San Diego Surprise

When the 2010 baseball season started, almost nobody mentioned the San Diego Padres. As the usual suspects rattled off their picks to win division titles, most agreed that the National League West would be a battle between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Francisco Giants.

There was reason for such sentiment. The Dodgers, with Andre Ethier and Manny Ramirez, possess one of the best offensive teams in the game, and the Giants, led by 2009 Cy Young winner Tim Lincecum, a reborn Barry Zito and Jonathan Sanchez, who tossed a no-hitter during the 2009 season, feature one of the game's best pitching staffs.

Somehow, mesmerizingly, the Padres managed to reach Memorial Day with the best record (30-20) in the National League. Seven of the 20 losses were one-run ballgames, the wins have come despite the team's slow start, which began with a 3-6 mark in a pair of road series at Arizona and Colorado.

The success is enough to cause anyone to shrug. After all, Sports Illustrated writer Joe Posnanski, one of the greatest baseball writers in the country, picked San Diego to finish last in the division when he chimed on with his preseason predictions on Feb. 17. His lone comment? "I'm not sure why anyone would pitch to Adrian Gonzalez with that Padres lineup."

With nearly one-third of the season completed, though, the Padres story hasn't been about the team's offense. Instead, it's been mostly about defense and pitching. San Diego has allowed the fewest runs of any Major League team. They've allowed 12 fewer than San Francisco. Veteran righty Jon Garland has led the way. Signed to a one-year deal in January, Garland won six of seven straight starts after beginning the season with a pair of losses. Along the way, he has lowered his earned run average to 2.15 by Memorial Day. That put him fifth in the National League. Not bad for a guy who signed for just $4.7 million after splitting a subpar 2009 (11-13, 4.02 ERA) between the Los Angeles Angels and the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Also playing featured roles in this San Diego surprise are a pair of young guns: Clayton Richard and Mat Latos. Richard, 26, won three straight games, including a pair against San Francisco, in mid-May to run the lefty's record to 4-2. Latos, 22, won May 29 against Washington to improve his record to 5-3. The win was his fourth in his past five starts. During the five-game stretch, he allowed just five runs in 35 innings to lower his earned run average to 3.08. As recently as April 26, his ERA was 6.20.

Adding to San Diego's pitching success are Luke Gregerson, Mike Adams and Heath Bell, who has 14 saves and only three blown saves in 23 games. Gregerson and Adams, meanwhile, had 27 combined holds as of Memorial Day.

San Diego's offense has provided just enough offense to support the pitching staff, but Posnaski's comment is one that has merit. No regular starter was hitting better than .291 as of Memorial Day, and the team's 204 runs scored ranked the Padres 14^th out of 16 National League teams. San Diego also ranked near the bottom in home runs, doubles, slugging percentage and batting average.

Despite the paltry offense, the Padres sneaked up on a lot of folks, including some teams that might have taken them for granted. After all, San Diego didn't start the season with aplomb. The team didn't start to show signs of life in mid-April. San Diego won eight straight due in part to three-game sweeps of Arizona and those pesky Giants, who twice lost one-run games. In mid-May, though, it appeared the Padres were ready to unravel. The Dodgers swept three games, and the Giants split a two-game series. San Diego, though, responded by going 5-3 in their next seven games to win series at Seattle and at home against St. Louis.

What remains for San Diego is unknown. With youthful players such as Chase Headley, Will Venable and Kyle Banks in the mix, there's a chance that the bats will warm up this summer. If they don't, though, there's an even greater chance that things will turn south when the pitchers begin to wear down. That is unless San Diego's front office finds some hitters to fill the void either through trades or call-ups from the minors, where the Padres appear to have limited help.

But perhaps all the hitters needed was a little boost of faith. Perched atop the National League West, San Diego's offense caught fire for 18 runs on 19 hits in a May 31 win against New York. Nine players knocked in runs against the Mets, and Chris Denorfia had three hits to raise his season average to .325. Stay tuned. The incredible run just might make it to autumn.

Sources

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/joe_posnanski/02/16/february.predictions/index.html

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/teams/pitching?team=sdg

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/teams/batting?team=sdg

http://espn.go.com/mlb/stats/team/_/stat/batting/year/2010/seasontype/2/league/nl

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/boxscore?gameId=300531125