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Fans Mourn The Loss Of Mr. Padre

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For the second time this year, Padres fans gathered at Petco Park to mourn the loss of a hero. Like many of us, my first reaction to the news of Tony Gwynn's passing was shock. After a good, solid cry, my second thought was that I needed to be at Petco Park. So I threw on my cap and my jersey ('98 pinstripes; the only jersey I have that Tony wore) and headed downtown around 11. There was already a good crowd surrounding the statue, along with cameras and reporters from every local news outlet. Outside of those reporters, there wasn't a lot of talking. Most of the communication was wordless; a tear here and a hug there. I overheard a snippet of a story about a kid who went to his first baseball game when he was one month old. His father took him to Tony's final game.

We've been hearing stories like that all day, and I'm sure we'll hear many more in the days, weeks, months, and even years to come. To know what Tony Gwynn meant to the city of San Diego, you only have to look at that statue and the tributes adorning it. His impact here was so great that the Chargers stopped what they were doing to remember him.

A large contingent of Chargers staff and players arrived at the impromptu memorial with sunflowers in hand.

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The procession of Chargers staff and players.

The biggest shock of the morning came when Tony's voice came out over the PA system. Someone had dug out an old tribute from when he retired (aired on Channel 4, most likely) and set it up to play on the screen in the Park at the Park. There were highlights, interviews, and best of all, that bright, unmistakeable laugh.

If you want to pay your respects, the Padres are keeping the Park at the Park open until 11:30 PM tonight and tomorrow.


Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn dies of cancer

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Gwynn was one of the best hitters of all time.

Career San Diego Padre and Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn died earlier today at the age of just 54 after a long battle with cancer.

Gwynn's career began back in 1982, but he became a full-time player in 1984 and made the National League All-Star team in that season and all but one of the fourteen that followed. One of the best contact hitters of all time, Gwynn hit .338/.388/.459 for his career. He was even better than that against the Mets, as he hit .356/.402/.486 in 809 plate appearances.

Gwynn retired after the 2001 season and was inducted into baseball's Hall of Fame in 2007. He continued working in baseball after that, but he was diagnosed with cancer of the mouth and salivary glands a few years ago—a diagnosis he attributed to his use of dipping tobacco—and succumbed to the illness today.

Those of us who got to see Gwynn play in person were lucky, and it's sad to see him go at such a young age.

Padres defeated by Mariners 5-1 after losing their franchise icon Tony Gwynn

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Padres only add to the misery their fans feel today.

Today, the Padres game did not even come come to being the most notable event in Padres history that happened. As we all probably know by now that was Mr. Padre Tony Gwynn's passing. Still, the game is bigger than even him and must go on. With heavy hearts many still tuned in. You got a chance to see and hear tributes to Tony from those that knew him well. Whether it was Ted Leitner, who broadcast Tony's entire career as a Padre and is going through the pain of losing not only him, but his longtime partner Jerry Coleman and has ties to San Diego State sports where Gwynn played and coached. Or whether it was Dick Enberg and Mark Grant who broadcast games with Gwynn over the last few years and Mark Grant played with him a couple decades ago. Either way you got to "hang out" with men that felt a similar pain and were looking to baseball to soldier on without the great man. And, of course, many GLBers took to the comforts of the game thread to chat amongst their fellow grieving fans.

In contrast to that the game itself paled in comparison. It followed an all to familiar pattern of allowing far too many runs to call it a close game and the offense not even presenting a challenge to their opponent. Tyson Ross did not have his best stuff today. A couple of home runs staked the Mariners to a lead they would not relinquish. Ross would battle long enough to go 5 2/3 innings despite walking seven (7!) of the Padres' natural rivals. Meanwhile former Padre Chris Young, in his first outing against his former team, used his stealth fastball to fool many a Friar and cruised through 6 innings of shut out ball. The Padres would eventually avoid a shut out with a 9th inning solo home run by Carlos Quentin.

Were this another day we would be reveling in the forced natural rivalry of these two clubs kicking off and bemoaning how the Padres had succumbed to the Hated Mariners in the opener. However, the game and that showcase took a backseat today to a more somber occasion. Tomorrow is another day and we shall keep root, root, rooting for our home team. The one that Tony Gwynn played with for his entire career.

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Mariners on the other end of a very familiar game, top Padres 5-1

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Tonight was familiar. I can’t tell you how many games I’ve watched at Safeco that were just like this one. I know it isn’t quite this many, but it might as well be hundreds.

A quiet and comfortable crowd gathered on a nice, but not amazing, Seattle evening, and took in a baseball game played between two not-great teams. There was an average starter on the mound, and he was made to look anything but.

The other team, yeah, they had some very big hits from some expected contributors—but they had just as many that shouldn’t have happened, or at least easily couldn’t have have. And with one team sporting a historically bad offense, the game was over mere moments after it began.

Tonight, finally, the Mariners were on the other end.

We’ve experienced our fair share of bad offense, over the past couple years and the past couple days. We know what this looks like. And what it looks like isn’t always complete domination. The first inning is a lot what it looks like.

It isn’t as if the Padres were completely blanked, and didn’t have at least something of an opportunity. In that first inning, it looked as though the Mariners might fall into an early deficit when San Diego put runners on first and second with one out, thanks to singles from Seth Smith and Carlos Quentin.

From there, it really doesn’t take much to score. A looping liner over short gets one, a hard grounder past first gets two. The Padres didn’t get anything, and it wasn’t even close. Chase Headley, who has a career wRC+ of 114, struck out on  a middle-middle changeup. Yonder Alonso popped out in foul territory.

Though they'd put a leadoff man on three more times before Chris Young exited in the sixth, the meatball-throwing seven-footer wouldn't allow another runner in scoring position. He struck out six, and only walked one. Which, yeah, yeesh Padres. That's horrible.

You know what wasn't horrible? The Mariners making this game comfortable the whole way through. Like I mentioned, there were some hits that an opponent might wince at—like getting Robinson Cano to pop up, and have it drop in for a RBI double, or Brad Miller ripping a home run. To us, we know there's more to the latter—but to opposing fans, that's a guy who came in hitting a robust .176 smacking a dinger. Even if it isn't, that looks cheap.

But hell, you know what isn't? Your best hitter letting it fly 3-0 and hammering a game-defining three-run bomb into the right-field seats. Yes, Kyle Seager is still the Mariners' best hitter, by wRC+ at least. It's close, but that 127 puts him just ahead of Robinson Cano's 124. And, as it's fun to do it, a quick look at Kyle Seager offensively among his peers: he's fourth in wRC+, one point behind Adrian Beltre and three back Josh Donaldson. Todd Frazier is out in front at 138.

Now, I don't mean to say that the rest of it—everything that wasn't Seager—was cheap, because it wasn't. It's just that, sometimes, it isn't that hard to score five. You don't need some great lineup to do it. You do to do it consistently, but, with injury-caused holes throughout theirs, the Mariners managed a comfortable victory tonight.

Now, I don't mean to imply the Mariners are adept offensively, or anything near it, as they did rank third-to-last in all of baseball in wRC+ coming into tonight. But after a week of ragging on this offense—which is bad, no way around it—some perspective: the difference between the Mariners (28th) and Padres (30th) is the same as the difference offensively between the M's and the Cardinals (18th).

The Padres are a team the Mariners need to be able to beat. And they went out and did it tonight.

Let's do some bullets.

  • Ever since I discovered the Hit It Here Cafe sells $5 tallboys (it's open to all, they do it all game), I've spent a lot watching games while walking along the concourse. In doing so, I've started to take notice of which players I'll stop and watch for, and which ones I'll catch between the stands while I continue back to my seats. The Mariners have more stop-and-watch players than they used to, and James Jones is one of them.

    The average fan will fall in love with that batting average, especially in comparison to the rest of the Mariners. In that regard, he's the best non-Cano and Seager. And really, how can you have the heart to explain that the average masks a few other things—like the lack of power and, for the most part, walks—when it's still all so entertaining to watch? If he gets anything, it's going to be a single. But when those singles are nearly built-in doubles with his ability to swipe a bag, how can you hate? He had three stolen bags tonight, matching Ichiro's rookie record—one I suspect Jones might make all his own. Despite going 1-for-5, he scored twice. Most nights he's beating out double plays, and tonight he broke one up. 

    There may be a few rough edges, sure, but James Jones is one useful player.
  • So, Logan Morrison. What do we have here? I think I like what I see, and I don't believe I'm alone here. He seems to make good contact, works a count pretty well and has always had a bit of pop. And of course, it doesn't take a whole lot to be a significant upgrade over Smoak. But still, I was surprised to see tonight was the first time he's gotten a hit since notching a double and a home run in his second game back. He's also struck out six times and walked just twice since returning from Tacoma.

    It's too early to know for sure either way, but it's hard not to wonder if there's really something there, or it's all just wishful thinking on our part. Either way, I'm more than willing to give it some time and find out. 
  • It's gotten to the point where it isn't crazy to hope for a Brad Miller extra base hit. Entering tonight, his wRC+ for June was up at 86, and while I don't have a clue on how to calculate wRC+, I'd guess it's now up near his 2013 average for the month. Not long ago, it was well above it. There are still some issues, like a strikeout rate near 30 percent this month, but he's getting there. If you're a shortstop with a 100 wRC+ and not-disastrous defense, you're a valuable player—and Brad Miller is very nearly back there.
  • I wish I had a really good Tony Gwynn story, some great fond memory from my childhood, but I don't. The thing I have is managing to, with my dad, scalp my way into the 2001 All Star Game for face value. At one point, we sat in some unoccupied seats in the center field bleachers, and chanted "Tony! Tony! Tony!" with a few others hoping the Padres legend would play in what was his last summer classic. He didn't. Wikipedia calls him a "non-playing squad member."

    This past off-season, Mariners PR pro Jeff Evans invited Scott and me to the annual media luncheon. It was the first time I'd been to anything like it, and the first question I ever asked someone as a journalist covering professional sports, if you can call this that, was to Chris Gwynn, the Mariners' farm director and Tony's brother. I asked about Abraham Almonte, and if the Mariners had anything to do with him getting better since coming over from the Yankees. Chris chuckled, and said "Well we hope so" before giving a good answer about how Abe was more than just a good player (then), but also a good person. As I listen to it now, it's something to hear Chris recognize—look for?—that in someone else, as many have said the same about his brother. Thoughts and prayers with Chris, and the rest of the Gwynn family. 

    Also, while this is a terrible tragedy, as the world loses a baseball legend and even better person, it's worth noting what killed Tony Gwynn. Watch out for yourselves, everyone.
The Mariners are currently 2-5 on the home stand, and the run differential over that span is -1. Tomorrow, it's Roenis Elias against Eric Stults. How about 3-5?

Go M's.

Prospect Note: Nick Greenwood, LHP, St. Louis Cardinals

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St. Louis Cardinals rookie southpaw Nick Greenwood made his big league debut yesterday and it was a good one: 3.1 innings of relief against the New York Mets, allowing two hits, one walk, one run, and fanning three. Nick Greenwood? Who is this guy?

Greenwood was a college pitcher at the University of Rhode Island. He was a solid one, too, posting a 3.72 ERA with a 95/25 K/BB in 92 innings as a sophomore in 2008 and a 3.61 ERA with a 74/16 K/BB in 92 innings in 2009, which was enough for him to get drafted in the 14th round by the San Diego Padres despite his lack of a hot fastball. He started in the low minors but was switched to the bullpen after he was traded to the Cardinals in the July 2010.

Reaching Triple-A in 2011, he's spent the last couple of years pitching mainly in the Memphis bullpen, although he's started occasional games and has not been confined to pure LOOGY work, seeing many multiple-inning relief outings. He was pitching quite well before his promotion, with a 2.61 ERA and a 32/7 K/BB in 41 innings covering 19 bullpen outings and three starts.

The southpaw isn't a huge guy, listed at 6-1, 180. He's a good athlete, however, a former soccer player who made the wise decision to chose the superior sport. His 87-90 MPH fastball has kept him off top prospect lists, but he has a full arsenal with a slider, curveball, and changeup, gets ground balls, and throws strikes. His margin for error isn't great but if his command holds up he can be a versatile option in a big league pen.

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I'll admit I'm predisposed to liking him, having selected him in my 2009 Twins Shadow Draft.

San Francisco Giants Link Dump, 6/18

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Gentle Mother, font of link dumps, save our sons from war we pray

There were a lot of great articles written about Tony Gwynn's life in baseball, his legendary hitting ability, his ebullient personality, and his many absurd statistical accomplishments. Go read some of those. There are ones by Jerry CrasnickBuster OlneyKen RosenthalJon BoisJonah KeriBob Nightengale, and many, many more. This article will be about collecting videos of Tony Gwynn hitting, because I liked watching Tony Gwynn hit, even when he was getting hits against the Giants, which he always, always did.

Tony Gwynn - Baseball Hall of Fame Biographies
This is the video that Cooperstown made to explain who Tony Gwynn was and what was so great about him. The simple answer to that last part is "Everything".

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Padres hit back-to-back-to-back home runs on Opening Day
In 1987, the Padres, did just that to open up the game. Tony Gwynn hit the second out of the three. Obviously, he wasn't known for his home run power, but you know that story about Ty Cobb choosing not to hit homers? Where he told someone "I could if I wanted to" and then went out and hit two homers that day? I don't really believe that's true, but if anyone in my lifetime could have done it, it would have been Tony Gwynn.

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Gwynn's Game 1 Homer
Speaking of homers, here he is hitting his first (and only) career postseason homer. He hit it off David Wells, and it went far.

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Tony Gwynn Drives Home Jeff Bagwell and Gregg Jeffries
Of course, Tony wasn't really a power hitter. So this video, where he doubles in two runs off David Cone in the 1994 All-Star Game, is really more his speed. A good pitcher makes one mistake, and Tony Gwynn crushes it down the line. Story of his life.

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1989 Clark/Gwynn Batting Title
In 1989, Tony Gwynn and Will Clark battled it out all season for the batting title, and in the end it came down to the final game of the season. In a video from a couple years ago, Tony Gwynn remembers the last game of the season with perfect clarity. Because of course he remembered. I would have considered it literally impossible for him to not have a perfect memory of every at bat he ever took.

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Tony Gwynn records 1,000th hit in the Majors
That ball looked several inches outside, so he poked it into center for a single. Of course he did. He was Tony Gwynn.

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Tony Gwynn records his 2,000th hit in the Majors
A line drive up the middle, just to the shortstop side of second base. The only Tony Gwynnier hit would have been a grounder between short and third. Also, listen for a young Duane Kuiper on the call. I think. His voice has changed a little bit in the last 21 years.

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Gwynn collects his 3,000th hit
He roped it over the second baseman, into right field. Because he was Tony Gwynn and he could hit any ball anywhere and he was ridiculous and he was great. We'll miss him.

Tuesday Rockpile: Honoring a legend, redrafting 2012, more

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Tony Gwynn left a mark on just about everyone involved with baseball in any way, shape or form.

Padres legend Tony Gwynn passes away at age 54 - SBNation.com
Included within the link are several wonderful tribute pieces from the likes of David Roth, Grant Brisbee, Jon Bois, and the Gaslamp Ball staff on the life and death of Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn. Also, the Tigers and Mariners honored Gwynn in wonderfully unique ways, as you'll see at the top of the stream.

As a side note, I had the tremendous opportunity of interviewing Gwynn back in 2011. It was my very first player interview and, like the author of the next link, reaffirmed my thoughts about wanting to pursue a career in baseball writing. What you don't see in the transcript or hear in the audio version of my interview is the near-20-minute off-the-record conversation I had with Tony, who clearly had better things to do than entertain the curiosity of a blogger but graciously chose to do so anyway. The thing I'll remember the most about my discussion with him was this word of encouragement:

"Whatever it is you want to accomplish, set that goal for yourself and don't let anything get in the way. You wouldn't be doing this right now if you weren't meant for it."

Renck: Tony Gwynn was as great in interviews as he was at the plate - The Denver Post
Troy Renck has a heartfelt piece on the life of "Mr. Padre," with some great quotes from longtime Rockie Dante Bichette.

Rockies links

Baseball Prospectus | The 2012 Redraft
The BP folks redid the 2012 draft. In this make-believe scenario, the Rockies would have taken Dodgers infield prospect Corey Seager with the No. 10 overall pick. The player Colorado actually did take in the first round that year, David Dahl, fell all the way down to ... No. 11. Eddie Butler, the No. 46 overall pick in 2012, was redrafted at No. 13. And, to further illustrate how successful that draft was for Colorado, Tom Murphy was redrafted at No. 21. He was the 105th overall selection that year.

MLB Power Rankings - Major League Baseball - ESPN
Despite their weekend sweep in San Francisco, the Rockies dropped a spot in ESPN's extremely meaningful power rankings. Here's the blurb from Rockies Zingers' Richard Bergstrom:

On the 15th day of June, the Rockies somehow gave to me ... a five-game winning streak! Four starting pitchers injured, no Cargo, sore toe for Tulo and a Rutledge hitting quite sweet. All caroling aside, if the Rockies can tread water until the team gets healthy, it'll be a merry season indeed.

Hawkins stays focused regardless of situation | Rockies.com: News
LaTroy Hawkins is having a pretty good season as the Rockies' closer, especially when considering how inconsistently he's being used as a result of the team's wavering performance over the last few weeks. Thomas Harding has some good quotes from the 41-year-old right-hander, who is the subject of our daily Scaling the Rocks post, which will be up a little bit later on today.

Rockies Review - A Colorado Rockies Blog: Tyler Matzek can't duplicate debut as Colorado Rockies bats fall short in Los Angeles
David Martin says there's no need to worry about Matzek's step back last night, citing a myriad of factors that were working against the 23-year-old southpaw.

Tuesday Trivia

This one is a doozy (remember, last names work!):

Tony Gwynn: A look back at Mr. Padre's career

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Tony Gwynn, a San Diego Padres legend, lost his fight with cancer on June 16, but his career will not be soon forgotten.

Yesterday, baseball lost a great man in Tony Gwynn at the age of 54. With a career that spanned 20 years from 1982 to 2001, he set records and his legacy as a Padre will live on. Gwynn recorded a career 4.2% K%, putting him 12th lowest on the all-time list for players with over 10,000 at-bats. He would take approximately 21.40 at-bats per one strikeout over his career — 92nd on the all-time list. If that wasn't enough, he lead the National League in at-bats per strikeout for 10 years.

YearAB per K%
198426.3
198920.1
199024.9
199127.9
199232.5
199422.1
199535.7
199626.5
199721.1
199825.6

For 1996, Baseball Reference says that "the stat's value indicates the player had fewer than the required number of at bats or plate appearances for the BA, OBP, SLG, or OPS title that year. In order to rank the player, the necessary number of hitless at bats were added to the player's season total. The value printed here is their actual value and not the value used to rank them", it's still a noteworthy thing for Gwynn to have done. It's easy for a player to strike out — many players this season have a higher K% than BB%. But for Gwynn? It's the other way around with that 4.2% K% and a BB% of 7.7%.

Gwynn could hit and hit and hit — he had the numbers to show for it, too. A career batting line of .338/.388/.459, an OPS of .847, and a BABIP of .341, with his career best batting line for a season at .394/.454/.586 from a strike-shortened 1994. In a sport where you hope a hitter can maintain maybe a .280-.290 average for the season, Gwynn would exceed expectations and — save for his rookie year — and consistently hit over .300.

The way Gwynn's career ran was certainly worthy of his 2007 Hall of Fame induction. He carried a 68.8 bWAR, 65.0 fWAR, 678 RAR, and an RE24 of 538.318 as his career totals.

Tony Gwynn had the talent and was — is, even — valued greatly by the San Diego Padres and its community of fans. He's certainly one whose name will be remembered for a long time.

. . .

All statistics and information courtesy of FanGraphs and Baseball Reference.

Jen Mac Ramos is a contributor for Beyond the Box Score and The Hardball Times. You can follow her on twitter at @jnmcrms.


Red Reposter - Remembering Tony Gwynn

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Baseball lost one of its very, very good guys and all-time greats yesterday.

To call Tony Gwynn a throwback doesn't really do him justice.

Baseball Reference lists George Sisler, Paul Waner, Heinie Manush, Sam Crawford, Zack Wheat, and Sam Rice among his Top 10 Similar Batters, and while each of those players did their damage prior to color television and World War II,  they weren't just your average, run of the mill players from that generation.  Those guys were Hall of Famers, the best of their era, a collection of MVPs, batting champs, and all-time greats.

The word 'throwback' carries some sort of connotation that suggests that Gwynn would have fit right into a bygone era, surrounded by a generation of players who did things similarly to comparable avail, and that's simply not the case.  He was a superstar in his own time, and would have been a superstar in any other era, too.  That makes him more transcendent than throwback, a player with unique skill sets and abilities that managed to excel in an era where people placed focus on other talents and traits.

Gwynn was aware of the exploits of the former stars in baseball's history, and while he was a keen student of Ted Williams, he wasn't the kind of hitter who tried to replicate what had happened before him.  Rather, he was the kind of hitter who focused on dominating the pitchers throwing him the ball.

Of the 25 pitchers against whom he had the most career PA, he had a batting average over .302 against 23 of them.

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Gwynn died yesterday at age 54 due to complications from oral cancer, which Gwynn himself attributed to years and years of tobacco use.

His career was as unique as it was great.  Drafted just a handful of years after the advent of free agency, Gwynn spent each of his 20 years with the San Diego Padres, often re-signing with them for what was perceived to be below market value deals in order to stay with his hometown club.

While he possessed every bit enough power to mash home runs the way players around him did, he never hit more than 17 in a single season, and hit only 135 in his 10,232 career plate appearances.  While his 543 career doubles rank 28th all time, he never once led the league in that category, which I find surprising, and only twice did he hit more than 40 in a single season.

He won 8 NL batting titles, 5 overall batting titles, and was an All Star for 15 out of 16 consecutive seasons between 1984 and 1999; the only year in which he wasn't picked for the All Star Game, 1988, he won the NL batting title by hitting .313 and finished 11th in the MVP voting.

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Gwynn's Padres resided then, as they do now, in the National League West, and for the first 11 seasons of Gwynn's career that meant that the Cincinnati Reds were a division rival, and that reflects heavily on Gwynn's career stats.

His 1008 PA against the Reds was his most against any team, as were his 919 AB.  He hit 17 HR against Reds pitching - which was tied for his most against any team with the Pittsburgh Pirates - and his 141 runs scored against Cincinnati was also tied for his most against any team (with the Houston Astros).  In all, he hit .332/.380/.455 against the Reds in his career, which is remarkably only good for a tOPS+ of 97.

The 116 games he played in Riverfront Stadium were the most he played in any away ballpark, and the 10 HR he hit there were also the most he hit in any opposing stadium.  Overall, Gwynn mashed to the tune of .355/.400/.489 in his 520 PA in the Reds former home, and he made quick work of many of the Reds stalwart pitchers of the time, too.

He hit .360/.391/.523 with 4 HR in 91 PA against Tom Browning, hit .321 against Danny Jackson, and even touched up Jose Rijo for a .294 average in their contests.  Relievers didn't faze him much, either, as he hit .346 against John Franco, .346 against Norm Charlton, and .313 against Rob Dibble.

I know Jeff Brantley will remember him well, too.  Gwynn hit .571/.636/.607 against him with 5 walks and just 1 strikeout in 33 PA.

★★★

The reactions to Gwynn's death came quickly, and they universally praised the best pure hitter of his generation.

★★★

Growing up, it felt like every time we went to Riverfront for a Reds game, the Padres were playing.  I don't have any specific memories of watching any non-Gwynn player face a Reds pitcher, and that's because Tony Gwynn was the Padres, and in many ways he always will be.

Rest in peace, Tony.

06/17 Padres Preview: Game 71 @ Mariners

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Our Padres will wrap up their two game set in Seattle today, going for the split, before coming back home for another two-game set against the Mariners in San Diego.

Eric Stults will take the mound and try to turn his luck around. In his last six road starts, he is 0-5 with a 6.75 ERA. He's only faced the Mariners once in his career, in May of 2013, when he kept them to just one run on three hits in eight innings of work while notching a career-high 12 strikeouts.

But even if he can pull off another dominating performance against Seattle, he'll need an improved performance from the offense to get the win. Friars are 3-11 in their last 14 games, hitting .157 and averaging less than two runs per game during that stretch. They may need to count on another rough start from Mariners pitcher Roenis Elias so they can try to take advantage and come out victorious.

Elias is coming off on of his worst outings. He gave up a season-high six earned runs and only lasted 3 1/3 innings during Seattle's loss to New York. The southpaw is 5-5 with a 4.15 ERA in 14 appearances this season, including one complete game shutout.

Catch the game at 12:40 PDT this afternoon.

Nationals' starter Stephen Strasburg on Tony Gwynn: "He was like a god to me growing up."

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The baseball world lost a legend when San Diego Padres' Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn passed away on Monday. Washington Nationals' starter Stephen Strasburg lost a coach, a mentor and a friend. He talked about the loss this afternoon.

Washington Nationals' starter Stephen Strasburg is taking the loss of his idol and former San Diego State University baseball coach Tony Gwynn hard. Gwynn, 54, passed away on Monday after battling salivary gland cancer which was diagnosed in 2009.

The veteran of 20 major league seasons, who was drafted out of SDSU in the 3rd Round of the 1981 Draft, returned to his alma mater as an unpaid volunteer in 2001 and then became head coach in 2003.

"I was a fan first. I was probably four years old when I first started watching the Padres and he was my favorite player from the first game." -Stephen Strasburg on watching Tony Gwynn as a kid

From 2007-2009, he guided Stephen Strasburg's collegiate career as the 18-20-year-old right-hander went from an undrafted high school pitcher to the no.1 overall pick in the 2009 Draft after a junior year with the Aztecs which saw him go (13-1) with a 1.32 ERA, 13 walks (1.57 BB/9) and 195 Ks (16.10 K/9) in 109 IP.

Gwynn was also in Nationals Park sitting with the pitcher's family when Strasburg made his MLB debut on June 8, 2010, striking out 14 Pittsburgh Pirates in a dominating performance that introduced the top prospect in the game to anyone in the national audience that wasn't already following the phenom's meteoric rise.

Gwynn told MLB Network Radio hosts Jim Duquette and Kevin Kennedy that he was impressed with the way Strasburg handled the tremendous pressure of a debut that the entire baseball world was watching.

"[I] thought that [Strasburg] handled the nerves really well, and did a great job, kept his team in the game, and then once he got the...I mean...14 punchouts in [94] pitches, it was the kind of performance that I'd seen a lot but that the rest of the country got a chance to see how special he could really be."

"It's funny," Strasburg said today when he spoke to reporters about the loss of his mentor. "I've got family a couple hours down south in Virginia. I was talking to my great uncle and he's not doing great health-wise. But we were sitting there talking and he was saying, 'That was so cool watching that game when I had Tony Gwynn sitting next to me, telling me about everything you were doing out there.' Coach, he became part of my family as well. He wasn't going to miss that and I thought it was just a special experience for my family specifically to be there watching my debut with this legend back in San Diego."

The legend from San Diego was Strasburg's favorite player from the moment he started watching his hometown Padres as a kid.

"I was a fan first," he explained. "I was probably four years old when I first started watching the Padres and he was my favorite player from the first game. It just so happens that our lives seemed to intertwine before I made it to the big leagues."

"From my perspective, he was like a god to me growing up. Just how much he did for San Diego and for baseball all over the country." -Stephen Strasburg on Tony Gwynn

The loss, he said, "It's just pretty tough to swallow right now."

"It's tough because the last couple of weeks no one really knew what was going on. From my perspective, he was like a god to me growing up. Just how much he did for San Diego and for baseball all over the country. You never would have thought that that'd be the way it would happen."

As Strasburg explained it, Gwynn went from being his boyhood hero as a player, to being his coach and then eventually his mentor.

"This was a guy who put other people before himself," the 25-year-old righty explained. "I just remember the first day I was on campus at San Diego State. One of the first things he said was 'Yea, I'm going to the Hall of Fame this year, but I'm just your coach.' There's just so many things that I'm never going to forget from my time playing for him. He's impacted so many players over the course of his career and I'm just blessed to be one of them."

In addition to what he was able to impart about their shared profession, Strasburg said Gwynn taught him about growing up on and off the field.

"He really helped me understand that it's not necessarily the results, it's the work that you put in every single day. That's what matters..." -Stephen Strasburg on learning from Tony Gwynn

"It started with just how to be a man," he said. "How to handle the ups and downs. Not everything goes your way in life and certainly not in this game. I think that's one of the biggest things from a personal perspective. I struggle with that. He really helped me understand that it's not necessarily the results, it's the work that you put in every single day. That's what matters at the end of the day."

To lose that voice and that sort of guidance is something that certainly seems to have had a profound impact of the Nationals' starter.

"It's definitely a blow," Strasburg admitted. "It was tough waking up yesterday on the off-day and getting the news. I've just been saying some prayers for the Gwynn family and obviously all the people back in San Diego who are mourning his loss as well.

"It became pretty tough here the last couple of years with health issues and everything. But every time I came into San Diego I made sure to try to stop by and say hello. Obviously I would come by a lot in the offseason.

"This last offseason was probably the least amount I was able to see him, actually. It's just unfortunate this time around hit him pretty hard."


The Seattle Mariners and the Tremendous, Happy, No Bad, Very Good Day

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Mariners beat the Padres, 6-1.

Well, yes, it was a getaway day today and that's kind of what the Padres let happen to themselves and this game. And in a way, you really kind of have to feel bad. They just lost their Hall of Fame broadcaster in January, franchise icon and baseball hero this week, and oh yes, are having a terrible season. But in another way you don't have to, because they will soon be good again, spending summers laughing at the Mariners ostensibly hovering in an ageless flirtation with relevancy never materialized in 2018 or something. So go on, feel good today, dammit. You've earned it.

Well, even that is a bit of a misnomer. You did nothing to help the Mariners win today, but Jesus Montero did. How about that?

First of all, watch the video. It was a classic Montero dinger pulled out of the ether, coated in a thin layer of dust left over from 2012. This is a bit unfair, but look at these two post-homer-contact screengrabs and tell me why the laws of physics are able to govern the universe with such efficiency while being so obnoxiously confusing:

Screen_shot_2014-06-17_at_4.06.23_pm__2_

Screen_shot_2014-06-17_at_4.16.10_pm__2_

Alright, fine, very unfair. Nobody said it has to look great. And sure, I'm probably overreacting a little bit, because it's not that bad. But still, this seems like a really good visualization of why the Mariners have refused to ever wholly give up on Jesus Montero. He looks like he's almost falling over. The bat is almost consciously trying to force itself out of his grip like a wet pool noodle. His legs are, oh I don't even know what they are doing. But it had the exact same result as Robinson Cano's home run in the opposite side of the field.

The best part of this, though, is the reaction afterward. Montero rounds the bases with great effort, and Dave Sims' attention suddenly turns to Lloyd McClendon rather than, you know, the 24-year old prospect who just hit his first home run in a year since coming off a PED suspension and showing up to camp ridiculously out of shape who was currently rounding the bases.

"Look at Lloyd!" Sims shouts. Eruptions of laughter.

They are celebrating, sure. They are happy that the Mariners just put two runs on the board after Rene Rivera took Elias deep in the top of the second. They are happy that the lead had returned to the home dugout. But they aren't just happy here. They are laughing at themselves, at Lloyd, and this whole process and this whole thing that just happened in front of them. Look at Michael Saunders and tell me this is anything other than a man conceding that he just lost a bet:

2014-06-17_16_27_50

But yes, Elias was Good Elias today, not that the Padres gave him much to worry about. He only needed those two runs from Montero, but was gifted two more by Robinson Cano in the fifth, who hit his second Safeco home run in classic Robby Cano fashion. Elias ended the day with six strikeouts and only three hits over seven innings, which could have possibly been eight before the Mariners spent a good fifteen minutes hitting baseballs in their half of the seventh.

The inning started with two quick outs from Brad Miller and James Jones, but picked up with an unlikely Stefen Romero ground rule double and an intentional walk to Robinson Cano by Padres' reliever Tim Stauffer. Then, an unintentional walk to John Buck to load the bases. Kyle Seager lightly tapped a pitch oh, six feet out of the infield past third base. He got to second standing up, and the Mariners put two more runs on the board. I don't know how it happened, but it just continues. Take it away, Kyle.

2014-06-17_16_41_43

The rest of the game passed without incident, as Dominic Leone had a one-hit eighth, followed by a perfect ninth from Danny Farquhar. And despite these heroics from Seager and Cano, the real heroes of the game were James Jones and Jesus Montero.

Montero: Not only did Jesus hit the aforementioned home run, he made his first career start at first base and looked absolutely fine. Now, of course, he isn't going to get many starts at first even if he somehow manages to stick around after the next roster move, and looking good in one day without incident is far from being an even minus defender. But you have to think today felt nice after everything that happened in the past year, his fault or not. Good for him.

Jones: James Jones was 3-5 today with a stolen base. The Mariners wouldn't end up even needing the extra insurance, but this kind of stuff happening regularly in games where extra runs matter is going to be huge during the rest of the season. Now if only Lloyd can somehow fall out of love with the idea of Endy Chavez leading off ever again, then we may be on to something here.

The Mariners head to San Diego tomorrow and Felix gets to hit another Grand Slam. Mark it on the board.

Go M's.

Cubs Minor League Wrap: June 17

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Kyle Schwarber hit two home runs and got promoted. Javy Baez hit one and stayed where he is.

In case you haven't heard, after Boise's game today, Kyle Schwarber was promoted to Kane County.

Iowa Cubs

The Iowa Cubs were yipped to death by the El Paso Chihuahuas (Padres), 8-5.

Starter Eric Jokisch took the loss after allowing five runs on seven hits over 6.1 innings. Joskisch walked two and struck out ten, tying a career high.

I think he pitches better when he strikes out fewer batters. I didn't check the numbers on that though.

Shortstop Javier Baez hit a three-run blast to dead center field in the eighth inning to get Iowa to within three runs. It was Baez's 11th home run of the season. Baez was 1 for 4.

Chris Valaika hit a solo home run in the second inning, his sixth of these season. Valaika was 2 for 4.

Right fielder Matt Szczur was 2 for 4 with a double and one run scored.

Tennessee Smokies

The North Division All-Starslost to the South Division All-Stars, 6-4.

Kris Bryant was 1 for 5.

Hunter Cervenka pitched two-thirds of an inning, allowing one hit. P.J. Francescon allowed a run on a hit and three walks in the inning he pitched. Armando Rivero pitched a scoreless top of the ninth. He allowed one hit and walked two.

Daytona Cubs

The Daytona Cubs were shut out by the Tampa Yankees, 1-0.

Rob Zastryzny seriously deserved a better fate than getting the loss. He allowed a run on two hits in the first inning when Dante Bichette Jr. doubled home Jake Cave. He then retired the next 18 batters in a row before giving up a two-out single in the seventh. He was pulled after that. Zastryzny allowed one run on three hits over 6.2 innings. He walked one and struck out six.

Daytona had four hits, all singles. Shortstop Marco Hernandez was 1 for 2 with a walk.

Kane County Cougars

The West Division All-Stars crushed the East Division All-Stars, 7-0.

Jordan Hankins was the only Cougar to play in this game, and he was 0 for 2. Of the Cougars other all-stars, Will Remillardand Jose Arias were injured and Paul Blackburn did not pitch.

Boise Hawks

First-round pick Kyle Schwarber hit two more home runs as the Boise Hawks cleaned up the Tri-City Dust Devils (Rockies), 12-3.

It was an easy win for Trevor Graham, who gave up one run on four hits over five innings. He struck out seven and walked two.

Schwarber played left field today and hit two solo home runs and also doubled in a 3 for 4 game. His first home run came in the first inning and his second one was in the eighth. He also walked once.

Schwarber's homers were just two of five the Hawks hit today and he didn't even hit the first one. Right fielder Jeffrey Baez hit a solo home run to lead off the bottom of the first inning. It was also his first Boise home run. Baez was 2 for 6 with two runs scored and two RBI.

Catcher Justin Marra was right behind Schwarber for offensive player of the day. Marra hit his second home run of the year in the second inning with the bases empty. He also hit two doubles so that he went 3 for 5 on the game. Marra had four RBI and scored twice.

All five home runs were solo shots. The fourth one was first baseman Danny Canela's first of the season in the sixth inning. Canela was 2 for 4 with a walk. He scored three times.

Padres 1, Mariners 6; Still Losing

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The pace hasn't changed as San Diego gets swept in 2 games right out of Seattle.

The players are the same and the story isn't changing. For the 8th time this month we have been held to one run or less. 23 for the entire season. The offense is a broken record, and weak links in the pitching rotation are starting to break apart. Seven strikeouts and only four hits made for a miserable second day in Washington state.

Despite not taking advantage of it; the Padres scored within the first three innings once again. A Rene Rivera solo HR was a tasty morsel to pique some sort of hope for our first win since yesterday morning's terrible news. But the Padres offense have yet to absorb the hitting spirit, and it was our only run for the day.

Renehomerunagain_medium
Padre runs like Rivera's HR are far and few in between. Let's just enjoy how damn hard he hit this one for a few moments.

The Pads, even though not proving to be any sort of threat with a .274 OBP, were manhandled by Seattle's Roenis Elias today. On the flip side, Eric Stults bloated his ERA by giving up 3 earned runs in only 5 innings, and all 4 runs from two-run home runs. Although pitcher win records (especially with our kind of "offense") should always be taken with a shaker of salt; Stults is now 2-9 for the season.

The Mariners are coming to our home turf tomorrow to complete the weird four-game series. With Mr. Padre looking over us in high right field, it would be quite lovely to see his hitting spirit embodied in the bats of our current lineup.

Let's get 'em tomorrow, boys.

Padres will hold tribute to Tony Gwynn tonight at Petco Park

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Our Padres have been on the road since June 10th, but tonight they'll make their return to Petco Park for their first home game since the passing of Tony Gwynn. As such, they have a special tribute planned to honor Mr. Padre at tonight's game.

We've seen all the different ways other teams throughout the league have honored Gwynn, but it'll be nice to finally have our team back in San Diego for their own tribute to the greatest player and one of the greatest people this organization has ever seen. The Padres have always done well with things like these. Trevor Hoffman's number retirement ceremony and Jerry Coleman's statue unveiling in recent years, as well as Coleman's memorial service just a few months ago, were all incredibly well-done and I have no doubts that the Padres will go above and beyond for tonight's tribute and any forthcoming services to honor Gwynn.

And don't worry if you're out of town or, like myself, just can't make it to the game tonight. The Padres will stream the tribute live online, and on Fox Sports SD (I assume).


06/18 Padres Preview: Game 72 vs. Mariners

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Our Padres are back home tonight after an abysmal road trip. After paying tribute to Tony Gwynn, the team will take the field to face the Mariners for the third night in a row after losing the first two matchups in Seattle.

We'll get to see an incredible pitching matchup tonight with Andrew Cashner taking the mound for San Diego and Felix Hernandez going for Seattle. In his only previous start against the Mariners, also against King Felix, Cashner gave up four innings in six innings of work in the loss. He had a similar performance in his most recent start, giving up four runs in six innings at Citi Field.

That game was one of eight the Friars have lost in their last nine tries. They also go into tonight's game riding a three-game losing streak, during which they've been held to one run per game. And tonight's task doesn't look to be any easier.

Not only is Hernandez off to the best start in his career, going 8-2 with a 2.29 ERA this season, but he's also undefeated (5-0) with a 1.54 ERA in his last six at Petco Park. Four of those starts saw him going eight innings or more. He suffered a loss his last time out despite throwing 8 1/3 innings of one-run ball.

Tune in tonight at 6:45 PDT for the Tony Gwynn tribute and then at 7:10 for the game.

Padres honor Tony Gwynn

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The Padres return home to honor their fallen legend.

The San Diego Padres returned home to Petco Park Wednesday for the first time since "Mr. Padre" Tony Gwynn passed away. They honored him in variety of ways, including having his number mowed into the right field grass ...

... a first pitch by the San Diego State baseball team he had coached for 12 seasons ...

... a 19-second moment of silence, along with a video tribute with Frank Sinatra's "My Way" playing behind it. The entire team gathered in right field behind his number to honor Gwynn ...

... the Padres also had Gwynn's number 19 etched in the dirt behind home plate, and because the world works in mysterious ways ...

A fitting opening for one of the beloved heroes of the game.

37-35: Chart

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Felix was incredible and the Padres were bad. Then the Mariners were worse, and the Padres were better. For a day, anyway.

Chart-5

The Album Leaf: Felix Hernandez (.216 WPA)

Jason Mraz: Charlie Furbush (-.285 WPA)

Ugh. I have to do a recap of all this, so no words wasted here.

QUESTIONS:

1. Best summer beer:

2. Two-tone baseball caps: Yay or nay?

3. You are on death row and have one last meal waiting for you. It is:

Mariners drop yet another Felix gem to the Padres, 2-1

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Blah.

If you looked at the boxscore from the Mariners 2-1 loss to the Padres on Wednesday night, you'd see a couple of things. A couple of things like this:

  • Felix Hernandez: 7IP, 3H, 1R, 0BB, 10K
  • Team RISP: 1-6
  • Mariners hitters left on base: 8
  • Mariners 1, Padres 2

These brief little snippets do a good job of telling the story of the entire game, honestly. It's a game you've all seen a thousand times before, the kind of game that was at the forefront of conversations between old stodgy baseball writers in 2010, the kind of game that the New York press loved to fantasize over while penning their Felix-in-pinstripe columns of yore. It was the kind of game that I even referred to in today's game thread when speaking of Andrew Cashner, whose Padres defeated the Mariners today and I need to learn to just shut up every now and then.

Yes, a wasted Felix start. I'm gonna get that part out of the way fast, though, because holy shit I'm tired of writing that story. Felix lost today because the Mariners didn't give him more than a single run in the second, but he also lost today because he had a wild pitch in the sixth after allowing a baserunner to get to third. After giving up a leadoff single, he retired the next 15 batters he faced, and had that been the case, there would have been two consecutive perfect games happening in the same state by the two best pitchers in all of baseball. Felix. Felix did all this with ten strikeouts on an efficient pitch count, and blah blah blah that's out of the way and I'm so tired of that narrative.

Endy Chavez led off the game with a single for the Mariners, and promptly decided (or was told) to steal second base in a 2-0 count to Robinson Cano following a James Jones strikeout. Sending a 36 year old to second in the first inning of a game against the worst offensive team in baseball with your team's best hitter at the plate in the game where your best pitcher is...okay I've run out of pronouns, but you get the point that this was dumb. Chavez was out on the throw by a mile, but tried to edge outside to the far corner of the base to avoid the tag, ending up with a confusingly timed tag that warranted a three-minute review.

Except, it didn't really warrant a review because he was clearly out, and now the Mariners had lost their challenge in the first inning. Blah. And the best part? After two pitches, Robinson Cano walked and the whole thing was fucking pointless. Thanks, folks.

Still, the M's got on the board in the second after Mike Zunino got hit with his team-leading 9th pitch, and was sent to second on a Dustin Ackley single. Brad Miller came up to the plate and whapped an RBI single out to left, and the M's were up, 1-0. Felix came up to bat, and despite clearly wanting to swing that thing like a tree trunk, he laid down a sacrifice bunt for the second out of the inning, and Endy Chavez grounded to send it to the bottom of the second.

It was mostly zeroes for both teams until the sixth, when Felix let Alexi Amarista single, who promptly got to third after a sacrifice bunt from Cashner and a groundout by Seth Smith. Felix was feeling the stress and let a changeup get a little too heated, and sent a pitch to the backstop and the game was tied.

After Lloyd pulled Felix in the eighth, Charlie Furbush came in and before you knew it, Evereth Cabrera was on second base. Tommy Medica came up to the plate to pinch-hit for Joaquin Benoit, and the next ten minutes (literally, I'm not exaggerating) were spent between Charlie trying to keep Cabrera on second and the ball off the bat of Medica. It was excruciating. And ultimately useless, Medica singled in Cabrera for the Padres' second run of the game, and it would be all they needed for the rest of the game. The Mariners came up in the ninth to nothing and that was that.

Lost in all this is that Brad Miller made a series of run-saving plays few would have imagined him capable of during his sub-.100 slump in April. It seemed pretty clear that Miller's offensive woes were impacting his defense, and that his brain had devolved into a stress-filled ball of goop and anxiety. Baseballs became the cannonball badguys from Mario with menacing grins, and routine grounders were dropping from his hands at an alarming rate. There were at least three balls today that Miller kept in the infield that would have been damage outside the reach of an average shortstop, from two diving stops that kept the hit at single bases to this leaping grab:

Screen_shot_2014-06-18_at_11.25.55_pm__2_

I don't even know what to say about the next game, because today was supposed to be exciting and wonderful, and who knows what Erasmo will bring. But with Walker on the way and the trade deadline coming up, you know there is something exciting to look forward to. Even when Felix watches a wonderfully pitched game get thrown down the drain to a shitty offense at the same time as Clayton Kershaw throws a no-hitter in Los Angeles with 8 runs of support behind him. Kershaw, though, lost his bid for a perfect game on a silly error from Dodgers' shortstop Hanley Ramirez, and his quest for perfection still continues. That's old news to Felix though. So...I don't know. Something something progress. I guess.

Padres 2, Mariners 1: A Win For Tony

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On a night full of tears, the Padres managed to bring out a few smiles.

For the second time this season, the Padres took the field at Petco Park while mourning a legend, and for the second time they eased the sorrows of a city with a come from behind win. There were plenty of tears shed before the game as the team gathered in right field to honor the greatest man to ever wear the uniform. Tony Gwynn's presence extended well beyond the pre-game proceedings. The bloop singles and seeing-eye grounders that comprised the offense of both sides were Tony's bread and butter. Our friend Woe Doctor said it best:

The game was a tale of two aces, with Andrew Cashner and Felix Hernandez both allowing just a single run in seven innings pitched. Hernandez was the more dominant pitcher, striking out 10 while only allowing three hits. Cashner struggled at times, but he worked his way out of several jams (with a little help from his defense). The one corner Cash couldn't get out of came in the top of the second. With one out, Mike Zunino took one for the team. He moved to third base on Dustin Ackley's single, and scored on another single from Brad Miller.

The Padres didn't answer that run until the sixth inning. Alexi Amarista led off the inning with a single, then advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt. A ground out moved him to third, but with two down, he was going to need a little help to get home. That help came in the form of a wild pitch from Hernandez. Alexi bolted for the plate to tie the game. A scoreless seventh inning meant no decision for either starters, and the battle of the bullpens began.

Joaquin Benoit retired the Mariners in order, picking up a pair of strikeouts in the process. Mariners reliever Charlie Furbush (go ahead, laugh) wasn't as successful. Everth Cabrera touched him for a leadoff single. A bunt from Amarista put the winning run in scoring position, and a pinch-hit single from Tommy Medica brought Cabrera home. Huston Street came in to wrap things up in the ninth and retired the side in order. It was, fittingly, his 19th save of the season.

Jesse Hahn will make his third start in tomorrow's Vedder Cup finale. First pitch is at 3:40 PM.

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