Padres 9, Rockies 0

One fatal flaw of last year's team was neglecting our "lesser" division rivals, like the Rockies or the Diamondbacks. With all of our hype spent on the Dodgers and, much too late, the Giants, we totally ignored the fact that we needed to play almost 40 games, or 25% of our schedule, against Colorado and Arizona. There are no gimme games within the division. Even if a team like Colorado is eliminated, those guys will make sure their crappy season wasn't for not, so they will want to prove their metal against stronger teams. In this case, the team with nothing to lose can have a slight advantage.

We started off our series with Colorado right by blanking them, 9-0. We have averaged almost 10 runs over the past three games, so there's more evidence our offense is coming around. Profar tripled and scored two runs. Mazara and Kim each had three hits, Nola had two. Grisham scored twice. Manny homered. Our MVP, of course, was Joe Musgrove, who pitched six shutout innings, picked up the win, and lowered his ERA to a ridiculously low 1.50. With each goose egg Musgrove throws up there, the more bread management will have to cough up once they see they will have no other choice but to sign our homeboy and budding ace.  

Musgrove is now 7-0. From 1985, I recall Andy Hawkins winning his first 11 decisions in the year after our pennant drive. In the end, he had an 18-8 record, I believe. Two years later, he won 14 more games for us before being signed away by Steinbrenner's New York Yankees in free agency. Musgrove will lose at some point, but he, Darvish, and Gore are absolutely essential to our playoff aspirations. 

We are now 14 games above .500 and a game behind the Dodgers, who were dropped by the Giants. Too bad we don't have a rivalry with any team the way those two do, but we haven't won anything big enough yet for the games to seriously matter. There is no team I hate more than any other, as much as most Compadres will convince themselves that we need to be mortal enemies with the Dodgers. Having said that, I would say our biggest enemies are the Dodgers and the Giants, simply because they happen to be in the same state. If there is one team I love beating, then it's the New York Mets. Having lived in New York myself, I have watched the Mets more than any other club with the obvious exception of the Padres. I don't know who the best fans are in America, but I'm pretty sure the funniest fans are Mets fans. They have suffered for so long, they simply can't help themselves. 

I see the skipper is going with Martinez today, so our six-man rotation is still intact.