Steckbriefe » Watson had more reason to pick himself than

SAN DIEGO -- A rare big night from the Padres offence overshadowed Tim Stauffer stepping into the depleted rotation and giving San Diego a strong start. "That was a great lift for the staff," Padres manager Bud Black said. Yonder Alonso and Yasmani Grandal homered, and Chase Headley drove in three runs, as the Padres beat the Chicago Cubs 11-1 on Friday night. The Padres set a season-high in runs and had 12 hits. Everyone but Will Venable had at least one hit among the starting position players. But with starters Andrew Cashner and Robbie Erlin going on the DL this week with elbow woes, the Padres were in a pickle. They turned to the veteran Stauffer (2-0) and he didnt disappoint. Making his first start since May 14, 2012 at Washington, Stauffer pitched five shutout innings and gave up two hits. "And two years from now it should feel pretty good again," Stauffer joked about his time between starts. "It felt good and after getting through that first inning, the offence really set the tone. After that I was just trying to keep pitches down and eat up some innings and keep the bullpen fresh." Stauffer struck out five, with a walk and hit batter and earned his win as a starter win since Sept. 16, 2011, against Arizona. The Padres snapped a four-game losing streak with a performance which was out-of-character for a team which has been shut out eight times, tops in the majors. "We havent had many of those games," Black said. "A couple, but not many. When that happens there is a different feeling in the dugout and a different vibe. Everyone wants to get to the bat rack, to start hacking and wanting to get involved." Edwin Jackson (3-4) took the loss, allowing eight runs and nine hits in just four innings. The Cubs managed one runner in scoring position through six innings before Welington Castillo drove in Luis Valbuena with a broken-bat single in the seventh. Three relievers completed the five-hitter for San Diego. The Padres scored four first-inning runs, matching their total from the previous three games. Seth Smith drove in two with a single and after Headley reached on a fielders choice, Alonso smacked his second home run of the season. The Padres began Friday averaging 2.98 runs per game, the lowest in the majors. Grandal opened the second inning with his fifth homer, this one to the opposite field. Everth Cabrera and Cameron Maybin singled and Headley brought them home with a booming double to right for a 7-0 cushion. "Its about time," Grandal said. "Ive been hitting fly balls that way and they all seem to be short. I was lucky enough to hit one that actually carried a little bit more." Headley added his third RBI with a fourth-inning single after Maybin doubled. All of this came at the expense of Jackson, a pitcher the Padres flirted with before he signed last year as a free agent with the Cubs. Hes now 0-5 against the Padres, with a 6.94 ERA. Jackson had been keen avoiding the long ball -- only two home runs allowed in this seasons previous nine starts. But hes had trouble in the early innings and that rang true against the Padres. Of Jacksons 31 earned runs this year, 23 have come in the first two innings. "His command wasnt as sharp as it has been," Cubs manager Rick Renteria said. Cabrera, Maybin, Alonso, Headley and Jedd Gyorko each had two hits for the Padres. "The swung the bats well and took advantage of Jackson," Renteria said. NOTES: The Padres juggled their rotation with LHP Robbie Erlin joining RHP Andrew Cashner (elbow) on the DL this week with elbow soreness. Donn Roach was bumped from Saturdays start, with Billy Buckner expected to fill in after being promoted from Triple-A El Paso. That made Roach available for relief on Friday; he worked a scoreless inning. Buckner, who was signed April 19, was 3-2 with a 2.98 in five starts at El Paso. . OF Carlos Quentin, who last played on Sunday when straining his groin, is available for pinch hitting. . Cubs OF Justin Ruggiano played in his second straight game at Triple-A Iowa; hes been on the DL since April 24 with a strained hamstring. . RHP Pedro Strop (groin strain) is close to making a rehabilitation start. . Cubs LHP Travis Wood (4-4, 4.61) faces Padres RHP Billy Buckner (0-0, 0.00) on Saturday night. NHL Jerseys . Minutes before the final whistle of Sporting Kansas Citys 3-0 victory over a shorthanded Montreal Impact squad on Saturday afternoon, Saputo tweeted: "Our fans deserve better. NBA Jerseys . LOUIS -- The Atlanta Braves used a two-run rally in the ninth to end their road trip with a win. https://www.cheapjerseysjustwholesale.com/. Petersburg of the KHL. Belov was a free agent last summer when he signed a one-year contract with the Oilers. In 57 games this season he had one goal and six assists with 34 penalty minutes in Edmonton. Soccer Jerseys . Nix is a career .218 hitter in 425 games over six seasons. The 31-year-old right-handed hitter batted .270 with a homer this spring for Tampa Bay. Nike Jerseys . When Reyes signed a US$106-million, six-year deal with Miami last month, there was speculation Ramirez was unhappy about being supplanted at short. But new manager Ozzie Guillen sold Ramirez on the idea.Each week, The Reporters put their thumbs out to the good and the bad in the world of sports. This week, they discuss the womens World Cup being played on turf, McMaster Universitys surprising hiring of Glen Grunwald, the Spurs hiring of Becky Hammon, and Tom Watsons performance at the PGA Championship. Bruce Arthur, Toronto Star My thumb is down to the storm around Canadas 2015 womens World Cup of soccer, which now features about 40 prominent players, from Abby Wambach to Alex Morgan, threatening a lawsuit with high-powered lawyers because the tournament is the first World Cup to be played on artificial turf. They claim thats discrimination. Now, the way the threat was delivered seems silly on the surface, sure. But the fact that a World Cup will take place on turf for the first time is ridiculous, too. Just like, say, playing the mens World Cup in Qatar in the summer of 2022, or in Russia in 2018. Its almost like theres a mess almost every time now. Maybe FIFA, when it comes to venues, isnt discriminating enough. Steve Simmons, SUN Media My thumb is up to McMaster University for the surprising hiring of Glen Grunwald as athletic director. We dont tend to think much about CIS sports, about who runs university sport across Canada, but in bringing in Grunwald, former general manager of the Toronto Raptors and New York Knicks, former US national champion at Indiana University, McMaster is turning its program over to someone who thinks larger than CIS thinks, who dreams bigger, who might supply original thought to university sport in Canada, which has had a tendency of tripping over itself year after year. Ill be honest, I dont know too many athletic directors in Canada, but I know Grunwald and IIm excited about what he might be able to accomplish at McMaster and by extension across this country.dddddddddddd Michael Farber, Sports Illustrated My thumb is up to the hiring of Becky Hammon as an assistant coach by the best organization in professional sports, the San Antonio Spurs. If Gregg Popovich thinks she can coach, she can coach. Full stop. Like Hammon, Popovich is one of a kind. There is no other coach or executive who has earned the latitude to deviate from industry norms, which Popovich did by hiring the first full-time female assistant. This is not about a shattered glass ceiling. This is about Popovich thinking creatively, stretching boundaries. Now it is up to a mature team to take guidance from a former WNBA player in the way it would from any other spurs assistant. Dave Hodge, TSN If this isnt a ball sitting on a tee staring up at me, I dont know what an obvious thumb is. As the oldest in this group, I am obliged and very happy to say "thumbs up" to 64-year-old Tom Watson. Not to make Tiger Woods or his fans any more miserable, but lets consider again the scenario at Valhalla on Thursday. Woods was trying his best to win the PGA and extend his season so that Ryder Cup captain Watson could consider him a candidate for one of the last spots on the United States team. Based on their 36-hole scores, Watson had more reason to pick himself than to bow to Tigers past greatness - three over par for Watson, six over for Woods. Admittedly, Tiger had a problem with his back. Not until the course played considerably longer on Friday did Watson admit to a problem with his age. Such a problem that every other 64-year-old golfer in the world would love to have. ' ' '