leave no doubt in the mind of voters, beginning Saturday night in San Diego.

Game info

Time: 5:40 p.m.

TV: Prime Ticket

MLB Gameday

The San Diego Padres plan to shut down starting pitcher Andrew Cashner following his start on Sunday, reports MLB.com's Corey Brock.

Cashner would have only one start remaining if the Padres allowed him to finish out the season. With no chance of making the playoffs, San Diego will allow his arm to get some early rest going into the offseason.

The 27-year-old Cashner is one of the Padres' most valuable assets moving forward after an excellent 2013 campaign. He has made 30 appearances this season, 25 of which were starts. Cashner has posted a 3.21 ERA and 1.16 WHIP on the year. Prior to 2013, Cashner primarily worked as a reliever for the Padres.

After his start Sunday, Cashner will end up right around 175 innings pitched. Cashner's career-high for innings pitched in a year is just over 111, set in 2010.

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With the series now even at a game apiece, the Padres and Dodgers will decide the winner of the three -game set this afternoon in their final meeting of the season. Andrew Cashner is coming off the best outing of his career, and arguably the most well-pitched game in Padres history, as he takes the mound in the finale. Though Cashner has already exceeded his workloads from previous seasons by a considerable amount, the young right-hander hasn't seemed to show any fatigue or signs of slowing down. In fact, he's done some of his best pitching over the past few weeks, going 2-0 with a 0.88 ERA over his last four starts. Last week he flirted with a perfect game through seven innings. He came just short, but his performance was still a historical one as he kept the Pirates to just one-hit in a complete-game effort while facing the minimum 27 hitters. Cashner has faced the Dodgers twice this season prior to today, but got a no-decision each time. He is still looking for his first career win over L.A.

The Padres only gave Cashner one run of support in each of those starts against the Dodgers, but hopefully they'll fare better today. But they might have their work cut out for them against Zack Greinke. The right-hander hasn't lost a game since July 25th, winning seven straight decisions dating back to August 5th. He' has also never lost a decision to San Diego, going 3-0 with a 2.08 ERA in four career starts against them. Three of those starts occured this season, the first of which resulted in the broken collarbone that kept Greinke out of the game for a month. In June, when he returned to Petco Park for the first time since the incident, he gave up one run in eight innings. He also kept the Padres to one run on September 1st at Dodger Stadium, going seven innings and striking out seven.

Tune in for the final matchup of 2013 between these Southern California division rivals. Game time is set for 1:10 this afternoon.

Andrew Cashner threw yet another gem today, giving up 1 run on 4 hits in 7 innings while striking out 7. But it just wasn't enough, as the Dodger pitching staff shut down the Padres offense. The friars went 0 for 5 with runners in scoring position and failed to score twice with a runner on third and one out. The one run in the game came on a two-out triple from Michael Young. How Adrian Gonzalez found the energy to go from first to home on that play, I'll never know.

The final home series of the season starts tomorrow as Eric Stults takes on the Diamondbacks' Brandon McCarthy at 7:10 PM.

Fiar Fever led the comments, but when it came to the recs, we all won.

History

It'd be interesting to draw some kind of line-graph, charting how I've felt about our divisional rivals since I started seriously following baseball after coming out here in 2000. Initially, I think the Giants were probably the team I cared most about beating, mostly due to Barry Bonds. But since then, there has been a natural ebb and flow as rivalries rose and fell. Remember when we use to care about the Rockies? That was a memorable two weeks in 2007/08, wasn't it? However, even I struggle to recall when I felt...well, anything much about the Padres.

It's probably partly that they've not won the division since 2006, and looks like this season is going to be their third straight in the 71-76 win bracket. Such consistent mediocrity makes it difficult to generate any significant level of emotion: they're not a real 'threat' to the Diamondbacks pursuit of a pennant, and yet they don't suck hard enough to be worthy of particular derision. [Speaking of which, the Astros are now the first team to lose 105+ games in three consecutive seasons since the 1962-65 Mets.]

I think the last time I cared much in regard to them was probably April 2008, after Conor Jacksn got plunked, apparently for swinging too hard. If I remember, that set off what seemed like a major spat between ourselves and Padres blog, Gaslamp Ball, but it now seems more like the kind of jostling that occurs late night in a city-center bar, at the end of which all parties feel slightly embarrassed about it all. There was also the incident below between Mark Reynolds and Everth Cabrera in July 2010:

That probably marked the last time I gave a damn about San Diego. Unfortunately, Everth Cabrera is still serving his 50-game suspension for involvement in the Biogenesis scandal - yeah, I laughed when I heard about that too - so I can't even use him to generate any real sense of GAF for this series. The first two words there stand for "Giving" and "A". Work the rest out yourself. However, I'll probably watch more of the series than I have done for a while, mostly because we're going to be in San Diego for a couple of days, courtesy of AZDBACKR and Mr. AZDBACKR. They moved out there last year and have a charming guesthouse [ask about rental rates!].

Looking forward to that, and I'll get to cross Petco Park off my list of stadia - we have been to a game at the old Qualcomm Stadium, but the only time we were in San Diego since they moved for the 2004 season, the Padres weren't in town. The main thing I remember about the trip was finding about the last parking spot downtown (ComicCon was on, we discovered on arrival!), and Mrs. SnakePit taking 20 minutes to park in it, because it was roughly 0.3 inches longer than our car. S'funny what sticks in the mind, isn't it? Oh, yeah: that and the local real-estate prices, which appear to be some kind of attempt at absurdist humor.

This season

The Padres, despite being seven games back of us, have dealt rather well with us, and have a 9-6 lead in the season series going into this four-game set. The last series in Petco went particularly badly, as we were swept, being held to a total of six runs over the three games. After they beat the Giants in their next game, San Diego were just one game back on June 17, and a surprising run seemed possible. However, that proved illusory, and a streak where they went 1-14, beginning later that month,sent them back into their expected mediocrity, where they have nestled happily since.

It probably says something about them that Cabrera, who won't even hit 100 games for them this season [somewhere, Mark Reynolds is sniggering - unfortunately, in a Yankees uniform], is still second on the team in bWAR. Chris Denorfia leads them, at 3.1 bWAR, with Chase Headley and Will Venable the best of their other hitters. Or, at least, the best of their other hitters who aren't currently enjoying 50-game suspensions due to being the apparent customer of a highly-dubious PED clinic in Miami [yeah, I'll probably find some excuse to mention this in the previews too, so you might as well get used to it]

On the mound, we miss Andrew Cashner, their only starter worth more than one bWAR this season and who one-hit the Pirates, but has been shut down for the year. So, if you can only watch one game this series, as well as congratulating you on apparently having found something better to do, I'd probably recommend Wednesday's, as we get to see Ian Kennedy again. He has been consistently inconsistent since the trade, with his last start, against the Pirates in Pittsburgh, being his worst yet, as he was tagged for eight hits and six runs before the end of the fourth. He has been better in the capacious realms of Petco, so be interesting to see how Arizona handles him.

Park factors

Speaking of which. they moved the fences in at Petco for this season, but it doesn't appear the home team has noticed, since they are actually slugging five points lower than they did in 2012. However, it has helped visitors, who have seen their collective SLG increase by six points. I'm fairly sure this is not quite what Padres' management intended when they took the decision. However, what's particularly interesting, is the moves do seem to have adjusted the splits at Petco quite drastically: it used to be a place where left-handed batters went to die, but it's right-handers that have struggled far worse this season. More about that in today's preview,. I think.

Vague possible lineup

1. Will Venable, OF
   
2. Chris Denorfia, OF
   
3. Jedd Gyorko, 2B
   
4. Chase Headley, 3B
   
5. Tommy Medica, 1B
   
6. Kyle Blanks, OF
   
7. Ronny Cedeno, SS
   
8. Nick Hundley, C
   
9. Pitcher

The Padres appear to use outfield dice to figure out who plays where, since they broke Carlos Quentin for the latest time. The past 12 games haven't seen any of the three spots there occupied by the same person three days in a row, which is why I'm opting for the carefully non-specific "OF" tags above. I like the pitching match-ups, and think we've got a chance to take the series. That wouldn't be enough to pull the season set back in our direction, unless we manage to sweep them, and even I can't claim that's likely. At this point, I'd happily settle for taking three out of four, and finishing the season having gone 9-10 against the Padres.

SB Nation site: Gaslamp Ball

The Padres begin their final home series of the season tonight when the Diamondbacks come to Petco Park. Eric Stults will take the mound and try for back-to-back wins for the first time since July. In his last start, he gave up two runs and struck out five in five innings of work at PNC Park in Pittsburgh. The victory put an end to a string of ten winless starts for the left-hander, over which he went 0-6 with a 5.40 ERA. In three starts against the Dbacks this season, Stults has gone 1-2 while putting up a 4.43 ERA. His only win against them was his only start against them at Petco Park. The Padres have dominated the season series at home, going 5-1 thus far when hosting the Dbacks.

That said, Arizona will look to improve on their road record against San Diego this series. Tonight they'll send Brandon McCarthy to the hill to get them started on the right foot. McCarthy hadn't faced the Padres prior to 2013, but in two starts against them this season, he is 2-0, allowing only one run through 14 total innings of work. He recently went on a five-game losing streak, but has since come back and gone 3-1 while posting a 2.50 ERA in his last five starts.

Stults and the Padres will take the field at 7:10 tonight.

Happy birthday to Jedd Gyorko, who turns 25 today. I hope the Padres do nearly as well on his twenty-fifth birthday as they did on mine.

Today's birthday card is actually two different cards, but they're so similar that they're practically the same thing. I could have selected a card of him that doesn't have a doppelganger, but then I wouldn't have had an opportunity to gripe once again how much I've come to hate the seemingly endless parade of parallels that Topps makes of every last card in every last line.

For instance, of these two, neither of them is his 2011 Bowman Prospects base card. One is the Chrome parallel and the other is the International parallel. And it doesn't stop there. Purple borders, orange borders, on and on... all of the same card. Don't get me wrong, there is something neat about having a binder page full of the same card with slight variations from one to the next, but it's such a cheap and lazy gimmick by the manufacturer. They know that us collectors are basically crackheads and that we'll chase down every stupid thing they crap out, just because. Topps is basically no different than a heroin dealer waiting for an NA meeting to let out.

All that said, I really do like the International edition and I think you know why. Country roads! No, seriously, that's a map of West Virginia in the background. Well, there's a little Pennsylvania where his head and throwing arm are and his left elbow is in a sliver of Maryland, but it's still mostly West-By-God.

The backs of the cards are of course the same. It provides a lot of good information about him for the casual collector, but nothing most Padres fans don't already know.

Not only did Scott Gyorko start at linebacker for WVU right after the turn of the century, he was pretty darn good. He was a favorite amongst us Mountaineers fans all four years he spent in the old gold and blue. While a lot of that was that he was a local, that only goes so far. He was a hard worker who got results and fans everywhere like that. Like Jedd, he was also a two-sport star in high school... hey, wait, it's not Scott's birthday. I guess I'll just wait until May 20 to write more about him somewhere else.

Happy birthday, Jedd!

Brandon McCarthy RHP, 5-9, 4.57

Eric Stults LHP, 9-13, 4.02

Diamondbacks line-up

1. Adam Eaton, RF
2. A.J. Pollock, CF
3. Paul Goldschmidt, 1B
4. Martin Prado, LF
5. Aaron Hill, 2B
6. Matt Davidson, 3B
7. Wil Nieves, C
8. Cliff Pennington, SS
9. Brandon McCarthy, P

The last five games, the Diamondbacks have been on fire: they've batted .344 and averaged close to eight runs per game. Of course, a factor in that was Coors Field, which still ranks as the most hitter-friendly park in baseball this year. But it's a case of from the sublime to the ridiculous for Arizona, because the same list has Petco ranked 30th. "Hang on," you may be thinking. "Didn't the Padres move the fences in this year? Wasn't that supposed to improve things for hitters there?" Well, both yes and no...

It has certainly made the park more homer-friendly. This year, Petco has seen one home-run about every 39 at-bats, a sharp increase over the same figure in 2012, when it was one every 49 at-bats. And, lo, the Park Factor for home-runs has improved from 0.626 to 0.978, almost normal. However, those home-runs haven't come out of nowhere: they are mostly hits that would have previously been doubles, and the park factors for those at Petco have completely cratered, slumping from 0.960 to 0.775. As a result, the overall number for Petco hasn't changed: it has actually dropped slightly, from 0.854 to 0.844. Seems there's more to how a park plays than its fences.

Looking at the dimension changes, one thing has played out as expected, and that's the way the shortened porches in just about all of right field have helped left-handed hitters. Here are the stats for all National League southpaws at Petco, comparing this year and last:

That's startling: If there are just two homers hit by left-handers in this last home series, there will be double the overall number from 2012 - likely in fewer at-bats. Quite a remarkable change, considering we're talking a reduction of only about 11 feet in right-field. Given the changes in left-field were less broad, affecting a smaller section of the park, you'd probably expect a lower, but still positive, bump in numbers for right-handed batters. Not so fast. Here are the actual figures, again for all NL right-handed hitters.

That's strange. Why would pulling the fences in cause a sharp decrease in overall offensive power numbers? One thing I noted, was a sharp decrease in BABIP for right-handed batters. It wasn't very good last year, being only .291 (league average = .300), but dropped further, to .278 (avg .297). The overall .284 BABIP, was the second-lowest in the NL, ahead of the Mets' Citi Field. This could be a temporary aberration. But it seems possible the adjustments in right-field have hurt right-handed batters more, shrinking the space available for non-homer outfield hits to the opposite field, without much compensatory help on the other side. But the downtick in RHB homers is kinda odd.

Brandon McCarthy gets the series underway for the Diamondbacks, as they open a four-game set against the Padres in San Diego.

Brandon McCarthy RHP, 5-9, 4.57

Eric Stults LHP, 9-13, 4.02

Diamondbacks line-up

1. Adam Eaton, LF
2. A.J. Pollock, CF
3. Paul Goldschmidt, 1B
4. Aaron Hill, 2B
5. Miguel Montero, C
6. Matt Davidson, 3B
   
7. Gerardo Parra, RF
8. Chris Owings, SS
9. Patrick Corbin, P

The last five games, the Diamondbacks have been on fire: they've batted .344 and averaged close to eight runs per game. Of course, a factor in that was Coors Field, which still ranks as the most hitter-friendly park in baseball this year. But it's a case of from the sublime to the ridiculous for Arizona, because the same list has Petco ranked 30th. "Hang on," you may be thinking. "Didn't the Padres move the fences in this year? Wasn't that supposed to improve things for hitters there?" Well, both yes and no...

It has certainly made the park more homer-friendly. This year, Petco has seen one home-run about every 39 at-bats, a sharp increase over the same figure in 2012, when it was one every 49 at-bats. And, lo, the Park Factor for home-runs has improved from 0.626 to 0.978, almost normal. However, those home-runs haven't come out of nowhere: they are mostly hits that would have previously been doubles, and the park factors for those at Petco have completely cratered, slumping from 0.960 to 0.775. As a result, the overall number for Petco hasn't changed: it has actually dropped slightly, from 0.854 to 0.844. Seems there's more to how a park plays than its fences.

Looking at the dimension changes, one thing has played out as expected, and that's the way the shortened porches in just about all of right field have helped left-handed hitters. Here are the stats for all National League southpaws at Petco, comparing this year and last:

That's startling: If there are just two homers hit by left-handers in this last home series, there will be double the overall number from 2012 - likely in fewer at-bats. Quite a remarkable change, considering we're talking a reduction of only about 11 feet in right-field. Given the changes in left-field were less broad, affecting a smaller section of the park, you'd probably expect a lower, but still positive, bump in numbers for right-handed batters. Not so fast. Here are the actual figures, again for all NL right-handed hitters.

That's strange. Why would pulling the fences in cause a sharp decrease in overall offensive power numbers? One thing I noted, was a sharp decrease in BABIP for right-handed batters. It wasn't very good last year, being only .291 (league average = .300), but dropped further, to .278 (avg .297). The overall .284 BABIP, was the second-lowest in the NL, ahead of the Mets' Citi Field. This could be a temporary aberration. But it seems possible the adjustments in right-field have hurt right-handed batters more, shrinking the space available for non-homer outfield hits to the opposite field, without much compensatory help on the other side. But the downtick in RHB homers is kinda odd.

Zack Greinke pitched five scoreless innings and the Dodgers picked up their second straight shutout of the weekend over San Diego.

When Zack Greinke takes the mound today against the Padres, he'll have a lineup behind him that's a mix between the last two lineups. Andre Ethier is still out with an ankle injury, but Hanley Ramirez is back after sitting the last two games. The Dodgers' will go up against Padres' starter Andrew Cashner. The righty dominated the Pirates in his last start when he threw a complete game shutout. Cashner gave up one hit, struck out seven, and walked nobody. Here's a look at today's full lineups:

Game info:

Time: 1:10 p.m.

TV: Prime Ticket

Radio: 570 Fox Sports LA

San Diego got on the board first, scoring with two outs in the opening inning, on an RBI single, but Arizona came back immediately. An Adam Eaton groundout leveled the score, though the Diamondbacks would probably have wanted to do more, having loaded the bases with no outs. That was the only scoring by either side through the middle of the sixth: the Padres got a couple of base-runners, but with two outs, Brandon McCarthy had a chance to escape. Instead, he made the decisive mistake. Nick Hundley bounced it off the face of the building in left-field, just fair, for a three-run homer that provided the final margin of victory.

McCarthy finished the night with a line of six innings pitched, and eight hits allowed, resulting in four runs, all earned. He walked none and struck out two. Heath Bell and Matt Langwell pitched scoreless innings of relief, but the offense which had carried the team through Colorado, was a lot less effective. Cliff Pennington had three hits, while Eaton reached base safely twice, on a hit and a walk. The same two teams play again tomorrow night at Petco, with Wade Miley starting for the Diamondbacks, going up against the Padres' Tyson Ross. First pitch is again at 7:10pm, Arizona time.

After enduring about a year and a half of some pretty suspect pitching, I think Padres fans could grow used to seeing more mound performances like we have seen lately. For those that love a good southpaw slinging it, you were treated to a gem from Eric Stults tonight. Unlike the last couple of game versus the Dodgers, the Padres were able to put some runs on the board to support the stellar Stults.

The Padres got on the board first with a couple of well timed knocks in the bottom of the first. Chris Denorfia led off the game with a single and then moved to second base on a ground out by Ronny Cedeño. It was an odd play as Diamondbacks second basemen Aaron Hill faked a throw to second before throwing to first. Arizona pitcher Brandon McCarthy, who had put a lot of zeros on the scoreboard versus the Padres this season, struck out Jedd Gyorko to bring up Chase Headley with a clutch 2 out situation. Headley came through with a single to center.

The snakes would score right back in the second when after 3 straight singles Stults appeared to be in trouble. He got the next batter out and almost got the speedy Adam Eaton to ground into a double play, but the fleet footed center fielder beat out the back end and a run was plated for the opposition. Stults would not allow another.

The next few innings flew by with both pitchers dealing. Only a couple of singles broke up the repetitiveness of out after out. That pattern would stop when the Padres batted in the bottom of the sixth. Headley and Tommy Medica would scatter two one-out singles and Blanks would move them up again. The set up for some more 2 out magic was in place. With Nick Hundley at the plate, McCarthy hung a fat breaking ball that the Padres catcher absolutely crushed. The only question was fair or foul, but as it hit the Western Metal Building everyone knew. It was a 3 run bomb to give the home team a 3 run lead.

There would be a bit of a scare in the top of the 7th as Stults' night ended after a Cliff Pennington double and an Eaton walk. Nick Vincent would provide ample relief out of the pen getting Gerardo Parra to pop out and striking out DBacks slugger Paul Goldschmidt on three pitches. Luke Gregerson and Huston Street would quietly close it out from there to earn Eric Stults his 10th win of the season.

A pretty stress-free solid win. That is unless you had to stress eating 3 lbs of meat from Phil's BBQ like jbox did.

Record: 79-77. Pace: 82-80. Change: +1.

I can't really speak in any great detail about the first four innings, because we were actually watching the series finale of Dexter. That has generated quite the storm of controversy online, but I can't say I was too bothered by it. Hard to see what people wanted to happen. The way things ended, seemed to be a fitting tying up of the loose ends, with the "hero" forced to confront the reality of what he was, despite all his best efforts to pretend otherwise, with the trappings of a normal life. Sure, hardly a particularly dramatic conclusion, but those shrieking "Worst Series Finale Ever! What. A. Joke!" have clearly already forgotten The Sopranos.

Through five and two-third innings, Brandon McCarthy was having a typically Brandon McCarthy-esque outing. He had allowed eight hits, but all of them had been singles. That, and the lack of any walks, meant he had held the Padres to one run. With his pitch-count only in the mid-eighties, he seemed to have a a shot at becoming the first pitcher since Danny Jackson of the 1994 Phillies to throw three consecutive quality starts, allowing 10+ hits in each. It was not to be. With first-base open, a McCarthy pitch was deposited off the facade of the Western Metal Supply building in left, for a three-run homer by Nick Hundley.

I think, if he'd had the chance for a do-over, he would probably have gone after the Padres' slumping number eight hitters instead of Hundley - the broadcast crew were speculating he might do that, before the home-run. However, after getting strike one, McCarthy hung a breaking ball, and that was it. He ended with a line of six innings pitched, eight hits allowed and four runs allowed, with no walks but only two strikeouts. Particularly irritating has to be the broken-bat blooper which provided San Diego with their first hit of the inning, the ball dying out there in the triangle between the infield and right-field. But for that...

However, it wasn't all down to McCarthy, because the D-backs had almost as much trouble with Eric Stults, the fourth time they've seen him this season, as they had the second time, when he pitched a complete-game two hitter. The D-backs looked like they might break through in the second inning, after Matt Davidson, Wil Nieves and Cliff Pennington all singled to load the bases with no-one out. Unfortunately, the pitcher's spot was up, and after McCarthy struck out swinging, all the D-backs could get was an RBI groundout from Adam Eaton, tying the game at one. A.J. Pollock grounded out to the mound, ending the inning.

Our other real chance was in the seventh, when Pennington led off with a double. One out later, Eaton walked, and that was the end of Stults's night. Pinch-hitter Gerardo Parra, brought in to face the right-handed reliever who came on for San Diego, fouled out weakly, and Paul Goldschmidt struck out on what seemed like three very disinterested swings of the bat, none of which made any comment. Eaton (who had extended his hitting streak to ten games earlier in the evening) was our last base-runner of the night, the final eight Diamondbacks being retired in order, and the Padres took the series opener, also clinching the 2013 season series.

There was very little else worth mentioning. A Heath Bell pitch got away and hit Ronnie Cedeno in the head, which appeared to lead to warnings being issued later, when Aaron Hill got buzzed inside. Nothing further ensued. Cliff Pennington picked up three hits, and Eaton reached base safely twice, with a hit and a walk. We got scoreless innings of relief from both Bell and Matt Langwell. Oh, and Eaton almost forgot how many outs there were, after catching a fly-ball for what was actually the second out, and began jogging back to the dugout. That this was probably the evening's most memorable moment, says a great deal about the game.

[Click to enlarge, at fangraphs.com]
Dexter Morgan: Cliff Pennington, +15.2%
Lila West: Brandon McCarthy, -19.3%

Never the most enthusiastic of Gameday Threads to begin with, there was a positive stampede for the exits after the three-run homer. Hey, at least I didn't make any unwarranted statements about ponies or Matt Davidson's hair tonight, so I'm calling it a huge success. Clefo led the commenters, ahead of imstillhungry95 and soco, with the others present being: AfterSchoolSpecial, FatBoysEatMeat, GODSCHMIDT, GuruB, Jim McLennan, Rockkstarr12, The so-called Beautiful, asteroid, cheese1213, hotclaws, kishi and onedotfive. Comment of the Thread to onedotfive, for an accurate summary of likely SnakePit post-season rooting

Any team but the Dodgers

The universe tends to unfold as it should.

by onedotfive on Sep 23, 2013 | 8:34 PMupreply unrec (3) actions

It's back to Petco tomorrow, with Wade Miley taking on Tyson Ross, as the same two sides face off, with the same start time of 7:10pm. Hopefully the result is better, because seriously, I gave genuine contemplation to replacing the recap with a fuller review of the Dexter finale. Still six games left, folks, so something like that might yet happen....

Today's quiz is a lot easier than the last couple I've made recently. I have faith that the most of you will get the majority of these answers. There might even be somebody or somebodies who gets them all right, although I think there's at least one answer that will stump just about everyone.

After making the quiz I realized the wording sounded a bit deceptive. It is by no means a list of everyone who has started a game at first for the Padres; ain't nobody got time for all that mess. Instead it's the players who spent at least a season as the go-to guy. When determining the starting first baseman for each season I went by number of games played, not necessarily who was the Opening Day starter. As a clue I've provided the year(s) each player served as the primary first baseman; they may have been on the team other seasons as a reserve or starting elsewhere in the field.

As always, be sure to share in the poll how many you got right. Also, if when you leave a comment, don't forget to utilize SB*Nation's awesome spoiler alert black bar feature where applicable out of respect for those who haven't taken the quiz yet. Here's a quick tutorial for the uninitiated since it has become a FAQ at this point:

Just highlight the words you want concealed (answers you got right or missed, or naughty toilet language, for example) and click the black square up there. Yep, just treat it just like you would a link. You've got it! Now you're ready to go.

Name the 18 first basemen in Padres history.

Jon and I went to the game last night at the start of Fan Appreciation Week.  We hadn't been for several weeks, since sometime in the last home stand before Labor Day.  We got a late start, but we both found it really eerie to be driving to the park at game time and it was already dark.  Fall is upon us my friends, and winter is coming, that much is clear.

With tickets in hand we walked to the gate but were stopped by two gentlemen who offered us VIP tickets.  I gave them the stink eye thinking they were trying to sell us tickets, scam us or proposition us.  Instead they handed us free tickets in the lower section of 108 and showed us the way to the VIP entrance.  One said "I just like to do nice things for people and besides we got these tickets for free."  They were the best.

Two nice #Padres fans offered us their extra VIP seats for free! Good thing we're VIPs! pic.twitter.com/5BNtkReUT4

— Gaslamp Ball (@gaslampball) September 24, 2013

I like this time of year.  The Padres have long since been eliminated and there's a peacefulness to Petco Park.  The small crowd is subdued, there's empty seats everywhere and the lines for food are short.  I feel like a good fan on these days.  Where others have found better things to do with their time and money, I'm still there.  Just me and the Padres until the bitter end.

The two guys who had given us tickets came to take their seats next to us.  We thanked them again for their generosity, but apparently they felt they needed to do more.  They offered us a hot dog each.  Sure they were cold, disgusting, covered in ketchup and only cost a dollar but it was still nice of them.  Jon and I forced the hot dogs down and smiles upon our face.  "Mmm, so good.  Love a shit ton of ketchup on my hot dogs, how'd you know?"

Now the two fans that gave us tickets just bought us hot dogs. I think we're technically on a double date.

— Gaslamp Ball (@gaslampball) September 24, 2013

We had had plans to go to Phil's BBQ before we were forced to eat hot dogs and after a few innings decided we would go anyway.  There was no one in line and the Park at the Park was nearly empty.  The guy working at Phil's said they were going to shut down their stand early because of the small number of customers.  He heaped butt loads of pork into our sandwiches.  I'm not exaggerating when I say they weighed about 3 lbs each.  I got the meat sweats just looking at it.  There was so much meat it was kind of unappetizing.

Man! @PhilsBBQSD is closing early at Petco Park so they hooked us up with like 3 lbs of meat. pic.twitter.com/WzmUsVm6mj

— Gaslamp Ball (@gaslampball) September 24, 2013

We got extra plates to see if our dates wanted to feed off our excess pulled pork and tri-tip.  They refused us and left us to battle our sandwiches alone.  We eventually lost our respective battles without making much of a dent.

We surrender! 2-0 sandwiches. pic.twitter.com/rOFiPQVJ8b

— Gaslamp Ball (@gaslampball) September 24, 2013

This is about the time that Nick Hundley homered off the Western Metal Supply building.  We tried to stand up but the meat on our laps in our guts kept us in our seats, so we just high fived fellow fans from the sitting position.

During the 7th inning stretch we went in search of and found Gaslamp Ballers Darklighter and Nater Tater.  That's where we saw Heath Bell bean Ronnie Cedeno in the helmet.  The guys next to me insisted that the ball only hit Cedeno's bat even though the sound of balls hitting head was all too familiar to me.

@gaslampballpic.twitter.com/W6m1qDW261

— SD_Gilbert (@onepoint6i) September 24, 2013

We sat with the guys for about a half inning before we felt the need to get our free waters to combat our recurring meat sweats.

After the Padres won, we exited behind home plate.  We saw Kevin Towers and I waved to him before I remembered he's a Diamondback and we don't know him and he doesn't know us.

We talked to Pad Squad Sophie and Darryl for a while at the gates before eventually being forced out of the park by security.  Sophie is always really nice even though she won't ever tweet us.  Darryl is a sneaker head.  I always like to check out his shoes.  Last night he was wearing women's pink running shoes with green highlights.  He is a slave to fashion.

On our walk to the car, by the Padres owned parking lots, I became focused on a guy who appeared to be pouring water on the ground by opening container with his thumb.  When I got closer I looked away quickly when I realized that it wasn't his thumb, it was his peen and he was urinating right in front of everyone.  A memorable ending to a memorable game.

Three more home games!  Let's go!

The Padres opened up the four-game series against the Diamondbacks with a solid 4-1 win last night. They'll try to secure at least a series split tonight as Tyson Ross takes on Wade Miley in game 2.

Both of Ross' previous starts against the Dbacks occured this season, but they had very different outcomes. On July 28th, he kept Arizona to only three hits in eight shutout innings to earn the win. But less than a month later on August 26th, he was tagged for six runs in six innings of work. Ross is coming off a decent outing against the Pirates that resulted in a no-decision. He gave up two runs on three hits through seven innings. It was a much-needed rebound performance after his prior outing against the Phillies, when he surrendered six runs and left the game before recording the third out in the 1st inning.

While Ross looks to keep the Padres in the win column, Wade Miley will try to put his past struggles with San Diego behind him. The lefty is 0-4 with a 5.82 ERA in four starts against the Friars this season alone, and 1-6 with a  5.96 ERA all time. His most recent against them, however, was a solid one. He lasted seven frames and gave up only two of the Padres' five runs that night, but got only one run of support from the Dbacks' offense. He's also pitched well in his last three outings, limiting his opponents to three runs or fewer while pitching at least five innings in each.

Catch the first pitch at 7:10 tonight and see if the Padres can build off last night's win.

Andrew Cashner came out to Camp Pendleton today to show some military appreciation and meet with fans. My mom works on base and let me know about the meet and greet, so I headed out there to meet him. The event took place from 11am-2pm at the Country Store, which is sort of like a big convenience store, at the Mainside MCX and was sponsored by BodyArmor.

I was running super late and got there around 12:30, scared that there would be a ton of people. But when I pulled into the parking lot, there wasn't the swarm of fans I was expecting. I walked up to the door and was greeted by a woman who, upon seeing my Padres shirt, said, "Oh! You're here for the signing right?" I said that I was and she pointed me to the "line." There was no one in line. Just me. I had to wait a few minutes because when I arrived, Cashner was in the middle of an interview with a military member. As I was waiting, five more people showed up and got in line behind me. The woman who greeted us implored us to "Invite friends! Tweet about it!" They seemed kinda desperate. I was honestly shocked there weren't more people. I know it's the middle of the day on a Tuesday, but I've been to quite a few of these signings before and they've always had a ton of people show up. I'd never seen it like this before, and considering he iss arguably our most exciting pitcher on the staff I had expected it to be a large crowd.

Nevertheless, I was super stoked. They're kinda strict about dress codes on base, and the two guys behind me were asked to remove their caps since they were inside. The guys stressed a little, going over to a nearby freezer to check their hair in the glass door. It made me self conscious about my own hair so I kept messing with it and trying to place the strands in the exact right spot. I talked to the other people in line while we waited. One of the guys was planning to have a one hundred dollar bill signed by Cashner, but was soon told that it wouldn't be allowed because that's illegal. He didn't bring anything else, so he was given a bottle of BodyArmor to have signed.

As I watched and waited for Cashner's interview to end so I could get my time with him, I kept getting more and more nervous. A lot of people don't realize how shy I actually am in person. When I met Everth Cabrera for the first time, at FanFest a few years ago, I froze and barely said two words to him as he signed my baseball. Anyway, I was psyching myself out while trying not to psych myself out, when finally Cashner finished his interview and it was my turn to meet him.

I was surprisingly calm during the few minutes I spent with him. First he stood up and we took a picture together. I already know I'm short, but standing next to Cashner made it even more apparent.

I handed him a ball to sign and he asked if there was anyone he'd like to address it to. I spelled out my name and as soon as I did I thought to myself, "I should've said 'jodes'!" But it was too late. Not a big deal though. Check this baby out. It's a beaut.

As he was signing my baseball, I started talking to him about the duck calls at Petco Park. He laughed and said he thought it was really cool. So I took my own duck call out of my purse and said, "I know this is kinda weird, but would you sign this too?" He laughed again and said "Of course! That's hilarious!"

Not only did he sign his name on it, but he scribbled, "Aim Small Miss Small," which I had recognized from the movie The Patriot but now realize must also be a common hunting mantra.

Cashner handed me my signed memorabilia and shook my hand once more and told me to have a good day. I thanked him and went on my way. And by "went on my way" I mean that I sat in my car for 20 minutes in shock of what had just happened before remembering how to talk and move my limbs again.

Wade Miley looks to even the series for the Diamondbacks, as he takes the mound against the Padres in San Diego, for the second contest in this four-game series.

Wade Miley LHP, 10-10, 3.75

Tyson Ross RHP, 3-8, 3.24

Diamondbacks line-up

1. Adam Eaton, CF
2. Willie Bloomquist, LF
3. Paul Goldschmidt, 1B
4. Martin Prado, 3B
5. Miguel Montero, C
6. Gerardo Parra, RF
7. Chris Owings, 2B
8. Didi Gregorius, SS
9. Wade Miley P

Yesterday, I wrote about how the changes at Petco Park this year had apparently flipped the switch, and made it a lot tougher on right-handed batters than southpaws. That's particularly apparent if you look at the D-backs stats this season:

Ouch. That does go a long way to explain why the team has struggled against the Padres. Collectively, over the seven games at Petco, both LHB and RHB are hitting exactly at the Uecker Line - and the right-handed bats, including Goldschmidt, Prado and Hill, who have almost 60 homers this season, have exactly one home-run in 130 at-bats there. Frankly, I'm quite surprised we scored as many as 22 runs over the seven games, given the paucity of the Diamondbacks' hitting. Last year, the split was much narrower: though left-handed batters still did outhit right-handers, it was by 24 OPS points, .691 to .667. So, it does seem the changes have hurt our right-handers more.

Among those with double-digit PAs in San Diego, Miguel Montero is the only one whom you could unequivocally saw has hit "well", being 5-for-17 with a double and two home-runs. Didi Gregorius and Cliff Pennington have been decent, at OPS's of .818 and .771 respectively (the latter boosted by last night's three-hit game). The rest, however? They start with Gerardo Parra, at a .607 OPS, and go down from there. Goldschmidt, Prado and Hill are a collective .143, having gone 7-for-49 this season, but A.J. Pollock, at 2-for-18, will probably be the happiest D-back on the current roster when the series is over on Thursday afternoon, and we see the last of San Diego.

Radical shake-up of the line-up tonight, with most of the names not having appeared yesterday - Eaton, Goldschmidt and Prado seem to be the only survivors from what I can see. Interesting to see Owings get another start at second-base: looks increasingly like the club is serious about possibly using him there. Or are they maybe just showcasing his ability to play there, for potential trading partners? Could be that, or there could be a plan to have him back-up both Hill and Gregorius in the middle infield next season. I guess we'll find out what happens to Owings over the winter.

This will be my last formal piece for a couple of days: I'm heading off to San Diego, so will be checking in from there as and when possible. But otherwise, you'll be left in the capable hands of the other writers and editors [well, except for 'charmer who is on her way to Europe about now]. Or, as one of said capable hands wrote, "Eelfest 2013 is a go." I'll be back on Friday, to pick through the smouldering remains of the 'Pit. :)