SD 8, NYM 7: Padres stage glorious comeback

By the 6th inning in today's early game against the Mets, things were in shambles. New York had scored 6 unanswered runs, and Andrew Cashner was knocked out of the game giving up all 5 of those runs (earned). But then something magical happened. The bullpen locked down the gate and the Padres clicked into gear, racing against the clock in between rain delays.

Cash made it to about 87 pitches today, matching the Mets started for a good 4 innings, giving up only a single run in the first off a wimpy sacrifice fly. By the fifth, Cashner allowed Curtis Granderson to take him yard, piling on three more runs. In the sixth, another home run. Shawn Kelley comes in and allows another sac fly. Then an RBI-single. Seven straight runs, five unearned. All on Cashner.

Then the seventh inning came.

Yonder Alonso dug in and laced a double opposite field into the left field corner. Alexi Amarista tried his best, but lined out to right, had he hit the ball a foot to the right, it would have scored Alonso. With one out now, Brett Wallace drew an 8-pitch walk, and Justin Upton shifted everybody over with a little single. Now, Derek Norris at the plate, this happened:

Derek Norris with his second grand slam of the season, and the lead cut down to 2. The Pads then tried to get something going in the 8th, but it wasn't until the top of the 9th on two outs that Derek Norris would then keep the game alive with a base hit. Matt Kemp, with the OG run in the 6th inning, popped off a single right after Norris. With the drizzle turned into a steady downpour, Justin Upton decided he was going to swing on the first pitch. He made a good choice.

With the rain coming down, the ball going up and out, and Mudcat was loving every second of it, the Padres took the lead The few thousand soaked New Yorkers left in the stands weren't loving it one bit, and the Padres were on top of things 8-7 before the game was called for a delay. Friar faithful crossed their fingers, as a delayed game would negate Upton's swing entirely, but the tweets poured out and the rain stopped and the game was announced to resume.

Craig Kimbrel comes in with the heat and mops up the dirty water left of the Mets lineup. Padres win. That's a guaranteed .500-for-the-month July. One step closer to 50 wins, and the kind of game that will make any potential trade that much more painful if anything goes down tonight.

Everybody loves a rain-delay game thread. There were so, so, so many recs. DPadres69 earns some cred for talking a heck of a lot t oo.