Note: Mike’s on his honeymoon until September 28! Enjoy this auto-published post and help pray that some giant breaking news didn’t drop minutes before this fun yet otherwise fluffy post went up.
The very first time the Padres & Dodgers played was back on April 15, 1969, in a game that San Diego lost 14-0. That’s not especially newsworthy, since the early Padres were awful, and in fact lost 110 games that first year. What makes that game interesting is that it was started by Dodger legend Johnny Podres, who at 36 was attempting to make a comeback after being released by Detroit in 1967 and out of baseball entirely in 1968.
Podres, who pitched parts of 13 seasons for the Dodgers on both coasts, including the deciding game of the 1955 World Series (for which he won the MVP at age 22), started the second game in Padres history despite having signed only on March 21. He faced the Dodgers only twice in his long career, allowing six earned runs in five innings in that start and then five more in 2.1 innings in Los Angeles on June 18. It was his final start; after pitching an inning in relief in the Astrodome three days later, he never returned to a big league mound.
