Looking forward to the Padres' 2016 schedule
Bill Center, longtime sportswriter for U-T San Diego, is an employee of the Padres.
Of course, the headliner on next season's schedule, announced Tuesday, is the All-Star Game July 12 at Petco Park, plus all the festivities that surround that event, including the renovated Home Run Derby on July 11. But 2016 will also be the first time that the Yankees and Red Sox will visit Petco Park in the same season, as the Padres are paired with teams from the American League East in Interleague Play. In terms as scheduling, this is about as good as it could be for Padres fans.
This will be the second trips to Petco Park for both the Yankees (2013) and the Red Sox (2007). The Yankees will be in San Diego the weekend of July 1-3 -- the Padres last three home games before the All-Star Game. The Red Sox will visit Sept. 5-7.
Interleague play will also take the Padres to Toronto for the first time. The Padres are the last team in the Major Leagues to have not to have visited every team in the American League in Interleague Play.
The Padres will also visit Baltimore and Tampa Bay in addition to facing Seattle in their annual home-and-home series -- May 30-31 in Seattle and June 1-2 at Petco Park.
The Padres will open the 2016 season against the Dodgers on April 4 in the opener of a three-game series. The Padres' last three home games of the season will also be against the Dodgers, on Sept. 27-29.
From the scorecard
• Although the Rockies won the opener of their four-game series at Petco Park on Monday afternoon, since the 2013 All-Star Game, the Padres are 16-4 against the Rockies at Petco Park, which is the second-best home winning percentage by any team against a divisional rival in the Major Leagues. The Padres are 7-1 over their last eight games against the Rockies at Petco Park and 11-2 over the last 13. During the 16-4 run, Padres pitchers have a 2.35 ERA against the Rockies.
• Right-hander Colin Rea on Tuesday night blanked Colorado on two hits and three walks over seven innings. Rea is the first Padres pitcher since Ricky Bones on Aug. 11, 1991, to throw seven or more scoreless innings with two or fewer hits in the first six starts of his career. He is only the 14th Padres rookie to accomplish the feat and the first since Odrisamer Despaigne did it on Sept. 19, 2014, against the Giants in San Francisco.
• Matt Kemp was 1-for-4 Tuesday to extend his on-base streak to a career-high 28 games. That is the longest on-base streak by a Padre since Chase Headley also had a 28-game streak in 2012 and the longest by a Padres outfielder since Brian Giles reached base in 28 straight games in 2006. Kemp has hit safely in 26 of those 28 games with hitting streaks of 15, five and six games.
• Third baseman Yangervis Solarte had two doubles in four at-bats Tuesday night and to extend his hitting streak to nine games and his reaching base streak to 10 straight games. He is hitting .368 (14-for-38) during his hitting streak with five doubles, two home runs and four RBIs. Solarte became the first Padres player to reach 30 doubles this season.