Game Thread: 8/31 Padres @ Dodgers

The Dodgers are threatening to give us our second sweep in a row. After one single disastrous inning by Tim Stauffer in last night's game, the Padres are looking to salvage a win today in the series finale. If you ignore that one inning, the game was not terrible. The Padres managed to score five runs, making it the first game in which they scored more than one run since Tuesday, August 23rd, against the Giants. Other than the grand slam allowed by Anthony Bass in relief of Stauffer (Bass was only on the hook for one of the runs), the bullpen combined for six scoreless innings.

Today we will send Wade LeBlanc to the mound to hopefully eat up some innings and give our relief pitchers some rest. He will be looking to redeem himself from his last outing in Arizona, when he coughed up four earned runs (five total) in four innings. He will also be looking to help break the Padres out of this six-game skid they've found themselves in. Again, we saw some good signs on offense last night. Kyle Blanks broke out of his mini-slump, and Jesus Guzman continues to be a pleasant surprise at the plate.

Ted Lilly will make the start for the Dodgers and hopes to repeat his last performance against the Padres, but with different results. On August 3rd, he pitched six strong innings of one-run ball at Petco Park and struck out seven, but was tagged with the loss. However, he is coming off a good win against the Rockies and will try to keep that momentum going today. On the Dodgers offense, James Loney and Andre Ethier have been killing the Padres this series, both swinging a very hot bat at the end of August.

It's gonna be a battle of southpaws tonight. The Padres sent Blake Tekotte back to San Antonio after one day and brought up Brad Brach from AAA Tucson to add an arm to the bullpen. But hopefully LeBlanc can work deep into the game and the Padres can put some early runs on the board. We need this win in a bad way, not only to prevent a sweep, but to give us a sign of hope going into the off day tomorrow before coming back home to face the Rockies on Friday.

GO FRIARS!! KEEP THE FAITH!!

No channel 4 broadcast for this day game, but catch it on XX1090 or for free on MLB.TV.