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PADRES HAVE COME TO LIFE by Jason Martinez posted 6/08/08 What a difference three weeks can make. On May 19th, the Padres were the worst team in baseball with a 16-30 record and thirteen games behind the first place Arizona Diamondbacks. Since, the Padres have made up six games in the standings, winning 12 of their last 19 games while the D-Backs have lost 13 of 19. The Dodgers have lost 12 of 19. The Rockies have lost 12 of 18. Only the Giants (11-8) and Padres have played well during the three- week span. At the end of play today, the Padres are just seven games behind struggling Arizona and just three games behind second place Los Angeles. The most impressive part of the streak is that they've been without ace Jake Peavy since May 14th, without #2 starter Chris Young since May 21st, and without #5 starter Shawn Estes since May 28th. Still, they are 2nd in the NL with 35 quality starts. And the bullpen has been solid since the arrival of Bryan Corey and Mike Adams. With Justin Hampson and Carlos Guevara activated from the DL, Bud Black has seven relievers in the bullpen that he has confidence in using. Remember the days when Black would use 2-3 pitchers exclusively in mop-up duty. That was just a few weeks ago. And although they are still towards the bottom in nearly every offensive category, they are climbing steadily in HR's (tied for 11th in the NL) and are 8th in the NL is bases on balls. Getting on base and hitting the ball out of the park has definitely been a winning formula for the Padres the last few weeks. Talk about trading Brian Giles has died down. There is now a stronger possibility that the Padres pick up his option for 2009. And thanks to the play of Jody Gerut and Scott Hairston, there is no more talk of bringing in a young center fielder. Randy Wolf and Greg Maddux aren't going anywhere as long as this team is within striking range of the division lead. And with Tadahito Iguchi on the DL until mid-to-late July, there's a very good chance the Padres aren't trading him either. And they really aren't missing him right now because of the solid play of replacement Edgar Gonzalez. Michael Barrett and Tony Clark finally hit their first home runs as Padres. Jake Peavy should be back this week. All of a sudden, it's nice to be a Padre fan again. |