I’ve been keeping notes all weekend, just didn’t have a chance to post ‘em. So here goes…

Friday

Padres destroyed by Milwaukee, 12-1. Dennis Tankersley pounded. He’s throwing well, just learning the difference between what he can get away with in the minors and what he can get away with in the Show. Hitters are much more unforgiving here.

Brutal defense. In the middle innings Ray Lankford dropped a routine fly ball to center with the bases loaded and two outs, allowing three unearned runs to score. Mark Sweeney, playing first base, dropped a relatively easy throw from Deivi Cruz later in the game.

On a bright note, Trenidad Hubbard looked pretty good in his first duty at second base. Hubbard is a guy who has really grown on me. He’s not the most talented guy in the world, so he’s always out there scrapping, doing whatever he can to help the team. Hubbard can play just about anywhere on the field (he’s the Pads’ third catcher), and he always battles at the plate. Like Eric Owens a couple years ago, Hubbard is an easy guy to pull for.

Julius Matos made his big-league debut. The 27-year-old rookie shortstop was hitting .312/.345/.468 at Portland before being recalled.

Portland: Seven strong innings from Ben Howard, Xavier Nady three hits as DH, batting cleanup. Beavers beat Edmonton, 6-4, at home.

Mobile: Oliver Perez spun seven shutout innings at Mobile, allowing two hits and four walks while fanning 12. Closer J.J. Trujillo nailed down his 16th save and lowered his ERA to 0.56, as the BayBears won at Huntsville, 1-0.

Lake Elsinore: Jason Wiedmeyer worked into the eighth, and Jake Gautreau collected two hits and three ribbies as the Storm beat Rancho Cucamonga at home, 8-6.

Ft. Wayne: The Wizards defeated Kane County, 5-4, behind Jon Huber and two relievers. Pedro De Los Santos, playing center field, stole three more bases.

News on the draft front. This from Friday’s Baseball America chat with Jim Callis:

Q: John Henry from Pittsburgh, PA asks:
Since the Padres “saved” 1.2 million when Harrington turned them down, do
they take a bigger risk in the first round than they otherwise might have?
Any chance they pick Russ Adams instead of a pitcher?

A: Jim: We keep hearing word they’ll take Khalil Greene. Earlier, they
were associated with Cole Hamels but that no longer appears to be the case.

Speaking of Baseball America, that’s where you’ll want to be come Tuesday. The folks over there do an incredible job of covering the draft.

Saturday

USD bounced from the NCAA regionals. Beat New Mexico Sate, lost twice to Arizona State. Hey, at least they got a win. Not too shabby for their first ever appearance.

Caught an unusual doubleheader Saturday. In the afternoon, some buddies and I saw the Dodgers beat the Diamondbacks, 2-0, in Los Angeles. Great game. Andy Ashby and Brian Anderson were brilliant. Ashby scattered five hits over eight innings, before yielding to Eric Gagne, who dealt some serious filth in the ninth. Anderson allowed just two hits through seven. The only scoring came in the fourth, when Cesar Izturis led off with a bloop single to right and Brian Jordan slammed a two-out, two-run homer to left-center. The Dodgers didn’t get another hit all day. The game time was an almost unheard of 2:00, and only 194 pitches were made. Chris Rock also did a nice job before the game of delivering Lou Gehrig’s farewell speech.

After the game, we headed over–after an accidental tour of Chinatown–to a place called The Original Pantry for obscene amounts of meat and potatoes. The place is famous for never having closed its doors since it first opened in 1924.

From LA it was off to Lake Elsinore for the Storm/Quakes contest. Right-hander Blair DeHart started for Elsinore and allowed just one run over seven innings. With the game tied at 1-1 with two outs in the bottom of the sixth, Storm center fielder Jeremy Owens launched a towering drive to deep left field. It banged off the top of the wall and bounced away from the fielder, and Owens ended up with an inside-the-park homer. The play at the plate was very close, and probably made even closer by Owens’ late slide, but the end result was a run for the Storm, and that’s all they needed as they held on to win, 2-1.

Honestly, is there anything better than hanging out at the ballpark with friends?