Padres No-Hit By Lincecum, Lose 9-0 to Giants

Lincecum no-hit the Padres. Mandatory Credit: Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports

I am not sure what “rock bottom” is considered to be for a professional baseball team.  With the idea of “rock bottom” in mind though, I will say that tonight’s performance puts the San Diego Padres in that particular neighborhood.

Losing 14 of 15 games is terrible for any team, but the ultimate “cherry on top” of the “excrement-laden sundae” is for the aforementioned team to suffer a 9-0 loss during which they failed to record a single hit.

The Padres were essentially out of the game by the end of the fifth inning with the way the Giants’ hitters swung their bats against Edinson Volquez tonight.  San Diego’s right-hander allowed a total of eight runs by the time the fifth inning finished, and seven between the fourth and the fifth.

The middle of San Francisco’s lineup absolutely obliterated the Friars’ pitching staff this evening.  Pablo Sandoval and Buster Posey each had three hits apiece, while Brandon Belt and Hunter Pence both clubbed home runs.  Pence was San Francisco’s biggest run producer on the night as he drove in five of the team’s nine runs.

On most nights, players like Pence usually receive most of the headlines.  Unfortunately for Hunter, the big story from this evening was Tim Lincecum who threw a no-hitter.

Although his pitch count was high due to the fact that he walked four and hit Jedd Gyorko, Lincecum absolutely dominated San Diego’s hitters throughout the evening.  Overall, the right-hander recorded 13 strikeouts and did not allow a single Padre past second base.  Heck, the closest thing the Padres had to a hit was a fading line drive Alexi Amarista hit into right field.  To his credit though, Pence made an athletic sliding catch to preserve Lincecum’s no-hit bid for another inning.

The final frame was particularly difficult to watch as it was nothing but the loud cheers of Giants fans coming from the stands.  And hey, I certainly do not blame those people.  It must have been epic to see a no-hitter thrown, because I know that us Padres fans have never seen one in San Diego’s entire franchise history.

Final Thoughts

At this point, things are as dark as ever for the 2013 Padres.  They seem to be sleep-walking at this point in the season, and I hope that members of their front office have come to the realization that they need to be “sellers” and not “buyers” at the trade deadline.

I know that I have certainly stopped caring about the 2013 Padres, they are nothing short of a Triple-A ballclub right now.  Then again, that would be an insult to the number of Triple-A teams that could beat San Diego.

I would say that it couldn’t get any worse for the Friars, but if I said that, Barry Zito might throw a perfect game tomorrow afternoon.

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