Colorado @ San Diego preview
Petco Park
Last Meeting ( Jul 11, 2010 ) San Diego 9, Colorado 7
What started as a brief hiccup for the San Diego Padres has turned into a full-blown reason for panic.
Keeping things from spiraling completely out of control begins with a three-game set against the Colorado Rockies that gets underway on Friday at Petco Park.
After an off day, the Padres will likely be eager to get back on the field as soon as possible as they try to stop their current seven-game losing skid.
At the end of last week, San Diego, which hadn’t lost more than three straight games all season while enjoying a comfortable cushion in the National League West, was swept by Philadelphia for its fourth straight loss.
The Padres followed that up in getting swept by Arizona, capped-off by a 5-2 setback on Tuesday. And while the losses have suddenly piled up, their grip on the West has slowly diminished as well with San Francisco climbing back to within three games of first place.
Working in the Padres’ favor is the fact that they open a 10-game home stand, all coming against divisional foes. After Colorado, the Los Angeles Dodgers come to town for three, followed by a four-game set against San Francisco.
But it’s not just the Padres with playoff implications on the line this late in the campaign. The Rockies are fighting for a shot, albeit a slim one, for the postseason, sitting 6.5 games behind Philadelphia in the race for the NL wild card.
The Rockies, who dropped a wild 12-11 affair to the Phillies on Thursday, will get the first ever crack at San Diego starter Cory Luebke (0-0, 0.00 ERA), set to make his major league debut.
Luebke, a 2007 first-round pick, was called up from Triple-A Portland when rosters expanded this week. The 25-year-old left-hander went 10-1 with a 2.68 ERA while splitting time between Double-A and Triple-A this season.
Luebke’s starts will likely be an audition for any future appearances this season as he attempts to crack the Padres already loaded rotation.
Drawing the start for Colorado is a man no stranger to playing in the big leagues in Aaron Cook (4-8, 5.34 ERA), pitching in his ninth season.
Cook, who has been nursing a toe injury, had his start pushed back a day and will return from the disabled list for his first start in nearly a month.
The right-hander wasn’t pitching particularly great prior to the injury, taking three consecutive defeats while surrendering five earned runs in each.
Cook should bounce back at Petco Park, where he owns a 2.15 ERA in 10 starts.