Yeah, let’s not sugarcoat this. We got utterly annihilated tonight. Ryne Nelson, who pitched very well against San Francisco on Monday, went up against San Diego righthander and part-time knuckleballer Matt Waldron. I didn’t know that being a part-time knuckleball pitcher was a thing, but apparently it is a thing. Waldron is a guy who has a lot of pitches in his arsenal, it turns out, and one of those pitches happens to be a knuckleball. Earlier in the year, he was apparently throwing it about 30% or the time, but as the year has gone on, he’s gotten his usage up above 40%. And we couldn’t hit it, or him, like, at all.
Waldron was perfect through his first four innings, retiring the first twelve batters he faced on 58 pitches thrown. Ryne Nelson, meanwhile, only lasted 31⁄3 innings for us, and needed 91 pitches to get that far. Needless to say, we did not get good Ryne tonight. After giving up a leadoff single to Luis Arraez to start, he then retired Fernando Tatis, Jr., Jurickson Profar, and Jake Cronenworth in order to put up his first zero. Not bad, but not great—he wasn’t commanding his pitches, and didn’t manage a first-pitch strike until the fourth batter he faced, and his control looked, well, kinda iffy.
The wheels came off, the first time, for Ryne in the bottom of the second, as he surrendered two opposite field singles to start the frame. Then rookie Jackson Merrill hit a ground ball to Christian Walker, who threw to second in the hopes of starting a double play. Alas, however, he committed a rare error, throwing the ball wide of Kevin Newman and into left field. The error allowed the lead runner to score and put runners on first and second, still with nobody out. Ha-Seong Kim then lined a three-run homer over the wall in left center. Nelson got out of it without further damage, but it took him 37 pitches to get through the inning, putting him at 50 pitches through two. 4-0 San Diego
Nelson managed to put up another zero in his half of the third, though again he had to work, pitching around two walks and a double that loaded the bases. Still, no further damage done, though it took him 29 more pitches to get into and out of that trouble, putting him at 79 for the night. And then the bottom of the fourth rolled around, which also marked the Padres’ lineup turning over for the second time. Anyone who has watched Nelson’s starts is likely aware that things get exponentially more dicey when he starts working through the order for the third time in a game, and this was no different, aside from the relative rarity of that occurring in the fourth inning. He retired Arraez for the second time, surrendered a double to Tatis, walked Profar, and got the hook from Torey Lovullo, who had seen enough as his starter was already at 91 pitches. So Logan Allen, Bullpen Savior and Devourer of Innings, took the ball, and….well. He gave up a dinger to Cronenworth, and one out later back to back doubles to David Peralta and Merrill before finally getting the third out of the inning. 8-0 San Diego
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We did actually start to show a bit of life in the top of the fifth, and seemed for a couple of moments like we’d finally begun to figure our Waldron. Christian Walker doubled over the head of Profar to lead off the inning. Lourdes Gurriel, Jr. singled him to third. Blaze Alexander drew a walk to load the bases, all with nobody out. Then Geno Suarez singled to left, allowing Walker to cross the plate, and leaving the bases loaded with nobody out. Sadly, though, Waldron’s knuckleball superpowers reasserted themselves, as Kevin Newman popped out on the infield, Tucker Barnhart dribbled a ground ball in front of the plate that Waldron fielded cleanly and flipped home to force Gurriel at the plate, and then induced another weak grounder from Corbin Carroll that allowed him to wriggle off the hook with only minimal damage done. 8-1 San Diego
And that was pretty much it, except for the further piling on by San Diego against our substantially depleted bullpen. Four more runs scored in the Padres fifth, causing Allen to exit with only three outs recorded as new scrap heap pickup/bullpen addition Thyago Vieira relieved him. He got us out of the fifth with only four more Padres crossing the plate, and then pitched a bottom of the sixth that would have been clean but for the solo dinger he surrendered to the Padres’ backup catcher. 13-1 San Diego
Meanwhile, eventually Waldron left the game for San Diego, and some other guys came out of the bullpen and put up zeroes. Jake McCarthy managed a leadoff walk in the top of the sixth, Suarez draw a one-out walk in the seventh, Corbin Carroll led off the eighth with a cheap infield single to start the eighth, and Gurriel singled up the middle to start the ninth, but none of those baserunners came anywhere close to crossing the plate.
If there are any bright spots here, one would I suppose be that Scott McGough made his first appearance since his vacation in Reno, and actually retired the Padres in order in the seventh for the only 1-2-3 inning Diamondbacks pitching recorded tonight. And somewhat hilariously, Pavin Smith pitched the bottom of the eighth for us. His “changeup” touched 83 mph, and despite hitting the first batter he faced and then walking the next, and then having the bases loaded on a popup that Christian Walker dropped, uncharacteristically, for his second error of the game (!!!), he induced a Luis Arraez double play grounder to end the inning and put up a zero. So that was kind of amusing, I suppose.
Anyway. This one was no fun at all, really. I’m glad for you if you missed it.
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Win Probability Added, courtesy of FanGraphs
Punching Bag: Ryne Nelson (31⁄3 IP, 6 H, 6 ER, 4 BB, 1 K, 1 HR, -23.7% WPA)
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The Gameday Thread started out reasonably strong, but depopulated quickly as the game went south early and continued heading south at speed. 133 comments at time of writing, and a fair number went Sedona Red. Tonight’s CotG goes to kilnborn, for his somewhat premature remark up the gong being struck for Ryne Nelson’s short outing:
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Torey likely had seen enough, but like it or not, he saw plenty more before it was done. Heigh ho.
Anyway. Fourth game of the series is tomorrow afternoon, if you’d care to drop by and see if we can at least salvage a series split. Rookie Adam Mazur starts for the Padres, and judging by the information that MLB has up about tomorrow’s game, Mazur will be going up against….um, Scott McGough? Okay then. I guess it’s gonna be a bullpen game? Yikes. Who the hell knows, really?
Join us if you dare. Hope to see you. First pitch is scheduled for 1:10pm AZ time.
As always, thanks for reading, and as always, go Diamondbacks!
Plenty of financial and regulatory hurdles still need to be cleared, but a fuels pipeline project that may lead to lower gas prices in San Diego and Southern California has received a healthy amount of interest from other companies.
Phillips 66 and Kinder Morgan have proposed building what they’ve dubbed the Western Gateway Pipeline that would use a combination of existing infrastructure plus new construction to establish a corridor for refined products that would stretch 1,300 miles from St. Louis to California.
If completed, one leg of the pipeline would be the first to deliver motor fuels into California, a state often described as a fuel island that is disconnected from refining hubs in the U.S.
The two companies recently announced the project “has received significant interest” from shippers and investors from what’s called an “open season” that wrapped up on Dec. 19 — so much so that a second round will be held this month for remaining capacity.
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“That’s a strong indicator that people would be willing to commit to put volume on that pipeline to bring it west long enough for them to be able to pay off their investment and provide a return for their investors,” said David Hackett, president of Stillwater Associates, a transportation energy consulting company in Irvine. “They won’t build this thing on spec. They’ll need commitments from shippers to do this.”
The plans for the Western Gateway Pipeline include constructing a new line from the Texas Panhandle town of Borger to Phoenix. Meanwhile, the flow on an existing pipeline that currently runs from the San Bernardino County community of Colton to Arizona would be reversed, allowing more fuel to remain in California.
The entire pipeline system would link refinery supply from the Midwest to Phoenix and California, while also providing a connection into Las Vegas.
The proposed route for the Western Gateway Pipeline, a project announced by Phillips 66 and Kinder Morgan designed to bring refined products like gasoline to states such as Arizona and keep more supplies within California. (Phillips 66)
A spokesperson for Kinder Morgan told the Union-Tribune in October that there are no plans for the project to construct any new pipelines in California and the proposal “should put downward pressure” on prices at the pump.
“With no new builds in California and using pipelines currently in place, it’s an all-around win-win — good for the state and consumers,” Kinder Morgan’s director of corporate communications, Melissa D. Ruiz, said in an email.
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The second round of “open season” will include offerings of new destinations west of Colton that would allow Western Gateway shippers access to markets in Los Angeles.
Even with sufficient investor support, the project would still have to go through an extensive regulatory and permitting process that would undoubtedly receive pushback from environmental groups.
Should the pipeline get built, Hackett said it’s hard to predict what it would mean at the pump for Southern California drivers. But he said the project could ensure more fuel inventory remains inside California, thus reducing reliance on foreign imports, especially given potential political tensions in the South China Sea.
“I’d much rather have our gas come from Texas or Missouri than from Asia, at least from a geopolitical strategic standpoint,” Hackett said.
This past summer, Reuters reported that California’s fuel imports hit their highest levels in four years.
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About 70% of the imports — roughly 187,000 barrels per day — came from South Korea and other Asian countries that have long been top trading partners for California and other states along the West Coast, according to Kpler, an international firm that tracks global shipping and trade.
Fuel supplies and gasoline prices have received greater focus in the wake of a pair of refinery closures in California.
Phillips 66 planned to shutter operations at its twin refinery in the Los Angeles area by the close of 2025, and Valero is scheduled to close down its 145,000-barrel-per-day facility in the Northern California city of Benicia in April. The Valero and Phillips 66 facilities combine to account for about 18% of the state’s crude oil capacity.
The average price for a gallon of gasoline is higher in California than in any other state in the continental U.S., according to AAA.
On Tuesday, the average price in the Golden State was $4.254 while the national average came to $2.815. Hawaii had the highest average in the country, at $4.423 per gallon.
The city of San Diego has filed a lawsuit against the federal government that alleges the construction of a razor wire fence near the U.S.-Mexico border constitutes trespassing on city property and has caused environmental harm to the land.
The complaint filed Monday in San Diego federal court states that razor wire fencing being constructed by U.S. Marines in the Marron Valley area has harmed protected plant and wildlife habitats and that the presence of federal personnel there represents unpermitted trespassing.
The lawsuit, which names the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Department of Defense among its defendants, says that city officials first discovered the presence of Marines and federal employees in the area in December.
The fencing under construction has blocked city officials from accessing the property to assess and manage the land, and the construction efforts have” caused and will continue to cause property damage and adverse environmental impacts,” according to the lawsuit.
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The suit seeks an injunction ordering the defendants to cease and desist from any further trespass or construction in the area.
“The city of San Diego will not allow federal agencies to disregard the law and damage city property,” City Attorney Heather Ferbert said in a statement. “We are taking decisive action to protect sensitive habitats, uphold environmental commitments and ensure that the rights and resources of our community are respected.”
Padres roster review: Sung-Mun song – San Diego Union-Tribune
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SUNG-MUN SONG
Position(s): Third base, second base
Bats / Throws: Left / Right
2026 opening day age: 29
Height / Weight: 6-foot / 194 pounds
How acquired: Signed as a free agent in December 2025
Contract status: A four-year, $15 million deal will see Song make $2.5 million in 2026, $3 million in 2027, $3.5 million in 2028 and $4 million in 2029 if he does not opt out of last year; Half of his $1 million signing bonus is due in January 2026 and the other half in 2027; There is a $7 million mutual option for 2030.
.214 — Song’s isolated power in 2025, a career high as he prepared for a jump to the majors. Isolated power measures a player’s raw power (extra bases per at-bat) and Song had a .190 OPS in 2018, in his third year as a pro in Korea, before it dropped to .101 in 2019 and then a career-low .095 in 2023. Hitting 19 homers pushed Song’s isolated power to .178 in 2024 and then a career-high 26 homers push it even higher in 2025.
TRENDING
Idle — Drafted by the Heroes in 2014, Song debuted in the KBO the following year but didn’t become a regular until 2019. A drop-off in production — he had an .884 OPS in 78 games in 2018 and a .597 OPS in 103 games in 2019 — was followed by losing the 2020 season and a chunk of the 2021 season to military service obligations. Then three straight sub-.700 OPS seasons forced Song to rethink his approach to professional baseball, especially in the face of the likes of Ha-Seong Kim,Jung Hoo Lee and Hyeseong Kim generating big-league buzz. Song started with weight training and nutrition. A hitting coach also helped him with balance, pull-side power and the ability to catch up with the sort of fastballs that seem to dog Korean players when they arrive in the States. It all added up to a breakthrough year in which Song paired 19 homers, 104 RBIs and 21 steals with a .340/.409/.518 batting line. To prove it was no fluke, Song followed up his 2024 season with another strong effort that solidified his wish to try his hand in the majors. The ensuing, four-year, $15 million deal that Song signed with the Padres in December cost his new employer a $3 million posting fee to be paid to the Kiwoom Heroes.
2026 OUTLOOK
Like Kim before him, Song appears to be joining the Padres as a utility player with the hope that he blossoms into more as he gets comfortable in a new country and league. Song had experience in Korea at third base (500 starts), second base (149 starts) and first base (38 starts). Padres president of baseball operations A.J. Preller even mentioned outfield reps in passing as he assessed how Song could help the Padres in 2026.
Former KBO player Sung-Mun Song shakes hands with Padres vice president of amateur and international scouting Pete DeYoung after signing a contract with the San Diego Padres at Petco Park on Saturday. (Photo by Armond Feffer/San Diego Padres)
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