• Everth Cabrera went 4 for 7 in the Tucson Padres first-ever game.

Here's a summary from Tim Hagerty of the Padres:

The Tucson Padres’ offense exploded for 18 runs and 21 hits to secure an 18-14 win in the first game in team history Thursday. Everth Cabrera was 4-for-7 with three stolen bases atop the Padres lineup, and Logan Forsythe went 2-for-3 with two home runs and four walks in his Triple-A debut.

The Padres fell behind 10-9 in the bottom of the sixth inning, but Andy Parrino’s three-run pinch-hit home run gave Tucson the lead to stay. Tucson’s clutch hitting was key Thursday, the club went 10-for-26 with runners in scoring position.

Wade LeBlanc started for Tucson and did not factor in the decision. LeBlanc allowed three runs in his first four innings, but in the fifth inning Colorado Springs added six runs to his line. In total, LeBlanc allowed nine runs, eight earned, in 4.1 innings of work.

The Padres first home game is next Friday, April 15. Find more details here.

From today's Champions League match between Inter Milan and Schalke, Dejan Stankovic scores a goal from a significant distance from the goal, and in one moment creates more excitement than the entirety of last night's NCAA men's basketball championship.

Maybe it's "Week of the Wildcat" and no one told me, but it's been six days since the men's basketball team lost to UConn. It might be time to move on, everyone. Football's coming up soonish, the Padres start playing next week. If we collectively take a deep breath, we can make it until next basketball season together.

If you’re the lucky winner, you get an official Tucson Padres cap, four free tickets to opening night on Friday, April 15, and a portrait of yourself with the new mascot. Best of all: He’ll show up at your home, office or a special event to be named later. (No weddings or bar mitzvahs.)

The Range has a real good feeling about the return of Triple-A baseball to the Old Pueblo. Padres GM Mike Feder, who brought the fun back to Hi Corbett Field when he took over the Tucson Toros back in ’89, has a great lineup of old favorites—Two-For-One Tuesday, Wiener Wednesday, Thirsty Thursday—and plenty of new of new promotions on deck at Kino Stadium. If you were a Toros fan back in the ’90s, you know what we’re talking about. If you’re not, trust in the new slogan: Back and better than ever!

Learn more here. And why not become a fan on Facebook?

Skaters bring their dogs to skateparks all the time, but more often than not, they just run around the park and get in the way when you're trying to skate. I'm not saying that bringing dogs along for a session is a bad thing, I just feel like they haven't been utilized to their fullest potential. Filmakers Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert know exactly what I'm talking about. Check out their short film "Dogboarding" for some laughs, but please, don't actually shred the streets of Tucson on your poor pup.

I might be one of ten people in town who regularly watches professional bowling on television (strangely, I don't actually bowl all that often), so I was excited to see that next week's installment of the Dick Weber PBA Playoffs would include some actual drama. In this scene, Australian two-handed bowling sensation Jason Belmonte is waiting his turn and trying to stay hydrated while a guy with Italian flag on his jersey, Brad Angelo, prepares for his shot.

What?!?!? Did you see the look on Angelo's face when he missed that shot? How dare Belmonte open a water bottle during his approach. And now, commentary from bowling expert, Walter Sobchak:

Dallas Green throws out the first pitch at Friday's spring training game between the Arizona Diamondbacks and the L.A. Dodgers. Dallas' sister, 9-year-old Christina-Taylor Green, was killed in the Jan. 8 assassination attempt on Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords that left six dead and 13 wounded, including Giffords, who is recovering at a Houston hospital. Christina had dreamed of being the first girl to play in the major leagues and her little-league uniform number, No. 12, hung on the outfield wall, along with the names of the other Tucsonans killed in the shooting rampage.

Friday's game was a benefit for the Tucson Together fund, which will help victims of the shooting with legal, medical and other expenses. Find more information on the fund here.

More images from photographer Michael Hillman after the jump.

It really was a waste to have excitable sports announcer Gus Johnson calling the Butler/Wisconsin game last night and leaving the semi-comatose Verne Lundquist on the Arizona/Duke game. Not that the result was close in Anaheim, but at least Gus would have seemed involved. In fact, it's sort of a mistake to have Gus Johnson calling everything, as evidenced by his takes on historical moments for Funny or Die:

Has any Wildcat team ever played a better second half? They could do no wrong.

And just so you know: They'll have Saturday's game on jumbo-screens at the Festival el el Barrio Viejo, so now you really don't have any excuse not to come!

Former American sumo champion Kelly Gneiting completed the Los Angeles Marathon yesterday - a race that sent a number of runners to the hospital with hypothermia - his second marathon.

After slowly but steadily working his way through a 26.2-mile course drenched by driving rain, mammoth distance runner Kelly Gneiting finished Sunday's Los Angeles Marathon in nine hours, 48 minutes and 52 seconds, probably establishing a Guinness world record for someone his size.

"I did it, but it was hell," Gneiting, 40, said, shortly after crossing the finish line in Santa Monica. "Pure hell." Featured in a Times profile last week, Gneiting is a former national champion sumo wrestler with a 60-inch waist who weighed in just before the race at 400 pounds.

Gneiting completed the marathon by jogging and walking and said there were several times when he feared he wouldn't finish, particularly when his rain-soaked feet developed terrible blisters.

"My feet were on fire," he said. "Twice, blisters popped and just about brought me to my knees.... But I kept going."