• Samantha Sais

If you didn't get your chance to see Anthony Rizzo hit a home run at Kino Stadium, you've missed your chance, at least for now. The slugger has been called up to The Show and will start tonight:

Rizzo will make his Major League debut, starting at first base, and, according to Black, will hit somewhere between fifth and eighth in the order.

It figures to be the first of many starts this season for Rizzo.

"We're not bringing this guy up to platoon," Hoyer said.

Rizzo, who was hitting .365 with 16 home runs and 63 RBIs with Triple-A Tucson, flew to San Diego on Wednesday morning to have his sore thumb and the bone bruise in his left hand examined by the team's medical staff.

The hand checked out fine, paving the way for Rizzo's debut.

But there's still plenty of fun out at Kino Stadium. Tonight, the Padres start a four-game series against the Las Vegas 51s. Your pals at the Tucson Weekly are sponsoring Thirsty Thursday, so sodas and Budweisers cost just $1. Tomorrow, the San Diego Chicken will be roosting at the ballpark. First pitch is 7 p.m. and beer sales start at 6 p.m.

More details on promotions and whatnot here.

Yikes! The T-Pads got pounded last night, 24-3. Tim Hagerty of the Padres has the details:

The Tacoma Rainiers batted around in four different innings Monday, beating the Tucson Padres 24-3. The loss established new marks for the Tucson Padres in runs allowed, hits allowed (22) and margin victory by an opponent. Between Sunday and Monday, Tacoma has scored 40 runs on 40 hits at Kino Stadium.

Matt Buschmann suffered the loss for Tucson, allowing 11 runs, nine earned, in two innings of work. The Padres used a position player on the mound for the second consecutive night, with catcher Guillermo Quiroz pitching the ninth inning one night after Bobby Kielty did the same for Tucson. Mike Carp led Tacoma’s offensive barrage, going 4-for-6 with two home runs and seven RBIs. Carp now has 19 home runs to lead the Pacific Coast League.

Michael Saunders and former San Diego Padres catcher Josh Bard had four hits each for Tacoma. Padres reliever Scott Munter was ejected in the seventh inning for arguing balls and strikes from the mound. Matt Clark and Will Venable each went 2-for-4 with a double. Jesus Guzman and Luis Martinez also had two hits for the Padres in the losing effort.

Next Game: Tuesday, 7 pm — Tacoma LHP Nate Robertson (0-1, 4.50) vs. Tucson LHP Wade LeBlanc (4-1, 5.69)

You can get two tickets for the price of one to tonight's game with a Kraft singles wrapper. The team takes tomorrow off and then is back on Thirsty Thursday—co-sponsored by your friends at the Tucson Weekly—to start a four-game series against . Beer and soft drinks at Thursday's game only cost a buck.

The rest of the homestand includes an appearance by the San Diego Chicken on Friday night and lots more. Details on the homestand here.

The Padres won a slugfest at Kino Stadium last night, 12-8. Tonight is Bark in the Park night, with all of Tucson's baseball-loving mutts welcome at the ballpark. Details here.

Here's the roundup of last night's game from the Padres' Tim Hagerty:

The Tucson Padres scored five late runs to win a wild game Friday, 12-8 against the Tacoma Rainiers at Kino Stadium. The Padres surged ahead in the first, scoring three times. Four innings later, they scored four runs, highlighted by Nick Hundley’s three-run home run. The Padres led 7-0 at the end of six innings, but one half inning later the game was tied. Tacoma sent 11 batters to the plate in a seven-run seventh inning. The Padres bullpen walked four hitters in the frame.

With the score tied at seven, Luis Durango fouled off two pitches with two strikes and eventually hit a two-run double to put the Padres back in front. Jarrett Hoffpauir and Bobby Kielty had RBI hits three pitches apart during the Padres three-run eighth inning. Evan Scribner entered the game with two outs in the eighth inning, while the lead was still two runs, and sealed a four out save when he got Ryan Langerhans to line into a game-ending double play.

Nick Hundley caught six innings in the first game of his injury rehab assignment and went 1-for-2 with a walk and the home run. Hundley is expected to play tomorrow for the T-Pads as he continues to recover from a strained oblique muscle. The drastic Tacoma comeback in the seventh pulled a win from Will Inman, who pitched six shutout innings for Tucson, striking out eight batters.

Next Game: Sunday, 7:00 pm — Tacoma (Mariners affiliate) RHP Charlie Haeger (0-0, 7.00) vs. Tucson RHP Jon Leicester (3-0, 3.45)

• Samantha Sais

If you're a little-league player, you get into the Tucson Padres game tonight by just wearing your jersey! And tomorrow night is another Sunday Bark in the Park night, with means your furry friends are welcome at Kino Stadium. More details on the home stand here.

Last night, Anthony Rizzo hit another home run and went 3-5 as the as the T-Pads cruised to a 8-5 victory over the Las Vegas 51s. The Padres' Tim Hagerty has the deets:

Anthony Rizzo went 3-for-5 with a home run, double and two RBIs Friday as the Tucson Padres beat Las Vegas at Cashman Field, 8-5. Rizzo had missed the last two games with a sore hand. The Padres took three of four in Las Vegas, with all three wins decided by three runs or more. The Padres are now 25-31, in third place, 11 games behind first place Sacramento.

• Samantha Sais

The Tucson Padres are wrapping a road trip and returning to Tucson on Saturday, June 4, to start a four-game series against the Tacoma Rainiers, followed by four games against the Las Vegas 51s. There's a bunch of fun stuff planned at the ballpark over the next week, including a visit from the San Diego Chicken, a salute to law enforcement, a free game for Tucson little-league players, and another Thirsty Thursday. Tim Hagerty of the T-Pads fills us in on the details after the jump:

One local cyclist thinks bike riders need to be better ambassadors for cycling by being more friendly and obeying laws. Read her thoughts here.

A Tucson man is working on a photo book documenting the cycling community in Tucson. Check out some of the photos that will be included.

There are examples of how not to lock your bike on the UA campus everyday. Here are some of the worst offenders.

A Marana cyclist invents an earbud that makes it safer to listen to music while riding a bike. Check it out.

Tucson's newest bike boulevard is progressing. Crews have started adding pavement markings, which force motorists to turn rather than continue on Fourth Avenue.

While Shaq hasn't been much of a force in the NBA in recent years and nearly managed to ruin the Phoenix Suns single-handedly, he's always been the source of quite a bit of entertainment. While he won't be slowly lumbering around a court anymore after retiring from the NBA today, Quickish (my favorite sports website) has collected the essential Shaq appearances on YouTube in one handy place, for your entertainment and minus any of his rap career (thankfully).

TBJ Video: 2011 NBA Playoff Recap from The Basketball Jones on Vimeo.

NBA blog The Basketball Jones has a four minute recap of what took six weeks of games to accomplish: the evil Miami Heat vs. the not quite as evil Dallas Mavericks tonight in game one of the NBA Finals.

• Samantha Sais

The Tucson Padres brought out the big bats last night, with a 13-4 win over the Salt Lake City Bees.

The T-Pads take the field again tonight for the final game of the home stand. It's Family Night, meaning any group of four can get four tickets, four hot dogs and four sodas for a mere $20. Details here.

Here's the Padres' Tim Hagerty with a summary of last night's game:

The Tucson Padres scored 12 times in the third inning and beat the Salt Lake Bees 13-4 Sunday at Kino Stadium. The Padres sent 16 batters to the plate in the frame, picking up eight hits, six for extra bases. Aaron Cunningham was a single shy of the cycle Sunday, going 3-for-4 with six RBIs, including five RBIs in the third inning alone. Jeremy Hefner pitched 6.1 innings, allowing three runs, earning his first Triple-A win.

The majority of damage came against Scott Kazmir on his second injury rehab assignment start. Kazmir is on the Angels disabled list because of a sore back, and has had difficulties in his two starts with Salt Lake, currently showing an ERA of 36.00 after allowing 10 earned runs in 2.1 innings Sunday.

The series has been lopsided so far, with the Padres winning by 10 runs Friday, losing by eight runs Saturday, and winning by nine runs Sunday. Interestingly, the Padres 12 run inning wasn’t the highest single-inning run total in the league Sunday; the Colorado Springs Sky Sox scored 13 times in the fifth inning of their 24-6 victory over Fresno. The 12 run third was the highest scoring inning by the T-Pads this year, their previous high was six runs against Round Rock May 10th.

Next Game: Monday, 7:00 pm — Salt Lake RHP Matt Palmer (1-4, 9.26) vs. Tucson RHP Will Inman (1-4, 5.44)