San Diego Padres news: Blame for loss to San Francisco, Jose Iglesias update

In our latest edition of San Diego Padres news and notes, let's discuss who deserves the blame for Monday night's heartbreaking loss in San Francisco. Also, the on-again, off-again minor league relationship with Jose Iglesias is apparently off again.

San Diego Padres: Who is to blame for loss to San Francisco Giants?

The Padres were tantalizingly close to getting back to the .500 mark on Monday night, taking a 4-2 lead into the bottom of the ninth in San Francisco. However, the Giants rallied against Luis Garcia in the ninth and Mike Yastrzemski's three-run blast in the 10th gave San Francisco a 7-4 victory, the eighth consecutive win for the streaking Giants.

Tim Hill worked a scoreless (and hitless) seventh and eighth for the Padres, needing just 19 pitches to sail through the two innings. However, manager Bob Melvin chose to lift him entering the ninth for Luis Garcia ... and that's when things began to unravel by the Bay.

Garcia threw 16 pitches in his subpar outing, with just four going for strikes. He walked two batters, including Blake Sabol to open the frame, then uncorked a wild pitch that would score Sabol after he advanced to third on a single. Garcia's second walk marked the end of his night, with Drew Carlton coming in to take over. However, Carlton didn't fare much better, walking two of the three batters he faced before exiting in favor of Ray Kerr.

While Kerr gave up the blast in the 10th that eventually won the game, it never should have gotten that far. Garcia and Melvin shared the majority of the blame for the loss, thanks to Garcia's inability to throw strikes and Melvin's decision to not stick with Hill to start the ninth. Hill has thrown as many as 30 pitches this season (and 29 on two other occasions) and hadn't been used since June 14, so it stands to reason he could have at least gotten into the ninth. However, the game changed completely when Garcia entered.

San Diego Padres news: Jose Iglesias opts out

Iglesias never got a chance to show what he could do in San Diego this season, instead piling up 123 at-bats with Triple-A El Paso and slashing .317/.356/.537 in those opportunities.

While the Padres never needed Iglesias this season, expect him to sign somewhere else and make an impact at the MLB level soon. Could a reunion with the Boston Red Sox be in his future?