These Padres Aren't Too Shabby

I did a little reading on the red eye flight back from L.A. and came upon this incredible set of statistics:

- since July 28, the Padres have the 4th best record in all of baseball (22-15 before Sunday night's game against the hated Dadgers);

- the Padres have won nine of their last 12 games; and

- the Padres have won nine of their last 12 series.

That's quite a run by the young Drinos. It's happening with a lot of the same position players who look to make up next summer's roster: Adrian Gonzalez, David Eckstein, Everth Cabrera, Will Venable, Tony Gwynn, Jr., Chase Headley and/or Kevin Kouzmanoff (that will be interesting), Nick Hundley and, until last week, Kyle Blanks. On the pitching side, Mat Latos, Clayton Richard, Kevin Correia and Tim Stauffer - all guys who figure into the rotation mix in 2010 - are pitching well enough to keep the Drinos in ballgames. The bullpen guys - Luke Gregerson, Adam Russell, Ed Mujica, Joe Thatcher, Heath Bell - will all be back next season.

In sum, I'm already stoked for 2010, but I'm just as stoked for the final 3 weeks of the year. Despite today's loss to the Gints, the Padres will be competitive and will have a say in what team makes the NL Wild Card.

Nice job, Kevin Towers, putting together a team with some potential.