Dodgers 7, Padres 1: Sloppy Friars Give Up Sweep

The defense sucked. The offense sucked. The bullpen sucked.

After a pair of extra innings games, there were really only two ways for today's game to go. It was either going to be a 15 inning marathon or a blowout. We got the blowout, and not the one we hoped for. Some early sloppiness on defense put the Dodgers on the board first, and the Padres never managed to claw back a lead. The offense's measly four hits just wasn't enough, and when the bullpen imploded in the eighth inning, it was all over but the crying.

Normally, you might expect Eric Stults to be the weak link, but he put together a solid line today. The lefty put up 6 innings, allowing just 2 runs though neither were truly his fault. The only reason either run was charged to Stults is because you can't give an error to a player that never laid hands on the ball. Yasiel Puig picked up a "double" to start the game when Rymer Liriano lost an easy pop-up in the sun. A passed ball by Yasmani Grandal sent him to third. Give Stults some credit; he struck out Hanley Ramirez and Adrian Gonzalez. But after issuing a four-pitch walk to Matt Kemp, Scott Van Slyke got a bloop into right field. The Padres managed to get that first run back immediately, with a pair of double from Yangervis Solarte and Yasmani Grandal.

The tie would hold until the fifth inning, which delivered a terrible dose of deja vu. After Ramirez drew a one-out walk, Gonzalez hit a pop-up to shallow left field... which Yangervis Solarte lost in the sun. That put another run in scoring position. Kemp took advantage of the blunder and hit a single to send Ramirez home. That was all the Dodgers needed to avoid a sweep, but they piled on in the eighth.

Blaine Boyer started the inning by allowing a proper single by Gonzalez and a double to Kemp. That got him replaced by Alex Torres, who didn't fare much better. He issued a walk to Carl Crawford, bringing up Juan Uribe with the bases loaded and nobody out. Uribe's RBI single ended Torres's night and brought in the freshly recalled Jesse Hahn. Continuing the bullpen's miserable day, Hahn threw a wild pitch, advancing everybody. A.J. Ellis walked to reload the bases, and then Darwin Barney drove in two more with a single. Hahn finally ended the bleeding after that, but it was too late. Gonzalez singled and then scored on a Uribe double in the ninth, but does it really matter? This was a bad game, and I propose we all just forget it ever happened.

Tyson Ross will try to get the team back on track when he takes the mound tomorrow. First pitch is at 1:10 PM.

abara led the comments with 18, tying TheThinGwynn for recs at one a piece.