So, it's the first game that counts against the Padres since last October's tie-breaker when Matt Holliday scored the winning run in the bottom of the 13th inning. Trevor Hoffman remains one of the central characters in that game along with Holliday. Bud Black has this to say about Hoffman:

"The velocity is fine, his arm action is fine. It's just that his location isn't where we're used to seeing it. That is the big thing [...] And he's not totally erratic. He's just off the plate a little bit and some of the walks are a little bit uncharacteristic."

We don't want to see him out on the mound in the ninth since that would mean the Rockies are likely down at that point, but would anyone feel just a bit confident that the guys would be able to comeback while Hoffman's on the mound? I'd want Matt Holliday, recently named NL Player of the Week for last week, at the plate should that happen. All right, so he only has two hits off Hoffman, but the last one he had was the triple in the tie-breaker.

I'd also take my chances with Tulo if the situation arose. It's time for him to snap out of this funk and do it in a big way:

"I am not getting pitched to differently," Tulowitzki said. "I have just gotten away from my approach. I need to use the big part of the field more. It seems like I am constantly grounding out to shortstop. That's not me."

Hopefully his day off on Sunday and yesterday's off day will have helped Tulo get back to his regular approach.

I didn't realize until reading the first question in Thomas Harding's latest mailbag that the Rockies list Scott Podsednik at 6'2", 190 lbs. Not that it's surprising, just quite funny. As Harding points out, this is rampant in college football and gets torn down during the combine and pro days during the NFL Draft season.

This is why you don't want to be a Padres fan. Whether or not it's a true story, it's sad.