Dear San Diego Padres, Thanks for the boost!

Was anyone else irked Friday night watching the Arizona
Diamondbacks implode in the 8th inning during an ugly 7-1
loss to the lowly San Diego Padres?

No, I wasn’t irked that the Diamondbacks bullpen fell
apart during that ill-fated half inning. Those things are
bound to happen now and then.

And I wasn’t irked that the Arizona offense managed only
one run on seven hits in 6.2 innings against Clayton
Richard. The Diamondbacks offense has been prone to long
droughts and in a pitcher’s paradise like Petco Park,
that’s bound to happen as well.

I was irked at the behavior of the San Diego Padres, who
(wait, let me check it again) have the worst record in all
of baseball. Bud Black’s team did a whole lot of
celebrating during that 8th inning. In my opinion,
excessive celebrating. In fact, I tweeted the following
on Friday night while witnessing the incredulous show of
emotion:

Padres celebrating having a 4-run lead over #Diamo
ndbacks like they’re about to wrap up the pennant.
News flash- you still suck.

— Vince Marotta
(@Vincemarotta) June 2,
2012

(Ed. note: This tweet was sent before the completion of
the inning)

Of course, this celebration came on the heels of a very
minor dust-up between Arizona’s Chris Young and San Diego
pitcher Andrew Cashner. Cashner threw a pitch high and
tight to Young for ball four, and while Young made his way
to first base, some words were exchanged. For whatever
reason, San Diego and their crowd were newly energized.

Then the 6-run barrage followed and the Padres were in
full-on party mode.

Maybe some would cut the Padres some slack because they
had been absolutely manhandled in nine out of their last
ten games (and they were outscored 55-20 in those nine
losses.) Not me. If you’re going to show up a division
foe because you had one big inning, they’re going to
remember it. And because you’re not very good, they’ll
likely kick your teeth in the next time they see you.

Guess what? The D-backs administered a glorious bounce-back
beatdown
over the next two days, outscoring the
Padres 10-2 in the process. Paul Goldschmidt continued his
torrid streak at the plate, clubbing a home run in each
game
while Daniel Hudson, J.J. Putz and Trevor Cahill baffled
San Diego hitters.

After the smoke cleared, the Diamondbacks had won two out
of three and returned home from their road trip not only
eight
games out of first place, but with their first glimpse of
momentum in quite some time. And with games this week at
Chase Field against two losing teams (Colorado and
Oakland), the Diamondbacks have a chance to re-insert
themselves
into the National League West race.

And if any of their recent swagger is as a result of the
Padres’ evident glee Friday night, so be it. We’ll take
it.

You stay classy, San Diego.

Follow @Vincemarotta