BASTA: Offense Sputters Again As Giants Swept At Hands Of Padres

((HT: BASTA their own selves/Leonard))

The Giants came into Petco Park on Friday full of confidence and enthusiasm. They leave on Sunday demoralized and broken, swept by the hapless San Diego Padres, whose team wOBA starts with a two (.282). San Francisco made these Padres look like world-beaters, giving up eight runs on Sunday to the worst offensive team in the major leagues. They have scored fourteen runs in their last eight games, dropping six of eight in the process. With the loss, all hopes of winning the NL West are essentially lost; with the Dodgers’ win on Sunday, San Francisco fell 4.5 games back in the divisional race. They are now tied with Pittsburgh for the first wild card spot; Milwaukee sits 4.5 back, likely an unsurmountable deficit.

Despite the fact that the Giants are practically a lock to make the postseason (98.8% chance), they are no lock to advance far beyond the wild card play-in game (if that). The offense has been silent without Angel Pagan in the lineup, putting four runs across the board in the three-game series. They weren’t much better on Sunday, as their sole runs in an 8-2 loss came on rookie Chris Dominguez’s homer, the first hit of his career. Dominguez launched a 3-1 fastball from Ian Kennedy off of the Western Supply Company Building in left field, cutting the Padres’ lead to 5-2. He became the first Giant to have a homer for a first career hit since Adam Duvall in June.

Besides the homer, the offense was lifeless, failing to get their first hit until two outs in the forth on a Buster Posey infield single. (Yes, you read that right) Unlike San Francisco, the Padres looked very comfortable at the plate, tagging starter Ryan Vogelsong for four runs in five innings. Petco Park continued to haunt the righty, who had posted a 9.37 ERA at the park before Sunday. He was a 5.53 ERA on the season against NL West opponents. Yasmani Grandal had a big day at the dish, going one for two with three RBI’s. His sacrifice fly in the sixth contributed to a four-run outburst from San Diego, chasing Vogelsong from the game.

The Giants now head to Los Angeles full of uncertainty and despair. They will have to take two out of three from the Dodgers to avoid watching them celebrate a division clinch. Luckily, Dodger Stadium does not have a pool.
((HT: FOX Sports))


After being the hottest team in baseball for a stretch, the Giants find themselves facing a postseason possibly without Angel Pagan or an offense. This series against Los Angeles will define the Giants’ season. Can they be resilient? It will be certainly be a test, facing Haren, Greinke, and Kershaw. Haren (13-11, 4.14) will open the series on Monday against Jake Peavy (6-4, 2.16).

Your Daily Vin Scully Storytime

((HT: MLB.com))

This next few minutes should be a lesson for all broadcasters as to how to do your job properly

It was Vin Scully in a 4-run game filling time telling a tremendous story...


Full disclosure...

The HQ makes a point to listen to the first three innings of Dodger home games all the way from the other end of the country...

Holy Mackerel! That's Embarassing!!!

((HT: MLB.com))

When Vin Scully shames your defensive lack of focus, you know it was bad...

And this three-throwing error nonsense from the Dodgers was exactly that...

Eddie Vedder Throws A First Pitch At Wrigley

((HT: CSNChicago))

Just how big a Cubs fan is the lead singer of Pearl Jam...???

THIS BIG


Well, before the Padres game he got to reinforce his love for the team with a little pitch and catch with Anthony Rizzo...


A little low and inside to the left-handed batter and a little Luis Tiant in the delivery, but otherwise pretty solid.

Frenchy's Revenge: Chihuahuas Prank Jeff Francoeur Again as He Gets Call Back to Padres

((ht: deadspin.com))

Former Atlanta Brave, New York Met, Kansas City Royal and San Francisco Padre Jeff Francoeur can now add another Major League Baseball team to his ever-growing resume--the San Diego Padres.

Francoeur on Wednesday got a call up from the Padres Triple-A team in El Paso.

But not before his friends and teammates on the Chihuahuas got one last practical joke in....

Check out what happened to our hero when he tried to use the coaches bathroom this past weekend before a home game.

His teammates/friends decided there'd be no getting out for one of the goofiest, easy-going guys in the game.

The put together quite the mousetrap to keep him locked in.

But alas, Frenchy eventually made his escape through the roof.

And tried to crawl back up there after his friends found him.

Luckily nobody was hurt other than Francoeur's dry-fit, plenty of players have gone on the DL for less.

Your video courtesy teammate/filmmaker Cody Decker:

105-Year-Old Throws First Pitch

((HT: MLB.com))

It would be 60 years before the San Diego Padres even had a game in town, but that was when Oceanside, California's Alice McKee was born. She got to throw out the first pitch for the team yesterday...

And we appreciate the idea that she went with the natural arm motion


The Padres need her in the pen after they got rid of Huston Street, though...

Lincecum No-No's Padres Again...

((HT: MLB.com))

It's the third no-hitter of the season and Tim Lincecum becomes the second Giant to no-hit a team more than once- matching Christy Mathewson's feat against did it to the Chicago Cubs four years apart (in 1901 and 1905).

The first no-hitter was a 148-pitch run (148 PITCHES???!!!) almost a year ago.
Today's had 35 less pitches and was in San Francisco

Here's the ending


Lincecum joins Anibal Sanchez and Matt Cain with no-hitters at Candlestick Point.

Tony Gwynn Honored In San Diego

((HT: MLB.com))

It was the first home game for the San Diego Padres after the death of their Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn- and the tribute was fitting for Number 19.


But, what may have been missed in all of this was the Dick Enberg tribute that happened from Seattle the night of his passing as part of the Major League Baseball remembrance

DEVELOPING: Tony Gwynn Passes At 54

After a prolonged battle with cancer of the salivary gland, 8-time batting champ Tony Gwynn has died at the age of 54. He had battled it in 2009 and again in 2012 when it recurred.

He was equal to Honus Wagner in batting titles and finished with 3,141 career hits (18th all-time) and was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2007 with Cal Ripken, Junior.

The head coach of the San Diego State baseball program had taken a leave of absence from the program to fight the disease in recent months.

And, to tell you a quick story on how tremendous a physical athlete Gwynn was, he was once taken in for an eye test since people often wondered how a career .338 hitter could pick up the ball so well and so quickly out of a pitcher's hand.

The initial eye test came back with vision that was 20/10- meaning that he could pick up objects clearly at twenty feet that others could at only ten feet in front of them. A retest was demanded since the first round of results weren't believed.

The second test came back 20/8.

Here's a piece the Aztecs had done on them by ESPN's "Outside The Lines" group after Gwynn survived round one back in 2011. Tom Friend reports for OTL
((HT: goaztecs.com))

ICYMI: Best Bear Costume Ever at Padres Game

((ht: mlb.com))

Yikes! Even though this happened Friday night, we had to share it after we saw it.

Check out this guy at the Padres/Nationals game at Petco Park in San Diego. Without question, the most realistic bear costume we've ever seen....

Or as the Nationals announce team says....That's "Mr. Bear"

Wonder if he rents that thing out for parties?

Thanks MLB.com for sharing:

This Is Why The Padres Drafted JFF Today

((HT: George Whitfield, Junior's Vine))

Fourth swing at Petco back in May before their game with Washington


Good for you... as the "Summer of Johnny" continues...

He was drafted 837th overall by the Padres... a bit of a drop from 22nd overall...

Littlest Nats Fan Pulls Out A Surprise

((HT: ">Chris Mottram's Vine))

The HQ doesn't know what caused this fan to get THIS busy with her tooth...

The Padres-Nats game was THAT exciting, or she was just really fixated...


The HQ is thinking she was just REALLY focused...

On Jeff Ears: Elaborate Prank on Jeff Francoeur is Documented and it's Awesome

((@ajcbraves))

Oh, this is epic. And no, the prank isn't the former wunderkind Jeff Francoeur is still playing baseball.

Here's the set-up. Francoeur, a former MLB Rookie-of-the-Year is playing AAA Baseball for the San Diego Padres team in El Paso, Texas. And he's apparently on a veteran laden team with several of his ex-Atlanta Braves teammates including Blaine Boyer and Brooks Conrad.

Francouer, for all his struggles to hit off-speed pitches, is one of the great nice guys in professional sports. Always has been.

And his El Paso teammates, well, they had some fun.

At his expense.

The ruse: They convinced Francoeur that teammate Jorge Reyes was deaf. It was all built around an incident when Francoeur first arrived, where Reyes didn't move when a fly ball landed near him.

Before they knew it, the entire team was in on it.

And....as an added bonus, they had a documentary style film shoot to document the gag. And it's priceless...

Check out this production by Antihero Baseball/Daylight Films:

Giancarlo Stanton Hit The Ball A Long Way

((HT: MLB))

It is now the longest home run in Marlins Park history at 474-feet...


See...???

Told you it was hit a long way...

ICYMI: Lincecum Throws No-Hitter

If you live on the East Coast, there is a good chance you missed San Francisco Giants pitcher Tim Lincecum salvage what has been according to most people a horrible season.

Lincecum threw a 148 pitch, 9 inning no-hitter leading the Giants to a 9-0 win over the San Diego Padres late Saturday night.

Yes, he threw 148 pitches. He also struck out 13 and walked 4.

"I think I was pretty loose and fluid the whole game." Lincecum said.  "I didn't feel fatigued one bit, not any more than I usually do in these games."

"He had that eye-of-the-tiger look," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. "Good for Timmy. He's had to deal with a lot for a couple of years. Now he's part of history. I couldn't be happier for him."

By most experts opinion, Lincecum supposedly had his best days behind him. He's struggled all season to find velocity, location and his old mojo of 5-years ago. The win got him to a 5-9 record with a 4.26 ERA on the season. And no, those aren't stellar numbers.

Your highlights:

Dodgers Zach Greinke Suffers Broken Collarbone In Bench Clearing Brawl

Carlos Quentin & Zack Greinke In A Brawl

I'm guessing Carlos Quentin doesn't particularly like Zack Greinke. 

Twice Quentin had been hit by Greinke so why else would Quentin go bat-crap crazy after getting hit by Greinke's pitch.  Heck Quentin turned into it.

Here's the video evidence with the legend Vin Scully describing.


It wasn't smart of Greinke to go shoulder-to-shoulder on Quentin at the start of the brawl.  That move will put Greinke on the DL for a while.  He walked off the field escorted by Dodger trainer Sue Falsone and later it was revealed that Greinke had broken his collarbone.  That's going to cost Greinke 4-6 weeks.

Greinke says that pitch that hit Quentinwasn't thrown on purpose.



Dodger manager Don Mattingly is pissed off that Greinke will miss playing time and Quentin will not.



Maybe Quentin is just tired of getting plunked and took it out on Greinke.  Quentin has been hit by pitches more that any other major leaguer in the last five years.  The pitch he took on the left arm from Greinke was the 97th pitch to hit Quentin since the start of the 2008 season. 

**Note**--After the game, Matt Kemp of the Dodgers and Quentin got into it as the players and teams were leaving Petco Park. Police and security had to step in and separate the two.

The Dodgers and Padres have many more games to play.  Looks like the fireworks have just started.

O'Malley's to buy Padres with Phil Mickelson as part owner

Peter O'Malley

((ht: foxsports/golfchannel.com))

It appears the O'Malley family is back in the baseball business.

According to multiple reports, former Los Angeles Dodger owner Peter O'Malley, two of his sons and two nephews along with a handful of minority investors are set to buy the San Diego Padres from John Moores. The price, $800 million.

Oh, one of those minority investors, golfer Phil Mickelson.

The Padres have been up for sale for some time and Moores has stated publicly that he'd narrowed the list to just a couple of perspective bidders.

According to Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports, the O'Malley's are expected to be approved at an MLB owners meeting next month.

Rosenthal's story has more details RIGHT HERE

Certainly, the old time MLB owners are happy to welcome the O'Malley's back into the fold. Though it does beg the question as to why they sold the Dodgers back in 1998. Allegedly it was because of a tax issue. The Dodgers team went on a big downhill spiral after the sale, though they were recently bought for $2 billion. Which in the long run would have made him a lot of money.

The Padres and their relatively new park aren't quite worth $2 billion.

It will be interesting to see if they have the finances to make the Padres more competitive. The team has had some marginal success, but always seem to be looking for ways to cut costs. Sometimes at the expense of being competitive.

Maybe O'Malley is trying to go back in time?

DEVELOPING: Would The Padres Get Their First Ever No-Hitter...???

Through the first eight-and-a-half innings of the Padres-Dodgers game, only the Padres Cameron Maybin had the only base hit... for either team...

The Dodgers group of De La Rosa, Guerrier, McDougal, and Hawksworth kept the visitors off the bases while the Padres group of Harang, Spence, Qualls, and Adams kept the Dodgers doing the same- minus the one hit...

Luke Gregerson pitched the ninth for the San Diegans facing Matt Kemp for a three-pitch strikeout. James Loney was batter two. Loney fought off a few pitches before grounding out to first and Anthony Rizzo for out number two.

That brought up Juan Uribe... hitting .205 on the year leading into the at bat. Uribe would hit a two-out double off the wall for the end of that idea over the head of Chris Denorfia...

So, the answer is: "No..."

Dioner Navarro got the game-winning single... even after trying to avoid his team and their attempted tackling of him after the run scores...

More when we know more...