A decade ago, Joc Pederson crashed against the wall in center field at Petco Park, robbing Justin Upton of a walk-off hit that would have sent the Padres to a disappointing yet manageable 33-32 start to A.J. Preller’s first attempt to build a winner. But the Padres lost that game against the Dodgers in extra innings and Bud Black was fired the next day, leaving some to wonder if the ninth-year skipper might have earned a different fate had that ball hit the wall instead of Pederson’s glove.
This time, the writing was on the wall long before the Rockies managed to salvage a weekend win against his old employer.
His team entered the weekend on pace for a record 135 losses, then gave up 13 runs on Friday and 21 unanswered runs on Saturday. The Rockies beat the Padres on Sunday, but word spread quickly that a 7-33 start was too bleak for Black to survive a ninth year in Colorado.
The similarities between the end of Black’s days in San Diego and Colorado aren’t all that deep beyond the curious decision to keep Black around for nine years, most of them losing seasons.
In San Diego, Preller was hired the previous August and curiously opted to stay the course at manager over starting clean with his own hire. Then again, Black hadn’t really been given a roster that could compete in some time, so it seemed a decent thing to do to give him a roster with Upton and Matt Kemp and Wil Myers — flashy names at least — and see what he could do with it.
The Rockies?
They’ve been rudderless for years, enduring seven straight losing seasons since Black guided them to wild-card berths his first two years on the job. They curiously traded away Nolan Arenado only to give a big payday to Kris Bryant, who can’t stay on the field. They’ve never been able to develop pitching and they’ve stopped being able to at least fill the best hitting environment in the majors with bats that can consistently do damage.
Yes, it was time for Black to hit the road.
It’s well past time for the Monfort brothers to look in the mirror and at general manager Bill Schmidt.
1 | Los Angeles Dodgers (27-14, Last week: 1)
Arms race: Tyler Glasnow (shoulder) is back to playing catching, Blake Snell (shoulder) is still in a pause and Clayton Kershaw (toe) is lined up for his season debut on Sunday.
2 | Detroit Tigers (26-15, LW: 4)
Casey Mize missed two months with a hamstring strain last year. The upstart Tigers hope his latest hamstring isn’t nearly as severe.
3 | New York Mets (26-15, LW: 3)
The ing cast continues to come through with Mark Vientos tallying five of his seven homers over his last 20 games (.912 OPS).
4 | San Diego Padres (25-14, LW: 2)
In his second big-league start, Stephen Kolek completed a shutout in a 21-0 win at Coors Field. The last pitcher to throw a shutout while his team scored 20-plus runs? Jesse Duryea for the Cincinnati Red Stockings in 1889.
5 | New York Yankees (23-17, LW: 8)
One step forward (DJ LeMahieu is rehabbing at Triple-A and nearing his season debut), one step back (Marcus Stroman had a setback and will need his knee reevaluated).
6 | Chicago Cubs (23-18, LW: 5)
Sign of the times: Pitching prospect Cade Horton made his MLB debut as a bulk reliever behind an opener and won with three runs allowed over four innings.
7 | San Francisco Giants (24-17, LW: 6)
A three-game sweep in Minnesota has the Giants three games out in the NL West, a setback that will be hard to make up in the tough NL West.
8 | Philadelphia Phillies (24-16, LW: 9)
Perhaps Ranger Suarez just needed to shake off the rust. After allowing seven runs in 3⅔ innings in his first start off the injured list (back), he spun seven shutout innings on Saturday for his first win of the year.
9 | Seattle Mariners (22-17, LW: 7)
The Mariners won’t exactly be playing the hits when they visit Petco Park this weekend for the inaugural Vedder Cup: Both Logan Gilbert and George Kirby are on the injured list and expected to miss the series.
10 | Cleveland Guardians (23-17, LW: 10)
Finally some help for Jose Ramirez, whose three home runs are second on the team behind Kyle Manzardo’s nine.
The rest
- 11 | Kansas City Royals (24-18, LW: 13)
- 12 | St. Louis Cardinals (22-19, LW: 21)
- 13 | Boston Red Sox (22-20, LW: 16)
- 14 | Houston Astros (20-19, LW: 12)
- 15 | Minnesota Twins (21-20, LW: 23)
- 16 | Arizona Diamondbacks (21-20, LW: 14)
- 17 | Cincinnati Reds (20-22, LW: 11)
- 18 | Milwaukee Brewers (20-21, LW: 17)
- 19 | Texas Rangers (20-21, LW: 18)
- 20 | Toronto Blue Jays (20-20, LW: 20)
- 21 | Sacramento Athletics (21-20, LW: 15)
- 22 | Atlanta Braves (19-21, LW: 22)
- 23 | Tampa Bay Rays (18-22, LW: 19)
- 24 | Washington Nationals (17-24, LW: 24)
- 25 | Los Angeles Angels (16-23, LW: 26)
- 26 | Baltimore Orioles (15-24, LW: 28)
- 27 | Miami Marlins (15-24, LW: 25)
- 28 | Pittsburgh Pirates (14-27, LW: 27)
- 29 | Chicago White Sox (12-29, LW: 29)
- 30 | Colorado Rockies (7-33, LW: 30)
