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!
Two labor unions and a child care advocacy group on Friday filed a proposed countywide sales-tax hike they’ve dubbed the Protect San Diego County’s Health & Safety Act with the county Registrar of Voters in hopes of making the November 2026 ballot.
The proposed half-cent sales tax measure – which would raise a projected $360 million annually – aims to fund health care, child care, solutions to the Tijuana River sewage crisis and public safety.
The Service Employees International Union Local 221, child care advocacy group Children First San Diego and Cal Fire Local 2881 expect to start collecting signatures next month.
“We’re taking urgent action on the biggest health and safety threats San Diego County is facing – Tijuana River toxic sewage, strained 911 response, working families losing healthcare, childcare, and even the basic food they need to survive,” SEIU 221 President Crystal Irving wrote in a statement. “Our coalition is determined to give voters the power to choose a safer, healthier future and starting soon we’ll be out in every community gathering signatures and working with neighbors to protect San Diego County families.”
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Proposed ballot language submitted to the Registrar of Voters Friday describes a slew of causes that proponents aim to support with a half-cent sales-tax increase. Up to 60 percent of funding – the equivalent of $261 million annually – could back child care and health services for children, health care for uninsured or underinsured people, food aid including staffing for CalFresh eligibility workers in the county, in-home health services and affordable health care.
Nearly 23 percent – or roughly $81 million annually – would go toward combating the Tijuana sewage crisis, with at least 20 percent of this share of funds directed toward infrastructure projects to “stop sewage flows from Tijuana into the United States or through the Tijuana River Valley.” The measure says the funding could also address related health issues and protect local waters from pollution.
Nearly 18 percent – or almost $63 million annually – could back public safety services, wildfire prevention and crisis response.
Proponents also capped administrative costs at 1.5 percent, or about $5 million annually.
The proposed measure also calls for an 11-member citizens oversight committee to conduct annual audits and bars spending on politicians’ salaries, lobbyist contracts or government office renovations.
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The citizen-backed effort is separate from the subcommittee work that county Board Chair Terra Lawson-Remer and Vice Chair Monica Montgomery Steppe are queuing up to hash out ways the county might bring in. The county faces an estimated $300 million annual budget hit tied to federal cuts. The county is set to hire and pay consultants up to $500,000 as part of that effort to conduct polling and research on potential measures to raise taxes and other possible ways to increase revenues that may require changes to other policies.
In a Friday statement, Lawson-Remer lauded the proposed citizen measure.
“This San Diego County Health & Safety citizens initiative offers a key tool that voters could choose to support in order to defend our community and our values: to keep our water clean, to keep our hospitals open, and to make sure firefighters and first responders have the resources they need when the next wildfire hits,” Lawson-Remer wrote. “When Washington walks away, our community refuses to look the other way.”
The decision to proceed with a citizens’ measure doesn’t rule out a potential future measure pushed by county supervisors. Yet Lawson-Remer’s quick endorsement shows she’s eager to see a citizens’ group push a measure forward that only requires a simple majority for a ballot victory.
The coalition behind it will face an uphill battle to persuade skeptical voters already facing an avalanche of rising costs – and to get on the ballot in the first place.
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Courtney Baltiyskyy of Children First San Diego said the coalition expects to hit the streets in January to try to collect at least 140,000 signatures. They’ll need to deliver at least 102,923 valid signatures to get on next November’s ballot.
The county coalition also expects to have some competition next November.
The coalition that includes Laborers Local Union 89, Carpenters Union Local 619, and Rebuild SoCal are rallying behind a one-cent sales tax hike for city of San Diego for infrastructure repairs, wildfire prevention, pipe repairs for clean water and more.
Both coalitions have recently circulated polls testing voters’ appetite for separate city and county measures and shared some intel.
Their intel-sharing follows the November 2024 demise of Measures E and G, separate city and countywide sales-tax proposals. San Diego politicos are skeptical voters would support two sales-tax hikes.
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The results of an initial poll of city voters conducted around Labor Day on the city measure suggested both city and county measures suggested a challenging climate for proposed tax increases.
Results obtained by Voice of San Diego show 57 percent of the 776 voters polled said they thought the county was on the wrong track and 60 percent said the same of the city.
Baltiyskyy said Friday the countywide coalition believes it has a path to victory – and that support for it will grow as voters and local organizations learn more.
Four suspects were behind bars Friday for allegedly beating a man to death two months ago during a fight at Linda Vista Park.
Arrested Wednesday on suspicion of murder in connection with the violent death of 59-year-old Ruben Rimorin were Juan Garcia Alavez, 21, Juan Manuel Lopez, 26, Brian Reyes, 20, and Franklin Joseph Tuell, 21, according to the San Diego Police Department.
Rimorin was found gravely injured about 3:45 a.m. Oct. 18 on a sidewalk in the 6800 block of Osler Street, just west of the park, SDPD Lt. Chris Tivanian said. Paramedics tried in vain to revive the victim before pronouncing him dead at the scene.
It remains unclear what sparked the deadly fight.
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The suspects were being held at San Diego Central Jail without bail pending arraignment, scheduled for Friday afternoon.
National City’s Pepper Park can soon expand in size by nearly 50%, thanks to a ruling this week by the California Coastal Commission to approve the National City Balanced Plan.
The approval of the plan at the CCC’s Wednesday meeting, developed by the Port of San Diego, means that not only will the popular park have the ability to increase in size, big changes are coming for commercial, recreation and maritime uses on the National City bayfront.
“We are grateful to the California Coastal Commission for its support of the National City Balanced Plan,” said Danielle Moore, chair of the Board of Port Commissioners. “The progress we have made has been anchored in tireless collaboration with the community, business leaders and, of course, the city of National City. It’s about bringing more recreational opportunities to the bayfront while also streamlining and strengthening maritime operations, and we are eager to bring these projects to life.”
Other components of the balanced plan include:
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Realigning Marina Way to serve as the buffer area between commercial recreation and maritime uses
The closure of Tidelands Avenue between Bay Marina Drive and West 32nd Street, and West 28th Street between Tidelands Avenue and Quay Avenue, around six acres, to increase terminal efficiency by eliminating redundancies
The development of a recreational vehicle park, tent sites, cabins and the “ultimate development of up to two hotels with up to 365 rooms, as well as dry boat storage,” a port statement read
A connector rail project to connect the existing rail and loop track located on the National City Marine Terminal to additional rail car storage spots at the existing Burlington Northern Santa Fe National City Yard east of the National Distribution Center
The Board of Port Commissioners must accept the CCC’s certification, then the port and city can begin the process of completing the above projects.
“I am proud of the work we have done to help create a lasting legacy for National City, the Port of San Diego, and the entire region,” said Port Commissioner GilAnthony Ungab. “Nearly a decade in the making, this plan balances the interests of the community and many other stakeholders, addresses public access, maritime, and recreation uses, and expands waterfront access in my community.”
The National City Bayfront is 273 acres of waterfront land and 167 acres of water, and includes the National City Marine Terminal, Pepper Park, Pier 32 Marina, the Aquatic Center and pieces of public art.
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