Jake Peavy and Josh Fogg at Coors Field. Updates throughout the evening…

[Update: Lineups have been posted. No real surprises. On the Padres' side, Scott Hairston starts in left for the injured Milton Bradley, while Brady Clark replaces Mike Cameron in center.]

[Update: Kevin Kouzmanoff bloops a single down the right field line for the game's first base hit.]

[Update: Fogg comes back from down 3-0 to get Adrian Gonzalez swinging on a pitch down and in for the final out of the inning.]

[Update: Kaz Matsui doubles to right-center on an 0-2 count to start the Rockies' first.]

[Update: Peavy walks Matt Holliday to load the bases with nobody out. Not the start he'd envisioned, I'm sure.]

[Update: Todd Helton takes Clark to the wall in dead center to drive home the game's first run.]

[Update: Peavy gives up an RBI single to Garrett Atkins but escapes without further damage. Rox up 2-0 after one.]

[Update: Fogg works another uneventful inning, giving up just a one-out single to Josh Bard.]

[Update: Yorvit Torrealba leads off the second with a homer to left on a 2-1 hanging slider. Peavy is not locating his pitches at all.]

[Update: Troy Tulowitzki is called out on strikes to end the inning. Rockies lead 3-0; Peavy has thrown 40 pitches through two.]

[Update: Padres have bases loaded, nobody out in third with 3-4-5 hitters coming up.]

[Update: With one out, Adrian Gonzalez launches a grand slam to right. Khalil Greene follows with a long single to left.]

[Update: Clark grounds to shortstop, but Geoff Blum takes out Matsui at second, who gets nothing on the throw to first. Padres avoid the double play and go up, 5-3.]

[Update: Helton homers to right with one out in the third. It's going to be one of those nights.]

[Update: Peavy works a perfect fourth. Still 5-4.]

[Update: Gonzalez leads off with a double to right. Brad Hawpe didn't get a good jump on the ball. Fogg is done for the evening.]

[Update: Taylor Buchholz replaces Fogg and retires the side in order, leaving Gonzalez stranded at second.]

[Update: Matt Holliday singles home Tulowitzki; game is tied again, 5-5. How much longer will Bud Black stick with Peavy?]

[Update: Peavy survives the fifth. He's now at 91 pitches.]

[Update: Torrealba leads off the sixth with a slow bouncer to third. He's out by plenty but for some reason dives into first base; lucky he didn't get hurt.]

[Update: Matsui drives home Seth Smith on a fly ball to center. Smith reached on a ball to center that Clark misjudged into a triple. Clark's weak arm can't get Smith at home. Clark then misplays another fly ball off the bat of Tulowitzki into a triple. The absence of Cameron is killing San Diego.]

[Update: Peavy gets Holliday swinging to end the sixth. Rox up, 6-5.]

[Update: Garrett Atkins hits a one-out double to left that Clint Hurdle argues unsuccessfully is a home run. Heath Bell replaces Peavy and, with runners at first and second, strikes out Ryan Spilborghs and Torrealba to end the inning. Still 6-5 through seven.]

[Update: With two out in the eighth and Blum on second, lefty Brian Fuentes gets Brian Giles to fly to left, but Matt Holliday misplays the ball into what is ruled a double. Blum scores to tie the game at 6-6.]

[Update: Manuel Corpas retires the Padres in order in the ninth. Rockies have 4-5-6 hitters coming up in the bottom half. Will Bell work another inning, or will Black go with closer Trevor Hoffman?]

[Update: Black stays with Bell.]

[Update: Bell issues a two-out walk to Hawpe but strikes out pinch hitter Joe Koshansky to send the game into extra innings. Colorado brings in its seventh pitcher of the night, ex-Padre Matt Herges.]

[Update: Padres put two runners on in the 10th but Giles grounds to short to end the inning. Mike Cameron, who hurt his hand in a collision with Milton Bradley last week, pinch ran for Terrmel Sledge, who walked for Clark. Apparently Cameron will play center. Interesting.]

[Update: Cameron in center, Doug Brocail on the mound for San Diego.]

[Update: Brocail retires the Rockies in order; to the 11th...]

[Update: Hairston reaches on an error by Jamey Carroll, in at third base for defensive purposes. Kouzmanoff sacrifices Hairston to second; after an intentional walk to Gonzalez, up comes Greene and his career .340/.407/.708 line at Coors Field.]

[Update: Carroll atones for his error, starting a 5-3 double play off the bat of Greene to end the inning.]

[Update: With two out in the bottom of the 11th, Brocail walks Helton and gives up a single to Carroll. Rookie left-hander Joe Thatcher will face Hawpe with the Padres' season on the line.]

[Update: Thatcher strikes out Hawpe on five straight fastballs. To the 12th...]

[Update: Padres again put a runner in scoring position with less than two out but cannot score. Herges breaks Michael Barrett's bat on a full-count pitch and gets him to ground to short for the final out. Rockies have the 7-8-9 hitters due up.]

[Update: Thatcher retires the side in order. Would you believe... the 13th?]

[Update: Jorge Julio in to pitch. Walk to Giles, two-run homer to Hairston. San Diego up, 8-6. Julio is trying to throw every pitch through a brick wall -- to little effect.]

[Update: Rookie Chase Headley lines a pinch single; Julio is done.]

[Update: No further damage against Ramon Ortiz, Colorado's ninth pitcher of the evening. Hoffman will work the bottom of the 13th and face Matsui, Tulowitzki, and Holliday.]

[Update: Matsui leads off with a double to right-center. Tying run now up at the plate.]

[Update: Tulowitzki just misses lining a double down the right field line that would have scored Matsui.]

[Update: Tulowitzki doubles to left-center. Holliday triples to deep right. Tie game. Runner at third with nobody out. Hoffman couldn't get it done in Milwaukee, and it looks like he's not going to get it done in Denver either.]

[Update: Carroll flies to shallow right, Holliday scores the winning run. Rockies play Philadelphia. Padres season is done.]

Post from: Knuckle Curve

According to San Diego first-base coach Bobby Meacham, hardly a hothead, Winters called Bradley a “bleeping piece of (expletive).” That doesn’t seem like a good strategy for keeping a situation from escalating.

Post from: Knuckle Curve

American League

• Mariners at Blue Jays, 4:07 p.m. PT — This is the only weekend series in the AL that features two winning teams. You’ve also got the whole “battle of ‘77 expansion teams” going in this one. Whatever happened to Leroy Stanton and Otto Velez, anyway?

National League

• Mets at Braves, 4:35 p.m. PT — The Mets just got swept in Philadelphia and now lead the Phillies by a mere 2 games. The Braves, for their part, are only 4 1/2 back in the NL East. If the Mets are going to win the division, it sure isn’t going to be easy. The opener in this weekend showdown features right-handers John Maine and Tim Hudson. Maine’s overall numbers (13-8, 3.68) obscure the fact that he’s been brutal (3-4, 5.94) since the All-Star break. He’s allowed six runs in three of his last five starts. Hudson, meanwhile, has enjoyed a terrific resurgence this year. The guy we saw from 2001 to 2003 most likely is gone forever, but even if he continues to perform at 2004-2005 levels, that’s pretty darned good.
• Dodgers at Padres, 7:05 p.m. PT — This divisional showdown features a truly dreadful pitching matchup, so what else is going on here? David Wells faces his former team for the first time since leaving, as does Milton Bradley on the other side. Bradley, in case you didn’t get the memo, has been terrorizing NL pitchers since coming to San Diego on July 7. He’s hitting .345/.441/.655 in 33 games with the Padres (compare with the more ballyhooed Mark Teixeira’s .327/.416/.664 in 27 games with Atlanta).

I’ll be keeping an eye on the Padres, of course. If you have no general rooting interest, though, and are looking for a potentially great game, go with the Mets and Braves.

Happy watching…

Post from: Knuckle Curve

Between the injuries (he’s played in more than 101 games just once in his 8-year career) and volatile personality, Bradley is a risky acquisition for any team considering him. That said, he’s also pretty darned productive when he plays. Since the start of the 2003 season, Bradley is hitting .287/.377/.459 over nearly 1600 at-bats. That and his ability to play center field could make the 29-year-old switch hitter a valuable commodity now and/or in the off-season.

Or it could make Bradley a disaster waiting to happen. It will be interesting to see which teams out there are feeling lucky…

Post from: Knuckle Curve