San Diego Padres

Hot News for Yasmani Grandal

Right-handed reliever headed to Tucson after slow start;l Quentin returns

Jedd Gyorko says a player can't get caught up in the highs and lows of baseball, but must maintain an even keel.

Gyorko has hit safely in 28 of his first 38 games, just as Gwynn did in 1982

The Padres will try their luck again tonight as they take on the Nationals in the third of a four-game set. Southpaw Eric Stults will try to rebound from a disappointing loss in Florida. He gave up three runs through 5 1/3 innings of work while issuing a season-high five walks. He had given up three runs through 13 innings on his two starts prior to that, however. Tonight will be his first career outing against Washington, who have taken the first two games of this series. He'll try to get the Padres out of a rut that has seen them lose five of their last seven games with starting pitching posting a 6.83 ERA over their last six. It'll take some more of that fight we saw by the Padres lineup in last night's game to overcome Jordan Zimmermann, who has been nails this season and is going for a league-leading eighth win tonight. He's won each of his last four starts, keeping his ERA to a miniscule 0.85 in that span while collecting 24 strikeouts and walking just four batters. In his most recent start, he limited the Dodgers to two runs in 7 2/3 innings at Dodger Stadium. In three career starts and 19 total innings against the Padres, Zimmermann is 1-1 with a 1.42 ERA. Two of those starts took place at Petco Park, where he's yielded just one run on eight hits while striking out 16 through 13 innings of work. Next Game Washington Nationals @ San Diego Padres Saturday, May 18, 2013, 5:40 PM PDT Petco Park Jordan Zimmermann vs Eric Stults Sunny. Winds blowing from left to right field at 5-10 m.p.h. Game time temperature around 65. Complete Coverage >

It was a hard fought game last night, but the Padres were unable to follow through in the end, dropping the second game against the Nationals and failing to tie up the series. After a thrilling 9th inning rally by San Diego against Rafael Soriano sent the game into extras, Huston Street gave up a two-out game-winning home run to pinch hitter Chad Tracy in the 10th inning. It was the sixth homer Street has allowed this season and third in his last three appearances. There were some silver linings in last night's loss. The Padres got on the board in the 1st inning thanks to an RBI single by Kyle Blanks coupled with a wild throw by Bryce Harper that put the ball in the stands and allowed a second run to score. Burch Smith looked better on the mound than he did in his debut. Though he gave up five runs on the night, his outing showed a lot of promise. He collected eight strikeouts through 5 1/3 innings of work, including fanning five of the first eleven batters he faced. He began to falter in the 4th, giving up back-to-back singles to Harper and Ryan Zimmerman to start the inning, followed by a home run to Adam LaRoche to put the Nats up 3-2. But Smith seemed to regain his composure and got through the rest of the inning, and the next, unscathed. However, he started losing gas in the 6th and Washington made him pay for it with consecutive home runs by Zimmerman and LaRoche (his second of the night). With the Nats up 5-2 in the 6th, Jedd Gyorko hit a 420-ft home run to right center to put the Padres within two runs. Three innings later, they would put on a small ball clinic to tie the game and force extra innings. Zimmerman continued his defensive struggles, allowing Chris Denorfia to reach base on a throwing error with one out. Later, with Chase Headley at the plate and two retired in the inning, Denorfia advanced to second on defensive indifference, which the Nats would regret later as Headley hit a two-out single to bring a run home. Blanks was up next, and he wasted no time in driving in the tying run, hitting a line drive RBI single on the first pitch he saw. It was all for naught, though, as Street served up the homer to Tracy in the 10th and the Padres were unable to answer back, despite back-to-back singles by John Baker and Alexi Amarista in the bottom of the inning. But San Diego once again showed a never-say-die attitude that has kept them close, if not on top, in so many games lately. Tonight they'll face Jordan Zimmermann in the third of a four-game series. Final - 5.17.2013 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 R H E Washington Nationals 0 0 0 3 0 2 0 0 0 1 6 7 3 San Diego Padres 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 2 0 5 11 0 WP: Rafael Soriano (1 - 1) SV: Drew Storen (1) LP: Huston Street (0 - 3) Complete Coverage >

The Padres made '80s night a great event. The brown Knockaround sunglasses were gorgeous. There were fantastic between inning bits recasting The Karate Kid, Top Gun, and Ghostbusters with current players. Kurt Bevacqua threw out the first pitch. The '80s tribute band in the Park at the Park before the game... was an '80s tribute band. And after the thrilling 9th inning rally, we were ready for the Padres to sweep the leg in the 10th. Huston Street decided that he hated '80s underdog movies and gave up a 2 out solo shot to Chad Tracy instead. On a more positive note, Burch Smith made a big improvement on his disastrous first start. He was bit hard by the long ball, but he went 5.1 innings, giving up 6 hits and a walk while striking out 8. 64 of his 84 pitches were thrown for strikes. 1st Inning The game got off to a good start when Kyle Blanks hit a 2 out single to score Everth Cabrera. It got better when Jesus Guzman scored on a throwing error by Bryce Harper. 2-0 Padres 4th Inning The first of three blasts Smith gave up was a 3 run shot by Adam LaRoche. 3-2 Nationals 6th Inning Things got ugly when Smith gave up back to back homers to Ryan Zimmerman and LaRoche. He was promptly pulled and replaced with GLB favorite Tim Stauffer, who made some @#$!ing pitches. He threw 1.2 hitless innings, walking one and ringing up two. Jedd Gyorko showed the Padres still had some fight in them with solo shot to center field. 5-3 Nationals 9th Inning With one out, Chris Denorfia reached first on a throwing error by Zimmerman. With two outs, he moved to second on defensive indifference. Chase Headley, Yonder Alonso, and Kyle Blanks hit three singles in a row to tie the game. Time for bonus baseball. 5-5 10th Inning Street served up his sixth home run in 17.1 innings. For reference, he gave up 2 homers last season in 39 innings. His worst season was 2011, where he gave up 10 in 58.1 innings while playing on the moon. His career home run rate is just 0.9 per 9 innings. He's at 3.1 per 9 this season. Final: 6-5 Nationals Eric Stults fights to avoid a series loss against Jordan Zimmermann tonight at 5:40 PM. 18 - 23 Games Back: 5.5 Streak: Lost 2 Games Left: 123 Final - 5.17.2013 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 R H E Washington Nationals 0 0 0 3 0 2 0 0 0 1 6 7 3 San Diego Padres 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 2 0 5 11 0 WP: Rafael Soriano (1 - 1) SV: Drew Storen (1) LP: Huston Street (0 - 3) Complete Coverage >

Chad MacDonald is now in his second year overseeing the Padres' draft selections.

Bud Black needs to stop playing Jesus Guzman so much. I'd rather see Kotsay or Kyle Blanks or James Darnell for starts. I think you reserve Guzman for the bench and as a pinch hitter and you might just designate him. His defense is a liability and it is not 2010 anymore. It looks like James Darnell is finally healthy. Yasmani Grandal is coming back from PED suspension. Logan Forsythe seems like to will return at some point. Cameron Maybin is a few weeks away. I just see that Guzman may be the odd man out, possibly with Baker. As much as I like Maybin's defense, with that swing, he seems like an automatic out. The offense took off once he wasn't in the lineup. Hundley is starting to 2012 again. Everyone faults Pads for not signing young players to long-term affordable deals and not signing Chase Headley to a long-term extension. But people seem to ignore Byrnes doing just that last year in locking up Maybin ($25 M), Luebke ($12-27.7 M) and Hundley ($9 M) and those seem to be like disasters of guaranteed money, not exorbitant, but still tough when added together they make up at least $45 M of negligible production. I still love Luebke but there's always that risk of injury especially with pitchers. With Chase, who is going to lockup a 29 year old player that hits .260 with 4 homeruns playing good defense at third? Everth Cabrera seems like a time to sign given the dearth of anything behind him other than Jace Peterson but I could see the risk there too. Yonder Alonzo has got be more consistent and show more power before the Padres can justify giving him Anthony Rizzo type money. On the bright side, can't help getting dreamy about a 2014 rotation of Cory Luebke, Burch Smith, Matt Wisler, Donny Roach, and Robby Erlin with relief help from Joe Wieland, Adys Portillo, Miles Mikolas, Brad Boxberger and Joe Ross and Max Fried in the wings. Bud Black needs to stop playing Jesus Guzman so much. I'd rather see Kotsay or Kyle Blanks or James Darnell for starts. I think you reserve Guzman for the bench and as a pinch hitter and you might just designate him. His defense is a liability and it is not 2010 anymore. It looks like James Darnell is finally healthy. Yasmani Grandal is coming back from PED suspension. Logan Forsythe seems like to will return at some point. Cameron Maybin is a few weeks away. I just see that Guzman may be the odd man out, possibly with Baker. As much as I like Maybin's defense, with that swing, he seems like an automatic out. The offense took off once he wasn't in the lineup. Hundley is starting to 2012 again. Everyone faults Pads for not signing young players to long-term affordable deals and not signing Chase Headley to a long-term extension. But people seem to ignore Byrnes doing just that last year in locking up Maybin ($25 M), Luebke ($12-27.7 M) and Hundley ($9 M) and those seem to be like disasters of guaranteed money, not exorbitant, but still tough when added together they make up at least $45 M of negligible production. I still love Luebke but there's always that risk of injury especially with pitchers. With Chase, who is going to lockup a 29 year old player that hits .260 with 4 homeruns playing good defense at third? Everth Cabrera seems like a time to sign given the dearth of anything behind him other than Jace Peterson but I could see the risk there too. Yonder Alonzo has got be more consistent and show more power before the Padres can justify giving him Anthony Rizzo type money. On the bright side, can't help getting dreamy about a 2014 rotation of Cory Luebke, Burch Smith, Matt Wisler, Donny Roach, and Robby Erlin with relief help from Joe Wieland, Adys Portillo, Miles Mikolas, Brad Boxberger and Joe Ross and Max Fried in the wings.