By the end of the year, Hernandez should be in the top 90 all-time in career strikeouts. He's 28.

Felix Hernandezrecorded his 1,800th career strikeout against the Tampa Bay Rays on Sunday. At 28 years old, Hernandez already has more strikeouts than several active pitchers that are older than him, like Zack Greinke, Justin Verlander, Tim Lincecum and Cole Hamels. Only 12 pitchers in baseball history have struck out 2,000 hitters or more before turning 30 -- including Walter Johnson, Sam McDowelll, Bert Blyleven, Don Drysdale, Nolan Ryan, Sandy Koufax and Bob Feller.

Decent company.

Hernandez struck out 15 on the day in seven innings and the Seattle Mariners scored five runs in the ninth inning to win, 5-0.

Bonus points for Henderson Alvarez's throwback windup

Give us #RealBears or don't bother, San Diego

Sports (Photo: Denis Poroy) pic.twitter.com/SWEL1KPq6f

— Seth Rosenthal (@seth_rosenthal) June 8, 2014

Jose Reyes Bobblehead Night inspires Brett Lawrie

h/t SportsNet's Blue Jays Run Down

Sunday scores

Cardinals 5, Blue Jays 0

Reds 4, Phillies 1

Athletics 11, Orioles 1

Brewers 1,  Pirates 0

Mariners 5, Rays 0

Astros 14, Twins 5

Royals 2, Yankees 1

Marlins 4, Cubs 3

Indians 3, Rangers 2

Angels 4, White Sox 2

Giants 6, Mets 4

Dodgers 6 Rockies 1 (F/6)

Nationals 6, Padres 0

Diamondbacks 6, Braves 5

Red Sox 5, Tigers 3

Arizona Diamondbacks
1-16) Touki Toussaint, RHP, Coral Springs Christian Academy, FL
2-54) Cody Reed, LHP, Ardmore HS, Ardmore, AL
CB-69) Marcus Wilson, OF, Serra HS, Los Angeles, CA
CB-70) Isan Diaz, SS, Springfield Central HS, MA
3-89) Matt Railey, OF, North Florida ChristianHS
4-120) Brent Jones, RHP, Cornell
COMMENTS: Upside-oriented early picks followed by a shift to the college ranks. Touissaint may have the highest upside of any pitcher in the draft but will need considerable development work, nevertheless a very worthy choice at 16^th overall. Reed also has a high ceiling with a fastball up to 95 MPH, though scouts have some concerns about the 260 pounds he carries on his body as well as his command. Wilson is the very essence of a raw toolsy outfielder, with a chance to be a star or an A-ball flameout. Diaz is unusually polished for a cold-weather prep, although his tools will limit him to second base. Railey isn’t as toolsy as Wilson but is a more polished hitter and represents great value in the third round. Ivy Leaguer Jones can get up to 95 MPH but is understandably a bit raw for a college pitcher, needing to improve his secondary pitches. Middle and late round picks were college focused, with seventh rounder Tyler Humphreys (3B, St. John’s River SC) and eighth rounder Grant Heyman (OF, College of Southern Nevada) having substantial upside. Heyman in particular could be quite good, having shown power, speed, and good hitting skills in a wooden-bat college league. Unsignable: J.B. Bukauskas, RHP, 20^th round.

Colorado Rockies
1-8) Kyle Freeland, LHP, University of Evansville
CB-35) Forrest Wall, 2B, Orangewood Christian HS, FL
2-48) Ryan Castellani, RHP, Brody Jesuit Prep HS, AZ
3-82) Sam Howard, LHP, Georgia Southern University
4-113) Wes Rogers, OF, Spartanburg Methodist
COMMENTS: Diverse early picks. Freeland is a home-town guy and the Rockies are obviously OK with his medical reports after some late draft concerns about his elbow history. His combination of command and stuff should move him through the system quickly. Wall was one of the top hitters available in the high school ranks with an advanced bat that should provide batting average, OBP, and decent power. Shoulder trouble limits him to second base but that’s OK. Castellani has three solid pitches and a nice 6-4, 195 pound build. He didn’t get as much attention as some late risers but scouts have been watching him for years and there may have just been some press fatigue with him. Howard is a classic strike-thrower from the college ranks with three decent pitches who can be a good inning eater. Rogers is skinny (6-4, 175), fast, and might develop some power. Later picks focused on the college ranks with Drew Weeks (7^th round, OF, North Florida), Harrison Musgrave (8^th round, LHP, West Virginia) Andrew Rohrbach (9^th round, RHP, Long Beach State) and Richard Prigatano (11^th round, OF, Long Beach State) representing a nice run of value. Sleeper: Sam Bumpers, SS, Lamar University, 22^nd round.

Los Angeles Dodgers
1-22) Grant Holmes, RHP, Conway HS, Conway, SC
2-62) Alex Verdugo, OF-LHP, Sahuaro HS, AZ
3-98) John Richy, RHP, UNLV
4-129) Jeff Brigham, RHP, University of Washington
COMMENTS: Holmes fits the Dodgers mold perfectly: a strong-bodied right-hander clocked in the mid-90s (sometimes higher) who already has a good breaking ball. He could easily have gone 10 slots higher than this. Verdugo is interesting: scouts prefer him as a pitcher but he wants to hit and the Dodgers will oblige him. He does have power and if hitting doesn’t work out he can always return to the mound later.
Richy benefitted from all the attention paid to injured teammate Erick Fedde. Richy doesn’t have Fedde’s stuff but is no slouch himself and posted a 113/24 K/BB in 121 innings this year. Brigham is a Tommy John survivor who is a good value as a college senior due to his 92-97 MPH sinking fastball. Later picks were centered on college ranks with Stanford enigma A.J. Vanegas checking in as an 11^th round senior after spending most of his amateur career as a potential first rounder. Sleeper: Clint Freeman, 1B-OF, East Tennessee State has a strong bat and could be a nice senior bargain.

San Diego Padres
1-13) Trea Turner, SS, North Carolina State University
2-51) Michael Gettys, OF, Gainesville HS, GA
3-86) Zech Lemond, RHP, Rice University
4-117) Nick Torres, OF, Cal Poly
COMMENT: Intrigue with the top group. Trea Turner was one of the best college players available this year. His combination of speed and on-base ability should make him a top of the order force; scouts wonder about how the power will play and he needs to sharpen his defense, but there’s no question that the tools are there. Gettys is of great interest: his tools are outstanding and on physicality alone he should have been a first round pick, but his swing-and-miss issues are serious enough for scouts to downgrade him substantially despite the athleticism. He could be a star, or a flop, but in the second round he’s a fine choice given the upside. Lemond throws hard and had the talent and performance metrics to go higher, but he was worked hard by Rice and the history of Owls pitchers who have their arms turn to dust a year or two after being drafted is a scary precedent. Torres has a chance to hit for both power and average. Subsequent choices were college-oriented with Nick Vilter (9^th round, SS, Cal Riverside), Yale Rosen (11^th round, OF, Washington State) and senior OBP machine Joey Epperson (13^th round, OF-INF, UC Santa Barbara) standing out as values.

Personally, I’m not a fan of wasting picks on non-baseball players like Johnny Manziel, especially since you can still find something of interest in the 28^th round. It’s a waste and I’d rather use that on someone who can be an actual organization player, say some college senior who deserves a chance to play and maybe won’t now because of stunts like that. Unsignable: Cobi Johnson, 35^th round.

San Francisco Giants
1-14) Tyler Beede, RHP, Vanderbilt
2-52) Aramis Garcia, C, Florida International University
3-87) Dylan Davis, OF, Oregon State University
4-118) Logan Webb, RHP, Rocklin HS, CA
COMMENTS: Beede has a great arm but is still relatively raw as Vanderbilt products go, so I think being picked by the Giants with their expertise in pitching development is the perfect slot for him. He could develop into a Matt Cain-like workhorse. Garcia is a fine college choice in the second round, featuring a strong power bat and improving defensive work. Davis has a great arm and could make a fine pitcher if the Giants don’t unlock his power properly, though he performed well with a top program. Webb was unknown six months ago but suddenly started throwing 92-95 MPH this spring; again, the Giants are a good fit for him. College guys fill out the later rounds, with hard-throwing Sam Coonrod (5^th round, RHP, Southern Illinois), Skyler Ewing (6^th round, 1B-C, Rice), Austin Slater (8^th round, OF, Stanford), and Benton Moss (15^th round, RHP, North Carolina) being solid choices. Sleeper: speedy Richard Amion (19^th round, OF, Alabama State) stole 86 bases in three years in the SWAC and can draw walks, too.

The Washington Nationals took 2 of 3 from the San Diego Padres on the first stop of their 10-game, three-city road trip. Stop no.2, San Francisco's AT&T Park where the Nationals take on the Giants in the first game of a four-game set tonight at 10:15 PM EDT.

The Washington Nationals win on Sunday lifted them into a tie with the Atlanta Braves for first place in the NL East. The Nats are 7-3 in their last 10 games after taking two of three from the San Diego Padres.

Up next, however, a four-game set with the San Francisco Giants, who have won eight of ten and 15 of their last 20 overall to lift them to 42-21 overall on the year and give them a 9.5 game lead in the NL West. The Nats and Giants split the six games they played last season.

After the four-game series in AT&T Park it's off to St. Louis, where the Nationals take on the Cardinals, against whom they're 2-8 over the last two seasons. It's a rough trip and a good test if the Nationals have really turned a corner.

Stephen Strasburg takes on Ryan Vogelsong tonight in San Francisco in a 10:15 pm EDT start...

[ed. note]: ("If you're saying to yourself, why wait until after noon to post the links, well, we've officially shifted to Pacific Time while the Nationals are on the road so think of this as 9:30-ish AM post... OK, that's not true. Ummm, okay we'll be honest-ish... After driving down from NJ to D.C. last Tuesday, covering in the three-game set with the Phillies, driving back to N.J. from 1:00-5:00 am on Friday morning after covering the first night of the draft and hanging around for Mike Rizzo and Kris Kline's post 1st Round press conference and then staying up late Friday/Saturday for the games in San Diego and finishing up coverage of Sunday's win, we crashed, hard-ish and didn't wake up until 10:30 AM EDT this morning and this post takes about 90 minutes to put together. So, quit your griping. By which we mean enjoy the links.")

Hey, how about Jordan Zimmermann! Right?!?! Take a nap today. Read some links while you wait for tonight's game. Links and lots of them, starting... RIGHT NOW!!!!:

• THE BIG STORY!!!:

• "At the end of May, Jordan Zimmermann found himself adrift. The league hit .342 against him over five May starts, and he punched up a 5.06 ERA." -"Did Jordan Zimmermann throw the best start in Nationals history?" - Adam Kilgore, Washington Post

Jordan Zimmermann is an ace. Believe it: http://t.co/i64dps7FBh#Whiffpic.twitter.com/wzcu4OLSpy

— MLB (@MLB) June 9, 2014

• NATS BEAT:

• "Williams became a star in San Francisco, and has long identified with the franchise. Heading back to the place his MLB career began will be special for the Nationals’ rookie manager." - "Nats manager Matt Williams heads ‘home’ to San Francisco" - Chase Hughes, Nats Insider

• "Zimmermann wasn't sure if he was going to pitch a good game because he had a rotten bullpen session." -"Washington Nationals at San Diego Padres - June 8, 2014" - Bill Ladson, MLB.com WSH Recap

• "Zimmermann struck out a career-high 12 in a 6-0 whitewashing of the Padres that provided the Nats with their third consecutive series victory..." - "Nationals Pastime: Zimmermann's gem lands Nationals in three-way tie for division lead" - Pete Kerzel, MASNSports.com

• "On paper, the Giants are baseball's best team. Bochy knows titles aren't won in June, though." - "Washington Nationals at San Francisco Giants - June 9, 2014" - Ryan Hood, MLB.com Preview

• "While the Nationals have put themselves in solid position, they can solidify their status and announce themselves as a leading contender this week, starting tonight in San Francisco." - "The Nationals’ hot streak will be tested in San Francisco" - Adam Kilgore, Washington Post

2014 #MLBDraft: #Nationals' GM Mike Rizzo & Asst. GM Kris Kline, risk vs reward, Giolito, Rendon, Fedde #Natshttp://t.co/wn0CAnQd0T

— federalbaseball (@federalbaseball) June 8, 2014

• "Did Soriano have a rough patch at one point last season? Yes. Does he have a tendency to make ninth innings dramatic and raise your pulse a bit? You bet." - "Nationals Pastime: In defense of Rafael Soriano" - Dan Kolko, MASNSports.com

• "Nationals manager Matt Williams will be returning to San Francisco as his team plays the Giants in a four-games series that starts Monday night at AT&T Park." - "San Francisco trip a homecoming for Williams" - Bill Ladson, nationals.com: News

Breaking down Jordan Zimmermann's near-Maddux http://t.co/N9rUxvGBCd

— Beyond the Box Score (@BtBScore) June 9, 2014

• Your Daily Message from the Dalai Lama on Twitter (@DalaiLama):

We cannot change the past, but we can reshape the future. Young people have the opportunity to create a happier, better future

— Dalai Lama (@DalaiLama) December 17, 2013

• NATIONAL(S) BEAT:

• "The fact that Zimmermann (5-2, 3.17) was pitching with a six-run lead worked both for him and against the Padres..." - "Stults, Padres drubbed by Nats" - Chris Jenkins, UTSanDiego.com

• "'I checked my phone, and the Nationals were calling me,' Bourque said. 'I talked to a scout for like two minutes then had to clear my mind pretty quickly.'" -"Decision looming for Michigan pitcher James Bourque drafted by Washington Nationals in 2014 MLB Draft" - Michael Niziolek, MLive.com

• "For the third time since 2009, the Nationals selected a Minuteman pitcher in Major League Baseball’s first-year player draft as senior right-hander D.J. Jauss was taken in the 29th round (874th overall) Saturday." - "Washington Nationals draft UMass pitcher D.J. Jauss, son of former Red Sox coach Dave Jauss" - Matt Vautour, GazetteNet.com

• "Meanwhile, on the diamond, the Washington Nationals selected Auburn signee Montrell Marshall with the 364th pick in Major League Baseball's First-Year Player Draft on Saturday." -"Auburn rewind: 7 stories you may have missed last week" - Mark Heim, AL.com

• "The former U-W Stevens Point star from Auburndale was perfect until the sixth inning, when he gave up a one-out single to Alexi Amrista." - "WISCONSIN SPORTS ROUNDUP: Seven shutout innings from Gallardo lifts Miwaukee to victory" - Pierce County Herald

Nationals rotation this month: 5-1, 1.21 ERA, 3 walks, 48 strikeouts. I'm buying Natitude stock!

— Richard Justice (@richardjustice) June 9, 2014

• NATS MINORS:

• Low-A Hagerstown: "Low Single-A Hagerstown Suns right-hander Lucas Giolito is listed as the starter for Monday's game at Lakewood." -"Giolito expected to start Monday night, plus other notes" - Byron Kerr, MASNSports.com

• Low-A Hagerstown: "The Hagerstown Suns (41-22) dropped the final three games of a four-game series against the Greensboro Grasshoppers (37-26), including a 5-4 loss in the series finale on Sunday evening." - "Suns drop three of four in Greensboro" - Eli Pearlstein, Hagerstown Suns News

• High-A Potomac: "The Potomac Nationals (33-28, 17-12) could not complete a three game sweep against the Wilmington Blue Rocks (30-31, 14-16) as they fell 10-4 on Sunday afternoon at Pfitzner Stadium." - "Nine-Run Fifth from Blue Rocks Sinks P-Nats 10-4" - Potomac Nationals News

Updated @HbgSenators game story with video highlights & quotes from Brian Daubach &@CutterDykstra ... http://t.co/8U4ZbDo6wJ

— Geoff Morrow (@RageAgainstGMo) June 8, 2014

• Double-Harrisburg: "Brad Meyers, a starting pitcher for the Harrisburg Senators, was released by the Washington Nationals Sunday morning." - "Nationals release Brad Meyers, a longtime Harrisburg Senators starting pitcher" - Geoff Morrow, PennLive.com

• Triple-A Syracuse: "The Syracuse Chiefs, the Triple-A affiliate of the Washington Nationals, lost a rain-shortened, 4-2 affair to the Buffalo Bisons on Sunday afternoon from Coca-Cola Field." - "Bisons clip Chiefs in rain-shortened game" - Syracuse Chiefs News

• "Monday’s News & Notes" - Luke Erickson, NationalsProspects.com

• NATSTOWN:

• "Washington Nationals righthander Jordan Zimmermann put together an impressive outing over the offensively hapless San Diego Padres Sunday..." -"Breaking down Jordan Zimmermann's near-Maddux" - Stuart Wallace, Beyond the Box Score

• "Jordan Zimmerman pitched one of the games of the year tonight, becoming the third hurler on his team to fan at-least 11 batters in the past five games." - "Jordan Zimmermann Got His Groove Back" - Williams Yoder, The Nats Blog

• "New Podcast: S3E2: Tanner Roark: MacGyver of Pitching" - Nationals 101

AUDIO: #Nats Nightly today = @NationalsDSP + FBB's Doghouse + @TheNatsBlogJoe on the #Nats' 6-0 win over the #Padres: http://t.co/53rjp7Bpde

— federalbaseball (@federalbaseball) June 8, 2014

• "Another week of baseball is in the books. Here are some names making headlines in the Washington Nationals’ organization." - "Washington Nationals: Minor League, Prospect Report Week of June 8th" - Brian Skinnell, District Sports Page

• "'I mean, I wasn’t thinking about the no-hitter. It was whatever.'" - "Video: Jordan Zimmermann flirts with perfection, strikes out a dozen Padres" - Nats Enquirer

• "They have won seven of their past nine games, outscoring opponents 53-16. The bats have been hot, with the fifth-best OPS in the National League at .737 since the start of the month." -"Nationals face their own Test of Champions" - Nationals Buzz: Marty Niland, MASNSports.com

• "Dominant. There isn't another word to use to describe the Nats starting pitching right now." -"Cusp-ed-ed!" - Harper, Nationals Baseball

• "Jordan Zimmermann's teammates videobomb his postgame interview after gem" - Nats Enquirer

• "Have the Nats Arrived? Ask Me in 13" - cfliegel, The Nationals Review

• NL EAST UPDATES:

• Phillies: "Contenders always look for bullpen help by the trade deadline, and Adams had not only been pitching lights-out but also has a lengthy track record of success as a setup man." - "Mike Adams' injury puts serious dent in trade value" - Corey Seidman, Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia

• Mets: "Mets RHP Zack Wheeler made the shortest start of his career Sunday, lasting just 3 2/3 innings and letting up four runs, as the Mets lost to the Giants." - "Sunday was the worst start of Zack Wheeler’s career" - Matthew Cerrone, Metsblog

• Marlins: "Nathan Eovaldi's wife is due to deliver any day. Andrew Heaney turned in yet another strong pitching performance Saturday in the minors. And the Marlins don't play on Monday or Thursday." - "CHICAGO: Andrew Heaney’s promotion looms as Miami Marlins’ pitching rotation is hard to guess" - Clark Spencer, MiamiHerald.com

RECAP: @JUP_8TL, @FreddieFreeman5 go deep as #Braves edged by D-backs, 6-5: http://t.co/zXVDjsshdRpic.twitter.com/R4247JkUYT

— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) June 8, 2014

• Braves: "I’ve never made it a secret that the Braves’ roster construction and flawed hitting has bothered me, and it tends to catch up with them down the stretch and in the playoffs." - "Braves are golden…or doomed (you decide)" - Jeff Schultz, Atlanta Journal-Constitution

There's a time and a place for a baseball team to goof off.  The Padres chose poorly on both  fronts in their latest publicity stunt.  In case you haven't heard, they drafted professional football player Johnny Manziel over the weekend in the 28th round of the Major League Baseball draft.

Big thank you to the @Padres and @padresmikedee for selecting me in the MLB draft. What a great day! pic.twitter.com/MaTKVZ5JqY

— Johnny Manziel (@JManziel2) June 7, 2014

I rolled my eyes so hard into the back of my head at the sight of that tweet, you would have sworn I was a Warg.

When a team, like the Padres, has a horrific draft history, they shouldn't try and get cute.  So what if teams rarely reap Major League talent from the 28th round?  The Padres need to prove that they know what they're doing with their top picks before they start throwing away their low picks.

If the Padres want to mess around, do it in the offseason or during Spring Training.  That's a perfect time to play Pickleball or invite Garth Brooks to practice with the team.  Few will fault them when it's done at the appropriate time.  The wrong time to play a game of Twitter grab-ass is in season, when your team is 28-35 and 14 games out of first place.   A team that sh_ts the sheets night after night doesn't get to invite Johnny Football over for a slumber party and tickle fight on a school night.

Which brings us to the character they drafted.  If the Padres really felt the need to waste the draft pick and didn't feel like there was any chance that they could claim a player of value then maybe they could find a local hero or a citizen of the city to honor.  Instead they chose a clown who's only connection to the Padres is a one time dinner date with Padres president Mike Dee when he was in town for a football camp.

Don't get me wrong though, I'm not as butthurt as I may sound.  I get that the pick was most likely meaningless.  My expectations for the draft were already at an all-time low as it was and I barely cared who they selected.  It'll be years before we find out if the team successfully scavenged some Major League talent.   I'll hopefully have other interests when that time comes.

For me I'm most annoyed that the Front Office doesn't seem to foresee the backlash that is sure to come with these types of stunts. How hard is it to think ahead a few steps?  Let's see, we have an increasingly irate or at best a disinterested fanbase, a sh_t team on the field, let's show them that we aren't taking our job seriously.

We spend hours and hours refining and crafting our arguments about who should be crowned baseball's best player at the end of each season. How about the same for those at the bottom?

Much of baseball's best analysis is centered on determining who is the best at something, or the best at everything. We spend a great deal of energy on determining the right metrics by which to evaluate players and then we apply those metrics, and the context in which they events they measure occurred, to form our opinions. At the end of the process, we have a pretty good idea about who's better. We can use the same tools to evaluate the worst players and that's what we're going to do right now. We're closing in on 40 percent of the way through the 2014 season, who's baseball's worst player?

I'll be clear right away that I mean, who is baseball's worst performing player? Many of these players aren't going to be this bad for the whole season and their talents far exceed what they've done to date. We'll use a pretty simple methodology to run through our choices. We'll take the position players with the ten lowest fWAR and examine which performance appears to be the worst. Nothing fancy, just an exploration into something we almost never explore. I glanced at players on the pitching side, but no one was terribly interesting.

There's no qualifying number of plate appearances because WAR is a cumulative stat, so being terrible for four plate appearances won't get you on this list like it would if we used some sort of rate stat. There are 11 players on this list because there was a tie for tenth place.

Gyorko has the lead, but he also has way more PA than eight of his competitors. We care about overall negative value, but WAR is only so precise and the decimal only holds so much weight. Let's agree that these 11 players are in the running and break it down from there.

Galvis is obviously the worst hitter, but he's only had 46 PA. After that, they sort into guys in the 30 wRC+ range and the 60-70 wRC+ range. Combine Gyorko's poor offense with his high number of plate appearances and he's a strong choice. He's also been a below average runner. His defense is saving him a little, trailing on Jose Molina (who isn't getting any boost for his framing), but his DRS numbers are also worse than the UZR figure used in fWAR.

When it comes down to it, Gyorko has one of the worst bats in the league this year and is consistently using it without carrying defense or baserunning. You could make the case for others on this list, but I like Gyorko for an important reason, he's a starter at a skill position. Billy Butler and Dom Brown share the "should be a decent player" tag, but everyone else is getting playing time because their teams don't have much of a choice. It's no fun to give the award to a player who shouldn't really have this big of a role. Butler and Brown are also basically maxed out in terms of negative positional value, whereas Gyorko gets a bump from playing second base. That last part isn't a huge factor, but it makes having the lowest WAR in the league a little more impressive.

ZiPS and Steamer like Gyorko to be above replacement level for the rest of the season, so he probably won't hold this title for long, but to date it's been a very rough ride. He signed a nice extension at the start of the year that his agent is probably very happy about given his performance so far. A productive Gyorko probably doesn't change the Padres season too much, but it definitely wouldn't hurt. He's tracking toward a -3.2 fWAR season, in case you're curious, and that would put him among the ten worst all time seasons. Jim Levey' 1933 -4.0 WAR season is the mark to beat. Or not beat, depending on your perspective.

...

All statistics courtesy of FanGraphs.

Neil Weinberg is the Associate Managing Editor at Beyond The Box Score, a contributor to Gammons Daily, and can also be found writing enthusiastically about the Detroit Tigers at New English D. Follow @NeilWeinberg44

The band is finally getting back together.

Finally, some good news in the Cincinnati Reds' corner of the baseball universe.

It appears that Joey Votto's quick rehab stint with the Triple-A Louisville Bats is over, and the former NL MVP will rejoin the big league squad for tonight's game against the Los Angeles Dodgers.  He's in the lineup, batting 3rd and playing 1B.

Joey Votto has been activated. Donald Lutz has been optioned to Louisville. #Reds

— Jamie Ramsey (@Jamieblog) June 10, 2014

Votto went 2 for 6 with a pair of singles and a run scored while with the Bats, starting both Sunday and Monday's games against the Pawtucket Red Sox.  While the former indicates he's at least comfortable seeing the ball well, manager Bryan Price indicated that the team was more concerned with how Votto responded to playing in back to back games than with how well he hit, and that falls in line with the previous comments made regarding Votto's quad issue.  It had been mentioned several times that pain wasn't the main issue in resting Votto for nearly three weeks, and that it was instead a lack of strength in his quad that was sapping his ability to hit like the Votto of old.

The Reds' 1B was hitting .257/.410/.449 with 6 HR before being placed on the DL, his last game being the May 15th contest against the San Diego Padres where he struck out three times - the only three strikeout game of his season.  While that .859 OPS sits well below his career mark of .956, it will still come as a boost to a lineup whose overall team OBP of .299 and OPS of .670 rank 27th and 26th respectively among all teams in baseball.  Considering the quad issue that ultimately sent him to the DL was a primary driver of Votto's sub-Vottoan performance, there's every reason to expect those numbers will improve, too.

Making way on the 25-man roster will be Donald Lutz, who was optioned back to Louisville.  Considering how sparingly Lutz was playing since his call-up, that's a good thing, as the young slugger was off to a hot start to his minor league season and needs to be getting regular at-bats somewhere.

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After a frustrating series against the Nationals at home, buffered by an off day and a flight to Philadelphia, our Padres embark on an eight-game road trip today hoping something or someone can turn things around for the team. And today's starting pitcher might just be the guy to do that.

Things have been bleak for the Padres this season, but not so much lately when Ian Kennedy has taken the mound. The right-hander is 4-0 in his last four starts, posting a 2.00 ERA and keeping opponents to a .177 average. He's pitched at least five innings in each of his 13 starts this season, and gone six or more frames in 11 of those outings. In five career starts against the Phillies, IPK is 2-1 with a 2.45 ERA

Going for Philadelphia will be 23-year-old rookie pitcher Ken Giles, who was promoted from Lehigh Valley prior to the series. He'll be making his major league debut today after splitting time between Double-A and Triple-A this season. As a relief pitcher, he's collected 12 saves while going 28 2/3 innings through 24 appearances with a 1.88 ERA. But he hasn't made started a game since 2012.

Action will get underway at Citizens Bank Park at 4:05 PDT this afternoon.

It looks like tonight's Padres game might be delayed due to thunderstorms in the Philadelphia area.

Pregame: Lane returns to El Paso | UTSanDiego.com

As of 3:40 p.m. Eastern Time, the tarp is on the field at Citizens Bank Park and the rain has already begun, meaning there's a good chance tonight's series opener between the Padres and Phillies will be delayed.

Twitter is alive with pictures of the dugouts flooding and Padres players playing slip n' slide on the infield tarp.

Everth Cabrera and Yasmani Grandal are using the tarp at Citizens Bank Park as a Slip 'N Slide. pic.twitter.com/OZ6qdhVL7h

— Dennis Lin (@dennistlin) June 10, 2014

Yasmani sliding on the tarp during downpour. Cheers from the crowd. #baseballBodysurfhttp://t.co/xcm3h2d2SV

— Bob Scanlan (@heyscan) June 10, 2014

@gaslampballhttp://t.co/PbowQJsL35 (Maybin) has some awesome videos of the slip and slide.

— Dis (@ItsDis) June 10, 2014

You can look at this in three ways. Perhaps the Padres just need to loosen up, after all Tony Gwynn said you can't do anything in this game with a tight booty.  Or maybe a team already with extensive injuries to its roster shouldn't be taking unnecessary risks.  The third perspective is that the Padres shouldn't be having any fun because the fans aren't.  The team sucks and they should be conducting themselves in a business-like manner, perhaps taking batting practice instead of goofing off. My take on it, is let the players have fun and maybe it'll do them some good, but don't get hurt.  If you get hurt, there will be hell to pay.

Anyway it looks like at least some of the game will be played tonight.  The guys are resuming baseball activities on the field at the moment.

A few Padres playing catch in the outfield. That's a good sign that this going is going to get played tonight! pic.twitter.com/ZyTo8RhszU

— Kris Budden (@KrisBudden) June 10, 2014

Hard to believe but this field drained quick and they may just get this game in quicker than anyone thought possible pic.twitter.com/tNyWtyGaMs

— Luke Yoder (@luke_yoder) June 10, 2014

The Phillies beat the Padres at Citizens Bank Park thanks to a few players who did nothing to hurt their trade value.

Jonathan Papelbon hadn't pitched in a while, so he figured he'd make sure you all noticed he was out there.

Papelbon recorded the 300th save of his career, A.J. Burnett pitched into the 8th inning, and Marlon Byrd had 4 RBIs as the Phillies beat the Padres 5-2 at Citizens Bank Park.

With the win, the Phils moved to within 10 games of .500 at 26-36 and sent the folks home happy on Chase Utley Bobblehead Night. Utley did his part too, going 2-for-4 with 2 runs scored an an RBI, raising his batting average to .318 on the season. Oh, those pesky 10-5 rights.

Of course, there were other, slightly more likely trade bait that played well on Tuesday night for the Phils. Burnett bounced back from a string of subpar outings with 7.1 innings of effective pitching, giving up just two runs on three hits, three strikeouts and two walks. Coming into tonight, Burnett had given up a league-leading 41 walks, so those two walks were a pretty nice change of pace, especially for a guy who is still pitching through a hernia.

Byrd broke out of a June slump with a huge opposite-field three-run home run that gave the Phils a 4-1 lead, breaking a string of 4 hits in his previous 30 plate appearances (.143/.200/.393). Byrd could be a nice target for a team looking for help in the outfield, although he will likely trigger a vesting option in his contract that would require a team to pick up his 2016 season.

And then there is Papelbon, who needed 146 pitches (OK, maybe a few less) to get out of a bases loaded, 9th inning jam, but featured a fastball that touched 93 mph, and lowered his ERA on the season to 1.48. If the Phils agreed to pick up some of his salary, it's possible a team with bullpen issues (Detroit?) might be willing to part with something of value. Maybe.

Of course, it was also nice to see the Phils play a solid game from start to finish. As they lost 9 of their last 10 coming into Tuesday night's game against San Diego, fans hadn't seen that for a while.

Winning is always nice.

A gloomy day in Philly equated to another gloomy result in the series opening loss.

A solid 3 innings is never enough in Major League Baseball, and it wasn't enough today to handle the Phillies. Three innings of no-run baseball thrown from Ian Kennedy and a run scored on a Will Venable solo HR was swiftly replaced by a 4 inning Philly 4th.

Our only response was late in the seventh on a weak sacrifice fly from Yonder Alonso. The game ended in a crushing Padres fashion, a weak ground out while down 2-5 with a bases loaded two out situation. Kennedy gave up all 5 earned runs today, and his offense backed him up with 2 on five hits.

At this point we have equaled the Diamondbacks in the standings. A status that we've avoided for the better part of the first half of the season; but now can't seem to escape from. We've gotten decidedly to the point where there's "nowhere to go but up", and the only direction I will settle for is at least being able to sweep a team before all-star break.

There was consolation today, as Everth Cabrera broke some sort of slip-n-side record that probably exists.

Rain-delay-Cabrera wants to slide away from his teams' problems. Almost there, Cabby. Almost there.

Enough people showed up to watch the Padres lose to the point where we have to acknowledge the game actually happened. Three recs were shared between Jay Stokes, turbopan, and Friar Fever.

As has become a recurring theme with me, I was looking for a different card, saw this one, and got completely sidetracked. One sub-hobby of my larger hobby of collecting cards is trying to pinpoint when the play pictured took place, and this card featuring a pair of Hall of Famers seemed like a good candidate.

Since this card is from 1996, the photo is from 1995. I looked at Tony's 1995 game log to narrow it down to the six games the Padres played in St. Louis. Their first road set against the Cardinals was from June 13 through June 15. Gwynn got on base all three games, but Tripp Cromer played all 27 innings at shortstop for the Cards that series. That meant it had to take place in one of the three games from September 7 through September 9.

Both September 7 and September 8 were quickly eliminated since Tony posted a rare 0-for-4 each game and didn't reach base any other way. Now that it was down to one possible day, I thought I was on the home-stretch. However, Gwynn had a big game on September 9; even more confusing to my quest was that he stopped at second base four times, stealing it twice.

Right when I was about to give up, like I do with most things in life, I took another glance at the card and something occurred to me. Both Gwynn and Smith's uniforms are spotless, and the dirt around second base is in nearly pristine condition. Also, Busch Stadium is notorious for being extremely hot on the field of play, and there's nary a drop of sweat to be seen on either one of them. All of this leads me to believe that this picture was taken during the first inning, when Tony took second on a wild pitch by Mike Morgan. Beside, if I were a photographer, I would snap whatever action I saw early in the game in case I didn't get a chance later.

So there you have it. Maybe.

The struggles continued for our boys in yesterday's series opener in Philly. After a day of playing in the rain, they dropped to eight games under .500 with a 2-5 loss. Now losers of six of their last eight games, Padres will try to even up the series this afternoon.

Tyson Ross gets the call for San Diego, coming off one of his worst outings of the season. The right-hander went 5 1/3 innings, allowing six runs on five hits and three walks. He did, however, collect six strikeouts against the Nationals. He got absolutely no run support for the second time in his last four starts, a stretch in which he's gone 1-2 with a 4.24 ERA, nine walks, and 24 strikeouts. His start against Washington was a poor way to begin the month of June, but Ross will hopefully fare better today against Philadelphia. He'll have to do much better than his last and only career start against the Phillies, when he was tagged for six runs and didn't make it out of the first inning.

Ross' opponent is no stranger to San Diego, unfortunately for the Friars. San Diego native Cole Hamels will take the mound for the Phillies in game 2 and hopes to keep up his success against his hometown team. Since '08, Hamels has gone 8-1 with a 2.27 ERA in 11 starts against the Padres and comes into today's matchup having won five consecutive decisions against them. He is also looking to build off a six-game stretch in which he's posted a 2.11 ERA while going at least seven innings each time out.

Our Padres will have to find a way to get out of their heads and get their bats on the ball so they can have a chance of coming out of Philly with a series win. Game time is set for 4:05 PDT today.

The Friars drop the second game of the series against the Phillies due to a walkoff, and lose three straight.

At the very least, today Padres fans can genuinely say they were not surprised. Our offense today provided five hits and zero runs. We went 0 for 3 with runners in scoring position, we left 6 runners on base, and all despite a perfect performance from Tyson Ross. Although both teams went scoreless for almost the entire duration of the game; the Phils aren't the ones with desperate hitting woes.

Cole Hamels and Tyson Ross had a legitimate pitching duel today, with Ross posting 4 hits, 1 walk, 7 strikeouts in 7 innings; Hamels threw for 5 hits, 1 walk, 11 strikeouts in 8 innings. But unfortunately the Phillies had the offensive walkoff mojo and ended the scoreless game with a 3-run HR from Reid Brignac off of Nick Vincent.

The only Padres to get hits today were Chris Denorfia, Chase Headley, Tommy Medica, and Cameron Maybin. None of these Padres are leading the club in any sort of hitting statistic. Tyson Ross also helped his cause with a hit as well.

Luckily (?) we're throwing Eric "Stultsy" Stults (5.68 ERA) against Philedelphia's version of Stults (4.30 ERA) tomorrow. If not a pitching duel like today, we can at least hope for a sloppy, messy offensive brawl. Cross your fingers.

An inept offense has lost our Padres another series. Another great start by a San Diego pitcher was wasted last night as our Friars failed to get on the board for even one run to back Tyson Ross' seven-inning four-hit shutout performance.

Hopefully Eric Stults doesn't get the same treatment in the series finale this morning. But the lefty gets the second least run suppport (2.63) in the majors. He also hasn't had the best luck on the mound lately. Over his last four starts, he has posted an 8.53 ERA - third highest among qualified pitchers. He pitched the shortest outing of his career on Sunday, going just 2 1/3 innings while giving up a season-high six runs. In two career starts against the Phillies (both taking place last season), he went 0-0 while posting a 2.77 ERA.

Philadelphia's Kyle Kendrick hasn't been the most reliable pitcher either lately. He's recorded a 5.02 ERA over his last six starts. He'll be working on six days' rest today, which the Phillies hope will prove to be helpful when he takes the mound to go for the sweep. Kendrick is coming off a game in which he issued a series-high five walks while giving up six hits and four runs through seven innings of work. Our Padres' best chance will probably be to get to Kendrick early. The righty has opponents batting .382 off him in the first inning this season and .239 the rest of the time.

First pitch is set for 10:05 this morning. Come join us for breakfast and baseball to pass the time before World Cup madness starts.

Ray offers some starting pitcher options that you should consider streaming on Friday, including Collin McHugh and Bartolo Colon.

The Streamer Report provides you with daily startng pitcher streaming selections for owners who prefer to stream starting pitchers on a daily basis. This report identifies starting pitchers who are owned in less than 50% of ESPN leagues, and who either has a decent track record vs their opponent, has pitched well of late, or has a decent matchup.

Friday's Streamers

Bartolo Colon, Mets vs Padres

Collin McHugh, Astros vs Rays

Weekly Streamer Performance

I will be providing a status of how my picks have performed over the course of the season, and below you can find how my picks fared this week. I will update the weekly performance in Saturday's Streamer Report.

Fantasy Rundown

If you are looking for more fantasy advice, make sure you check out Fantasy Rundown for all your fantasy baseball and football needs.

What the team would be in for if management decides the suck cannot be cured.

You do not need a degree in statistics to know that the Padres offense has been awful. With each abysmal performance leading to series loss after series loss it becomes more and more obvious that something needs to be done. That something will not be trading for reinforcements. The offense is too far gone for that. The risk reward is not worth it. The logical option is to blow it up.

Now, many times blowing it up because of a lost season can mean just trading away the players that are about to be free agents. We can start there, but I will make the argument that is not enough. Here are the players that you would put on the trade block to start:

• 3B Chase Headley
• OF Chris Denorfia
• OF Seth Smith

Chase Headley's name has been on the lips of many involved in repeating trade rumors and with good reason. It's debatable as to what sort of return the club could even get at this point, but holding onto him during a losing season is likely worse than any return. Denorfia does not get nearly as much press as an impending free agent, but he is one nonetheless. Any return the club can get is more than what they would receive by letting him walk in November. Losing Seth Smith would remove what has been the teeth of the offense this season, but his success is the perfect reason to trade him as some team might actually give something up to get a bat down the stretch.

Back to what I was saying about this not being enough. Looking ahead to 2015, the offense is still in a sorry state. You lose those 3 and have virtually nothing to replace them with. The team will have some money freed up, but no amount of spending can fix all the problems. If the club is serious about trying to fix things it is best to just tear as much down as possible. I would argue that at minimum it requires trading anyone that is a free agent after the 2015 season as well. And you have to be open to trading those that will be free agents after 2016. Why? Because the 2015 offense is a lost cause and at best the 2016 is just the beginning of the new hope. If you can get good value from a guy that only projects to help the new hope offense for one then it should be considered.

Here are the guys that will be free agents after 2015:

• OF Carlos Quentin (option for 2016, no trade clause)
  
• OF Will Venable

And the guys that will be free agents after 2016:

• SS Everth Cabrera
• OF Cameron Maybin (option for 2017)

What is going to be left after this exodus? Not much. Yonder Alonso, an injured Jedd Gyorko, Tommy Medica, Alexi Amarista, Jace Peterson, Yasmani Grandal and Rene Rivera. Perhaps a couple of players coming back in some of these trades would be able to start right away, but at best will probably be too raw to quickly make an impact. The minor leagues are not ready to produce replacements. Things will get bad, really bad. All of it in the hopes that any prospects coming back, plus any already in the pipeline will produce in 2016 and beyond. A lot of money will be freed up, but the best you can hope for is that it can be used to acquire some complimentary pieces.

So far I have ignored the pitching. Maybe I should not have. Tim Stauffer is the only man on the staff becoming a free agent next offseason, but Huston Street and Ian Kennedy are set to becomes ones after 2015. And if you add on one more year then Joaquin Benoit, Andrew Cashner and Eric Stults become the names you see. A blow up in an effort to rebuild into a contender could mean most of these names end up on the trading block.

A blow up sounds really painful, but after 4 consecutive years of mediocrity and no end to it in sight anything less might be condemning the team to many more years of the same.

I do not want to come off as the head advocate for this path, but I thought it was worth presenting for your perusal.

The Padres have tried to stop reaching all-time lows for the 2014 season; but Philadelphia wasn't looking to help.

Another day, another game. Another production below three runs, and another loss. Eight hits and an early two-run lead, clamped down by a persistent Phillies offense. Again, there's nowhere to go but up. I'm upset, you're upset, and management is saying "out loud" that they're upset.

So where's the good stuff. Well, starting off the rainy game today in the top of the first; Chase Headley knocked in two runs with an RBI double, Headley's seventh double of the season. I'm not sure if that number is "good stuff", but it's something. Yasmani Grandal popped a late solo HR in the ninth, and he's got six on the season so far.

Yasmani shows that even scoring a run is awkward and confusing.
Just listen to the call from Enberg.

Where some Padres stepped up, the rest faltered. Eric Stults gave up 4 runs in 5 innings, and a relieving Alex Torres gave up 3 in just one inning. That combination stuffed the Padres into a dust pan for a damp, miserable sweep.

That puts us tied for last in the NL West with a bunch of snakes. It's a cruddy spot to be. It's not an unfamiliar spot, but it's definitely not somewhere most of us expected to be with a team with a few above average projections and honest talent on the field.

But we'll pack our bags, hit the road, and try again in New York. Because that's baseball.

Brad Ausmus' club will have to shore up a few weaknesses if it wants to contend for the title in October.

The Detroit Tigers entered 2014 as possible World Series favorites given their formidable rotation trio (Scherzer, Verlander, Sanchez), solid lineup from top to bottom and the addition of Joe Nathan, one of the best active closers in baseball heading into the season. But despite the high expectations and overall hot start to the season, which has included winning streaks of eight and six games, new manager Brad Ausmus and his club have run into trouble as of late, with some of the team’s glaring weaknesses being exposed.

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In an effort to shore up those issues, the Tigers will certainly be buyers when we reach the July trade deadline. Aside from the obvious holes at shortstop and in the bullpen, Detroit has received poor play from its catcher and third base positions, ranking 16th and 22nd in WAR, respectively. That’s not surprising considering Nick Castellanos’ average offensive production and well below average defensive play, and Alex Avila’s continued disappointing performance at the plate (.216/.337/.365), highlighted by his outrageous 62 strikeouts in 148 at-bats. Though general manager Dave Dombrowski might not spring for upgrades at those positions given his team's other more pressing needs, it’s worth at least considering the alternatives there too.

Possible Players to Acquire

★★★

Didi Gregorius

The Arizona shortstop has been the odd man out with Chris Owings' emergence this year, but he's still a valuable player despite his lack of playing time, and he'd be a clear upgrade at shortstop for the Tigers. Gregorius has a .901 OPS in 29 plate appearances this season after putting together a .704 mark in 404 PAs in 2013, and his proven ability to reach base with relative consistency would be a refreshing change for the club should Dombrowski be able to find the necessary pieces to deal for Gregorius. That could be the most limiting factor here, but if the teams could come to terms, Gregorius to the Tigers would be an excellent deal for a Detroit team in grave need of a new shortstop.

Trade Likelihood: Medium

Pete Kozma

The struggles at shortstop have been primarily defensive for the Tigers, given the club's 24th-ranked defense at the position. Kozma would provide relief in that aspect, with his solid 6.7 UZR in 2013, and he's shown flashes of hitting competence in the past despite posting putrid numbers last season. FOX Sports' Jon Paul Morosi said that Kozma's similarity to Danny Worth would make this deal unlikely to happen, though that's not an entirely accurate comparison given Kozma's clearly superior fielding and Worth's proven inability to hit consistently (or at all).

Trade Likelihood: Medium to low

Huston Street

The most obvious acquisition for the Tigers would be Street, one of the most enticing players on the Padres roster with his 1.08 ERA this season. The fit makes plenty of sense given Street's impending free agency (though the team does have an option for 2015) and the Padres' overall struggles this season. If any player acquisition could ever be deemed "likely," this would be the one.

Trade Likelihood: High

Mike Adams

The Tigers' bullpen troubles extend beyond the closer spot, and Adams, a consistently successful setup man who has a 2.12 ERA in 19 appearances this season, just might fit the bill for a team in desperate need of bullpen aid of any sort. As our own Tyler Drenon noted, Adams is likely to be a free agent this season, and he won't come at too steep of a cost. In terms of getting a good return without much of an investment, it won't get much better than Adams for the Tigers 'pen.

Trade Likelihood: Medium to low

Francisco Cervelli

Remember him? Placed on the 60-day disabled list on April 14 with a strained hamstring, Cervelli will return from the DL within the next week, and he could be a valuable addition to the Tigers roster. In particular, with Alex Avila's struggles against lefties (.200/.256/.325 this season) and Cervelli's proven success against them (.295 career average, .389 OBP), this deal could benefit Detroit significantly.

This is obviously pure speculation on my part, as there haven't been any rumors linking Cervelli and the Tigers. But given his relatively cheap price tag, which is made all the more cheap by the Yankees' stock of catching prospects, and the favorable split stats, this is a deal to at least consider.

Trade Likelihood: Low

Despite some logic reasons why the team should be blown up, it is not going to happen.

Yesterday I wrote about blowing up the Padres. And while there is some logic behind arguments made to do just that, including some based on the frustration CEO Mike Dee has shown with the current club, the club is safe from an all out fire sale. Why? Because it will be perceived to be sending the wrong message.

I suspect that even if the best baseball minds all told ownership that the only way the team was going to win a world series in the next 10 years was to blow it all up and start over, they would not do it. This ownership group just arrived on the scene and they do not want to paint their legacy as the guys who gutted the roster. They also do not want a fan base to sit at home and make the crowds become even more sparse than they already are.

What is there to do instead? The goal that this ownership group will likely be that they will make as much noise as possible about change without reducing payroll or making trades that look like a firesale. You do that by creating scapegoats. The easy target as a scapegoat is Chase Headley. His contract will be up anyway. You trade him or let him leave and have the pre-written message that the team was not winning with him and it can move on without him. However, that does not signal that the team is changing direction for the better by itself.

When Mike Dee speaks of hard or tough choices, that likely means coaches, the manager and front office staff. Nothing signals a new direction quite like firing the manager. Buddy Black has been in San Diego through 3 different General Managers and his firing would arguable send more of a message than firing the General Manager that built the club. The GM gives the manager his players, but the manager sets the clubhouse tone. By firing him you are sending a message to the players in addition to everyone else that seasons like the last 4 in San Diego are no longer tolerated.

From there you are still left with mostly the same roster, but perhaps they will react differently to a different managerial style. Or perhaps the change alone will have players feeling like they have something to prove to the new guy. However, there will be some money freed up by losing Headley and others like Josh Johnson, Seth Smith and Chris Denorfia and I would expect the team to spend it somehow in order to send an additional message of change. Still, in the end there would likely be no major upgrades to the roster and no move towards a rebuild. It would be more of the same with different brand slapped on it. And only a slim hope of competing for a playoff spot in the coming years.

The Mets are hoping that the struggling Padres are just what they need to right their own ship.

What's going on with the Padres?

San Diego just got swept by the Phillies, so you know things can't be going very well for the Padres. In fact, the club is 10 games under .500 and looking at a fourth straight season without a playoff appearance.

As usual, offense is a problem for the Padres, but in 2014, it's been an even bigger problem than it usually is. Even though it has been boosted by a pleasantly surprising performance from Seth Smith, the San Diego attack is last in the National League with an OPS+ of just 77. Following his PED suspension last season, Everth Cabrera has looked like a shell of his former self and is walking just 4.3 percent of the time. Similarly, players that showed potential last year like Jedd Gyorko and Will Venable are doing very little to help in run production.

Unless some of San Diego's young players start to turn things around quickly, it doesn't look like the team has the bats to compete for a playoff berth. The pitching isn't terrible shape, but the staff, led by strong performances from Tyson Ross and Ian Kennedy, isn't strong enough to overcome an anemic offense.

So should the Padres blow up their roster and start over? Perhaps, but it doesn't look like that is going to happen in the near future.

Who are these guys?

Jace Peterson was hitting .330/.441/.560 in 113 plate appearances at Triple-A El Paso, so when starting second baseman Gyorko hit the disabled list with plantar fasciitis earlier this month, the Padres figured it was a good time for Peterson to make his major league debut. Despite a .231 isolated power at El Paso, Peterson is never going to be a power hitter, but he's posted terrific strikeout and walk rates throughout his pro career, and he could turn into a leadoff hitter in the mold of Cabrera. Right now, though, he's struggling in the big leagues with 10 strikeouts to go with just one walk and four hits in 38 plate appearances.

For a guy who doesn't play much against lefties, Smith is having a heck of an impact on the Padres this season. Since coming up to the majors in 2007, he was a useful platoon piece for the Rockies, but his numbers predictably dropped off when he was shipped to Oakland in 2012. His first season by the bay wasn't terrible, but last year, Smith slugged just .391 and struck out a career-high 23 percent of the time. Nevertheless, Padres GM Josh Byrnes must have sensed a buy-low opportunity, because he swapped relief pitcher Luke Gregerson for Smith this winter. The results have been wonderful for the Padres, as Smith has dropped his strikeout rate down to 16 percent and his hitting for more power than he ever did in Denver. At this rate, the 31-year-old out of Ole Miss could have a career-high fWAR by the All-Star break.

Previously an outfielder who hit a career-high 26 home runs for the pennant-winning Astros in 2005, Jason Lanejust this month made his first big league appearance since 2007. The amazing thing is, he did so as a left-handed pitcher out of the Padres' bullpen. After switching jobs in 2012, Lane has made it back to the majors in relatively short order. Whether that shows how strong Lane's determination is or just how desperate MLB teams are for left-handed pitching is up to you, but either way, the reverse Rick Ankiel job is pretty amazing. Although Lane just cleared waivers and is back with Triple-A El Paso, I felt compelled to mention him here anyway.

Who's on the mound?

Friday: Andrew Cashner vs. Bartolo Colon

For a guy who throws as hard as Cashner, he doesn't strike out many batters. Since he punched out 11 Tigers in a complete game one-hitter on April 11, the big right-hander has maxed out at just six strikeouts. That doesn't mean he's not an effective starter, though. Cashner has kept his walks under control and gets ground balls more than 50 percent of the time. That's a solid formula for success, especially at Petco Park, where Cashner's ground game has made it nearly impossible for opponents to take him deep. A case of elbow soreness threw a monkey wrench into what was turning into a great season for Cashner, but he just returned from the DL to shut down the Nationals for six innings last Saturday.

Allowing 10 batters to reach base in less than six innings is no way to go about lowering your ERA, but Colon managed to do just that in San Francisco over the weekend. It wasn't a great start for him, but he managed to allow just one earned run to the Giants, and now Colon's ERA is starting to come more into line with his strikeout and walk numbers. Unfortunately, while home runs haven't bothered Colon lately, he just walked multiple batters in consecutive starts for the first time in 2014. For a guy with Colon's expert command, that qualifies as going completely out of control.

Saturday: Tim Stauffer vs. Zack Wheeler

The Padres have not officially announced a starter for Saturday as of this writing, but Stauffer is the most likely candidate. He's already made three spot starts for the team this season, and he looked pretty good while mopping up for Eric Stults last Sunday. However, Stauffer's previous two starts -- versus Pittsburgh on June 2 and at Arizona on May 28 -- were both disasters, so you can forgive San Diego for being hesitant. Points in favor of Stauffer include his dominant five-inning outing against the Cubs on May 23, and a career-high strikeout rate that has seen the swigman punch out 34 batters in just 30.1 innings this year.

Just when it looked like Wheeler was turning his season around, he turned in a bummer of a start in San Francisco last Sunday. The right-hander lasted just three-and-two-thirds innings while allowing four runs on six hits and two walks. The Padres are a good team for Wheeler to get back to dominating against, and that would be swell, because there's already enough to fret about with the Mets as things stand.

Sunday: Ian Kennedy vs. Daisuke Matsuzaka

The switch from Arizona red to San Diego blue appears to be just what the doctor ordered for Kennedy's pitching career. In this, his first full season on the Pacific coast, the redhead has lifted his strikeout rate above 25 percent and shrunk his walk rate below six percent. That's led to a 2.94 FIP and the re-establishment of Kennedy as a baseball asset after a couple of troubling campaigns in the desert.

Though Mets management would probably prefer it if a young pitcher played well enough to take his place, Matsuzaka has pitched well enough to stick around this rotation at least one turn longer. On Tuesday against Milwaukee, the Japanese veteran allowed just one run in six innings and led the Mets to a surprise victory. The Padres haven't had much luck when they make contract with the ball, so they'll do well to take advantage of Matsuzaka's still-frustrating lack of control.

Prediction: This is the Mets' best chance in a while to get a sweep, so I'm going to say that they get it done.

How about some GIFs?

Rain is no fun for us on the east coast, but I suppose when you're in San Diego and used to perfect weather all the time, the wet stuff can be a hoot. Here is Everth Cabrera using Philadelphia's tarp as a slip-and-slide.

Yasmani Grandal knows that when you throw the bat at your own dugout, it's less likely to incite a brawl than if you throw it at the third baseman.

Chris Denorfia used catches like this one to accumulate a 3.9 fWAR last season.