Padres 9, Phillies 7: You can win and be bad at the same time

The Padres were pretty bad tonight. They still won, but it had as much to do with the Phillies sucking as anything else. They nailed starter Jake Thompson in his big league debut, scoring six runs off him in 4.1 innings. Paul Clemens lasted just as long for the Padres, but was pulled for an offensive screwup instead of anything he did on the mound. The defense was sloppy, too

The offensive put up a crooked number at the very beginning of the game. Travis Jankowski led off with a single to left, then took second on a wild pitch. Wil Myers drew a walk, and then Yangervis Solarte singled to score Jankowski and put Myers in scoring position. That was almost the end of the inning, as the Phillies retired the next two batters, but Ryan Schimpf drew a walk and then Christian Bethancourt hit a bases-clearing double to start things right.

The Phillies got one of those back in the second when Ryan Howard took Clemens yard. Two more came in the fourth inning. Maikel Franco led off with a single and went to third on Howard’s double. Cameron Rupp should have grounded out to shortstop, but Ramirez’s throw to first was offline and he reached safely as Franco crossed the plate. Freddy Galvis hit what would have been the third out shortly after, a ground out that scored Howard as an unearned run.

The Friars had an opportunity to take those runs back in the fourth, but blew it miserably. After hitting a leadoff double, Bethancourt got tagged out at third trying to advance on a grounder to shortstop from Ramirez. Then Clemens hit a terrible bunt straight back to the pitcher. That was bad enough, but he spent so much time angrily spiking his bat that he gave the Phillies an easy double play. For that sin, Andy Green pulled his starter as soon as Buddy Baumann was ready to go in the fifth.

The next inning was better for the Padres offense, as Jankowski and Myers led off with back to back doubles. Solarte took one for the team and then Alex Dickerson moved the runners up with a ground out. Jabari Blash took a walk to load the bases and bring Ryan Schimpf to the plate. The power-hitting rookie came close to a grand slam, but even falling a few feet short of the right field wall was good for a sacrifice fly RBI. They put up two more in the sixth when Adam Rosales started a rally with a single. Jankowski, Myers, and Solarte all followed up with singles of their own.

Freddy Galvis and Cesar Hernandez scored a run for the City of Brotherly Love in the seventh by hitting a pair of doubles, but who cares? The fun, weird stuff happened in the eighth. I can’t even put it into words, so here’s the video.

The Phillies scored three more in the ninth (two of them coming off a home run allowed by Brandon Maurer, ugh), but the Padres held on for the win.

Jarred Cosart takes the mound in tomorrow’s rubber match at 1:40 PM.