Still Unwatchable: Padres 3, Mets 1

Bobby Parnell made his first big league start last night against the Padres, and it was neither great nor a total disaster. He only made it through 2.1 innings, though Jerry Manuel had placed a 65-pitch limit on the start and pulled Parnell after pitch number 68. Parnell allowed four singles and three walks while striking out one and hitting a batter. He threw first-pitch strikes to nine of the 15 batters he faced, collected three groundball outs and three flyball outs, and had just one swinging strike (1.5%).

Parnell was relieved by Nelson Figueroa, who tossed 1.2 scoreless innings before ceding to Tim Redding, who went three scoreless innings himself. It took the combined efforts of Sean Green, Pedro Feliciano and Elmer Dessens to make it through the eighth inning, allowing the third Padres run to score in the process.

The real story of the game, again, was the Mets' woeful offense, as they managed just five hits and three walks, scoring their only run on a first-inning homerun by Alex Cora of all people. With Luis Castillo (who did appear as a pinch-hitter) and Gary Sheffield out of the lineup, David Wright is the only remaining star and Angel Pagan, at least for the time being, is the only other adequate player in the lineup. The rest of the team is just nauseatingly bad, a fact that, when coupled with the stifling dimensions of PECTO Park, can produce some unwatchable results (see: the first three games of this series, plus much of the past two months).

Also, Jeff Francoeur walked again, his second free pass in four games. Amazing.

Swag Contest

Swag contest results can be found here and the next game's swag form already available. You can read more about the swag contest here.

SB Nation Coverage

* Traditional Recap
* Boxscore
* Amazin' Avenue Gamethread
* Gaslamp Ball Gamethread

Win Probability Added

Big winners: Tim Redding, +11.5% WPA, Alex Cora, +7.5% WPA
Big losers: Bobby Parnell, -13.9% WPA, Fernando Tatis, -10.5% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Cora homerun in first, +11.3% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Cabrera bases-loaded walk in third, -12.3% WPA
Total pitcher WPA: -1.7% WPA
Total batter WPA: -48.3% WPA
GWRBI!: Everth Cabrera

Game Thread Roll Call

Nice job by KeithsMoustache; his effort in the game thread embiggens us all.