By Jeff Sullivan

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Jun 10, 2011 – It’s the season of top prospect call-ups, and Thursday the San Diego Padres made their move, promoting first baseman Anthony Rizzo from triple-A Tucson and putting him in the starting lineup against the Washington Nationals. Rizzo was to make his Major League debut in front of the home crowd, and I don’t know if you’ll believe me, but people were actually excited. Padres fans were excited about something about the Padres. For real, I got a text message and everything.

Rizzo, you see, is the team’s big hope in searching for a successor to Adrian Gonzalez. Dealing Gonzalez left a huge void, and Rizzo and his 1.159 triple-A OPS stand the best chance of filling it.

So how’d Rizzo’s debut end up going, you ask? It went just about as well as anyone could’ve hoped.

Rizzo came to bat for the first time in the bottom of the second, against Livan Hernandez. As he stepped in, he received as much of a standing ovation as anyone in Petco’s ever going to get.

Rizzo ultimately wound up striking out looking on a pitch that appeared inside, which was anticlimactic, but it all worked out in the end. Rizzo shook off his nerves and found his timing, and in his second at-bat, he arrived.

Batting against Hernandez to lead off the bottom of the fifth, Rizzo worked a 2-2 count before doing this:

It was, in so many ways, a perfectly appropriate moment. Rizzo worked a good at bat. He put a perfect swing on the ball. He blasted the pitch way deep to center field, with Livan Hernandez hanging his head on the mound. And Rizzo wound up on third base with a triple, because home runs aren’t allowed in Petco Park. It was both Rizzo’s welcome-to-the-Majors moment and Rizzo’s welcome-to-Petco moment, rolled into one. It happened to Gonzalez, and it’ll happen to Rizzo, now and forever.

Rizzo would score in the fifth and bat again in the sixth. With two on and one out, he took four low balls to draw a six-pitch walk off Sean Burnett. And in his final plate appearance, against Henry Rodriguez in the seventh, Rizzo worked another six-pitch walk for his second base on balls in as many innings.

In all, Rizzo batted four times, seeing 21 pitches. And he reached base three times, becoming the sixth Padres player in franchise history to reach base three times in his big league debut. The last to do it was Wiki Gonzalez in 1999. Gonzalez also tripled. The man to do it before Gonzalez was Derrek Lee, and the Padres wouldn’t be too upset if Rizzo went on to have that kind of career.

As for the rest of the game – yeah, there was a whole baseball game around Rizzo’s four trips to the plate. Chase Headley put the Padres up early with a two-run blast in the bottom of the first, and though the Nationals got a run back in the second, Aaron Harang limited the damage. Rizzo scored after his triple in the fifth on Chris Denorfia’s RBI single, and the Padres blew things open with a three-run sixth. Brad Hawpe hit an RBI single, Kyle Phillips drew a bases-loaded walk, and Logan Forsythe lifted an RBI sac fly.

At that point, the Padres were up 6-2, and each team would score one more time to achieve a 7-3 final. The Padres improved to 29-35, while the Nationals fell to 27-36.

In closing, I’ll leave you with this. Livan Hernandez may have gotten tagged with the loss after allowing six runs in 5-1/3 innings, but his night really could’ve been a lot worse than it was.

For more on the Nationals and Padres, please visit Federal Baseball and Gaslamp Ball.

Read More: Adrian Gonzalez (1B – BOS), Anthony Rizzo (1B – SDP), San Diego Padres, Washington Nationals

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SAN DIEGO (AP) – Anthony Rizzo tore up the Pacific Coast League to the point that the San Diego Padres figured they had no choice but to call him up.

The slugging first baseman will join the Padres on Thursday after spending just two months at Triple-A Tucson. He is one of two prized prospects acquired by the Padres when they traded three-time All-Star first baseman Adrian Gonzalez to the Boston Red Sox in December in a five-player deal.

Rizzo batted .365 with a .715 slugging percentage, .444 on-base percentage, 16 homers and 63 RBIs at Tucson.

“We wanted him to get some seasoning,” general manager Jed Hoyer said after the Padres lost 5-3 to the Colorado Rockies on Wednesday. “This is frankly ahead of the schedule we had imagined when we acquired him. We thought he was a guy that if he pushed it he could be a September callup and could help us in 2012. He’s played so well in spring training and this year that he really forced us and pushed the clock. Going into the season this wasn’t the timing we expected. I’m proud of him to force us to make the move earlier.”

Hoyer said there’s a “buzz” about Rizzo joining the Padres.

“I hope it’s not only because he was part of the Adrian Gonzalez deal. I hope it’s because he’s played exceptionally well at Triple-A and that people are excited to see him play and I hope the same thing will happen when we call up future players if they have this kind of performance,” Hoyer said.

Rizzo flew to San Diego on Wednesday to have his left thumb examined by a specialist in the last step before joining the big
league squad.

Rizzo was hurt May 31 when he collided with an umpire. He sat out the following two games, played three games and then sat out Monday and Tuesday. He had an MRI on Tuesday. The Padres wanted to have him checked by a specialist before bringing him up.

Hoyer said he originally thought about bringing up Rizzo for a stretch of interleague games starting June 17 at Minnesota, followed by a series at Boston from June 20-22. The thought was to have Rizzo play first base and Brad Hawpe, who’s already moved from first base to right field, be the designated hitter.

But manager Bud Black talked Hoyer into making the move earlier.

“As we started talking about it, Buddy said, ‘Well Jed, why not right now?’ That was probably four or five days ago. He really convinced me,” Hoyer said.

Fans have been clamoring for the last-place Padres to call up the 21-year-old Rizzo, who had never played above Double-A until he started this season with Tucson.

In 2008, Rizzo was limited to 21 games after being diagnosed with limited stage classical Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.

Hoyer said it’s easier to bring up Rizzo now since the Padres aren’t struggling as badly as they were earlier in the season.

“I didn’t think it was fair to him, 100-plus plate appearances into his career with the Padres, to bring him up to fix a team that was struggling,” Hoyer said. “Now we’re playing better, today notwithstanding, and I don’t think he’s a savior of a team now. I think he’s coming up and he can be a part of something.”

The other top prospect obtained by the Padres in the Gonzalez deal is right-hander Casey Kelly, who’s with Double-A San Antonio.

The Padres have struggled all season, particularly at home. Rizzo is expected to start against the Washington Nationals on Thursday night. Black said he’ll hit somewhere between fifth and seventh.

After trading Gonzalez, the Padres signed Hawpe to play first base even though he had only played a handful of games there during his big league career. He was a first baseman in the minors but moved to the outfield when he made his big league debut with Colorado because Todd Helton was playing first for the Rockies. Hawpe made his third straight start in right field on Wednesday.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Anthony Rizzo tore up the Pacific Coast League to the point that the San Diego Padres figured they had no choice but to call him up.

The slugging first baseman will join the Padres on Thursday after spending just two months at Triple-A Tucson. He is one of two prized prospects acquired by the Padres when they traded three-time All-Star first baseman Adrian Gonzalez to the Boston Red Sox in December in a five-player deal.

Rizzo batted .365 with a .715 slugging percentage, .444 on-base percentage, 16 homers and 63 RBIs at Tucson.

“We wanted him to get some seasoning,” general manager Jed Hoyer said after the Padres lost 5-3 to the Colorado Rockies on Wednesday. “This is frankly ahead of the schedule we had imagined when we acquired him. We thought he was a guy that if he pushed it he could be a September callup and could help us in 2012. He’s played so well in spring training and this year that he really forced us and pushed the clock. Going into the season this wasn’t the timing we expected. I’m proud of him to force us to make the move earlier.”

Hoyer said there’s a “buzz” about Rizzo joining the Padres.

“I hope it’s not only because he was part of the Adrian Gonzalez deal. I hope it’s because he’s played exceptionally well at Triple-A and that people are excited to see him play and I hope the same thing will happen when we call up future players if they have this kind of performance,” Hoyer said.

Rizzo flew to San Diego on Wednesday to have his left thumb examined by a specialist in the last step before joining the big league squad.

Rizzo was hurt May 31 when he collided with an umpire. He sat out the following two games, played three games and then sat out Monday and Tuesday. He had an MRI on Tuesday. The Padres wanted to have him checked by a specialist before bringing him up.

Hoyer said he originally thought about bringing up Rizzo for a stretch of interleague games starting June 17 at Minnesota, followed by a series at Boston from June 20-22. The thought was to have Rizzo play first base and Brad Hawpe, who’s already moved from first base to right field, be the designated hitter.

But manager Bud Black talked Hoyer into making the move earlier.

“As we started talking about it, Buddy said, ‘Well Jed, why not right now?’ That was probably four or five days ago. He really convinced me,” Hoyer said.

Fans have been clamoring for the last-place Padres to call up the 21-year-old Rizzo, who had never played above Double-A until he started this season with Tucson.

In 2008, Rizzo was limited to 21 games after being diagnosed with limited stage classical Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.

Hoyer said it’s easier to bring up Rizzo now since the Padres aren’t struggling as badly as they were earlier in the season.

“I didn’t think it was fair to him, 100-plus plate appearances into his career with the Padres, to bring him up to fix a team that was struggling,” Hoyer said. “Now we’re playing better, today notwithstanding, and I don’t think he’s a savior of a team now. I think he’s coming up and he can be a part of something.”

The other top prospect obtained by the Padres in the Gonzalez deal is right-hander Casey Kelly, who’s with Double-A San Antonio.

The Padres have struggled all season, particularly at home.

Rizzo is expected to start against the Washington Nationals on Thursday night. Black said he’ll hit somewhere between fifth and seventh.

After trading Gonzalez, the Padres signed Hawpe to play first base even though he had only played a handful of games there during his big league career. He was a first baseman in the minors but moved to the outfield when he made his big league debut with Colorado because Todd Helton was playing first for the Rockies.

Hawpe made his third straight start in right field on Wednesday.

Copyright 2011 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

SAN DIEGO — One night last season at Coors Field, Carlos Gonzalez did something that seemed straight out of a black-and-white movie. With his mother in the stands, he finished a cycle with a walkoff home run. That’s a favorite CarGo story. Everyone who saw him last year had one. This year, everybody has a cure for his problems.

While Gonzalez’s nickname suggests progress, manager Jim Tracy could no longer go forward with the same Rockies lineup. Before Monday night’s game at Petco Park, Tracy shook the order like a snow globe, shifting Gonzalez to the top, Todd Helton to third and Sanity, he figured, to his senses.

Though few would deem it a rousing success, anything that doesn’t end up in a loss these days can’t be dismissed out of hand. The Rockies beat the San Diego Padres 3-0 behind Clayton Mortensen’s terrific outing and critical hits by Troy Tulowitzki and Seth Smith.

The Rockies still bore a closer resemblance to the 1968 Yankees than the 1927 bunch, but the results were baby steps for a team trying to crawl away from one of the worst months in team history.

“Will it work out? I guarantee you this: This is a very good ballclub,” Tracy said. “And the best of it has not even come to close to showing up. If I have to keep doing different things to get that out, I will.”

The Gonzalez shift had an interesting side effect. It jump-started Chris Nelson, who hit second. Never the owner of regular at-bats, Nelson has an opportunity. He belted two doubles, scoring in the first inning on an infield single by Tulowitzki, one of the few hitters remaining in the spot.

However, third-base coach Rich Dauer and Nelson’s aggressiveness in the sixth nearly sabotaged a win. Nelson was thrown out trying to stretch a leadoff double into a triple in the sixth at time when the Rockies’ runs are at a premium.

Smith added an RBI triple in the ninth, followed by Chris Iannetta’s run-scoring single.

Mortensen, pitching

to stay in the rotation because of the recent two-start cameo by Juan Nicasio, delivered his best performance. Using a particularly effective sinker on the hands of right-handed batters, Morten-sen limited the Padres to five hits over six innings.

The bullpen’s night was memorable. Rex Brothers made his big-league debut, recording two outs in the seventh and reaching 97 mph on his fastball. Rafael Betancourt reached a milestone with his 500th appearance, a vintage outing that lasted longer than the last day of school.

He retired two Padres before Matt Reynolds doused a bases-loaded situation by fanning Alberto Gonzalez.

“It means a lot to get 500 because something like this can only happen because my teammates put me in that position,” Betancourt said.

Gonzalez did not have a good night, striking out to lead off the game, while struggling with pitch recognition. But he also threw out Jorge Cantu at third base with a laser throw in the fourth inning. Cantu was trying to advance on a flyball, and was an easy mark for Gonzalez in his first game in center field this season.

“There’s more work and more running to do, obviously,” Gonzalez said. “But as I have said, it if makes the team better, then I am fine with it.”

Troy E. Renck: 303-954-1301 or trenck@denverpost.com

---

Looking ahead

TUESDAY: Rockies at Padres, 8:05 p.m., Root

For all his

issues this season — hip flexor, strained groin, torn thumb cuticle — Rockies right-hander Ubaldo Jimenez (1-5, 4.98 ERA) has been dominant on the road. Jimenez has pitched back-to-back complete games away from Denver, allowing a combined six hits. Also, his fastball command continues to improve and he is 7-3 against the Padres. The bad news is that the Rockies have scored just eight runs in his four road starts. Padres right-hander Tim Stauffer (1-4, 3.99) hasn’t won at home this year (0-3, 4.41). And he hasn’t enjoyed facing the Rockies’ Troy Tulowitzki (3-for-8, two walks). Troy E. Renck, The Denver Post

Upcoming pitching matchups

Wednesday: Rockies’ Aaron Cook (season debut) vs. Padres’ Dustin Moseley (2-6, 3.00 ERA), 4:35 p.m., Root

Thursday: Dodgers’ Clayton Kershaw (6-3, 3.05) vs. Rockies’ Jhoulys Chacin (6-4, 3.19), 6:40 p.m., Root

Friday: Dodgers’ Chad Billingsley (5-4, 3.70) vs. Rockies’ Jason Hammel (3-5, 3.66), 6:40 p.m., Root

Saturday: Dodgers’ Ted Lilly (4-5, 4.13) vs. Rockies’ Clayton Mortensen (2-3, 3.20), 6:10 p.m., Root

SAN DIEGO (AP) — These extra-innings games are getting tough on Atlanta Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez.

“I hope it changes soon,” Gonzalez said after Ryan Ludwick’s second homer of the night, a 2-run shot with one out in the 13th inning, lifted the San Diego Padres to a 5-3 win against the Braves on Monday night.

“I don’t know if my gut can take it another extra-inning game.”

Atlanta went extra innings for the third time in five games. The Braves are 1-2 in those games.

Ludwick’s winning shot, his fourth of the year, came on an 0-1 pitch from Cristhian Martinez (0-2). It was the fourth game-winning homer of his career.

Nick Hundley, who tied the game with an RBI double in the seventh, was aboard on a one-out walk.

Cory Luebke (1-1) pitched two innings.

Chipper Jones hit his 500th career double leading off the 12th and was replaced by pinch-runner Brandon Hicks. Brian McCann hit a dribbler back to Luebke, who threw out Hicks trying to take third. Dan Uggla singled to put runners on first and second before Freddie Freeman and Alex Gonzalez struck out.

Going into that inning, the Padres had retired 19 of 20 batters since Braves starter Derek Lowe hit an RBI single with two outs in the fifth.

“Any time you play 13 innings, it’s tough to lose,” Lowe said. “It’s not the ideal situation. But we have an off day in two days, so we just have to dig deep.”

Atlanta’s Nate McLouth singled leading off the 13th. Once again the Padres erased the lead runner when Luebke fielded Martinez’s bunt and forced McLouth at second. Right fielder Chris Denorfia made a spectacular, diving, rolling catch of Martin Prado’s fly ball, then got up and doubled Martinez off first to end the inning.

Hundley hit an RBI double off former Padres reliever Scott Linebrink with two outs in the seventh to tie the game at 3. It brought in Cameron Maybin, who opened the inning by walking off Eric O’Flaherty.

Atlanta’s Jason Heyward homered on Dustin Moseley’s fifth pitch of the game, an opposite-field solo shot to left with one out in the first.

The Padres hadn’t scored a run in Moseley’s previous four starts while he was in the game. They finally snapped that streak when Will Venable’s tying groundout brought in Orlando Hudson, who hit a leadoff single and advanced on Brad Hawpe’s double to left.

Ludwick then gave the Padres a 2-1 lead when he homered to left with two outs in the third, his third.

Atlanta came back in the fifth for a 3-2 lead. Freeman doubled down the right-field line with one out and scored on Gonzalez’s single up the middle. With two outs, Lowe singled up the middle to bring in Gonzalez.

Lowe allowed two runs and five hits in six innings, struck out eight and walked three. In his last start, he went only three innings in a 6-1 loss at Los Angeles, allowing five earned runs on nine hits.

Moseley allowed three runs and four hits in six innings, struck out two and walked none. His ERA rose from 1.40 to 1.99.

NOTES: Sidearmer Cory Gearrin made his major league debut by pitching two perfect innings for the Braves. He was recalled Friday from Triple-A Gwinnett. … The Padres recalled RH reliever Evan Scribner from Triple-A Tucson and optioned LH Wade LeBlanc to the same Tucson club. … LeBlanc was recalled from Tucson on Sunday to start against Philadelphia. He took the loss.

SAN DIEGO — At this point in the season, Edinson Volquez is a MGP candidate, as in Most Grateful Pitcher.

Volquez has given his club a big hill to climb in all three of his starts this season with a horrible first inning.

The Reds have been up to it each time. Homers by Jonny Gomes and Chris Heisey erased the deficit Monday and paved the way for a 3-2 win for the Reds in the series opener against the San Diego Padres before a crowd of 18,022 at Petco Park.

Volquez (2-0) recovered from the first inning woes and went six innings, allowing two runs on three hits. He walked three and struck out five. Volquez only threw 88 pitches. But he injured his toe, stepping in a hole on the mound. He thinks he’ll be OK for the his next start.

His ERA is 27.00 in the first inning and 1.29 after the first.

“It’s killing me, the first inning,” he said. “Theres’ nothing you can do about it but keep pitching.”

Volquez gave up hits to Will Venable and Orlando Hudson to start the first. He walked Chase Headley to load the bases. Volquez then hit Ryan Ludwick with his pitch to force in a run. Heisey made a nice play on a sinking line drive by Brad Hawpe in center for the first out. Hudson scored on the sacrifice fly.

Volquez got out of it with a 6-4-3 double play.

Volquez walked Cameron Maybin to start the second. But then a switch seemed to flip inside Volquez.

He started serving up groundballs. He started throwing strikes. And he retired the next 11 in a row.

“He started dealing,” Reds manager Dusty Baker said. “That’s the best Edinson we’ve seen in a couple of years.”

“I’ve been talking to Bryan (Price) about making good pitches,” Volquez said. “That happened tonight. I made good pitches and was getting groundballs.”

The way Mat Latos was pitching, that 2-0 hole looked pretty deep, however. Latos went 14-10 with a 2.92 ERA last year and gave up two runs or fewer in 15 straight starts.

Latos was making his first start of the year after a bout with shoulder bursitis. He looked very healthy. He did not allow a hit until Joey Votto to lead off the third. Votto was caught stealing on what looked like a failed hit-and-run (Scott Rolen swung and missed on the play).

Gomes followed with his second home run in as many days to make it 2-1.

The Reds took the lead in the fifth. Paul Janish walked with one out. Volquez struck out trying to bunt him over. Heisey, in the lineup for Drew Stubbs, drove one out to left for his first home run of the year to make 3-2.

“I’m pretty sure I hit a fastball,” Heisey said. “His velocity was dropping in the fifth and sixth. The first couple of innings he was 96 with really good life on it. I don’t know if he got tired. But I got a fastball up and in and I was able to put the barrel of the bat on it.”

Jordan Smith took over for Volquez and pitched a 1-2-3 seventh.

Alberto Gonzalez led off the eighth with a double. The Padres sent up former Red Chris Denorfia to bunt Gonzalez over. Hernandez fielded the bunt and threw to third. Rolen made a nice pick and tagged Gonzalez out.

Billy Bray came into the face Venable. The Padres sent up another former Red, Jorge Cantu, to pinch hit. He fouled off six 2-2 pitches, took a ball, then struck out swinging on the 12th pitch of the at-bat. Hernandez threw out Denorfia trying to steal on the play.

“That was great,” Baker said. “(Cantu) was guy I was trying to avoid facing.”

Francisco Cordero pitched the ninth for his second save in as many tries.

MILESTONE NOTE: Baker won his 250th game as Reds manager, making him the 11th skipper in big league history with at least 250 wins for three different teams. He won 840 games with the San Francisco Giants and 322 with the Chicago Cubs. He’s 23rd on the all-time list with 1,412.

“That’s pretty good company,” Baker said. “It’s pretty good company that’s been fired by a team or two. Somebody wants to employ you. I thank God I’ve been around this long and had the opportunity.”