OK….now would be a good time to worry, Padres….

When Mat Latos can’t cure the blues, it officially becomes time to worry.

The Padres ace did his part, striking out 10 while allowing just one run on Wednesday, but the continued malaise of the offense — and one fatal pitch from Luke Gregerson — led to a 5-2 loss to the Diamondbacks, San Diego’s seventh straight loss and one that could whittle their NL West division lead to three games pending the outcome of the Rockies-Giants tilt.

Don’t blame Latos, who became the first pitcher in 24 years (Mike Scott, 1986) to allow two or fewer runs in 14 straight starts. By the time he left the game for a pinch-hitter in the seventh, Latos was in line for a win as the bullpen came in to protect a slim 2-1 lead.

The decision to pull Latos after 99 pitches was a continuation of the team’s commitment to keeping his innings low. One could only second-guess the choice, but as we have mention on this site over the last week or so, the team will have to choose between throwing the reigns off Latos in order to pursue the pennant or preserve his Cy Young-caliber arm for the future.

Throughout the season, a one-run lead was gold-in-Fort-Knox-safe with the Padres bullpen, but in what has become a Lemony Snickets-like week for San Diego, a series of unfortunate events led to another body blow.

Snickets came in the form of newly-recalled LF Brandon Allen, who took a Gregerson offering deep to right center for a backbreaking grand slam that the Padres and their suddenly pop-gun offense could not retaliate from.

Dropping three to the Phillies can be accepted, but to give up three straight to a slag-like Diamondbacks team that’s simply playing out the string in front of 15,000 a night?

Not what Bud Black had in mind when the Padres embarked upon a 16 of 19 at home stretch. Perhaps a day off tomorrow will help the process of healing themselves before a Colorado team that is still lurking in the weeds arrives to Petco Park for a three-game set.

Padres add bodies….

….yet none bigger than lefty prospect Cory Luebke, who will make his major league debut against the Rockies on Friday.

The club’s first round pick in 2007, Luebke was 10-1 with a 2.68 ERA between Class AA San Antonio and AAA Portland. A successful effort could lead to the club to go with Luebke in the rotation in place of struggling Kevin Corriea, who was shelled again in Tuesday’s loss.

Reliever Ryan Webb was also recalled after going 1-0 with an 0.87 ERA in 17 appearances in Portland, while C Chris Stewart (.248-7-39) had his Portland contract picked up by the Padres, who also brought Oscar Salazar from the disabled list.

P Cesar Carrillo, the team’s first round pick in 2005, was designated for assignment after recording a 5.14 ERA at Portland.

Tags: Bud Black, Cesar Carrillo, Cory Luebke, Kevin Correia, Luke Gregerson, Mat Latos, Ryan Webb

Padres drop sixth straight…now can we panic?

It’s not time to panic, but keep the red button close.

The Padres dropped a sixth straight game on Tuesday as the Diamondbacks touched them for a 7-4 loss that — combined with the Giants’ win over the Rockies — leaves them with a four-game lead as September arrives.

Like Monday’s loss, San Diego jumped out to a quick first inning lead on RBIs from Adrian Gonzalez and Ryan (Remember Me?) Ludwick. After Arizona tied the score on (another) booming homer from Mark Reynolds, the Padres looked like they were on balance when Nick Hundley’s doubled in Will Venable in the fourth.

Then came the fifth….

*RBI single (Chris Young).

*Two-run double (Miguel Montero).

*Two-run single (Geraldo Parra).

Say goodnight to Kevin Corriea (and his 5.52 ERA), and say hello to extending the club’s worst streak of 2010.

Corriea (six hits, six earned runs in 4.1 innings) is now 10-10, has not pitched beyond the seventh inning this season and could again be in danger of being moved from the rotation in favor of Tim Stauffer. He has been a reliable innings eater for most of the campaign, but manager Bud Black will have to revisit a situation that confronted him in late June when Corriea lost five of six starts in the wake of the death of his brother.

Sympathy aside, the Padres need to make a decision now.

Black will also have to make a decision on how to jolt the bat of Ludwick back to life. He went 1 for 3 with an RBI on Tuesday, but his lack of power in the cleanup spot is counterproductive to the purpose of trading for him. A day or two off in favor of Aaron Cunningham, who was smoking the ball before being sent down after the acquisition of Ludwick, is an option.

The upside?

There’s two: the Padres still remain in first place and Mat Latos is on the hill today. The team still remains torn on how hard to push Latos beyond the 150-18o innings limit they have in place for him, but it’s becoming obvious that as this race gets tighter, the fate of the season could lie in the right arm of a 23-year-old who has become the team’s ace.

Tags: Aaron Cunningham, Adrian Gonzalez, Bud Black, Kevin Correia, Mat Latos, Nick Hundley, Ryan Ludwick, Will Venable

Padres showing signs of wilting?

OK. Now it’s getting serious.

Coming into Monday’s series opener at Arizona, the hope was that a few days of teeing off against one of the worst pitching staffs in the majors would be the tonic for a San Diego lineup that scored just three runs over the weekend against Philadelphia.

Think again.

A 7-2 loss to the Diamondbacks has stretched the Padres losing streak to five games, and now, for the first time, the question of whether a team that has played over its head all season may be showing signs of wilting under the pressure of a playoff chase no one suspected they would be in four months ago.

The Pads cannot assume that the Giants will continue to slag along like they have over San Diego’s current stretch; San Francisco has also lost seven of their last 11 and have only picked up a game in that span, trailing by five as the calendar prepares to flip into the overdrive that is September.

San Diego’s bats, which were dormant against Philadelphia, showed signs of awaking from their slumber, managing 10 hits. After a weekend in which they had only two extra base hits, the Padres recorded three on Monday, including Miguel Tejada’s first inning two-run homer than accounted for the scoring.

Again, a lack of clutch hitting wounded the Padres, as they failed time and again to deliver a key hit with runners in scoring position. San Diego was able to frequently get an inning started with a hit, but two double plays and surprising pitching from shell-shocked starter Joe Saunders squelched threat after threat.

As for San Diego’s pitching, the time may be coming for Tim Stauffer to finally get a look in the rotation. Starter Wade LeBlanc was tagged for six runs in three innings, including a pair of mammoth homers from Diamondbacks 3B Mark Reynolds, he of the Rob Deer-like .215 average.

Stauffer limited Arizona to a pair of hits in three innings of work, lowering his ERA to 1.08. With LeBlanc and Kevin Corriea sporting ERAs of 4.15 and 5.29, respectively, manager Bud Black may be forced to pull Stauffer from long relief and have him stem the tide in the rotation.

Perhaps a spark can be found in Stauffer or Chris Young, who will make his rehab start for Class AAA Portland later tonight.

It’s too early to panic, but it’s not too soon for concern.

Tags: Bud Black, Chris Young, Kevin Correia, Miguel Tejada, Wade LeBlanc

One long, lost, fruitless weekend for Padres

The Phillies are leaving town, and not a moment too soon. Maybe now the Padres will remember what it’s like to experience exquisite pleasures such as getting on base and scoring runs.

Those two elements were lost treasures over a weekend of sputtering offense from San Diego, which fell 5-0 to local native Cole Hamels on Sunday, resulting in the club’s first four-game losing streak of 2010. The Padres managed just five hits, three of them from 1B Adrian Gonzalez. It capped off a frustrating three game stretch in which the club produced just two extra base knocks and scored three runs.

Not only did the offense misfire, the normally-reliable defense kicked the ball around Petco Park, committing a season-worst four errors.

San Diego’s Sunday magic failed to materialize, as the loss snapped a 10-game winning streak on the Sabbath.

San Francisco’s 9-7 win over Arizona allowed the Giants to gain a game on San Diego, trimming the Padres’ grip on the National League West to five games with 33 left in the season.

Clayton Richard allowed just four hits and struck out five over 7.2 innings, but gave up four runs, including Mark Sweeney’s two-run homer in the seventh that broke open a 1-0 pitcher’s duel. Reliever Luis Perdomo’s Padres debut was anything but memorable as he allowed a solo homer to Jayson Werth in the ninth that tacked on insurance for the Phillies.

If there is an upside to this botched weekend, it’s that the Padres head to the desert for a three-game set with the best tonic available for their lifeless bats, the Diamondbacks’ pitching staff.

Oh, to be Young again

Chris Young will pitch his first game since May 2 when he makes a rehab start for Class AAA Portland on Tuesday.

On the disabled list since April 7, Young has gradually worked his way in hopes of returning to the Padres rotation in time for the pennant drive, although the club has not made a determination on whether he pitch again this season. He threw 55 pitches in his last simulated start on Thursday, with manager Bud Black saying Young’s “last 30 pitches were better than his first 25.”

Tags: Adrian Gonzalez, Bud Black, Chris Young, Clayton Richard

Offense, oh offense….where art thou?

Anyone seen the Padres offense in the last 24 hours?

If so, Bud Black would love to talk with you.

Jon Garland’s effort should have put him in line for a win, but San Diego’s punchless lineup failed him in a 3-1 loss to Philadelphia in front of a national viewing audience on Saturday afternoon, assuring that the Phillies will the weekend series between two potential playoff teams.

Philly still owns Petco Park, as the win improved their record to 17-4 in San Diego since 2004.

After watching the lineup manufacture three runs and 16 hits(two for extra bases) in 21 innings in the last two games, it feels like it’s been since 2004 that the Padres have strung together an offense. Saturday’s lackluster effort was more disappointing considering that Garland (13-9) gave up three hits over 6.1 innings of work.

Alas, San Diego’s offense managed only Garland’s RBI single in the fifth (geez, make him do all the work, huh?) as OF Ryan Ludwick’s bat continued to remain in deep freeze while Phillies starter Joe Blanton and three relievers combined to retire 11 of the last 12 Padres who stepped to the plate.

Maybe the weekend brownout is just a blip on the screen, but with the loss of leadoff hitter Jerry Hairston, Jr., who was placed on the disabled list (right elbow strain) on Friday, the offense could be facing an unwelcome sense of discomfort while wasting solid pitching efforts from Garland and Mat Latos.

David Eckstein led off on Saturday, batting 1 for 4. He will likely maintain the role atop the order, especially since his .286/.357 mark in 18 games at the leadoff spot has made him the most effective option outside of Hairston.

But it’s the funk of Ludwick that has been a concern in the middle of the order. Saturday’s 0 for 4 performance dropped his average to .225 (21 for 93) in 26 games since arriving from St. Louis at the trade deadline. He hasn’t homered since August 12 and has just one double in his last 10 games.

Fortunately, the Giants have been too inept to close within six games of the West division lead. Hopefully, the Pads will be able to avoid emulating their pursuers before the two meet in a four-game set early next month.

Tags: Bud Black, David Eckstein, Jerry Hairston Jr., Jon Garland, Mat Latos, Ryan Ludwick

Phillies-Padres preview

Pads ace Mat Latos looks for his 14th victory when the Phillies visit Petco tonight.

Coming off an 11-5 blowout loss to Arizona on Thursday, the last thing San Diego needs is a pitching slump, especially when a heavy-hitting team in a funk comes to town in search of a tonic.

Which is why the Padres will throw Mat Latos in tonight’s opener against the Phillies, who come into Petco Park reeling after being swept at home by the Astros.

The Padres don’t suspect that a red-hot Latos will suddenly lose his grip versus a Philadelphia team that managed just nine runs to a Houston squad that has spent all season lagging in the lower rungs of the National League Central. Granted, the Phils have been battered by injuries in the same manner eyes and ears have been with Jersey Shore, but they still run out the likes of Jimmy Rollins, Chase Utley, Ryan Howard and Jayson Werth.

This weekend’s potential playoff showdown sowed its roots in a four-game set in early June, as the Padres — who were still searching for an offensive identity at the time — managed a split at Citizens Bank Park despite scoring more than three runs just once. Like tonight, Latos opened the series, losing 3-2 against Phillies ace Roy Oswalt in a shaky five-inning, 103-pitch effort that saw him walk four and strike out six.

San Diego was 2 for 19 with runners in scoring position in their two losses, but were a more respectable 4 for 15 in the two wins over the defending NL champs.

The additions of CF Chris Donorfia, RF Ryan Ludwick and SS Miguel Tejada should give the Padres ample firepower to match up against the Phillies, but Donorfia could be out of the lineup after cramping up during the ninth inning of Thursday’s loss.

It would probably help San Diego if Ludwick remembered that he was traded to hit the ball. He enters tonight batting .133 with four RBIs in his last nine games, while a rash of migraine headaches have plagued 2B Jerry Hairston, Jr. over the last week; he’s gone 3 for 20 since the headaches emerged.

Phillies-Padres pitching matchups

Tonight

Roy Oswalt (9-13, 3.22) vs. Mat Latos (13-5, 2.33), 10:05 p.m. Eastern

Saturday

Joe Blanton (5-6, 5.32) vs. Jon Garland (13-8, 3.25), 4:10 Eastern (FOX)

Sunday

Cole Hamels (7-10, 3.47) vs. Clayton Richard (12-5, 3.55), 4:05 p.m.

Tags: Chris Denorfia, Jerry Hairston Jr., Jon Garland, Mat Latos, Miguel Tejada, Ryan Ludwick

Diamondbacks leave nasty bite on Correia, Padres

Ow. That stung.

Sooner or later, you had to know the Padres were due for a swift, brutal kick in the keister, the kind that brings San Diego fans back to earth and remind them there is still work to do before handicapping the National League playoff field.

Thursday provided that beatdown, as the Diamondbacks finally tired of being the Padres’ whipping boy at Petco Park and laid down an 11-5 drubbing that was worse than the score indicated.

It couldn’t been much worse for San Diego starter Kevin Correia. OK, maybe if someone stole his glove and he was denied access to the postgame spread, but failing that, this was an afternoon of work he’d like to forget.

Not that he was around to enjoy much of it. Arizona’s offense took advantage of Corriea’s batting practice-caliber stuff, pistol whipping him for nine runs and nine hits before Bud Black came to the mound to call the dogs off his hurler after 3.1 innings. No one was as sad for Correia’s early exit than D’Backs SS Stephen Drew and CF Chris Young, who pounded out four hits and drove in eight runs off him.

In the day’s biggest understatement, Black said that Correia “couldn’t string his pitches,” which is akin to saying that Fox News couldn’t string together a series of compliments about the current Commander in Chief.

Other than the joy of seeing Drew (7 for 14, three homers, four doubles, six RBIs) and P Ian Kennedy (12 Ks on Thursday) get the hell out of San Diego, the day did see some good for the Padres. Adrian Gonzalez connected for his 27th homer of the season, an eighth inning grand slam that moved him past Phil Nevin for second on the club’s career home run list with 157.

Beyond that….meh…

Denofria carried off field

CF Chris Denofria cramped up while sliding into second base in the ninth, resulting in him being carried off the field. What originally looked like a scary situation turned out to be less serious, as the cramps are expected to reside and get Denofria back into the lineup as early as tomorrow night’s game against the Phillies.

Tags: Adrian Gonzalez, Bud Black, Chris Denorfia, Kevin Correia, Phil Nevin

Looks are deceiving with Venable

Yeah, Will Venable is batting .238, and his .333 OBP doesn’t strike the average fan’s taste.

Yet diehard fans, stat geeks — and savvy fantasy league owners know better.

Let me guide you over to Fangraphs.com, one of the best baseball sites on the Googles. Take a closer look at the Padres part-time OF, and the numbers will tell a different story, one that takes a further look at how valuable he has been to the Padres’ surprising run to the National League West lead.

The biggest difference in Venable’s value has been his improved plate discipline. Last season, Venable’s walk rate was a paltry 7.7 percent, a major factor in why he reached base at a .323 clip. Thus far in 2010, Venable’s patience has improved slightly, as he has boosted his rate to 12.1 percent while watching his BB/K ratio climb from 0.28 to 0.41.

Getting on base has allowed Venable to implement his biggest asset: speed.

Venable’s 25 steals is seventh in the National League; more impressive is his .862 success rate, which shows that the Princeton grad is shrewd and calculating when it comes to causing havoc on the basepaths. He has racked up four times as many swipes than he recorded last year (six) in almost as many at-bats (290, compared to 293 in 2009).

His 8.2 speed total would rank second only to Tampa Bay’s Carl Crawford 8.7 if Venable had enough plate appearances to qualify. Keep in mind, though, that Venable has spent much of the season in a timeshare with a host of outfielders and also had a stint on the disabled list in late July that cost him significant time.

For all of those perusing his batting average and dismissing his value, Venable has 11 homers and 69 runs with his limited appearances. Among his teammates, only MVP candidate Adrian Gonzalez (87.3) and Chase Headley (65.6) have a better wRC total than his 43.2.

On a team filled with a host of unsung contributors, Venable’s numbers have stood out.

One just has to look a little deeper to appreciate them.

Tags: Adrian Gonzalez, Chase Headley, Will Venable

Diamondbacks-Padres preview

The Padres enter a stretch in which they could deliver an anaconda-like grip on the National League West race.

Tonight’s visit from the Diamondbacks opens a run of 16 of their next 19 at Petco Park. Making matters more exquisite for the Pads is that the only road trip will be in the form of a three-game set at Arizona next week.

Only the Phillies, who come in this weekend, will interrupt San Diego’s run of facing NL West foes, including a four-game set against second-place San Francisco (September 9-12), which enters tonight’s play trailing the Padres by 5.5 games.

Life is good….

As for the Diamondbacks, the Pads have had their way with the division’s basement dwellers, having gone 8-4 against them, including a 6-0 record at Petco Park. San Diego has averaged seven runs at home against Arizona, which has gone almost a year (Sept. 15) since winning on the road against the Padres.

A win tonight would assure the Padres of a seventh straight winning month of baseball dating back to last August, a feat that only the Yankees can boast of.

Latos gets extra rest

The Padres will give ace P Mat Latos extra time off between starts in order to keep the young hurler from fatigue in the midst of a pennant drive.

Latos’ next start was pushed back to Friday, where he will open the weekend series against the Phillies. The club has all but junked the March plan of keeping him at 150 innings and will attempt to keep Latos — who is at 142.2 innings — between 150-180, but is aware that plan could get tossed aside if San Diego is pitching well into October.

Picking up the scoring pace

With eight games remaining in the month, the Padres should be able to eclipse the 116 runs they scored in May, which ranks as the club’s best monthly output this season.

San Diego has scored 103 runs in August, and with six games against a Diamondbacks team that they have averaged six runs per game against, should cross the threshold.

Arizona-San Diego pitching matchups

Tonight

Rodrigo Lopez (5-11, 4.94) vs. Clayton Richard (11-5, 3.69), 10:05 p.m. Eastern

Wednesday

Joe Saunders (7-13, 4.54) vs. Wade LeBlanc (7-11, 3.85), 10:05 p.m. Eastern

Thursday

Ian Kennedy (7-9, 4.41) vs. Kevin Corriea (10-8, 4.82), 6:35 p.m. Eastern

Tags: Clayton Richard, Kevin Correia, Mat Latos, Wade LeBlanc

If it’s Sunday, it means the Padres won….

Sundays and Padres baseball. The two just seem to go together.

San Diego’s Sunday success continued in a 7-3 win at Milwaukee that improved their record to 14-5 this season when closing out the weekend. Homers from Adrian Gonzalez (25th) and Chase Headley (10th), coupled with Jon Garland’s 13th win, also increased the Pads’ NL West lead to six games ahead of the Giants, who were blanked (9-0) at St. Louis.

By maintaining their Sunday dominance, the Padres maintained a 1.5 game lead over the Braves for the best record in the National League.

Chew on that a second. How much Ouija board time must one have accumulated if they foresaw San Diego with the best record in the NL on August 23? Imagine if you had proclaimed that back in March, for if you had, chances are the words “rubber” and “room” would have been part of your future.

Let it sink in….the San Diego Padres have the best record in the National League.

Like John Travolta said in Broken Arrow, “ain’t it cool?”

Gonzalez’s first inning homer was pretty cool as well, for it moved him past Hall of Famer Dave Winfield for third on the franchise’s career list with 155. His next blast will tie him with Phil Nevin for second, and with 39 games remaining, the MVP candidate is well within range of Nate Colbert’s record 163 homers.

Headley’s homer in the second increased the lead to 2-0, and proved to be more than enough for Garland to overcome a so-so effort over 5.1 innings before giving way to the bullpen, which held the Brewers to just three hits the rest of the way.

San Diego comes back home to Petco Park to face the Diamondbacks on Tuesday with a chance to equal the team’s 75-win output from last season. That the Padres completed a 7-3 road trip should send a clear message to the Braves, Reds and Phillies that homefield advantage would matter much to San Diego come October.

“Every win kind of gets you one step closer to where you want to be,” said Headley.

Aint’t it cool?

Tags: Adrian Gonzalez, Chase Headley, Dave Winfield, Jon Garland, Nate Colbert