Padres fall in San Francisco, 6-0

In what scientists are calling "a sickly display", the Padres fail to produce even the smallest signs of motivation to hit baseballs with those wooden bat-like things they carried today.

With two solo home runs from Angel Pagan and Buster Posey, the Padres were trailing early. What followed was an ugly reminder of San Diego's struggling offensive "Mr. Hyde". The problem with tonight's performance is that there was no "Dr. Jekyll" to be found in our defense.

Eric Stults lasted a measly 2.2 innings, giving up 7 hits (2 of them home runs), 5 earned runs, 2 walks, and only striking out one. Donn Roach tried to relieve Stultsy of his struggle but the Giants still managed to squeeze a run out of him.

Trailing 6-0 in the 5th, the Padres' lineup did nothing to help the stumbling pitching staff. Yusmeiro Petit held the Friars to 3 hits and 0 runs for 6 straight innings. Jean Machi conceded even less after putting down the Pads for the 7th and 8th.

There was a little bit of Positive Juice™ squeezed from the miserable fruit of today. Everth Cabrera and Chris Denorfia provided us with a hit each. While not much in the grand scheme of things, it at least is comforting knowing it's not our entire team that is allergic to consistent hitting.

Cameron Maybin stretched his legs a little today in center field. Having already acknowledged his defensive no-no's that had landed him on the DL twice already, it was good to see him following his own advice that he learned from his mistakes.

"I've got to find a way to take care of my body," he said. "If that's staying off the ground, if that's going feet-first into a catch, a sliding catch, staying away from the balls a little bit more.

Maybin displays caution approaching the wall to make a tough catch. Showing that playing smart and playing assertive are not mutually exclusive.

"I have to do what I have to do to take care of my body so I can play the majority of the season. That's my biggest goal."

Although Maybin went hit-less for the day, it was comforting seeing a smarter player who still retains his aggressiveness that got him the job in the first place.

Denorfia also laid out for a slick grab in left field today, doing his best Venable impression.

Unlike the much-derided Denorfia Dives™ of years past, Norf gets to this one and holds on to it. The way he hops up instantly, sets himself, and throws in one motion should be immortalized in instructional videos.

Defensively, Chris has always been that cliche "gritty" guy. Now he's leading the club with .318 AVG, 9 RBIs, and 5 stolen bases. If ever there was a Padre deserving of the Gritty Scruffy Tuffy title, Denosaur would be the one. But one Deno isn't enough, and now the Friars are left with the inability to sweep the Giants in their stupid pretty stadium.

No runs, three hits, and an error will be tonight's bad taste left in our mouths. Tomorrow lefty Robbie Erlin will front the team; throwing against righty Tim Hudson, and hopefully (definitely) taking the series against these Northern Californian Pumpkins.

Good grief.

The game thread is worth giving a visit for abara's comment alone.