Out on the grassy hill of the Park in the Park, under the shadow of Tony Gwynn‘s statue, I watched my son stand with assistance time and time again. It was just a beautiful day at a new park for him, and he just wanted to play. As he did so, my wife and I would help him stand and help him walk, but every now and then we would let go. We would let him stand there for seconds (maybe milliseconds) on his own, teetering under his the weight of tiny legs and not sure if he could maintain the glory of balance and standing without assistance. Of course, as soon as he realized he was standing on his own he would flop down on his butt. He could stand if he really wanted to.  He has the ability, the talent.  But he doesn’t have the confidence to execute it on his own.

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Carlos Quentin almost single-handedly kept the Padres in this game, but it wasn’t enough.  He was 3 for 4 with two home runs.  Both home runs were two run shots.  He also clubbed a double and now has seven hits in his first three games as a Padre.  Quentin also moved into third place on the team in home runs with three in just three games.

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team was 1 for 12 with runners in scoring position, but the most glaring opportunity wasted came in the eighth inning.  Will Venable followed Andy Parrino‘s single with an RBI triple.  There were no outs.  The Padres failed to bring Venable home and tie the game.

Carlos Quentin continued his welcome party.  He went 3 for 4 with a home run, a double, and a single.  He became yet another player on the long list of those to complete 3/4 of the cycle.  Quentin now has four hits in his first eight at-bats.  Unfortunately, his additional offense has failed to end the Padres losing.  San Diego’s current skid now sits at five games.

Eric Stults suffered his first Padres loss.  He started strong, not allowing a run over the first four innings, but eventually gave up four runs in 6 1/3 innings of work.  He gave up seven hits and struck out just one.

San Diego’s loss drops them to 17-34, worst in all of baseball.  The Cubs, in this series, have leapfrogged the Padres, and the Twins have the same winning percentage but two less losses.  The futility can be summed up by an inability to come up with clutch hits.

In the fifth innings, Everth Cabrera doubled, but was left at second base.  In the seventh the Padres scored to cut the Cubs lead to 3-2 and had runners at first and second with one out.  They failed to push across another run.  Then there was that fateful eighth inning.  Will Venable drove in Andy Parrino to bring the Padres to within one run again.  He was standing at third – just 90 feet from tying the game – with no outs.  Yet, San Diego once again couldn’t send the runner home.

The Padres will try to change their luck in the conclusion of the Cubs series and the conclusion of the road trip today.  Anthony Bass will face Ryan Dempster at 11:20 PT.