I began last series recap saying the Padres needed to capitalize on a golden opportunity of getting some distance between themselves and The Dodgers and Giants over the weekend. They did just that taking two of three from the majors’ worst Baltimore Orioles taking advantage of the Red Sox sweep of the Dodgers and the Giants losing two of three in Toronto.

They will now head into Tampa Bay up a game and a half on San Francisco and leading Los Angeles by two full games.

 Can this series against the Rays be a possible precursor to World Series? Let’s do get ahead of ourselves and see how the Padres play against one of baseball’s best. This late June series will serve as a true litmus test for the young friars.

 June 18^th, 2010 Padres 3 Orioles 2

WP Heath Bell (3-0) 1IP 1H 1R 1ER 1BB 1K 1HR

LP David Hernandez (2-6)

Adrian Gonzalez had his second walk off hit this season singling home Aaron Cunningham on the first pitch he saw. The game winner was the Padres eighth in the final frame at Petco Park this season bringing their home field record to 22-15. Gonzalez went 3-3 with a walk and 2 RBI.

David Eckstein had tied the game earlier in the batting in Chase Headley with the bases loaded and one out. Nick Hundley then struck out before Eckstein and Gwynn hit a grounder to first which the winning run was forced out at home to set the table for Adrian.

Wade LeBlanc pitched well for 6 2/3 giving up only one run on seven hits. He struck out three Orioles. Heath Bell came in with a tie game before allowing a run-scoring single in the top of the ninth. Hernandez dropped to 2-6 with the loss also recording his first blown save of the season.

June 19^th, 2010 Padres 4 Orioles 5

WP Kevin Millwood (1-8) 6IP 7H 3R 3ER 2BB 5K 0HR

LP Clayton Richard (4-4) 6IP 8H 5R 4ER 1BB 5K 1HR

S Alfredo Simon (7) 1IP 1H 1R 1ER 1BB 1K 0HR

Kevin Millwood got his first win of 2010, and it took only 15 starts. After losing four straight starts and eight overall Millwood won his first this season against a team he is now 7-1 with a 3.05 ERA in his career. 

The win did not appear a sure thing as Jerry Hairston Jr. walked before heading to third on a Tony Gwynn Jr. double. JHJ would score on an Oscar Salazar groundout.  Gwynn wound advance to third as the tying run. David Eckstein would ground out to shortstop forcing Gwynn to stay at third. Chase Headley would strand him there striking out swinging to end the game.

The win improved the Orioles to 19-49. At 30 games under .500 they have the worst record in Major League Baseball.

June 20^th, 2010 Padres 9 Orioles 4

Even down four runs before they came to bat there was no beating the Padres on their day. They would celebrate Dia de Los Padres with yet another come from behind victory and series win. Will Venable hit a 3-run dinger and Nick Hundley homered with three RBI’s as he Padres rallied from a 4-0 deficit to beat the Orioles 9-4 on Father’s Day.  The son of former big leaguer Max Venable did his Daddy proud by tying his career RBI mark of four.

Tony Gwynn Sr. was in attendance to watch his son Tony Jr. return to the leadoff spot hitting the ball very well the last couple weeks. He began the game with a bloop single to left and promptly stole second base headfirst on the next pitch. After advancing to third on a David Eckstein groundout he scored the Friars first run on an Adrian Gonzalez double.

The win was the seventh for John Garland who settled down after spotting Baltimore four runs in the top of the first. He struck out three while walking two in six innings pitched.

The Orioles lost their 50^th game this season and are 0-10-1 on road series this season. They haven’t won consecutive games since May 12^th-14^th.