The Cubs and Padres have split six games this year. The winner of tonight's game takes the season series, for whatever that's worth.

The Cubs have a decent, though still losing, record at home: 21-23.

Despite that, they have not won a home series in more than a month. The last home series won was the three-game set against the Marlins, June 6-7-8. Since then they have lost four straight home sets and including the June 8 loss to Miami that prevented the Cubs from sweeping that series, the Cubs are 6-10 in the so-called "Friendly Confines," which clearly have not been friendly for Cubs victories of late.

Of the five season series which the Cubs have completed to date (Braves, Marlins, Phillies, Nationals, Diamondbacks), the Cubs have won just one of those: 4-2 over the Marlins. They can win the season series against the Padres with a win tonight.

That'd be nice. It's supposed to be cool again this evening, but less windy, so it might feel a bit more like July than April, as last night felt like.

Tonight's particulars:

Cubs lineup:

Bonifacio CF, Alcantara 2B, Rizzo 1B, Castro SS, Coghlan LF, Valbuena 3B, Sweeney RF, Baker C, Jackson P

Probably showcasing Emilio Bonifacio in center field for scouts, I'd think.

For the third straight day, the Padres lineup was not available at the time I wrote this post. Please check the BCB Twitter feed for the Padres lineup.

Today's Starting Pitchers

Edwin Jackson Cubs vs. Tyson Ross Padres vs. SD -- vs. Cubs

I refuse to write any more preview info about Edwin Jackson until he has a good outing.

Tyson Ross' only career appearance against the Cubs was two innings in relief when he was with the Athletics, June 16, 2010. I pass that link along for amusement value (have a look at who the A's starting CF was that day, for example). Ross is having a very good year in his first full season as a rotation starter and has a 0.93 ERA in four July starts with four walks and 30 strikeouts in 29 innings this month. Clearly, we are doomed.

Today's game is on WGN.

Here is the complete MLB.com Mediacenter for today.

MLB.com Gameday

Baseball-reference.com game preview

SB Nation game preview

Please visit our SB Nation Padres site Gaslamp Ball. Be careful over there, though.

For 2014, we are going to have the same game-thread routine as 2013. Here's how it works.

You'll find the game preview -- like this one -- posting as the first link in the StoryStream™, which will then contain all the overflow threads and the recap. The recap will also be on the front page as a separate post; once I post a game recap, the stream for each game will be retitled "Cubs vs. (Team) (Day of Week) Game Threads" so you can go back and find every thread related to that particular game.

In general, game previews will post two hours before game time. Exception: for day games after night games, that will usually be 90 minutes.

You will also be able to find the First Pitch Thread and all the overflow threads in the box marked "Chicago Cubs Game Threads" at the bottom of the front page (you can also find them in this section link). They will also appear in this StoryStream™. As I've done for each regular-season game for several years now, we'll have the First Pitch thread at five minutes before game time (moved up from actual game time per your requests), then an overflow one hour, two hours and 2:45 after game time.

Discuss amongst yourselves.

After a convincing win last night to even the series, the Padres will put their All-Star on the mound for the deciding game. The Cubs will counter Tyson Ross with Edwin Jackson, who sports a record of 5-10 (basically meaningless) and an ERA over twice that of Ross's (considerably less meaningless).

Furthering what I just noted parenthetically about pitchers' win-loss record being a bunch of nonsense, Ross is 2-4 over his last six starts despite pitching at least six innings every time and never allowing more than two earned runs. His 1.47 ERA in that span dropped his season mark over half a run, from 3.27 to 2.70. A win tonight would be both his and his team's second in a row; TyTy took the W his last time out, shutting the Mets out on four hits over seven innings while finally getting some run support.

Remember when a fair cross-section of Padres fans got all up in a lather when the Padres didn't sign Edwin Jackson before the 2013 season? And remember when we laughed at them when he was horrendous last year? Well, he's been even more turdcore this season. He's been the antithesis of Ross, basically. While Ross's last six games were a picture of good getting better, Jackson's last six games have been a shart dripping farther down a jogger's leg with every stride. He did manage to hold the Red Sox to one run in six innings on the first of the month, but he's pitched fewer innings and allowed at least three, and as many as nine, earned runs in his other starts.

The Cubs are currently 41-58 (.414) and the Padres are 44-56 (no calculator needed), so whoever loses this game will be one step closer to a sweet-ass draft spot next year. On the other hand, winning is fun, and it's double the fun when I get to give my friend Shane grief about the Padres beating his Cubs just like they did three out of five times in the very same October he was born. Normally in a rubber match you want your team to 86 the other squad, but in the case of the Cubs, I'm fine with '84-ing them.

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This would make me cry, so don't do that.

According to Jim Bowden of ESPN, the Yankees are currently discussing a trade with the Padres that would send Ian Kennedy back to New York in return for third baseman Eric Jagielo and left-handed pitcher Ian Clarkin. There are no real details as of yet, but it's hard to feel good about this rumor. The Yankees need a pitching upgrade but it would virtually undo all the good feelings of the 2013 draft in which the Yankees had three picks in the first and compensation rounds.

Hopefully this turns out to be nothing more than a rumor, because otherwise there may actual tears. I'll be over here pretending none of this is real until another source confirms the information. Would you make the trade if you're the Yankees? Am I just holding on to prospects too tightly here?

Update:

yankees are interested in kennedy but not in clarkin plus jagielo for kennedy.

— Jon Heyman (@JonHeymanCBS) July 25, 2014

Well, at least there's that?

Brian Cashman seems to be on a serious run in looking for starting pitching help. He's already discussedIan Kennedy with the Padres and now he's reportedly in discussions with the Rockies about Jorge de la Rosa as well. Who knows how deep these discussions are going since Jim Bowden also reported they were discussing trading Ian Clarkin and Eric Jagielo for IPK, but we'll have to wait and see.

If those two names came up for 1.5 years of Kennedy, then you have to imagine that only a few months of de la Rosa, who is a free agent after this year, is going to cost the Yankees a lot less. Since they've already traded for Brandon McCarthy and Chase Headley for relatively nothing, it would make no sense to trade actual top prospects for either of these pitchers. I have to assume the Padres asked about them and the Yankees said LOLno, so de la Rosa shouldn't require much.

This year, the lefty is pitching to a 4.19 ERA and 4.32 FIP in 116 innings, and while that might not be very impressive, he does pitch in hitter-friendly Coors Field and is still less homer prone than Kennedy has been over their careers. The Yankees just made a deal with the Rockies earlier today by acquiring Chris Capuano from them for cash. Perhaps Cashman and Daniel O`Dowd had plenty more to talk about after they agreed to the Capuano deal.

Another fantastic start from Tyson Ross and a sixth-inning offensive explosion gave the Padres their second series victory in a row since the All Star break.

Two in the 1st, one in the 5th, nine in the 6th, and one more in the 9th. That was more than a winning combination for the San Diego Padres tonight. Taking cue from last night's great performance, the infamous bats of an offensive offense contradicted themselves and collected 13 runs in 14 hits.

Padres All-Star Tyson Ross had a stellar performance as well. Going six VERY solid innings giving up only one run and one walk, but striking out a career high 11. Hard to say that's a guaranteed win for a team like the Padres, but tonight they made extra sure that it was.

The 1st

The Pads kicked things off with a Seth Smith Single, who was then plated by Yasmani Grandal on a Wrigley triple, his first of the season. Will Venable would then follow up Yas with an RBI single of his own. 2-0

Relocate your bullpen location like a smart baseball team.

The 5th

A solo Rene Rivera HR gave the Padres a 3-0 lead now, Rene's seventh home run of the season.

Fastest recorded Cubs fan throwing opponent HR back onto the field.

The 6th

The inning started with a pitching change after Grandal working a walk and Venable popping a single off Edwin Jackson. Brian Schlitter came in to do damage control, but he only made things worse.

Things got ugly when Chris Nelson bounced an easy grounder for the Cubs in a bases-loaded situation. The ball reached home, but never stayed in poor John Baker's glove and Grandal scored. Rene Rivera followed up with an RBI single to drive in Venable and Jake Goebbert.

Looks like he really dropped the ball on that one.

Tyson Ross took one for the team and reached first on a HBP. Alexi Amarista avenged Ross with a blip RBI single up the middle to bring home Nelson and Rivera. Schlitter was brought out for Wesley Wright, but things weren't about to get better for the Cubbies.

He thinks he's really a ninja.

Seth Smith showed up again to knock in Ross with a soft single. A lull of a Yasmani strikeout was granted only to be interrupted by a Vill Wenable RBI single to get the little ninja across the plate. Then Chris Nelson made his second appearance and popped another single to score two more runs, making him responsible for at least three for the inning. 12-1 Padres.

Nelson will haunt Cub dreams for at least a week.

The 9th

Yangervis Solarte wasn't about to be left out of the fun, and before the Cubs could wrap things up he brought Lil Amarista home on a sacrifice fly to make things an odd 13-3.

Shiny Shiny Stars

Tyson Ross 6IP, 1ER, 1BB, 11SO

Rene Rivera 1HR, 2R, 3H, 3RBI

Chris Nelson 1R, 1H, 2RBI

Seth Smith 2R, 3H, 1RBI

Will Venable 1R, 3H, 2RBI

Alexi Amarista 2R, 1H, 2RBI

Basically everybody did amazing. Goebbert and Ross were the only starters to not have an RBI for the night. Ross still managed to get on base, and both Jeff Francoeur and Jace Peterson came in to draw a walk.

The Padres are flying into dirty Atlanta for a four game series, Jesse Hahn returns to the game to kick things off. A perfect test for our first sweep of the season.

Everybody was at Comic Con so the turnout was still a little bit thin. Somebody was going a little bonkers with the recs. I'm counting TheThinGwynn (5), jodes (3), and A huevo and Hormel (2).

Too young to remember the 1970s? This game was what it was like to watch the Cubs then.

The Cubs are celebrating the decade of the 1970s this homestand and as part of that "celebration," the team decided to show everyone who's not old enough to remember that decade what Cubs baseball was like, 40-plus years ago.

Wait. No, no they didn't "decide" to do that, but they managed to do it anyway in a brutal 13-3 loss to the Padres which was reminiscent of many mid-1970s blowouts, at least to this Cubs fan who sat through many of them.

Interestingly enough, exactly 38 years ago Thursday the Cubs nearly duplicated last night's score in a 12-3 loss to the Cardinals, who just happen to be the team's next opponent. That 1976 game was in St. Louis, but some of the pitching performances Thursday night were eerily reminiscent of the bad pitching staff of the mid-1970s. I hadn't really thought about it until I looked at that boxscore, but Edwin Jackson is kind of like Bill Bonham, who started that game. Lots of talent, good stuff, no idea where it's going.

Actually, Jackson didn't pitch too badly Thursday night after a rough first inning in which he gave up two runs. He then retired 10 of the next 11 hitters he faced until Rene Rivera's home run leading off the fifth. After the first two batters reached in the sixth on a walk and a single, Jackson left with hand cramping, something he says won't make him miss a start. (I'll let you decide whether that's a good thing or a bad thing.)

Brian Schlitter then came into the game and... well, perhaps the carnage is best left to the boxscore link above. Go back to the 1976 boxscore and look at who relieved Bonham: Oscar Zamora. Zamora, like Schlitter, didn't retire a batter in that game and got charged with run. Zamora had a decent year for the Cubs in 1974 (after nine years in the minors) but was pretty awful in 1975 and 1976. For Schlitter, who also had a long and strange trek through the minor leagues, we have somewhat higher hopes, but he was awful Thursday night in an inning in which 15 Padres batted and nine runs scored.

Before that the game had been reasonably close at 3-1, but once again, the Cubs failed to take advantage of a good scoring opportunity. They had scored one run and had two runners on with one out in the fourth, but Ryan Sweeney hit a soft line drive right at shortstop Alexi Amarista and John Baker struck out.

After the sixth it was time to wonder whether Rick Renteria might let a position player finish on the mound, but with eight relievers in his bullpen, that wasn't really necessary. The offensively-challenged Padres posted season highs in hits and runs, both of which were season highs in hits and runs against the Cubs, and their pitchers struck out 16 Cubs, one short of the season high. That's about the only thing different from the 1976 game, in which the Cubs struck out only three times and had 10 hits, all singles. That kind of hitting in the 1970s got Cubs' hitters labeled as the "Rush Street Offense" (lots of singles, no action, and you'll forgive the somewhat sexist joke, also a remnant of the 1970s).

That's about all you could do about a game like this. Laugh. This team isn't that bad. Or at least we hope it's not. Starlin Castro broke out of a mini-slump with a pair of hits and Arismendy Alcantara also had two singles, but that was about it for Cubs highlights on yet another night where October-level chill filled the air and there was a mass exodus from the stands after Eddie Vedder led the seventh-inning stretch.

The game ran exactly as long as Wednesday night's walk-fest: three hours, 36 minutes. At least there was some hitting action Thursday. The game was interesting and didn't drag, unlike the walkathon. And therein lies the real difference between 1976 and 2014. In 1976, not one nine-inning Cubs game lasted as long as those two -- the longest nine-inning game that year ran 3:17.

Well, enough. Just thinking about pitchers like Zamora, Paul Reuschel, Mike Garman and Joe Coleman (Casey Coleman's father), who all appeared in that July 24, 1976 game, brings back bad memories of Cubs pitchers hurling baseballs in that era that wound up on Waveland Avenue. We will hope for better when the Cubs take on the Cardinals beginning Friday afternoon. Travis Wood pitches against Joe Kelly in a game that begins at 3:05 CT.

San Diego Padres outfielder Cameron Maybinhas been suspended 25 games for medically-unauthorized use of amphetamines. I have been planning to write a Prospect Retrospective for Maybin, so this seems like as good a time as any.

Maybin was one of the top prep players available in the 2005 draft, an exceptional athlete with all five tools. Drafted by the Tigers in the first round from high school in Arden, North Carolina, he was drafted 10th overall but signed too late to play that summer. In my 2006 book I gave him a "default Grade B', noting that his tools were excellent but "there is some concern among scouts about Maybin’s strike zone judgment, which is never what you want to hear about a young player, but the general consensus is that he will hit eventually."

Maybin was sent to Low-A West Michigan in 2006. He performed very well, hitting .304/.387/.457 with 27 steals, 50 walks, and 116 strikeouts in 385 at-bats. Here's the comment I wrote for him in my 2007 book:

Drafted in the first round in 2005, Cameron Maybin lived up to all expectations in 2006. All of his tools rate as above average or better. His skills still need a bit of work, but with more experience he should be a Seven Skill guy, contributing in all aspects of offensive and defensive play. His numbers in the Midwest League were strong (OPS +22, SEC + 53), the only flaw being a high strikeout rate. He is also an outstanding defensive outfielder, possibly capable of winning Gold Gloves at the major league level. His power still needs some development, but scouts are confident that it will come in time. Although I’m mildly concerned about the high strikeout rate, the fact that he also draws walks is a good sign. Maybin looks like an elite talent to me. Grade A-.

The Tigers were very aggressive with Maybin in '07. He opened the season with High-A Lakeland, which was reasonable enough. He hit .304/.393/.486 with 10 homers, 43 walks, 83 strikeouts in 296 at-bats along with 25 steals. He played six additional games in Double-A (hitting .400 with four homers) but then spent several weeks in the majors. Not surprisingly, he was totally over-matched at the plate (7-for-49, .143, three walks, 21 strikeouts) although he impressed with five steals and strong defense. He was then traded to the Marlins as the key prospect in the Miguel Cabrera deal.

The centerpiece prospect in the Miguel Cabrera trade, Maybin could be Florida’s Opening Day center fielder. I think that is rushing things; he’s not ready yet. He had major problems controlling the strike zone during his major league trial late last summer. This is hardly damning: he was just 20 years old, with all of six Double-A games under his belt. In the minors, Maybin showed a good walk rate. He struck out a lot, but his bat speed (and his running speed) kept his batting average high. His production in the Florida State League was excellent with a +23 percent OPS. He’s also a very good center fielder. The only real negative I see, other than the elevated strikeout rate, is injuries. He had hamstring problems in ’06, and a shoulder injury cost him a month of playing time in ’07. His type of wiry- strong body is often prone to muscle pulls and cramps, and that could slow his development a bit. Now, for all of his success, there are some skeptics out there among the stathead community. Maybin hits the ball on the ground a lot, and while this enables him to beat out infield hits with his speed, it may slow his power development. Some people think it may stall his development altogether, although I don’t buy that. I’m more worried about the strikeouts eating into his batting average if he is rushed, and the Marlins may very well rush him. If it were up to me, Maybin would go to Double-A to begin ’08, with a promotion to Triple-A on tap in late June if he’s playing well, then a chance to start in the majors in ’09. In the long run, Maybin should be a 20-25 homer hitter with a high batting average, a solid OBP, and 30-40 steals, at least when he’s younger. Grade A-.

As noted, sabermetric types were worried about Maybin hitting too many ground balls but that didn't seem like a big deal to me at the time. That type of batted-ball data analysis for minor league players was in its infancy then and I take it more seriously now, with Maybin being a key reason why.

The Marlins were less aggressive than the Tigers in 2008 and gave Maybin most of the year in Double-A, where he hit .277/.375/.456 with 13 homers, 21 steals, 60 walks, and 124 strikeouts in 390 at-bats.

Cameron Maybin is very likely to open 2009 as Florida’s center fielder. A possible Seven Skill player, he will provide plenty of speed, excellent center field defense including a strong throwing arm, at least moderate power and a high walk rate. He will also strike out a lot, and could struggle to keep his batting average much above .250, at least in the short run. Maybin’s tools are undeniable, and his skills have improved a great deal. I remain concerned about the high strikeout rate, and scouts point to some problems with his swing mechanics that could preclude hitting for a good batting average even in the long run. Statheads worry that he hits too many balls on the ground and won’t develop his natural power fully. These are real concerns, and ideally I’d like him to get 100 games of Triple-A under his belt before being pushed to the majors. Overall, it’s hard to beat Maybin’s package of tools and skills, and I still rate him as a Grade A- prospect. Just don’t expect any batting titles.

As you can see, the ground ball issue, along with scout critiques about Maybin's swing mechanics, were beginning to worry me but I kept him rated as an A- due to his broad range of skills.

It turns out those worries were valid. Maybin played regularly in 2010, 2011, and 2012, struggling to hit for average and power. His on-base skills were also disappointing, which was unfortunate because once on base he proved a very efficient stealer. He lost most of 2013 with injury, showed no signs of improving his hitting skills this year, and is now suspended.

There's no way you can spin Maybin's career .248/.309/.370, 89 wRC+ offensive line as anything but seriously disappointing. But for all that, he still comes out decently in WAR terms (8.7 fWAR in three years of playing time) due to his exceptionally good outfield defense.

Through age 26, Maybin's modified Sim Score comps are Rich Becker, Marvell Wynne, Luis Matos, George Wright, Mickey Stanley, Mike Anderson, Fred Valentine, Ken Berry, and Larry Hisle. PECOTA comps include Franklin Gutierrez, Dexter Fowler, Drew Stubbs, Tom Tresh, Brian Anderson, Ryan Sweeney, Chris Young, and Carlos Gomez. Most of these guys were defense-first players who didn't hit much, with only Hisle and Gomez showing particularly good offensive development in their late 20s.

Maybin's glovework makes him a player with value, but he's not the all-around star I thought he'd be. Injuries haven't helped, but the warning signs were there all along and it was a good lesson to learn.

Time to take care of the fathers

After a disappointing series against the Miami Marlins, the Braves welcome the San Diego Padres to town for a four game weekend set.

The Padres have been in full on sell mode, as they have lost Huston Street and Chase Headley over the past two weeks, and have also lost Cameron Maybin to suspension for using performance enhancing drugs. The Padre offense is already week, and the loss of Headley and Maybin only further weakens the group. In fact, the Padres have went ahead and called up our old friend Jeff Francoeur a few days ago.

There is not much to worry about witheir offense. Rene Rivera has hit for some power in his 57 games with the team, Yasmani Grandal is probably the best overall hitter on the team, and Yangervis Solarte was hot in the early goings with the Yankees but cooled off immensely before being traded to the Padres in the Headley deal. It is a very weak group and the Braves pitchers should be able to slice and dice their way through the lineup with relative ease. While that should be the case, obviously the games are not played on paper and it is far from certain that this will actually happen.

The pitchers for the Padres are actually pretty respectable for this series. The Braves will oppose Jesse Hahn (2.21 ERA, 2.80 FIP in 7 starts), Odrisamer Despaigne (1.31 ERA, 3.67 FIP in 5 starts), Eric Stults (5.00 ERA, 5.20 FIP in 20 starts), and Ian Kennedy (3.66 ERA, 3.11 FIP in 22 starts).

Obviously Stults is the weakest of the bunch, but the two youngsters have impressed in the early going, especially Hahn. Hahn is a fastball/curveball pitcher who has gotten a lot of ground balls this year. He has some command issues but has struck out a lot of batters thus far and has a history of success in the minors, as his highest ERA at any level is 2.77. The Braves will have to be patient against him and work the counts in order to draw walks and stretch out innings.

Despaigne has flirted with a no hitter but has not been a strikeout pitcher whatsoever. He has forced weak contact but with a very poor strikeout-to-walk rate the Braves should be able to hit him well. Kennedy is on track to start on Monday but could very well be traded before then. As mentioned, the GM-less Padres are in full on sell mode and Kennedy is a commodity that many teams would enjoy having. He’s a solid innings eater and has been around for a while, so I would not be shocked to see him moved before his scheduled start.

All in all, the Padres are a weak team that has sold off some of its better players already are likely to continue to do so as the trade deadline nears. The Braves should be able to win this series and anything less would be a disappointment. They are 1.5 games behind the Nationals and three back in the loss column, so taking care of teams like the Padres at home is essential if they want to win their second consecutive NL East title.

Pitching Matchups:

Friday 7:35: Jesse Hahn vs. Alex Wood

Saturday 7:10: Odrisamer Despaigne vs. Julio Teheran

Sunday 5:05: Eric Stults vs. Mike Minor

Monday 12:10: Ian Kennedy vs. Ervin Santana

The offense led our Padres to a 13-3 victory in the series finale against the Cubs yesterday, giving them back-to-back series wins. Hopefully they still have some left in the tank for this four-game set against the Braves starting today.

Jesse Hahn makes his return to the big league club after being sent down during the All Star Break. Hahn gave up just one run on three hits while striking out six batters in Los Angeles on July 11th, his most recent major league outing. He also pitched two scoreless innings for Double-A San Antonio during his time in the minors this past week. Hahn has won all of his three starts on the road this season while posting a 1.50 ERA an is 5-2 with a 2.21 ERA overall this year.

Atlanta starter Alex Wood has gone 2-1 with a 2.87 ERA in his five starts since returning to the rotation. Prior to that he spent almost seven weeks working in relief for the Braves. His most recent start saw him give up one run on three hits while collecting eight strikeouts through six innings against the Phillies. But the Braves have dropped four of their last six games while dropping to 11 1/2 games out of first place in the NL East.  And Wood will be facing a San Diego team that's won four of their last five and collected 21 runs on 22 hits over their last two.

Tune in at 4:35 PT to see if our Friars can continue their hot hitting in Atlanta.

And don't forget to check out today's SB Nation Fantasy Baseball league on FanDuel. It's $2 to join and first prize is $2,000. There's also an MLB Squeeze (Late Night) league with a first prize of $1,200 if you miss the first one. You can join at this link.

The "proven closer" – what's the value on the Street? A week after the acquisition of the former Padres stopper, the question of what we bought with Huston Street still vexes, perplexes and divides the Angels faithful.

Perusing this morning's copious Weekend HaloLinks– always a treat and one of the features that distinguishes this site from others in the SBN universe – I noted that Stirrups began the Angels Baseball section with this FanGraphs analysis of the Huston Street trade.

The analysis provides grist for those on many sides of the Street acquisition debate, but Stirrups opted to focus on the "win now" angle, and where Angel fans might currently be psychologically that might explain the receptiveness to generally departing from the farm-rebuilding scheme to which Jerry Dipoto had finally committed.

I still find this conversation compelling, because of late, many of us on the editorial staff have tended to agree about the direction of the team, and often converge in our criticisms. But this acquisition has us more split, even to the point where Rev and I have exchanged quips in email and tweets, occupying opposite sides of the "Street" as it were.

A lot of this debate reduces to statements like "we had no farm to begin with" and "we needed a true closer" – the kind of recycled and sweeping generalizations that ignore the relative or conditional value of the players departing or arriving in any trade. It's a fan's vocabulary, and understandably few are keen to mute the rush of the big transaction that will grease the rails of the October Hope Express. The rally cry of "win now" overtakes any wonkish muttering of hows and whats and whens that might peek into the likelihood of that outcome given the transaction itself.

It's easy enough to split into different camps of "buy now, win now, pay later" and "win now and win later through homecooking." That's a longer, open, ongoing debate. But there's a more important point to debate right now.

If you fall into the former win-now camp, and your organizational trade resources are limited, what moves will actually get you closer to your goal?

I think anyone who actually knows the pieces involved in this recent trade, and who is making an honest argument, will concede that the Angels overpaid to get Huston Street. The FanGraphs piece conceded that. The commentariat, from Keith Law to Ken Rosenthal, have said as much. But "overpaying" may be fine, if your objective function is optimized toward a world series championship, or a late postseason run, and you seriously believe that Huston Street is the component that maximizes your chances of achieving that.

But is that really true?

The Angels are 2-4 in the six games since the Street acquisition. Street has pitched only two innings since that time, one in a loss and one in a win. That's not to attribute the recent losing streak to Street, but to point out that one-inning relievers really don't contribute all that much to winning or losing one way or another. This is only corroborated by the fact that Street has been, on average, worth roughly half a win (per fWAR) each season over the past four years.

The length of the Angels' recent winning streak was impacted to a greater degree by the surprising surplus of bats (and one astonishing arm) from the upper levels of the farm (Shoemaker, Calhoun, Cron, Navarro, Cowgill, Green) – the sort of assets that were the Rondons and Lindseys and Morrises of a year ago. Players we know are important now, but were easy to overlook or write off in seasons of lesser moment.

Now, I'm more than happy to embrace the 'win now' mantra after four years of losing. But my position on the Street trade is the same: we overpaid for the wrong weapon.

If you're going to overpay, do it for the right weapon. In this case, it should have been a frontline starter, like a Hamels. I'm fairly bullish on the idea that a canny GM, facing a wrecked and aging Phillies club with a broken offense, could parlay some combination of the package of prospects we supplied to acquire Street – combined with a Cron and Santiago/Shoemaker – to bring back several seasons of Cole Hamels. Now that's costly, in players and money, but if you've committed to overpaying to win-now, you can't really complain about cost, right? It's all about which big move you make.

We've seen in the past week that we can lose two straight games with our young ace on the mound. Our offense is streaky and can be quieted by superior pitching. Now, after losing the first game in this four game series against Detroit with our best warrior pitching, we're now going to battle (in a pennant race!) with Skaggs, Santiago and Shoemaker as our guys.

Will Huston Street even get a chance to pitch that one inning? If he does, will the Angels have a lead?

Jerry Dipoto had limited resources, and had enough chips to make one big bet. If you're going to look at this objectively, then you have to look at the bet he made. He didn't bet on a "proven closer" – that is just the magical mantra the Angels faithful recite to themselves to give the acquisition more gravitas and inevitability. Rather, Dipoto bet that the recently-refurbished bullpen backend of Smith-Jepsen-Morin-Thatcher-Grilli was more likely to fall apart down the stretch than the ragtag rotation backend of Wilson-Skaggs-Shoemaker-Santiago.

That's an interesting bet – and one that I would have played a bit differently.

Another night of dominate pitching and an awoken offense shoved San Diego ahead for the win.

Things are starting to click in a few great ways for the Padres. Our typical slumping offense is showing some light and our fantastic pitching is staying fantastical. Tonight against the Atlanta Braves, Jesse Hahn strut his stuff for six innings, giving up only one earned run in six innings pitched. Hahn struck out four and kept his opponents locked down.

Our Padres kicked off their series in Atlanta with a solid 5-2 win over the Braves. This afternoon they look to keep the ball rolling and clinch at least a series split while extending their winning streak to four games.

Odrisamer Despaigne has been an outstanding addition to the Padres pitching staff in his first Major League season season. The rookie has allowed one run or fewer in four of his five major league starts, and his last time out may have been his most impressive yet. He came within just four outs of throwing the franchise's first-ever no-hitter. In the end he gave up just one run on two hits, though he wasn't credited with the decision in the 3-1 Padres victory. Despaigne threw a season-high 123 pitches in that outing, earning himself an extra day of rest coming into this afternoon's contest.

With the way the Padres have been hitting since coming back from the All-Star Break, and the way the Braves have strugggled lately, Despaigne has even more reason to be confident. In the seven games so far in this latter half of the season, San Diego has combined for 48 runs while collecting five wins. In the three-game winning streak going into today's matchup, they've batted a collective .318 with 26 runs scored. The Braves, on the other hand, are hitting just .196 as a team with 16 runs scored during their current 1-4 stretch.

Julio Teheran looks to help the Braves even up the series, however, as he takes the mound tonight. Teheran has been arguably the best pitcher on the staff this season, leading the team in ERA (2.64) and strikeouts (127). However, he's gotten the short end of the run support stick, receiving two runs or fewer in 11 of his 21 starts. His most recent outing was no different, as he kept the Marlins to just one run in seven innings while tying a career-high with 11 strikeouts. But his offense gave him only one run on six hits, and a loss to boot. But Teheran has been much luckier at home in 2014, going 3-1 with a 1.23 ERA in 10 starts.

First pitch for the second of the four-game set in Atlanta is scheduled for 4:10 PT this afternoon.

And don't forget to check out today's SB Nation Fantasy Baseball league on FanDuel. It's $2 to join and first prize is $2,000. You can join at this link.

Earlier today, Brady of LobShots fame tweeted a picture of some baseball cards he dug up out of his garage. The first one that caught my eye was my favorite Steve Garvey card. I'm not the biggest Garvey fan in the world, but I love this particular card of him because it features a cameo by one of my favorite players ever, fellow West Virginian John Kruk.

@LobShots I love the Kruk cameo in Garvey's Fleer Limited card.

— Joe Lies (@TheThinGwynn) July 26, 2014

He then pondered aloud whether the catcher pictured was Gary Carter before catching himself a minute later, correctly recalling that Carter had moved on to the Mets by that point. This got me wondering who the catcher on the card really was, so I pulled up Garvey's game logs from 1986 and started digging. Narrowing it down to 1986 was the easiest part; the card is a 1987 issue, so the photograph had to be from 1986 or earlier. While the Padres began wearing those uniforms in 1985, Kruk didn't debut until '86.

From there it was as easy as scanning for home games against Montreal and looking for ones he homered in. He had two games in which he homered at home against the Expos, but the first one is out because Kruk didn't play at all in San Diego's 3-2 loss on May 16. That means the photograph had to have been taken following his third-inning three-run shot off of "El Presidente" Dennis Martinez on August 21, 1986.

I got so sidetracked that I almost forgot what I was trying to figure out in the first place. The catcher in the picture is Dann Bilardello, who incidentally went on to finish his career by hitting .121 in 17 games with the '92 Padres.

The Barvs pulled themselves together and kept San Diego to the dreaded "golden three".

Ten strikeouts and a few unearned runs shot out from the Barvs created an unstable environment (and a loss) for the Friars tonight. Nine hits and some sloppier-than-usual pitching from rookie Odrisamer Despaigne gave Atlanta enough to stop the San Diego three-game winning streak.

Familiar Faces

Yonder Alonso returned as Jake Goebbert was sent down. Alonso was hitting .280 in 25 AB's down in El Paso, and after going 1-3 yesterday in Triple-A, went 1-4 tonight in Atlanta. Medica went hitless in left field today, and Alonso didn't push any convincing arguments against Julio Teheran.

Squeezing Out a Win

An opportune suicide-squeeze in a 2-2 gave the Braves the lead, and kept them ahead for the rest of the night. On the other hand, the Padres' three runs came in the form of a Yasmani Grandal double in the 4th, and a Yangervis Solarte RBI single in the 5th. Once the Padres arrived at that infamous "golden three", where Mad_Villain pointed out that "the Padres are 35-5 when scoring 4 or more runs."If our streaky offense has any indicators, it's that once we hit that 4th run, sighs of relief are quite justified.

More Baseball To Be Played

With tonight's loss the 4 game series is sitting 1-1. It'll take those back-to-back wins to staple together winning three series in a row. Something we definitely haven't done yet this season. Minor only lasted 3 innings in Miami last week, giving up 6 earned runs. That's a sexy looking number given the Padres have scored a combined 28 runs this week so far.

I caught the Padres' final run of the night in Lolita's, taking a little break from the Comic-Con madness.

Carne Asada fries and a drink for $8 yes pleez.

Another rec-crazy night. It's Saturday, so it's fact most of you were drunk. jodes was the drunkest with 8 recs. The closest to that was abara, buzzed with 4.

YES Network | Lou DiPietro: Ex-Yankee Michey Rivers believes that the speed of Jacoby Ellsbury and Brett Gardner will be very important for the offense going forward.

LoHud | Chad Jennings: Since coming back from injury, Francisco Cervelli has been a big part of the team.

MLB.com | Barry M. Bloom: On the verge of his Hall of Fame induction, Joe Torre reflects on his time in the Bronx.

Baseball Prospectus | Sam Miller: A breakdown of the Chase Headley trade and how it affects both the Yankees and the Padres.

SB Nation | Rodger Sherman: Watch as Chris Capuano almost hits a dragonfly with a baseball.

Hardball Talk | Craig Calcaterra: A guide on how to troll fans of all 30 teams, including Yankees fans, who might be the hardest to troll.

LoHud | Chad Jennings: After beating the Blue Jays at Yankee Stadium 17 times in a row, the streak finally comes to an end.

Ian Kennedy will be skipping his regularly scheduled start tomorrow and Jason Lane is being called up from El Paso to take the hill in his place. Kennedy won't be placed on the disabled list, as he just has a sore left oblique that he tweaked swinging a bat, and the team expects him to miss only this start. Naturally, as soon as the word came out, a bevy of know-it-alls crawled out of the woodwork to let Corey Brock know that he wasn't fooling them; they knew what was really going on. Watching him shut them down one-by-one brought a smile to my face.

Oblique. @autographdude: @FollowThePadres hopefully not being pulled for another reason, hoping we hang on to him"

— Corey Brock (@FollowThePadres) July 27, 2014

Oblique. @mattmershon81: @FollowThePadres I smell a trade..."

— Corey Brock (@FollowThePadres) July 27, 2014

Oblique. @Fun0nABun: @FollowThePadres PLEASE tell me he's been traded. #wouldmakemysunday"

— Corey Brock (@FollowThePadres) July 27, 2014

Or just oblique. @SnapTheBall: @FollowThePadres "Oblique" aka looming trade."

— Corey Brock (@FollowThePadres) July 27, 2014

His Twitter game is so tight. I feel bad for the guy sometimes because in his position he gets inundated with garbage from so very many people, but he deals with it in a manner which can best be described as Olney-like. But when he's not having to reiterate his points because people think they know better, he's doing his main thing, which is dropping knowledge on Padres fans all over the world. After the oblique hilarity, he let us know who will be starting in Kennedy's place, but you know who that will be because it's in the headline and first paragraph.

Oh, speaking of headlines and first paragraphs, the Padres' official release regarding this is all fouled up. I took a screen cap in case they get around to fixing it.

I guess this is the part where I'm supposed to grumble something about incompetence abounding throughout the organization or something, and pepper a "goin' to hell in a handbasket" in there somewhere. That, or realize that I make mistakes all the time, most of which are worse than screwing up a headline, and cut 'em some slack. Yeah, I think I'll do that one, with a side of being happy for Jason Lane.

Weirdly enough the Pads recorded a loss tonight after only scoring three runs. If that sounds like something that's been pointed out before, it's because it has been.

The hitting is now back to it's standard form and the pitching is showing more sloppiness for the second night in a row. What Pads fans were getting used to after a solid three-game winning streak has faded for the weekend as San Diego drops game three against the Atlanta Braves.

Getting into things Eric Stults was looking fresh, posting two 1-2-3 innings while the Padres were starting to pick away at the Barvs starter Mike Minor. Once we reached the third inning, Yangervis Solarte broke through the Atlanta pitching front and jacked a solo HR into left field. Unfortunately for the Padres, the early lead wouldn't go unanswered.

Yangervis SoloHR-rte.

Six ugly runs, started with a two doubles, and a suceeding pair of singles put Atlanta up 2-1. Things got real ugly when Yasmani Grandal failed to handle a sharp grounder, and two more runs snuck through. Piled on by an another RBI single right after, the Braves responded in the 3rd with a 6-1 lead. Stults was jacked up for the night, going 6 innings giving up 6 hits and 6 ER. Ooh, creepy.

Taken all the way to the sixth, Rene Rivera would steal back a run with his own solo HR. A few hits and roster changes in the 7th would take Minor out of the game, but that wouldn't stop Tommy Medica from at least getting an RBI in, putting the Padres into a 6-3 arrangement.

This is the 8th time Rivera has treated a baseball so poorly. Now third for HR's in the club.

Regrettably, that would be the curtains for a comeback. With a little punch-back in the 7th, the Braves unbalanced the game at 8-3, and their bullpen made quick work of the remainder of the Padres offensive opportunities. Add on another loss when the Friars score less than 4 runs and a lost opportunity at a three-series win streak.

We'll still get the chance at a split tomorrow, with Jason Lane getting the call-up after some announced soreness of Ian Kennedy's obliquey bits. Surprising absolutely no one; Carlos Quentin will head back to the DL, and Jedd Gyorko will likely get the anxious activation.

Comic-Con is over, so my escapism has run dry. Our ever-changing roster and absurdly inconsistent performances will have to produce new ways to allow me to grab on for dear life and get pumped UP. Please Gyorko, please. No pressure.

Sunday was a funday, and TheThinGwynn y abara led the parade with 3 recs, jodes with 2. Is it me, or has jodes been slippin?