Padres 3, Diamondbacks 2: Justin Upton is unstoppable

The 2015 season is now ten games old, and ten games is generally what we refer to as a "small sample size." You can't look at any statistics right now and take them seriously. And yet, watching Justin Upton, I'm ready to throw all that away. After going 3 for 4 tonight with a game-winning home run, Upton is batting .351. And with Nori Aoki going hitless for San Francisco tonight, Upton is the only National League player who still has an active 10-game hitting streak. And don't sleep on his defense, either. A star has been hung out of the radio booth for him twice this series.

The pitching was solid again tonight, even though Brandon Morrow had some trouble early on. Ender Inciarte picked up a leadoff single in the first, and then Morrow hung a fastball to Paul Goldschmidt, which is about as bad an idea as starting a land war in Asia. Goldschmidt sent to right field, clearing the Jack Deck with ease. That put the Diamondbacks up 2-0, but Morrow shut them down for the next six innings.

The Padres started fighting back in the second, as golden boy Justin Upton led off with a single up the middle. Then he turned on the afterburners to score on Yonder Alonso's double down the right field line. The Friars spent the next few innings treading water, until Wil Myers hit a leadoff double in the sixth. A short single from Derek Norris put him on third with nobody out, and Matt Kemp's sacrifice fly tied things up. Alonso drew a walk to put Norris on second with two outs. Will Middlebrooks hit a single up the middle, but Norris couldn't beat the throw at the plate, so the tie went on. Until Justin Upton came back up to the plate.

It didn't take much to break the tie, just Upton doing what he did last night. Sure, the homer was a little to the right tonight, and it didn't make it to the upper deck, but it was one of those glorious, instant, no-doubt home runs. Then Craig Kimbrel came out and did his thing, and the Padres put a 5-2 opening homestand in the books.

The boys have a well-earned off day tomorrow, and then they're heading to Chicago for 3 games against the Cubs. James Shields gets the start at 11:20 AM.

Friar Fever led the comments with 65, but that was mostly because he needed to test his signature changes.