Rockies 5, Padres 4: Missed It By That Much

I didn't really watch this game, but I checked in occasionally on my shoephone. It was a rough start for Andrew Cashner, who gave up three runs in five innings. Only two of those were earned, but it's still a pretty poor followup after last night's game. The offense drummed up a few runs after Cashner was pulled, but it was too little, too late.

The Rockies got on the board in the second inning, when a leadoff walk to Todd Helton was followed by a Yorvit Torrealba double and a sacrifice fly by Jonathan Herrera. DJ LeMahieu scored in the third on Helton's RBI single. He got on base again in the fifth thanks to a throwing error by Everth Cabrera, and scored on a wild pitch. Tim Stauffer took over in the sixth, but didn't fare much better. Herrera reached on a bunt single, moved to second on another bunt, and then scored when Charlie Blackmon singled to left field.

That's when the Padres started clawing their way back into the game. Chase Headley drew a leadoff walk right before Carlos Quentin hit his 11th home run of the year. Kyle Blanks hit his 13th double and then moved to third on a ground out. With two outs, Nick Hundley drew a walk, bringing up pinch hitter Mark Kotsay. He killed the rally with a fly ball to center field.

Everth Cabrera tried to make up for his earlier error by leading off the seventh with a double. Chris Denorfia knocked him in with a single to right. Then the next three Padres did squat. To make matters worse, the Rockies got that run right back in the top of the eighth. Corey Dickerson singled and then scored on Blackmon's first career triple. Joe Thatcher and Brad Brach combined forces to prevent any further runs from scoring in the inning, but the damage was already done.

Our boys made it close in the bottom of the ninth, though. With one out, Cabrera singled. He moved to scoring position on a ground out and scored on Headley's single to left. Headley stole second to put the tying run in scoring position, but Quentin popped out in foul territory to end the game.

Jason Marquis opens a four game series against Madison Bumgarner and the Giants tomorrow at 7:10 PM. The last time the Padres faced Bumgarner, he had a hissy fit and threw behind Jesus Guzman, causing the benches to clear. Here's hoping we find bigger, better ways to hurt their feelings this weekend.

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