Broom City

SBC Park in San Francisco has been a house of horrors in recent years for my beloved Friars. But yesterday's 9-6 victory over the Giants sealed a weekend sweep for San Diego, which now sits alone atop the NL West with a 2.5 game lead over Zona and a 4.5 game lead over TrolleyWreckInc. The win also marked the Padres' 20th victory in May against just six defeats. The club continues to get solid starting pitching, strong relief from the majors' best bullpen, and timely late-inning hitting heroics from an ensemble cast.

An interesting aspect of this amazing run is that starting pitcher Woody Williams has been on the DL for the entire month, SS Khalil Greene and super-sub Geoff Blum missed the first half of the month, and 2B Mark Loretta has missed the last two weeks due to a thumb injury. While Brian Giles, Phil Nevin and Ryan Klesko have played well throughout the streak, it has been the work of the unheralded Padres that has fueled the growing confidence of this team. OF Dave Roberts, C Ramon Hernandez and bench players like Blum, Mark Sweeney, Robert Fick and yesterday's hero, Damian Jackson have played extremely well and have delivered when called upon. It seems no late inning deficit is insurmountable for this bunch. They just believe they are going to get it done.