Pregame thoughts and reminders

Steve Fisher, D.J. Gay and company are on their way to PETCO Park for tonight’s festivities. D.J. is going to throw out the first pitch and the SDSU Pep Band will perform the National Anthem.

The photo contest continues through the entire homestand, so be sure to take your pictures and submit them to publications@padres.com. Winners will be announced at the end of next week.

Finally, do yourself a favor and check out Chris Denorfia’s Wikipedia page. Thanks to Darren Smith and Andy Masur for pointing out this gem.

D…J…GAY!

As you already know, tonight the Padres will honor the Mountain West Conference Tournament and regular season champion SDSU men’s basketball team for an outstanding 2011 season, in which they made it to the NCAA Sweet 16 for the first time in school history.

National Coach of the Year Steve Fisher will be joined by about 10 players from the 2010-11 team for a special pregame ceremony. Team captain D.J. Gay will throw out the Ceremonial First Pitch. The SDSU Pep Band will perform the National Anthem and will play the school’s fight song during an inning break.

As for the Padres…I BELIEVE THAT WE WILL WIN!

Records bend but don’t break

Jason Bartlett’s streak of nine consecutive games with an RBI came to an end last night (although his hitting streak ran to 10 games and counting), meaning he tied the club record for consecutive games driving in a run.  Bartlett tied streaks by both Sixto Lezcano in 1982 (April 16-27) and Steve Finley in 1996 (June 22-July 1).

JB is the second Friar this season to tie (but not break) a previous club record, as Heath Bell ran his consecutive saves streak to 41 games earlier this year, tying Trevor Hoffman’s mark from the 1997-98 seasons. (Trevor’s streak also tied Rod Beck’s then-Major League record)

Also of note is the fact that Bartlett’s streak did not include one home run.  According to the Elias Sports Bureau, over the last 65 years only one other player had an RBI in nine consecutive games without hitting a home run: Kirby Puckett had a 10-game streak for the Twins in September 1988.

Still streaking

Jason Bartlett did it again last night, driving in Chris Denorfia with a sac fly in the first inning and extending his streak to nine consecutive games with an RBI. The streak has him tied with Sixto Lezcano (1982) and Steve Finley (1996) for the club record.

The last time a player in the Major Leagues had an RBI in nine-or-more consecutive games was current Padre Jorge Cantu who had an RBI in 14-straight games across two seasons with Florida (2009-10).

Photo Contest!

From time to time, we plan to give out some tickets and other goodies to you readers.

Sound too good to be true? That’s because it is. You’ll have to earn your prizes. Introducing our first (hopefully of many) photo contest. Submit your best photo by emailing it to publications@padres.com and we’ll pick the winner. The best photo will get four tickets to an upcoming Padres game of your choice, with consolation prizes for runner-ups.

Here’s the trick…your submission must be a photo of you at a Padres game this upcoming homestand (May 18-25), which means there must be proof in the photo (think scoreboard, visiting team, etc.). Entries will be judged on creativity, hilarity, beauty and/or anything else we deem worthy. Bonus point if your picture is taken with the Friar.

Winners will be announced at the end of next week. Good luck!

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The hits keep comin’

With an 8-4 win over the Diamondbacks last night, the Padres have tied a club record by scoring seven or more runs in five consecutive games, previously done by the 1979 and 1996 clubs. Thanks to MLB.com’s Tom Singer for noting the accomplishment.

In addition, Jason Bartlett went 2-for-5 with two RBI last night and now has an RBI in eight consecutive games. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, he is one shy of tying the franchise record, set by Sixto Lezcano in 1982 and Steve Finley in 1996.  Lezcano recorded an RBI in nine straight games from April 16-27. Two Padres players have had at least one RBI in eight straight games: Carmelo Martinez (June 21-28) and Tony Gwynn (May 25-June 3), both during the 1984 season.