Padres Meet The Giants For Four Huge Games

The Rockies won again today in dramatic fashion, which is highly annoying, but won't matter much if the Padres can continue to win ballgames. And an opportunity to win four critical games against the second-place Giants starts tonight out in San Diego.

I'll be watching this series with rapt fascination, in particular paying attention to the following storylines:

1. Which Padres bullpen will show up? All season long the Padres bullpen has been the best in the league. But over their 10-game losing streak, the bullpen looked vulnerable, relinquishing leads or failing to keep games close in the late innings. The last three days, during the sweep of the Dodgers, the bullpen was back in form. The Padres need the bullpen to be in top form if they hope to win the series.

2. Don't let the Giants go yard. The Giants lineup isn't all that power-laden, but they have a knack for timely bombs. The Padres must neutralize the likes of Juan Uribe, Buster Posey and Aubrey Huff, especially with runners on base, and especially in the late innings.

3. The Lincecum - Latos showdown. On Sunday afternoon, Mat Latos faces off against Tim Lincecum in a matchup of pure beasts. We don't know now where the series will stand going into this game, but at a minimum, this is a statement game. If Latos can win this game, he'll have faced off and beaten two of the top aces in division - Clayton Kershaw and Tim Lincecum - in back-to-back games. That would be ever so choice.

Series starts in about an hour.

Whither Luke Gregerson?

The Padres won yesterday for the first time in 10 games, defeating the Hated Dadgers 4-2 at Petco Park. A number of Padres played well in the game - Nick Hundley, Aaron Cunningham, Mike Adams, and Heath Bell come to mind - but Luke Gregerson again struggled to get outs.

Luke has not been effective so far in September. In his 3 appearances in the month, Luke has faced 13 batters and recorded only 3 outs, amounting to 1 full inning pitched. Over that inning, he's given up 6 hits, 8 runs (7 earned), walked 3, struckout only 1 and given up 2 homeruns. Bud Black pulled Luke last night after only 8 pitches, handing the ball over to Mike Adams to get the final two outs of the 7th inning.

This is not the first time Luke has struggled this season. During his first four apperances of July, Luke faced 17 batters across 2.2 innings pitched and gave up 6 hits, 7 runs (all earned), walked 4, K'd only 1, and allowed 2 bombs. Almost a mirror image of his first three appearances this month.

I'm not ready to close the book on Luke for the season. Far from it. In fact, I'm optimistic he'll turn it around. After that dismal start to July, Luke came back with a huge inning-and-a-third scoreless performance against the Rockies right before the All-Star break. That kind of resolve in the face of tough circumstances - coupled with a dominant slider that will no doubt resurface - is why Luke will be clutch these next three weeks.

After all, Luke went to high school in Morton, IL, just across the Illinois River from my hometown of Peoria. They don't breed half-hearts and cowards out in Morton. They breed country boys who know how to get things dun.

I bet Luke starts getting it dun tonight.

"It's like a nightmare, isn't it? It just keeps getting worse and worse."

You know that part in The Color of Money when Tom Cruise's character, Vincent Lauria, loses to veteran hustler Grady Seasons (played by real-life pool star Kevin McReady), and as Grady sinks shot after shot, he says to Vincent, "It's like a nightmare, isn't it? It just keeps getting worse and worse."

Of course you do. It's one of the great "hate-the-bad-guy" scenes in film history.

The Padres 10-game losing streak is the baseball equivalent of Grady Seasons running the table as Vincent sat on the side watching it happen, powerless to stop it.

All we can hope for at this point is that the Padres can pull off a trick shot and turn the tables on this losing streak. Like Vincent did to Grady.

Tonight against the Dodgers, Latos is Vincent. And his hair is perfect.

Nathan Scheelhaase And The Illini Play Today

Nathan,

I hope your quarterbacking skills are as good as your debate skills, because you're taking the field against Mizzou in about ten minutes time.

Get it dun today, Nate, and you'll be a hero to all.

Best,

Bevormo

Just Hours Away From Cory Luebke's Debut

Good thing my man Cory Luebke is starting tonight in a must-win game against the Rockies.

Otherwise I might be worried.

In all seriousness, though, I think Bud and Jed set this up well, giving Cory his first major-league start at home, in the best pitcher's park in baseball. That fact alone should cover up at least a few mistakes caused by early-inning jitters. The timing of Cory's start also gives the other five Padres starters an extra day of rest, setting them up to finish strong over the remaining games of this critical 10-game homestand.

Another factor working in Cory's favor tonight: the Rockies hitters don't know him or his stuff. Sure, they have scouting reports, but none of them have stepped in against Cory in a major league setting. The element of surprise might be the trick to cool down the potent Rockies bats.

Must-see ballgame. Tonight. At Petco.

"Dadgummitt"

My Dad is one of the world's longest-tenured Padres fans. He moved to San Diego to join the Navy in 1969, the first year of the Padres Major League existence, and lived in the city throughout the franchise's lean years in the 1970s. He was at the game where Ray Kroc apologized to fans over the public address microphone for the team's poor play. He swore he could play a better shortstop than Enzo Hernandez. He had hope when the Padres drafted Dave Winfield.

I'll never forget my Dad's line when, in 1984, Alan Wiggins stepped on second base for the force out that sent the Padres to the World Series. In our living room, quietly, he said, "I can't believe it. The Padres are in the World Series."

Another thing about my Dad: he studies the Civil War, and, in particular, admires the work of Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, one of the Union heroes at Gettysburg. He and I have stood on the spot where Joshua made his bayonet charge down Little Round Top, over uneven ground and in the face of Confederate rifle fire.

So I wasn't surprised when last night, in the aftermath of the Padres 7th straight loss, I received the following e-mail from my Dad. The e-mail had the subject line "Dadgummitt" and attached the photo of Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain you see above.

Bo

That's just about enough...tonight's 7th straight loss requires stern measures.

I'm just gonna relax and think about what Joshua did on Little Round Top.

We need to start playing like the '20th Maine'.

Day off Thursday...I suggest the lads go out and get blotto drunk.

Dad

I don't know if any of the Padres players or coaches read this blog, but that seems like pretty good advice to me.

Oh, The Horror

Brandon Allen just hit a grand slam off Luke Gregerson in the 8th inning and the Diamondbacks beat the Padres 5-2.

The Horror.