SD6, COL8; Padres Get Out-Coors'd

The Padres battled hard all the way into the 10th, using the famous hitters park all day. But Coors Field is a fickle beast, the Rockies know her well.

The Friars were chasing the lead all day today in one of the more productive losses of the season. Today fans got to see their team really push for a lead for once; instead of fizzling out early or being shutout. Donn Roach tried his hardest, but couldn't adjust to the worst ballpark to have your first MLB start in, and our legendary bullpen fell a little short.

The day started off well, as thePadreswere leading nice and early.Seth Smith crushed his fifth homer of the season to put us on the board, and we got to see Jedd Gyorko get himself a double. The two are now tied leading the club in HR's, although Smith is certainly boasting a much better 1.042 OPS compared to Gyorko's .493.

Smith jacks one into right field, rhyming it with his two-run shot yesterday.

Donn Roach then took the mound. He started things out with a 5 pitch walk to Charlie Blackmon. Not the greatest way the debut as a starter, but his team had his back. Blackmon decided he was going to steal; but Rivera wasn't having any of that. He was thrown out at 2B cleanly, but the umpire missed it. This prompted:

The Buddy Black Challenge Trot™

Black knew what was up, and the call was overturned and Blackmon called out. But Roach followed by walking Corey Dickerson on 4 pitches, and yet again, the Rockies pressed their luck. Rivera let them know that the first time was no fluke, and Dickerson was thrown out on an almost exactly identical tag. You'd figure the umpire would get it right the second time with Buddy breathing down his neck, but it took another Challenge Trot™ to set things right.

Tough angles to make a good call, but I think the ump just liked flapping his arms.

Colorado would finally get to Roach after three innings. Black was hoping to get at least around 60 pitches from Donn, but a two-run single from Blackmon and a two-run HR from Dickerson marked their revenge for the first inning, and Roach was pulled after finishing the 3rd. He just wasn't hitting his spots and gave up up 4 hits, 4 earned runs, and walked 2; only throwing 46 for his first major league start.

Rivera would end up avenging his starter by knocking in Cameron Maybin with a double, and Will Venable would then hit him Rene in after pinch hitting for Roach. Despite a fiery offense; the Rockies continued to edge away from the creeping Padres' run support. It wasn't until the top of the 9th that Everth Cabrera would take things into extras with a two-run HR, his second on the season.

Cabrera using that ballpark elevation to his advantage, dropping a HR into the bullpen.

Unfortunately we weren't able to get the ever-reliable Houston Street in at all, and after a one-two-three at-bat from the Friars, Dale Thayer would end up giving the Rockies fans a walk-off celebration in the form of a 2-run home run from Justin Morneau.

It was a hard-fought game. We got to experience what felt like a reasonable loss. We weren't shutout, we weren't pummeled or starved through a game of attrition, and we didn't really have any high expectations for Roach. Our Padres showed up offensively, but the Coors Gods weren't in our favor tonight.

The Rockies take the series, but we'll get to see a former Padre Kevin Correia throw against the vetted starter Ian Kennedy as we take on the Twins on Tuesday. Hopefully we can keep these home runs frequent, because Correia is the type of guy to light up.

TheThinGwynn posts a little too much for everybody's sake, and he got the only rec tonight.