Sean Burroughs Is Back!

Say what you will about Sean Burroughs' lifetime .280/.340/.358 line (wait, that's not that bad! why didn't they just move him to second base!) as a Padre, but I will never forget his 2-out, 2-run, 9th-inning double off Armando Benitez late in the '05 season that helped clinch the division.

I was listening to the radio broadcast in my office and immediately sent this one-word e-mail to my friends: "Burrrrrrrrroooouggggggghhhhsss!"

(Or something close to that. The original may have had less "r"s.)

I wish him well with the DBacks. So long as it doesn't interfere with the Padres interests.

The Return of Brad Hawpe

I won't soon forget where I was when Brad Hawpe hit a go-ahead two-run bomb Saturday afternoon against the Rockies.

I was sitting on my sofa, my 3-month old daughter crying in my lap, the underrated Jay Baruchel film She's Out of My League on the television, the Padres game playing silently on the computer in front of me.

I look up as the count goes to two strikes on Hawpe (and, coincidentally, as Alice Eve walks across the TV screen). I look down and Hawpe is rounding the bases.

One of the more unexpected, outstanding bombs I can remember.

Hawpe's demise appears to have been greatly exaggerated. For the month of May, Hawpe is hitting .385/.455/.615, with 2 bombs and 8 ribeyes. Over the last 28 days, basically a full month according to my calendar, Hawpe is hitting a respectable .290/.347/.449.

Hawpe - and the Padres - have more work to do, but things are progressing nicely.

Not The Pitching Too ...

The Padres lost again last night to the Brewers, this time 8-6 in a game that at one point the Brewers led 8-0.

Small consolation.

Still, if the Padres win this afternoon, they'll be at .500 for the month, and no worse than 6 games back of first. That's not bad considering they have the worst hitting in the league. Nor is it bad considering their starting pitching, one of the team's few strengths in April, has been up and down this month.

Let's look at the starters numbers through the first 10 days of May (April ERA in parens):

Aaron Harang: 1-1 4.50 (3.90)
Tim Stauffer: 0-0 0.00 (3.12)
Dustin Moseley: 1-1 3.75 (1.99)
Clayton Richard: 0-2 8.64 (3.82)
Mat Latos: 0-1 4.63 (4.98)

After today every starter will have made two starts this month. But other than Tim's choice start against the DBacks last Friday, none of the guys has improved on his April numbers (Mat's middling improvement can hardly be counted). Aaron had a good start against the DBacks on Sunday, but that has to be paired with a disastrous outing against Pittsburgh on May 2. Moseley likewise had a great outing on May 1 against the Dadgers, only to be rocked Saturday against Arizona. And Clayton has been just bad, albeit the victim of some poor defense in his May 4 start against the Buccos.

If this up-and-down trend continues, Tim may be due for a dicey performance today. But I hope that doesn't happen.

How's that for an inspirational pregame speech?

Rob. Johnson.

So that's why Jed Hoyer brought in Rob Johnson. To win baseball games.

Rob pounded a go-ahead bomb in the bottom of the 8th, and then threw out the potential tying run at third in the 9th, to help lead the Padres to a 6-5 win over the Buccos.

What I especially liked about how Rob Johnson helped win the game for the Padres last night, was that he also very nearly helped lose it. In the top of the 6th, Mat Latos struck out Neil Walker but Rob couldn't handle the pitch and Neil reached base on the E2. Then, in the 9th, on the final strike of the game, Rob again mishandled a pitch but Ryan Doumit didn't immediately run to first base. Had Doumit run, he likely reaches the bag, the game isn't over, and the Buccos have the tying run at first. As it happened, Doumit hesitated and Rob had time to throw him out. Game over.

For now I'm calling this "The Rob Johnson Game." Hopefully that will change as Rob's heroics extend to other games, thus rendering this game just one in a long line of great Rob Johnson games, lowercase "g".

That would actually be a nice compliment for a ballplayer: "He's so good, they talk about him in lowercase."

Think about it. It works.

Nick Hundley: The Pitcher Whisperer?

Yes, the Padres lost 4-3 to the Buccos last night, snapping a 9-game winning streak against the Pirates dating back to 2009. Yes, Aaron Harang had his second straight dicey outing, giving up two first inning home runs to the likes of Chris Snyder and Garrett "Improved Plate Discipline" Jones. And yes, the Padres only went 1-8 with runners in scoring position, stranding 7 runners on base and having a runner thrown out at home.

But I did see one thing I liked in last night's game.

In the top of the 9th with the Padres protecting a 1-run lead, Bud Black called Luke Gregerson out of the pen to replace Ernesto Frieri, who had walked three of the last 4 batters (the bases weren't loaded because in between those walks Nick Hundley threw out Lyle Overbay trying to steal, in my view not even the best thing Nick did in the inning.) Luke promptly walked the first batter he faced and threw a bad looking ball to the next batter, Steven Pearce. It was then that Nick Hundley stepped up. He walked out to the mound, said a few words to Luke, patted him on the ass, and went back to his spot behind the plate.

Luke struck out Pearce in three more pitches. Then he got McCutchen to ground out to end the inning.

So yes, the Padres didn't win the game, but I liked what I saw in the interaction between Nick and Luke. That bodes well for Nick's increasing ability to handle the Padres pitching staff.

The Inevitable Dustin Moseley Shutout Win

What goes around comes around.

The Padres have been shutout 7 times this season, and only scored 1 run in Dustin Moseley's first four starts, but yesterday reversed the polarity of those two trends, and won 7-0 over the Hated Dadgers.

I wasn't able to watch the game, but in looking at the highlights, Dustin's pitches had a lot of bite. Most notably, he K'd Matt Kemp looking in the 7th with a pitch that bit at the absolute last moment over the outside corner of the plate. Pure nasty.

After six starts Dustin's ERA stands at 1.63, good for second in the National League, and fourth best in all of baseball, behind some no-namers like Josh Johnson, Jered Weaver, and Dan Haren. He's not doing it with gaudy peripherals, but like the saying I just made up goes, why worry about peripherals as long as you're keeping earned runners from scoring?

The First Annual Anthony Rizzo/Jaff Decker/James Darnell April 2011 Padres Minor League Honor Roll

After last night's glorious 5-2 victory over the Hated Dadgers, the Padres finished April 10-17, 8 games back of the Colorado Rackies. From an offensive standpoint, they played about as poor as they could possibly play, finishing at the bottom of the NL in all three triple-slash categories. These are not numbers for the faint of heart: .211/.293/.308. But that's why I feel some optimism heading into May. The Padres can't continue to hit that poorly - they really can't - and they have 11 games this month against the Pirates, DBacks, and Nationals. Sure, they get the Rockies too, but I'm guessing they finish May just a few games under .500, poised to hit the ground running in June.

In the meantime, and speaking of optimism, let's take a look at the top Padres minor league performances in the month of April. A lot of guys swung some big time wood last month, and a few other guys pitched well, so it would be an oversight not to commend them.

Tucson Padres

1B - Anthony Rizzo: .400/.471/.744
3B - Jesus Guzman: .344/.439/.467
2B - Logan Forsythe: .313/.429/.525
RHP - Jon Leicester: 1-0, 2.84, 11/8, 1.16 WHIP

If Rizzo doesn't make the May Honor Roll, it's because he's raking in the Diago.

San Antonio Missions

3B - James Darnell: .410/.520/.705
CF - Blake Tekotte: .375/.474/.675
OF - Jaff Decker: .316/.449/.759
LF - Dan Robertson: .270/.405/.460
1B - Cody Decker: .298/.337/.714
RF - Sawyer Carroll: .333/.377/.579
C - Kyle Phillips: .344/.362/.500
SS - Beamer Weems: .324/.390/.500
RHP - Anthony Bass: 3-1, 3.45, 18/7, 1.15 WHIP
RHP - Casey Kelly: 2-0, 4.10, 19/9, 1.48 WHIP
RHP - Brad Brach: 7 saves, 3.97, 19/1, .97 WHIP

Who plays second base for the Missions? That guy needs to get his act together (just kidding: it's usually Vinny Belnome who just missed making the April Honor Roll).

Lake Elsinore Storm

3B - Jedd Gyorko: .380/.442/.652
3B - Edinson Rincon: .369/.419/.524
CF - Reymond Fuentes: .306/.344/.400
RHP - Chris Fetter: 1-2, 3.32, 22/2, 1.29 WHIP
RHP - Jerry Sullivan: 3-1, 3.32, 13/8, 1.58 WHIP
RHP - Matt Lollis: 1-4, 5.13, 29/8, 1.14 WHIP
RHP - Erik Hamren, 4 holds, 1.69, 15/1, .66 WHIP

Fuentes: feel free to go ahead and start flashing some power anytime you're ready.

Fort Wayne TinCaps

3B - Jake Blackwood: .321/.360/.631
C - Tommy Medica: .323/.397/.523
RHP - Keyvius Sampson: 3-1, 1.29, 28/8, .67 WHIP
LHP - Mark Hardy: 1-3. 2.31, 13/7, 1.07 WHIP
LHP - Andrew Werner: 1-3, 3.27, 21/6, 1.09 WHIP

The lack of name prospects in the everyday lineup when Tate and Williams are injured is startling. But all hail Keyvius, and a shout out to Peorian Andrew Werner.

The relentless progression of time continues. May starts today.