That Eric Thames walkoff home run was good for the Brewers, the Padres, and all of baseball

I confess, I haven’t been as good of a Padres fan this year as I have been in years past. This year is one of those years in which I have a garbage evening job that gets in the way of my viewing. Today I made it home in time to see Yangervis Solarte give the Padres a 5-4 lead with the team’s third homer of the night. That put me in the can’t-lose window, since I’d either get to see a fun victory, or the bully would blow it and work toward next year’s top draft pick. Win-win.

It was the latter! The Padres got off their useless winning streak while still giving the viewers at home a show. The fact that they forced extras shows they were in it all along, so we get to revel in the fight of the kids without being penalized a win that a harder resistance would have produced.

While I, as a full-on devotee to The Tank, am overjoyed by both the ends and means, I like even more that Eric Thames was the guy who put the Padres back in the loss column. You know his story by now: He became a superdupermegastar in Korea after faltering out in organized ball, then he came back a changed man. After he opened the season with dong on dong on dong on dong, MLB kept testing him. I hope they test him after this — the same way the NFL “randomly” tested Colts kicker Pat McAfee that time he made an impressive tackle — and he can throw the negative screen right in their faces.

As far as 2017 goes: Heck yeah, Eric Thames and the Brewers. You do you and do it well. I hope you guys sweep the series. But this goodwill expires in 2019 when the Friars’ window starts to open.