The Padres have played .500 ball the last ten games, but every other team in the NL West is in a major funk. The end result is that last year’s NL West champs are now tied with the Dodgers and only two games seperate first and last place.
On Friday, the Dodgers ran into Barry Zito. The Dodgers actually had a 2-1 lead after three innings, but Oakland tagged Bret Tomko for two runs in both the fourth and fifth innings. Tomko took the loss and he’s now 5-6 while Kenny Lofton drove in two runs.
Saturday’s game was the closest, and it was also one of the longest. The game took seventeen innings and a touch over five hours. The game ended when Jae Seo walked home Bobby Crosby to end the game. I guess you could call it a walk off walk. Kenny Lofton actually tripled home Rafael Furcal in the ninth to send the game into extra frames, and then nobody scored until that seventeenth inning. Rafael Furcal had three hits two runs and three stolen bases while Kenny Lofton had three hits and two RBIs.
Today, Joe Blanton shut us down. Nomar Garciapara hit a solo homerun and two hits. Aaron Sele dropped his second straight start and he gave up five runs on seven hits in only four innings.
Next up is a home series against the Mariners. The Mariners have been somewhat surprising and they sit three games below .500 after a couple of tough seasons. They’ve won three straight though so hopefully coming on the road will cool them down.
