SD 3, OAK 1: Friars win with home runs and good pitching!

Last night's freak show of a game was like a weird lucid dream where you're not sure if it really happened. The score was totally run up, nobody was hitting, and there was a 5'something infielder on the mound. That didn't matter though. As Pat Murphy said yesterday, it was just one loss. Which is true. You can score 15+ runs if you want, but it's only one win. Today, the Padres did it with only 3. Now that's efficient.

Taking the mound and looking to not give up a quadrillion runs was Ian Kennedy. Ian's last performance had him shutting the Dodgers down. He went 7 innings that home game against LA, only giving up one run on a solo home run. That night he also struck out 4 and walked one. Today against the A's, Kennedy went a strong 6 frames, giving up one run on a solo home run. He struck out four... and walked.. one. That's a consistency that our starting rotation just ain't used to.

As far as the hitting went, we got to see Matt Kemp lift a home run on a slider in a 2-2 count. We're talking four home runs for Kemp now! That puts him just below Will Venable. Derek Norris and his beard also popped off a solo shot in the sixth inning, which put the Padres up 2-0. Norris was playing first base with Yonder Alonso at third base again, with Murphy continuing the tradition of trying to figure out where the hell their gloves are going to click to keep their bats in the lineup. With Wil Myers out for 8+ weeks, there's plenty of time to figure that puzzle out.

Oakland tried to respond with the additional solo HR of the day in the bottom of the sixth, but by the 8th inning the Upton brothers made up for the run with a lead-off triple from Melvin Upton Jr. and a sacrifice fly from Justin Upton to knock him in. This run could have been avoided if Stephen Vogt didn't get the bring idea of catching a ball a mile into first-base foul territory.

So a 3-1 victory for the Friars will do the trick to break the slump. The Pads will continue their road trip down into Arizona to try to leapfrog out of 4th place. James Shields will look to pad his undefeated record with 104 strikeouts.

The rec party was shared between all, and good times were had.