In Arizona on Wednesday, the Padres split their squad and sent half to face the Oakland Athletics and kept the other half in Peoria to face the Colorado Rockies. San Diego dropped both games, 11-6 to Oakland and 6-3 to Colorado.

In Phoenix, the Padres struck early when Alexi Amarista walked and then Chris Denorfia grounded out to erase Amarista at second base. Mark Kotsay doubled and drove in Denorfia, and after Kotsay took third on Yonder Alonso's fly ball, Kotsay scored on a single by Travis Buck and the Padres led 2-0.

The Padres had Eric Stults on the mound and Jemile Weeks greeted Stults with a home run. Seth Smith, and Adam Rosales hit back-to-back singles, and then Yeonis Cespedes drew a walk to load the bases.

Jed Lowrie then singled to left field, scoring both Smith and Rosales with Cespedes taking third base. John Jaso then hit a sacrifice fly which scored Cespedes and the Athletics were up 4-2 over the Padres at the end of an inning.

Stults was yanked in the second inning and Fausto De Los Santos took over, giving up a walk to Weeks and then a double to Rosales, scoring Weeks. Smith then singled and advanced to second on an error by Travis Buck, putting Rosales at third base.

After Cespedes walked to load the bases, Jed Lowrie singled, scoring Rosales and Smith. After two innings, the A's led 7-2.

The Padres came back in the top of the third, with a Chris Denorfia single and then with one out Yonder Alonso singled to put Denorfia at third base. Travis Buck grounded out to score Denorfia, and Logan Forsythe singled Buck home and the Padres closed the deficit to 7-4.

Adys Portillo entered and took the hill in the bottom of the third inning, and he gave up a lead-off double to Daric Barton, who moved to third base on a subsequent ground out. Barton then scored on a Jemile Weeks sacrifice fly and the A's opened up a 8-4 margin on a Padres.

In the top of the sixth inning, the Padres came back. Travis Buck singled and Kyle Gaedele came in to pinch-run for Buck, and an out later, Cody Ransom homered to left field and the Padres were down 8-6.

But the Athletics got those runs back in the bottom of the inning. Miles Mikolas came in and walked Addison Russell and former Padre Andy Parrino, and David Freitas singled to load the bases.

Scott Moore then singled home Russell, but Parrino was thrown out at the plate trying to score. Freitas took third on that throw and then scored on a ground out and the Athletics led the Padres 10-6 after six innings.

The A's added on one more run in the seventh inning, after Shane Peterson doubled off of Brandon Kloess and then after Peterson took third base on a ground out, he scored on a wild pitch. The A's easily handled the Padres 11-6 in Phoenix.

Meanwhile in Peoria, the Padres also got out to an early lead after an Everth Cabrera single and one out later Chase Headley also singled, putting Everth at third base. Jesus Guzman then singled home Cabrera and the Padres led the Rockies 1-0.

The Rockies quickly evened things against Padres starter Sean O'Sullivan in the second inning. Troy Tulowitzki walked and Willin Rosario singled, and after Charlie Blackmon sacrificed Tulowitzki and Rosario to second and third base, Jordan Pacheco grounded into a fielder's choice and Tukowitzki scored and the teams were tied.

The Padres went up again in the second inning when with one out. Kyle Blanks was hit by a pitch and then Nick Hundley doubled, plating Blanks. The Padres led the Rockies 2-1 after two innings.

In the fourth inning, with Thad Weber on the mound for the Padres, the Rockies broke the game open. Willin Rosario doubled to right field and Charlie Blackmon walked. Jordan Pacheco then doubled and Rosario scored, putting Blackmon at third base.

Chris Nelson then singled, plating Blackmon and Pacheco. The Rockies took a 4-2 lead and never relinquished it.

In the Padres fifth inning, they got a run - their last of the game - after Everth Cabrera opened with a single, and advanced to third base after Will Venable bunted and a Rockies error allowed Venable to be safe. Chase Headley then grounded into a double play but Cabrera scored and the Padres closed the gap to 4-3 in favor of Colorado.

The Rockies waited until the ninth inning to get some insurance runs. Tommy Lane pitched and Rafael Ortega and Ben Paulson greeted Layne with back-to-back singles.

After a fielding error by third baseman Gregorio Petit, Ortega and Paulson both crossed the plate. That was how it ended in Peoria with the Rockies beating the Padres 6-3.

Notes:

Remember how Time Warner Cable didn't carry Padres telecasts on Fox Sports San Diego last season? Prepare for another year of that, you poor folks who have to live with their cable service. Remember, this is the cable company that took years just to pony up for the NFL channel. Tom Garfinkel guested on the Scott & BR Show for the Padres flagship radio station on Wednesday, and he sounded entirely pessimistic about a deal getting done. However, every other carrier (Cox, DirecTV, AT&T U-verse) are on board, so you do have some good options.

Apparently, and incorrectly, we at the Padres desk here at the Reader were misinformed about when and where Padres spring training games will be telecast on radio and/or television. We're looking into it. Some games are broadcast on radio ESPN 1700 AM, but apparently not all of them. We've launched a couple of phone calls and expect an answer shortly. Meanwhile, the games usually start at 12:05 PM PST so you can take your chances there or you can always go to the MLB.com website and often get a clue there.