Edinson Volquez should lose his spot in the rotation

I caught the first part of the game on TV last night. In the first inning, things went really badly, but I knew it was about to get worse because Edinson Volquez's body language spelled it out for me. He has the worst mound presence of anyone on the team, maybe the league.

I switched over to radio, as I do most Mondays, and drove around town doing errands. As the sh_t hit the fan in Colorado, I heard a rant from Bob Scanlan that reminded me of his epic postgame rant from 2008.

Scanlan was ripping Padres pitchers, Volquez in particular, for letting hitters get comfortable in the batter's box. Instead of throwing inside occasionally they repeatedly throw outside and let hitters dive out over the plate.

Scanman later took to his Facebook page to continue:

One of, if not the worst game I've ever seen the Padres play. There's no sugar coating what happened tonight in the Pads pitiful 14-2 loss to the Rockies.

Volquez pitched poorly, and showed no fire, nor interest in preventing hitters from comfortably taking swings so hard that at times they were almost falling over if they did not connect with one of his hanging off speed pitches or misplaced fastballs.

I think Bud Black, Darren Balsley and possibly Nick Hundley need to take some of the blame here too. When they instruct and constantly call for pitches down and away, hitters are going to pick up on it.

Scan went on to suggest that the Padres give Volquez's rotation spot to Burch Smith or Sean O'Sullivan.

Unfortunately Volquez has not shown any consistent improvement since joining the team last season in my opinion, so why not give his slot in the rotation to someone who has upside?

@CoachKentera I agree & was telling Ted same thing. Send to bullpen as mop, call up Smith or Sampson or let O'Sullivan or start.

— Bob Scanlan (@heyscan) August 13, 2013

Then Scan targeted the Rockies' official scorers:

Note to scorers: When you blatantly misrule a play to give your hometown player a hit you disgrace yourself, embarrass more than help your player, unfairly distort the numbers and potentially undermine the career of the pitcher, and most importantly you dishonor the game! Grow a pair of balls and rule the plays properly and fairly!

Well said Scan, I couldn't agree more.