Diamondbacks 1, Padres 7: In Which the Eighth Inning Happens

Record: 23-29. Pace: 72-90. Change on last year: -5.

With MLB.tv absoultely refusing to work for me tonight, I had to treat this game as if I were from the olden days, days when Warren G. Harding occupied the White House. See, it's funny because I was born when Clinton was in office, so the idea of only listening to a game of baseball bothers me (although I did it a few times last season). Call me spoiled. Anyway, a game with the Padres is not one I'm particularly interested in, for a few reasons. They don't bring the intrigue of seeing another team's lineup that we'll only play a handful of times this season, there's no intense rivalry like the ones with San Francisco or Los Angeles, and they're not competent like the Rockies. They're just... the Padres. The San Diego "Only Team in Major League Baseball Without a No-Hitter"...s. So, if you didn't watch this one either, click through, hit the jump, and see how things played out.

- Wailord, before the eighth inning on Friday night

I got home from dinner around 7:30ish and checked on the game, and the game's lightning-quick progression made me think that I'd been an hour late and misread the start time. Not so; 16 pitches and six batters spelt the end of the first, and quick outs in the second quieted a Diamondback threat to keep the game scoreless. The Diamondbacks again threatened in the third, and were a fair bit more successful in their endeavors than in the previous inning: singles from Willie Bloomquist, Justin Upton, and Miguel Montero put a run on the board, and gave the Snakes a quick lead over their feeble NL West "rivals".

Ok, so maybe I spoke too soon. San Diego quickly tied it up in the bottom half of the inning, resetting the game three innings in. From there on out, it was sort of what you may expect from a game with 2012's Wade Miley in any year's PETCO. The game remained 1-1...

- Wailord, also before the eighth inning on Friday night

... until the eighth inning. Wade Miley pitched just fine through the first seven innings, striking out four and walking none while only giving up a single run to the Padres. The offense seemed simply incapable of doing much of anything. Like, anything. We only had one more runner in scoring position after the fifth. I couldn't see the game, and details were very sparse on both Twitter and the radio feed, but benches apparently cleared but yielded nothing interesting, and I failed to find a real reason for the occurrence; if someones wants to fill in with the broadcasters' consensus, I'd be appreciative. Anyway, after the benches cleared, that's when the Padres did their thing.

Oh, boy. Maybe I shouldn't be so cutting (see: quoted paragraphs) when the game in question isn't even close to over. In my defense, though, I stand by everything that I said above. How was I supposed to know that the Padres could would score six runs in the eighth? Hmm? How was I supposed to know that Wade Miley, who'd sparkled throughout the night (zero walks, also extended his hitting streak to eight games) would suddenly stop being good? Or that David Hernandez would fail to get any of the four batters he faced out? Hmm? That one "Jesus Guzman", who possessed just five career home runs before pinch hitting tonight, would break the tie with a two-run home run?

All these questions, jeez. Making my head hurt. I'll be a little more straightforward: basically, everything good happening stopped happening and then bad started happening. Better?

I'll accept the starter giving up four runs over seven and a third, walking none and striking out four. That's all well and good, it just happened to all come in one inning. But David Hernandez's mini-implosion is a bit worrisome, as he's been a bit of a constant for us in his eighth inning role; his final line was two hits, two earned, and two walks in zero innings. Saddening stuff, that there.

We went down feebly -- to use a word I used just a few hours ago to rip on tonight's victors -- and lost the game 7-1. Sigh. The end.

Positive Contributed to the Team: Miguel Montero (+11.4%), Paul Goldschmidt (+11%), Willie Bloomquist (+1.5%)
Managed a Negative WPA: Every Single Other Diamondback That Played