Padres 7, Brewers 0

When you look up and down their pitching lineup, the Milwaukee Brewers have nothing but bad matchups for our hitters, no matter who takes the mound. Corbin Burnes is one of them, and he had an off night against us, throwing 90+ pitches before he was yanked in the fourth. Musgrove pitched like the ace he is, taking a no-no into the eighth. The losing streak is snapped, we rolled out 13 hits, plus the bullpen got a day off after Musgrove gave us eight. Cheers, guys. This is the kind of baseball we are capable of playing. It's been a while since we won a game comfortably.

One thing that bugged me for a long time was how the Padres could never get a no-hitter, not in over 50 years of existence. It would always be somebody else. Some no-hitters were predictable (Verlander, Scherzer, Kershaw, Felix Hernandez), some seemed random. Many no-hitters were combined, a sure sign of the times. Consider this: the last time a pitcher threw for 300 innings was in 1980 (Steve Carlton did it). Do the math: Today a starting pitcher will get 30 starts per year. If you complete every one of them, you would have 270 innings. 33 starts per year seems to be the norm for top flight pitchers, and even then, you are shy of 300 innings if you complete every game. Now, 200 innings seems to be the standard, and even that's become rare. It's only a matter of time before we move to six man rotations, which the Padres have already done. 

Profar looks a lot better leading off, I must admit. This is pretty much his last chance to show he can hack it as an everyday player. Melvin tried to tuck him into the three spot, between Manny and Hos, and that flopped spectacularly. The leadoff spot is put up or shut up. You are the guinea pig, the first guy to face the starting pitcher and see what stuff he has. I don't think that baseball managers have the same criteria for leadoff hitters now that they used to. The classic leadoff hitter was Rickey Henderson, a cheetah who could get on base and run wild. I have no idea who is batting leadoff these days. There's Kyle Schwarber, a low average power hitter, or the Cards' Tommy Edman, who is a more complete player. The Yankees have LeMahieu, who fits more the prototype of a #3 hitter while the Marlins have Jazz Chisholm (love the name), a more bona fide basestealer. We'll see what Profar can do, but for now, I think we need to keep him at leadoff until he fizzles. 

Grish got two more hits, both doubles, and Voit got a couple of hits. I only wish I knew what is ailing Cron, who is still stuck at .206. Lord, why? Somewhere in an unknown location, the real Cron is gagged and sitting kicking and sweating while his doppelganger is messing up all of his at bats. I can't explain his decline otherwise, at least not for so long.