Former Tribe draftee Tim Lincecum does it again while our current alleged ace is expected to miss at least one start with knee soreness

The All is right in the world as the Tribe snaps their four-game losing streak and can't lose today because they don't play. Here's what's going on around baseball:

Yesterday's game: Indians 6, Diamondbacks 1

Klubot's recalibrations were effective, helping it slaughter the D-Backs to the tune of seven shutout innings and eight K's.

• LGT recap (Jason Lukehart)
• Cleveland.com recap (Paul Hoynes)
• Indians.com recap (Chris Gabel)

Indians news & notes

Masterson to miss start with sore knee | Cleveland.com - Justin Masterson will be shut down for two days and sit out his scheduled Sunday start due to pain he's been having in his knee. Terry Francona is downplaying the injury a bit, but says the pain has kept him from generating power. In the short term, this certainly has rotation implications. Expect to see Zach McAllister or Danny Salazar in Masterson's place. In the medium term, I wouldn't be surprised to see some DL time for the big Jamaican.

Catching up with Greg Swindell | Did The Tribe Win Last Night - The latest in the ongoing series, DTTWLN sits don with the face of the the late '80's/early '90's pitching staff - Greg Swindell. Swindell was drafted #2 overall by the Tribe in 1986 and was in the majors already by the end of that season.

Rodriguez makes the "Fringe Five" | Fangraphs - Tribe prospect Luigi Rodriguez has been dinged by evaluators for lack of plate discipline, so his increase in walk to strikeout ratio is an encouraging sign.

Bauer looks to cool off hot Mariners (series preview) | Indians.com - Trevor Bauer takes on Chris Young as the Indians head to the Pacific Northwest. The Mariners have won eight of their last 11, and have gone 15-9 in June.

Tidbits from around MLB

Super freak: Lincecum no hits Padres | Sports On Earth - For the second time in two years, Tim Lincecum no hit San Diego, and was just a single walk away from a perfect game. SOE's Wendy Thurm gives her first-person account of the game and what the feat means. Note: all career WAR accumulated by Lincecum should be credited to Mark Shapiro's regime.

Ten best-pitched games since 1994 | Sports On Earth - Based on game score, a list and details from the ten best-pitched games since 1994. Clayton Kershaw's latest almost perfect game sits at #2.

Cano's missing power | Fangraphs on Fox - Apropos of our upcoming series with Seattle, Jeff Sullivan tackles the curious case of Robinson Cano, who is having an excellent year but lacking in the power department.

Baseball's better and safer future won't always be pretty | Fox Sports - Rob Neyer looks at the advent of pretective caps for pitchers, as first sported by San Diego's Alex Torres.

On the block: 2014 trade chips | Fangraphs - Using playoff odds, Dave Cameron created a speculative list of position players and pitchers that are likely to be trade bate for the deadline.

Vanderbilt wins CWS | Yahoo Sports - Not really MLB news, but relevant because Tribe 2014 draftee Mike Papi was n the losing Virginia side.

Just for fun

With Klubot's return to dominance, and now Justin Masterson's potential DL stint, there's no more denying who the real Tribe ace is. Regardless of the outcome of the season, 2014 will be remembered as the...

A brief look at the Cardinals Assistant GM who is now a candidate for the Padres' open General Manager position.

Michael Girsch is currently the Assistant General Manager (not the Assistant to the General Manager) for the St. Louis Cardinals. With winning comes poaching and the Cardinals have won a lot and so people want to poach. After the Astros poached his predecessor as AGM Jeff Luhnow in 2011, the Cardinals continued to win and so more poaching seems necessary. Especially since the Cardinals farm system has been producing loads of talented major leaguers that Girsch oversaw. Recently, the good guys over at Baseball Prospectus wrote about all the top GM candidates and here is what they said about Girsch:

Skill set: Girsch will get looks because of the Cardinals’ run of success, but the 37-year-old AGM with an MBA has the goods to back it up. He's run the Cardinals Baseball Development division, which oversees the team's impressive data management and analytics efforts. For as much coverage as "The Cardinal Way" got as a magic book of sorcerer's spells, the reality is that it's a boring technical manual on player development, but one that starts with the question "What do we know about what actually works?" In the front office, where understanding the process is key, Girsch's background fits beautifully with what's expected of the new breed of GM.

Like the candidate I looked at yesterday, Jason McLeod, Girsch has a similar player development background and the advantages of that background are the same for both candidates. Girsch does not have familiarity with the Padres that McLeod has, but he does bring other skills to the table. To help understand those it may be useful to check out this Q&A done with him at Fangraphs last year. Here is one interesting bit (among many):

On biomechanical assessments: "We call the guys doing this for us ‘mechanics analysts.’ We put together mechanics reports. We’re not dressing guys in little black suits and putting dots in their bodies, but we’re watching them as they pitch in games, from the video we have. We’re making assessments from that, so it’s up to your interpretation what you’d call it. So yes, we do biomechanics, but it sort of depends on how you use the term.

"We code video and analyze the mechanics of our pitchers, but we don’t do it in a start-to-start, or week-to-week, fashion. It’s not, ‘Hey, so-and-so dropped his arm angle by X degrees in his last start.’ We do it on more of a once-or-twice-a-year basis, in terms of his mechanics. That data is part of how we think about players, and what we feel they need to work on, or maybe change.

"There is always give and take with anything you do with pitching mechanics. What sometimes may seem high-risk may also be what makes a pitcher deceptive, or gives him the movement he relies on. Our pitching coaches need to assess that. They’re the experts. They know what you can tweak to improve health, or improve performance, and not make either one worse."

For a team like the Padres that need help on the injury front, this sort of experience could bring huge dividends. Girsch is not an injury prevention expert, but he does come off as a guy that knows how to put processes in place that can address issues in a cutting edge way. There are other examples in that article and I suggest you take a look. When it comes to the possible next generation of baseball General Managers, Girsch may be a dream candidate. Some might say he is also a pipe dream.

Jordan Lyles and Eddie Butler are working back toward health and look to bolster a struggling Rockies rotation.

Butler raring to go as he recovers from shoulder injury - MLB.com
Rockies righty Eddie Butler talks to Thomas Harding about how anxious he is to return to the field as his shoulder continues to recover.

Righty Lyles working back from broken left hand - MLB.com
Harding also spoke with Jordan Lyles, who is working to recover from a broken non-throwing hand, but is still in a splint.

Rockies encourage fans to write in Dickerson - MLB.com
The Rockies are now urging fans to write in outfielder Corey Dickerson as a National League All-Star. The lefty is hitting .356 with 10 home runs and 31 runs batted in.

Series Recap: Revitalizing Opponent Offenses since 1993 - Rockies Zingers
Adam Peterson takes a look back at the power surge from Cardinals during their trip to Coors Field this week.

Around MLB

Andy Burns shows defensive versatility in Double-A - The Denver Post
Terry Frei takes a look at former Colorado Prep Player of the Year Andy Burns, who is succeeding with Double-A New Hampshire in the Blue Jays organization.

Lincecum still has it, at least against Padres - ESPN.com
ESPN's David Schoenfield takes a look at Tim Lincecum's no-hitter against the Padres, his second no-no against San Diego in as many years.

The Padres claimed infielder Irving Falu off of waivers from the Brewers today. I'd heard of the guy before, but his name and the fact that he was drafted by, but didn't sign with, the Padres in 2001 were just about the extent of my knowledge on him. Turns out he's a Quad-A-type infielder who had 12 hitless plate appearances with the Brewers this year after 11 years in the Royals organization including 25 games up with the big club in 2012 and '13.

Derek Harvey over at Brew Crew Ball seemed far less concerned with losing Falu than he was intrigued about how the Brewers would use the newly opened spot on their 40-man roster, so that tells me a lot about how Falu is viewed by those who have watched him play. In turn, my mind has wandered from thinking about Falu himself to wondering what the Padres will do to wedge him in roster-wise. Actually, give me a second; I'm going to check Twitter to see if anything regarding that has popped up since I started writing this.

Hey, what do you know?!

#Padres have claimed #Brewers INF Irving Falu. He'll report to San Diego sometime this weekend. Erlin to 60-day DL to open up 40-man spot.

— Jeff Sanders (@JeffSanders_UT) June 26, 2014

Man, this day and age we live in is remarkable. Remember back when you had to wait for tomorrow's newspaper or sit through hours of radio idiots just to find out something like that?

There have been 11 players who have totaled 100 or more stolen bases while wearing a Padres uniform, whatever colors that uniform may have been. I've arranged them below in leaderboard order, along with the position(s) each played as a hint. As usual, you only need to enter last names, and in no particular order. Three minutes seemed like a bit too much time, but two minutes didn't seem like long enough; I decided to lean the charitable direction, so the final scores might skew high due to people having time to guess names at random.

Once you're finished up, don't forget to log your results in the poll below. Feel encouraged to comment 'til your heart's content about the ones you got, the ones you missed, or whatever; just remember to use spoiler bars over players' names and anything that might be overtly hint-ish.

Here are the highlights, lowlights and tail-lights from Rockies baseball in cyberspace.

Hello, everybody, this is not Mel Allen! It’s been a busy baseball week: some of it good, some of it bad, but all of it worth recommending, liking, favoriting and retweeting.

Bill Geivett kicked off things by reassuring Rockies fans that, despite the team's recent struggles, Troy Tulowitzki will wear puple pinstripes for a long time:

Bill Geivett - just told us 'Tulo isn't going anywhere" and hopefully he'll be with us for his whole career " @MLBNetworkRadio

— Jim Duquette (@Jim_Duquette) June 22, 2014

That's good news for Josh Byrnes, who can use Tulo's old packing boxes now that he's been sacked in San Diego:

The Padres have relieved Executive VP/GM Josh Byrnes of his duties. More here: http://t.co/dwSXEEQdUu

— San Diego Padres (@Padres) June 22, 2014

In terms of a replacement for the Padres, that could come from another NL West club:

Now that the #Padres have fired GM Josh Byrnes, they are internally discussing the possibility of bringing back #Dbacks GM Kevin Towers

— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) June 22, 2014

Tuesday brought some good news the Rockies' way, with Rosell Herrera being named to the "World" Roster for the 2014 Futures Game. And the good news kept coming, as the Rockies beat the Cardinals on Tuesday night. If you watch this clip more than once, it makes it look like the Rockies won more than one game this week:

NCAA chief Mark Emmert testified that minor-league sports aren't successful or well supported, which prompted minor-league baseball clubs to react, both at the ballpark and in social media (with a hashtag of #ReallyMark?):

NCAA President Mark Emmert is entitled to his opinion... and we are entitled to disagree with him. #ReallyMarkpic.twitter.com/0TKYKYmPvr

— Eugene Emeralds (@EugeneEmeralds) June 21, 2014

Another AWESOME night at BB&T Ballpark! 18th sell-out of the season! @TheKingMeck met the fans! #MiLB#ReallyMarkpic.twitter.com/GTUAF0gooF

— Charlotte Knights (@KnightsBaseball) June 21, 2014

A minor league baseball team is set host an ironic ‘Mark Emmert Appreciation Night,’ and it sounds incredible: http://t.co/sdu2sjI5b2

— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) June 23, 2014

I won't ruin the details of the Lake Country Captains' "Mark Emmert Appreciation Night," but they're hilarious.

After the brouhaha, Emmert clarified that he wasn't talking about minor-league baseball. But there was a moral to the story:

Not that Mark Emmert learns, you know, anything. But he'll learn not to mess with @MiLB promotions departments this week. God help him.

— Tyler Maun (@TylerMaun) June 23, 2014

Finally, as a public service announcement, be sure to clearly mark your contact information on your luggage:

Triple-A game cancelled because the airline lost the visiting team’s equipment http://t.co/0KhjkffR97

— HardballTalk (@HardballTalk) June 27, 2014

As Paul Lukas noted in a column several years ago, losing uniforms and equipment is uncommon, but not unprecedented. Same as it ever was.

And that’s the way it is for the Social Media Rodeo on the week of June 23. Have a good weekend, buckaroos, and let's watch the Rockies beat the Brewers!

The last time Padres fans had any reason to acknowledge Keith Hernandez's existence was in 2006 when he opined that women don't belong in the dugout. This because the Padres had hired a female masseuse at the request of Ryan Klesko.

"I won't say that women belong in the kitchen, but they don't belong in the dugout," Hernandez said.

Now he's got an opinion about large protective baseball hats.

Keith Hernandez goes from insightful to bully in one inning | New York Post

Well, Hernandez took a macho, style-over-function stance, mocking Torres for looking "absurd." (The same was heard when batting helmets arrived, then grew larger until they included earflaps and would be worn by base coaches.)

He wasn’t done. He suggested Torres and anyone who would wear such a thing is a coward: "If you’re scared, get a dog."

Ugh! Either Hernandez was unaware of the dozens of annual, all-levels episodes that have pitchers rushed to hospitals — some with permanent neurological damage — or such episodes have not yet left an impression on him.

It's interesting because when I first saw Torres's new protective hat, I too thought it looked absurd and then no more than a minute later I was totally used to it.  It surprised me how quickly I (we) can adapt to the newest fashions, whether it be a large baseball hat or skinny jeans.

Now the part about Hernandez calling Torres scared, that's where I disagree.  In fact I feel it's courageous for a player to be the first to wear an "absurd" looking hat and choose to be a role model for other players, young and old, all in the name of safety.  Especially so, when you know eventually you'll going to be mocked by a crusty old Met.

A few times I've come close to being hit by an errant throw while base running or by a come-backer while pitching during a recreational softball game.  It's made me consider wearing a batting helmet.  But players don't wear helmets in recreational softball, it's not done, you'd look like a wuss.  So I don't.  I bet Alex Torres would, he'd wear the hell out of it.

They might not know anything about baseball, but they supposedly know other stuff.

The San Diego Padres fired Josh Byrnes before he really got a chance to put together much of a plan. Injuries and a limited budget played major parts in his disappointing tenure, and given his abrupt exit, the team's current owners -- who did not hire Byrnes -- want to get their own candidate in place.

Former team owner John Moores hired Byrnes in 2010 and elevated him to the office of general manager in 2011. In 2012, he attempted to sell the team to former Diamondbacks CEO Jeff Moorad -- an altogether separate person from John Moores. Slightly confusing, I know.

Anyway, Moores successfully sold the franchise to a group comprised of Padres executive committee member Ron Fowler and Walter O'Malley's grandsons -- O'Malley moved the Brooklyn Dodgers to Los Angeles in 1957 during his ownership of the club that stretched from 1950 to 1979.

Fowler is currently the executive chairman of the ownership group running the Padres. He's a beer magnate, serving as the CEO of Liquid Investments Inc., a company that distributes Coors, Miller, and Heineken and grosses more than $220 million a year.

So, if Fowler wants to take this team in a new direction and he'd like to do so in a groundbreaking manner, he might consider one of these non-baseball/non-front office-types to take over as the next general manager of the Padres.

Tom Hanks

Beyond his portrayal of Jimmie Foxx (Jimmy Dugan) in A League of Their Own, Tom Hanks has no baseball experience, but the Padres wouldn't be hiring him for his expertise in this scenario. Instead, Hanks would function as a figurehead for the organization. Not many people hate Tom Hanks. In fact, he's probably one of the most beloved people in the country.

If bad news is coming from Josh Baskin, how bad could it really be?

ESPN

Like, the whole network. First of all, they know how to dominate. Secondly, they have an entire staff of former baseball executives, "insiders", and ex-players in place. It'd be incredibly easy for them to lure talent in free agency. All they would have to do is say, "Look, Max! Every single one of your strikeouts gets its own episode of Sportscenter!"

Seriously though, forget about all the silly anchors and the manufactured polemics on their gimmicky shows. ESPN currently has former Executive of the Year Jim Bowden (1999) on the payroll. In his time GMing the Reds and Expos/Nationals, Bowden drafted players like Joey Votto, Adam Dunn, Ryan Zimmerman, Jordan Zimmermann, and Derek Norris, and traded for guys like Ken Griffey, Jr. and Kevin Mitchell.

They also have Keith Law -- who could probably put together a pretty solid scouting department -- and Nate Silver -- the Five Thirty Eight guy that used to write for Baseball Prospectus and has predicted more presidents than your average GM.

Harold Reynolds

Harold would definitely fire Bud Black and hire Dusty Baker or Charlie Manuel immediately. He'd probably ignore on-base percentage and advanced metrics altogether and end up with 25 Brandon Phillipses on his major league roster. If it was 1981, Reynolds approach to the game would probably be rewarded with a manager's position or a first base coaching job at the very least, but in 2014, his painfully antiquated understanding of the game leaves most people wondering how in the exact hell he ended up talking about baseball on national television.

Of course, to be fair, Reynolds was drafted by the Padres in 1979, but he opted not to sign and was later drafted by the Mariners.

Malcolm Gladwell

Gladwell is a successful person. That point really can't be argued, but if he were to be placed into a position in which he was expected to produce actual results rather than theorizing about the way things would be, things might get ugly in San Diego. If you've ever read one of his books, you might have walked away crackling with electric inspiration, and perhaps Ron Fowler and the board of directors would sit in stunned silence after his interview.

His plan might look great on paper and he might even have a slide show at the ready with World Series merchandising mock-ups and everything, but unless Malcolm Gladwell is simultaneously named the GM of every team in baseball, he's going to have to deal with some people that don't share his outlook. That could end with the Padres consistently finishing at the bottom of the standings, perpetually sporting a roster full of hope-inspiring prospects that rarely ever make significant impacts in the majors ... wait, didn't they just fire him?

Thomas Piketty

Hear me out on this one. There are only two possible outcomes for this scenario. Either Piketty is actually some kind of sorcerer and he's able to successfully apply his controversial economic theories to one of the most capitalistically saturated markets on the planet ... or his head literally explodes when he sees Clayton Kershaw's contract next to the league minimum. Either way, the Piketty problem will be settled once and for all.

Mark Zuckerberg

Zuckerberg turned his idea -- which was basically Harvard MySpace -- into $25 billion. To be fair, he probably did a lot of really difficult, innovative work to get where he is, but since I don't understand any of that stuff, it kind of just looks like he took a successful thing and made it way, way more successful.

If the Padres want to make a bold move, they could ask Zuckerberg to take a successful small-market approach -- like Billy Beane's in Oakland or Andrew Friedman's in Tampa Bay -- and Facebook the shit out of it. Of course, Zuckerberg is a multi-billionaire, so it might be hard to convince him to take the general manager's job when he could just buy the entire franchise with what's rattling around in his checking account.

Darren Rovell

The #Padres #brand would never be stronger.

The San Diego Union-Tribune tells us that the Blue Jays have been inquiring about Chase Headley.

At least one team - the Toronto Blue Jays - has discussed acquiring the Padres' third baseman, multiple baseball sources have confirmed. Of particular interest this weekend to the Blue Jays and several teams that have checked on Headley's availability - many of whom will watch him closely this weekend - is the herniated disc that required an epidural injection last week.

This herniated disc thing worries me, but, when he's healthy, he's pretty good. He hit .286/.376/.498 with 31 home runs in 2012. This year hasn't been going as well, he's hitting .198/.286/.328, in 58 games, but then it would be tough to play with a herniated disc. I would think the Jays would like to watch him, for a couple of weeks, to see if his neck is better, if he can hit.

His defense is pretty good, FanGraphs has him at a 7.9 UZR/150 for his career.

Picking him up would mean that Brett Lawrie would be our second baseman, when he returns from injury, which would be ok by me for the rest of this season. I'd like to move him back to third next year.

Headley is being paid $10.5 million this year so we'd have to pick up $5 million in salary, but the good part is that he wouldn't cost us much in prospects. The Padres would be happy just to get rid of his salary.

This bit interested me:

At the very least, a healthy Headley presents a defensive upgrade over switch-hitter Juan Francisco, who has hit 12 homers but is batting just .164 in June. For Headley, Toronto's home park, the Rogers Centre, would provide a considerably safer landing spot than pitcher-friendly Petco Park.

I'm pretty sure Francisco isn't a switch-hitter, but Headley would be a huge upgrade on defense.

The term "fire sale" has been thrown around a lot lately, and when I hear "fire sale" I think of two things. One is something that even non-Padres fans will recognize and appreciate...

...but the other one is less known to the general public, and none of us were laughing when it happened. I'm talking of course about the 1993 Padres sell-off. It was ugly at the time, but some good ended up coming from it. I won't get too specific, since this is all leading up to a quiz and I'm not going to just up and give you the answers.

With all the turnover that year, 46 different guys suited up in the blue pinstripes. You have eight minutes to name as many as you can; for your convenience only last names are needed. I've listed each player's number along with the position(s) he played, so that might help to jog your mind if you hit a wall.

You know the routine with the poll and the comments by now, don't you? In case you don't, don't worry; it's basic like my mother. Once your time is up, log your score in the former and be sure to use spoiler bars where applicable in the latter. See, isn't that easy? Just like...

...a Sunday morning. What did you think I was going to say?

The Padres are back in action tonight following a Thursday off. They're back at home after taking two out of three games from the division-leading Giants in their house. Coming to town are the last-place Diamondbacks, who could conceivably knock our Friars into the cellar with -- and only with -- a sweep. Let's hope that doesn't happen; I know the outlook isn't good for the rest of this season, but it's at least a good two months before I'll show any symptoms of tank fever.

Constructing a team of players who have been both Padres and Diamondbacks

Tyson Ross will go up against Brandon McCarthy for the second time this season. The other time they faced off was a month and a day ago, although neither starter factored in the decision; A.J. Pollock hit a two-run walk-off homer off of Kevin Quackenbush to give Arizona their third of four wins in six games against the Padres this year.

Ross has been one consistent positive for the Padres this season, his first as a full-time member of the rotation; he has made all sixteen of his starts as scheduled, matching his career-high in starts which he set last year. He has lasted at least five innings in all of his appearances; a mere three innings tonight would give him the team lead in innings pitched, passing Ian Kennedy's 103.1, which looks more like a radio station than a statistic. Not only has Ross shown up and clocked in when he was on the schedule, he's also filed quality reports while he's been in the office. He has a 3.22 ERA and nearly a strikeout per inning to go with a typically deceptive 6-7 record.

Brandon McCarthy has been having an altogether ugly season, getting knocked around to the tune of a 5.38 ERA and 1-10 record. That one win did come against San Diego back on May 3, so he's got that going for him. The league has been hitting .298 against him, so these Padres should be able to hit at least .167 against him. Try to group 'em, fellas!

On a non-pitching note, Carlos Quentin was initially in the starting lineup, but was scratched; this time it's a sore left shoulder. You almost thought he really did get traded to the Indians there for a second, didn't you? Here's who'll be facing McCarthy as Q looks on:

6/27 @Padres lineup vs. ARI Cabrera SS Smith LF Headley 3B Grandal C Venable RF Goebbert 1B Maybin CF Amarista 2B Ross P

— MLBLineups (@mlblineups) June 27, 2014

Looks good to me, although any lineup with Alexi Amarista in it looks good to me.

The Padres third baseman is likely to be moved this summer, and the Blue Jays figure to be in play for the impending free agent.

Earlier today, it was reported that the Toronto Blue Jaysare exploring the market for infielders, and it now appears that Chase Headley is among their targets. According to the San Diego Union-Tribune's Jeff Sanders, the trade market for Headley "is beginning to take shape," and the AL East leading Blue Jays are one of the clubs showing interest in the 30-year-old Padres third baseman.

Adding Headley would make quite a bit of sense for the Blue Jays, who are currently shorthanded because of injuries to outfielder Jose Bautista and regular third baseman Brett Lawrie. In the event of Headley's addition, Lawrie (assuming he's healthy) would likely move to second base full-time (or at least for the remainder of the season), which would solve Toronto's keystone issues. The Blue Jays have been using Juan Francisco at third base quite a bit this season (with Lawrie playing second), and he has hit well, posting a 124 OPS+ with 12 home runs in 191 plate appearances. However, Francisco has a .422 career OPS against lefties and is a negative asset on defense. He's also struggled over the last month, hitting just .164/.215/.377 in June.

Headley's performance has been in a downward spiral since breaking out with a 145 wRC+, 7.2 WAR season in 2012. After putting up a respectable 113 wRC+ and 3.5 WAR last season, he has been absolutely horrible this year, hitting .199/.286/.328 with a 79 wRC+ and .280 wOBA, though his defense has been good enough to put up a 0.7 WAR. Any team acquiring Headley is obviously hoping he rebounds (he is suffering from a .239 BABIP), and it's unlikely that he costs much more than a mid-level prospect due to his performance and roughly $6 million salary the rest of the way.

Headley has been dealing with a herniated disc that required an epidural last week and cost him four game, which may ultimately delay any trade as teams look to see how he recovers over the next couple weeks. He has also missed time due to a variety of other health issues this season, including a sore left knee, strained biceps, and two calf strains.

With Headley's stock near rock-bottom, the Padres may decide against selling low on the former MVP candidate and impending free agent. Instead, they could retain him for the rest of the season and offer a qualifying offer following the season. This would be a win-win for San Diego, as they would receive a draft pick if he signs elsewhere, and if he accepts the offer, it gives the Padres the opportunity to allow Headley to boost his stock on a low-risk, high-reward one-year deal. Of course, this is purely speculation on my part.

While the Padres are currently without a general manager after Josh Byrnes' recent firing, that doesn't appear to be an obstacle, as the club is reportedly open for business on everyone except right-hander Andrew Cashner.

Brandon McCarthy finally picked up his second win of the season. It came against the same opponent and in the same location as his first.

The game started off fairly quiet for both teams. Both the Padres and Diamondbacks only managed one hit through the first three innings. The first scoring play of the game came in the top of the fourth thanks to a two-run single from David Peralta off Tyson Ross.That ended up being the game winning hit.

Brandon McCarthy was on top of his game tonight. After dominating through the first four innings, McCarthy ran into trouble in the fifth. Maybin led off the inning with a single, followed by a double from Armarista. Tyson Ross helped himself with a sac fly, but that was all the damage McCarthy would allow. After a TOOTBLAN  from the Padres in the sixth, McCarthy finished off with seven great innings. Brad Ziegler pitched a 1-2-3 inning in the eighth, followed by another one from Reed in the ninth.

With the win, the Diamondbacks are now a game back of the Padres for fourth place. (Woot!)

Tyson Ross pitched a great game tonight. In 7 innings, the Diamondbacks only touched him for a pair of runs on 5 hits and a walk while striking out 7 times. But once again, the Padres wasted a quality start with terrible hitting. They had their chances to even things up, but went 0 for 6 with men in scoring position.

Mistakes cost Ross in the top of the fourth. He started the inning with a walk to Paul Goldschmidt. Miguel Montero put him in scoring position with a single up the middle, and then both runners advanced on Tyson's wild pitch to Aaron Hill. Hill struck out, but the same can't be said for David Peralta, who hit a two-run single. Martin Prado grounded into a double play to end the inning, but the damage was already done.

The Padres got one of those runs back in the fifth, when a pair of back to back singles put Cameron Maybin and Alexi Amarista on base with nobody out. Even better, some deft baserunning had the pair sitting on second and third. Tyson helped himself to a sacrifice fly to score Cam and move Alexi to third. Alas, Everth Cabrera and Seth Smith couldn't drive him in. The good guys had another chance the very next inning when Chase Headley hit another leadoff single. An error on the play by Peralta put him in scoring position. Yasmani Grandal moved him to third with a ground out, bringing Will Venable to the plate. Now, if you can, imagine the worst possible thing that could happen in this situation. Is it Chase getting caught in a pickle, followed by Will getting caught in another pickle trying to reach second? Because that's what happened. The tying run was on third with one out, and the Padres blew it in the most embarrassing way possible.

Eric Stults will take the mound tomorrow night. First pitch at 7:10 PM, though you may want to get there earlier to pick up your snazzy fedora.

Friar Fever had a thread-leading 35 comments, and everybody tied for the rec lead... with none.

McCarthy pitched seven dominant innings against the Padres, helping him secure his second win of the season.

Record: 34-48. Pace: 67-95. Change on 2013/2010/2004: -8/+2/+4

If there was ever a time to feel good about the Diamondbacks winning when McCarthy starts, tonight would be the night. Why?

-Allowed no runs in seven innings last the last time he faced the Padres at Pecto.

-Petco is a pitcher's paradise.

-The Padres offense sucks.

The game started off slowly. A total of two combined hits we're tallied for both teams through three innings. The D'backs made noise in the fourth when Goldy started off the inning with a walk. Miguel Montero then followed it with a single. Aaron Hill struck out looking, but not before Ross allowed Goldy and Montero to both move into scoring position after a wild pitch. David Peralta then singled both of them home to give the D'backs a 2-0 lead. That was all McCarthy needed as he allowed one run on six hits in 7 innings.

The big moment of the game came in the bottom of the fifth.The first two runners reached off McCarthy to put runners on 2nd and 3rd with no outs. I'm pretty sure at this point all D'back fans knew it was time for McCarthy's big inning. Tyson Ross hit a sac fly to deep center to score Cameron Maybin, making it a 2-1 game. McCarthy then struck out Everth Caberera and got Seth Smith to fly-out to deep Left.

After the D'backs failed to do anything in the top half of the sixth, Chase Headley lead off the bottom half with a double. Here we go again! McCarthy can't even shut down the freaking Padres!

With Headley on 3rd base and one one out, Will Venable hit a sharp grounder to the drawn in defense. Hill came home with it, putting Headley in a rundown. After Prado tagged Headley, he threw down to second and put Venable in a rundown, which would end the sixth inning.

The D'backs could not do any damage off the Padres bullpen. Their biggest opportunity came in the eighth inning with runners on first and second, but Montero struck out swinging in 2013 fashion. But it didn't end up mattering because both Ziegler and Reed pitched perfect innings to seal the win for McCarthy.

[Click to enlarge, at fangraphs.com]
Glass half-full: Brandon McCarthy,. +30.7%
Glass not yet empty: Reed, +16.6%; Ziegler, +12.4%
Glass removed by bar-staff: Gerardo Parra, -10.0%

Almost 500 comments tonight, as we tiptoed around, waiting for the shoe to drop. It didn't, and we were all the happier for it. DbacksSkins led the commenters - this is my surprised face - ahead of James Attwood and SongBird. Also taking part tonight were: Angry_Saguaro, AzRattler, BrokeNBattleX, Clefo, GuruB, Jim McLennan, JoeCB1991, PR151, Paulnh, Rockkstarr12, Turambar, freeland1787, hotclaws, luckycc, preston.salisbury, rd33, shoewizard, soco and txzona. luckycc took him Comment of the Night honors for this pink 'un (which looks green here, but trust me, is pink in its natural environment).:

I have a Prado bobblehead

And the position he’s holding the bat in makes it llook EXACTLY like he’s just hit into a double play. Not even BobblePrado is immunbe./

"You're suffering under an enormous weight. We provide leverage."

by luckycc on Jun 27, 2014 | 9:41 PMupreply rec (4) flag actions

It's back at Petco tomorrow night, as Josh Collmenter takes on Eric Stults. If we win that one too, we'll be tied for the Padres in fourth place.

Will the second half be any kinder to the Diamondbacks? They start a battle for the basement of the NL West against the Padres in San Diego tonight.

Brandon McCarthy RHP, 1-10, 5.38

Tyson Ross RHP, 6-7, 3.22

Diamondbacks Lineup

1. Ender Inciarte - CF
2. Gerardo Parra - RF
3. Paul Goldschmidt - 1B
4. Miguel Montero - C
5. Aaron Hill - 2B
6. David Peralta - LF
7. Martin Prado - 3B
8. Didi Gregorius - SS
   
9. Brandon McCarthy - P

The mystery wrapped in an enigma within a riddle which is Brandon McCarthy's 2014 season will roll on tonight. By W-L record, he's having a really sucky season. By ERA, it's fairly sucky. But the peripherals suggest... otherwise. His FIP is 4.08, with the second-biggest positive gap between that and his ERA in the majors [first, curiously, is ex-Dback Edwin Jackson]. And McCarthy's xFIP is sub-three, and in the top 10 for all qualifying pitchers. Let me repeat that. if McCarthy had allowed home-runs at the expected pace, and based on his K-rate and walk rate, he SHOULD be one of the best pitchers in baseball.

But if wishes were horses... I'm not sure I tend to the view that home-runs are entirely a matter of luck. Sometimes, bad pitches are made and get what they deserve. If you make more bad pitches, it seems logical to assume that more of them won't come back. Sure, sometimes you just have to tip your hat - however, McCarthy has been doing so much of that this season, he should probably attach a spring to his brim. But it's not all that. Even in the five games this year where he hasn't allowed a homer, McCarthy's ERA is still virtually at four. But at least he's pitching in Petco tonight, and his last start there brought him his only W this year.

Late change to the line-up tonight, with Chris Owings being replaced by Gregorius. Seems like Owings's shoulder is playing up, as was also the case over the weekend. Hopefully it won't become a significant issue,

Well, there was that one time...

Ernesto Frieri was acquired by the Angels on May 3,2012 from the San Diego Padres in exchange for Alexi Amarista and Donn Roache. Both players traded are still with the Padres, Roach is 5th/6th starter who just hit the big leagues and was sent back to the minors. Amarista is Utility Infielder on his best days.

Frieri only pitched 154 innings as a Halo but ranks in the Top Ten of three franchise categories. His 37 Saves last season are tied with Lee Smith for the tenth most saves in club history. His 71 Saves as an Angel are tied for the fourth most in club history with Brian Fuentes. He finished 119 games as an Angel, the eighth most by any player.

Last year, his best and only full season with the club, saw him accrue and ERA+ of 165. That is pretty good for a reliever. Fuentes Saved 48 Games in 2009 with an ERA+ of 112, so we can thank him for saving us many cardiovascular-related scares last year compared to Fuentes' best season.

But in light of how badly he had let down the team this season, all adjectives of the very word "RELIEF" have been dispelled. In fact an indictment of the SAVE statistic will be indicted any time someone looks at the men holding the most in that category for this team. After Percival with more than 300 and Frankie with more than 200 and Bryan Harvey with more than 100, the top five drops to two tied with 71 who are synonymous with letting down the team (Fuentes didn't even pitch 100 innings). The rigid closer role that worked for Percy and Harvey and into which Frankie was molded after two full seasons as the eight-inning man just didn't work for Frieri and Fuentes.

How much of that breakdown is to put onto the shoulders of Mike Scioscia and Mike Butcher or on the desk of Jerry Dipoto is the stuff of a hundred FanPosts.

Frieri's greatest accomplishment as an Angel were his first 26 Innings Pitched. He allowed no runs in his first 26.1 IP as a Halo. The streak lasted from his debut on May 5 to a shaky outing in Yankee Stadium on July 15 where with six days rest including the All Star Break, he entered a 10-5 Angels lead just to get some work and walked Robinson Cano, allowed a HR to Mark Teixeira and walked Nick Swisher. Mike Scioscia gave him a quick hook and brought in Scott Downs. The lefty got two outs but allowed Frieri's runner to score by Walking Curtis Granderson with the bases loaded. Scioscia then brought in Kevin Jepsen to induce a bases-loaded pop-fly from Alex Rodriguez to end the game.

Sure we can say we should have known then but at the time we said it was just a hiccup. And 2013 proved that generally true, but the cracks were already in the armor - his fastball had no movement more often than it had movement. the floodgates opened in 2014 and now he is a change-of-scenery trade for a downsliding veteran in the form of Jason Grilli.

His ERA+ for his Angels carer: 100, exactly league average. But that is a testament to the HIGH highs and the LOW lows he induced. There was very little that was ever even about his tenure in the LAAoA uniform.

Ernesto, lots of luck, you're a change-up away from greatness.

MLB news from the past week.

Tim Lincecum no-hits Padres…again

Just one year ago, Lincecum no-hit the Padres at Petco Park. This time, he does it front of the home crowd. Only a single walk kept this from being a perfect game. The article mentions that the last pitcher to no-hit the same team twice was over 100 years ago, and that Christy Mathewson is the only other Giants pitcher to no-hit the same team twice.

Board members no-show for crucial A's stadium lease vote

Wednesday, it was reported that the A's had signed a 10-year extension to stay at the Oakland Coliseum. There was supposed to be vote held on Friday to approve the extension, but two members of the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Authority Board of Commissioners were absent, preventing a vote from going through.

Just WTF is going on in Oakland?!

Padres fire GM Josh Byrnes

Under Byrnes, the Padres lost 215 games since he took over in 2011. The team hadn't made any progress, so apparently a change needed to be made. Gaslamp Ball reveals an interview with team president Mike Dee about the Byrnes firing. There's speculation that Kevin Towers could return as GM.

New protective cap debuts

Padres pitcher Alex Torres debuted the new protective cap last Saturday.

You can hardly even notice it... pic.twitter.com/WF55Ziw9Mg

— Brett Anderson (@BAnderson_30) June 22, 2014

Joking aside, Torres said he ordered the cap after a scare in Spring Training this year and that despite how it looks, it didn't feel that bad.

Strasburg, Addison Reed drop smokeless tobacco after Gwynn's death

In the wake of Tony Gwynn's death from salivary gland cancer, Addison Reed then Stephen Strasburg both said they would swear off smokeless tobacco. Like all addictions, it can be a tough habit to break. Let's hope they can stay away from it. Personally, I've never found the appeal of dip, snuff, etc.; it just sounds disgusting.

I feel like I say this at the 81-game mark every year, but it does not seem like half of a baseball season has already passed. The Padres will try to end a frustrating first half with a win tonight as they face Arizona in the second game of a three-game set. The Diamondbacks won the first game of the series last night to move their record against San Diego this season to 5-2; the cellar-dwelling snakes are slithering closer to the Friars in the standings as well.

Eric Stults will take his completely-opposite-of-league-leading 5.49 ERA to the hill for the Friars, attempting to avoid his eleventh loss which would break his tie with Brandon McCarthy for most in the NL. Even better would be if he picked up his third win; he actually pitched uncharacteristically well his last time out, allowing just two earned runs on six hits and three walks scattered over seven innings, but the offense wasn't there to back him up. If you're the type to pick out one thing and declare it emblematic of another larger thing, that would be a solid choice for your example of the first half of the Padres' 2014 season in a nutshell.

Josh Collmenter will grit his way up to the mound for Kirk Gibson's scrap-heap, looking to bump his record up to 7-4. This will be his fourteenth start of the year to go along with five relief appearances. The last of these came on Tuesday when he vultured a win with a scoreless fourteenth inning.

Tonight's game starts the same time as last night's -- that's 7:10pm PDT, in case these games are starting to run together for you. One can only hope the Padres fare better than they did a day ago, but even if they don't, at least everyone in attendance gets a trilby out of the deal. They're promoting it as a fedora, but it isn't one. And if you don't know, now ya know...

A win tonight, and the Diamondbacks will not occupy fifth place in the NL West, for the first time since last year.

Josh Collmenter RHP, 6-4, 3.87

Eric Stults LHP, 2-10, 5.49

Diamondbacks Lineup

1. Ender Inciarte - CF
2. Aaron Hill - 2B
3. Paul Goldschmidt - 1B
4. Martin Prado - 3B
5. Miguel Montero - C
6. Cody Ross - LF
7. Gerardo Parra - RF
8. Didi Gregorius - SS
   
9. Josh Collmenter - P

The quality pitching this series just keeps on coming. After McCarthy last night, we get to see the other 10-game loser in the major leagues tonight, in Stults. And unlike McCarthy, he can't really complain too much, since his FIP is also north of five. This will happen when you only strike out five batters per nine innings, even if you get to play in Petco, which nicely suppresses your home-run tally. Of course, Stults has been the victim of some severely inept run support, averaging 2.52 runs. But that's about part for the course with the 2014 Padres. Here's to us making him the first 11-game loser tonight.

No Chris Owings again. The word is that his left shoulder is still inflamed and playing him up, and he's not likely to take part in tomorrow's contest either. Indeed, he's going to be sent back to Phoenix on Monday's off-day for examination, which is never a good sign. That's why we have Gregorius in there against a left-handed starter, though this does also get Ross his weekly start. Don't look now, but Ross is hitting .324 in June. Admittedly, it's a June where he has only had 37 plate appearances, which has got to be close to a career low for a month when he has not been hurt and missed playing times.

And, yes! If we win tonight, we'll be in a tie with the Padres for fourth place! With the Rockies' loss this afternoon, we'll also be just one game behind them for third place! Mediocrity beckons! I'm so excited! Hey, you generate your enthusiasm wherever you can find it, I reckon.