Thanks to the three-day weekend, I’ve actually had some time to work on the site redesign. The template is looking pretty much the way I want but I’ve still got a ways to go in terms of converting all the documents. It’s my own damn fault, of course, because I insist on doing everything by hand. At any rate, if you’re interested, there’s a sneak peak over at http://www.geoffreynyoung.com/preview; it’s been tested with Internet Explorer 5.x but not Netscape. Don’t bother with the links; they don’t work: this is for display purposes only, as they say. If you do happen to notice anything “funky” please let me know at redesign@geoffreynyoung.com.

Okay, on to baseball. Did somebody report an offensive explosion? Seems they forgot to tell the Padres and Diamondbacks yesterday at the Q. Arizona set a record for runners left on base in a shutout loss, with 19. Pads emerged victorious as Ryan Klesko led off the bottom of the 13th with a rocket into the right-field bleachers off Byung-Hyun Kim, the victim of Ray Lankford’s game-winning grand slam a night earlier. This after the D-Backs left the bases loaded in the top of the 11th and 12th innings. Wouldn’t want to be sitting next to Bob Brenly on the flight up to San Francisco.

The Padres came into the game against Randy Johnson with a plan: make him throw as many pitches as possible and get him out of the contest. Did it work? Yes and no. On the one hand, Johnson had thrown 71 pitches through three innings; on the other, he’d struck out eight and nobody had come close to hitting him. Rickey Henderson had a couple masterful at-bats, working a 10-pitch walk to lead off the game and a 9-pitch walk after falling behind 0-2 in the third. He promptly stole second both times.

But, thanks to his usual dominating stuff and Ed Rapuano’s wide strike zone, Johnson held the Padres hitless until Phil Nevin drove a hard grounder to the left of Tony Womack with two outs in the sixth. Bubba Trammell proceeded to strike out to end the inning but by this time Johnson had thrown 114 pitches.

On the other side, rookie Brian Lawrence was matching the Big Unit, if not in strikeouts, then in the only currency that really matters: runs allowed. Though certainly not as overpowering as Johnson, Lawrence was equally effective, keeping Arizona hitters off-balance by changing speeds and locating his high-80s fastball, slider, and changeup. He worked eight scoreless innings, allowing six hits and four walks (two intentional, the other two to a guy sitting on 51 homers), while fanning six.

In the bottom of the eighth, after a one-out single to right by pinch-hitter Mike Colangelo, the Big Unit was pulled from the game. His line: 7.1, 2, 0, 0, 3, 14. The killer, though, was this: 133 pitches. The Padres had succeeded in getting Randy Johnson out of the game while it was still close. (Rick Sutcliffe, Padre color commentator and personal physician to Kerry Wood, expressed surprise at Johnson’s being pulled in those circumstances. C’mon; I know he’s Randy Johnson and all, but 133 pitches? It was a no-brainer.)

While the Pads couldn’t muster up much offense against a string of Arizona relievers, the San Diego bullpen proved just as stingy, if more nerve-wracking. Trevor Hoffman and Jeremy Fikac were outstanding, as usual (Fikac has yet to allow a run in 11 big-league innings), while Chuck McElroy and Wascar Serrano were, um, lucky: their combined line for the night was 2, 0, 0, 0, 6, 1. Yep, six walks in two innings. No runs. Between them they threw 46 pitches, 16 for strikes. And thanks to Klesko, Serrano actually got credit for the win.

The game lasted 4 hours and 17 minutes, but it was riveting all the way to the end. It’s probably one of the best games, in terms of intensity and excitement, I’ve ever seen. Of course, it helps that the Padres won, but either way, that was one heckuva game in what is turning into a pretty intense rivalry. And don’t look now, but the Pads are a game over .500, 9 back of the D-Backs in the NL West and 7 1/2 behind the Cubs in the wild-card race. With only 25 games remaining and 5 teams ahead of them, the chances of garnering a playoff spot are remote, at best. But it’s hard not to appreciate the effort this club is giving day in, day out, when few gave them a chance to even compete entering the season.

And, yet, there they are, four games ahead of the New York Mets, a 2000 playoff participant; and nine ahead of the Colorado Rockies, which spent millions to overhaul their rotation and were, according to more than one person who earns a living prognosticating such things, the preseason favorites to win the division. The Padres may not be the most expensive team around, they may not be the media darlings that some other teams are, but they come to play and are a blast to watch.

With the new stadium and the steady influx of good, young talent, there’s a lot to look forward to here in San Diego. But with the product they’re putting on the field right now, there’s a lot to enjoy in the present. Go get ‘em, boys…