Just finished watching a wild one between the Padres and the Mariners. The Pads took two out of six from Seattle this year, which is better than most teams are doing against the M’s.

Speaking of the Padres, talk is Damian Jackson will get some time at shortstop when he comes off the DL. They haven’t been real thrilled with the three-headed beast that’s been getting most of the time there, and they’d like to see what Cesar Crespo can do at second base.

And while I’m on the subject of second base, the Union-Tribune this morning reported that Xavier Nady will be playing there in the Arizona Fall League this coming off-season. Here’s hoping he can pull it off. Can you say, Jeff Kent? Heck, even Jay Bell would be okay as far as I’m concerned.

In other news, the Padres today shipped Carlton Loewer back to Triple-A Portland after two miserable starts (both against the aforementioned Mariners, poor guy) and brought up young righthander Junior Herndon. I haven’t seen him pitch but from looking at the numbers and reading the reports, he sounds like another Buddy Carlyle to me. Like Carlyle and Brian Lawrence, he’ll have to impress very quickly or risk being buried by sexier prospects.

Finally, I’d just like to say thanks to Wally Joyner, who retired yesterday on his 39th birthday. He was a classy guy and fun to watch on the diamond. Wally, you’ll be missed.