Last night our boys pulled off what thus far in the season had been just a glimmer in Padres fans' eyes. They swept our AL foes from the Pacific Northwest, the evil Mariners. As Wonko pointed out in last night's game thread, San Diego has never swept Seattle before. So last night was not only a milestone in this season, but a milestone in the history of our San Diego Padres. I'm SO glad we finally have something positive to talk about other than Carlos Quentin's 100th HBP. AMIRIGHT?
One happy flight later, our Padres now look to keep the streak going as they take on the Athletics for three games. Anthony Bass kicks off the series tonight in Oakland and will try to have a better outing than some of his previous starts. Most recently, he took a shutout into the sixth inning, but then fell apart and gave up four runs to the Brewers, leaving the game before the sixth inning was over. Tonight he faces an A's lineup that hasn't been very productive this season. They rank in the bottom five in runs scored, as well as batting average. However, they have been getting better lately, and are coming off their own three-game sweep in Colorado. Tonight we should see if their offensive surge was a result of better offense or just a result of playing baseball on the moon. Hopefully it will be the latter and Bass can go deep against this team and lead us to another victory.
Taking the mound for the A's will be Travis Blackley. Blackley started the year as a Giants reliever, but was DFA'd in May. Oakland claimed him off waivers and tonight he will make his fourth start as an Athletic. Like Bass, Blackley had trouble in his last start and was taken out after 4.2 innings and after giving up four runs to the Diamondbacks. He's hoping to turn San Diego's interleague success around and continue the A's win streak.
I won't be able to follow the game tonight, as I will be poolside, rocking out to the greatest band that ever lived. But I've prepared something for you guys. You'll find it, along with today's lineup, after the jump.
Gaslamp Ballers, I give you "Devotion" by GLBeezer
[1. Play song. 2. Read on. 3. ???? 4. Profit]
We aren't lame
We've gotta keep the faith
#Padres lineup at Oakland 6/15: twitter.com/PadsCast/statu…
— Andy Masur (@PadsCast) June 15, 2012
!!