The good news is, the Padres found the bats. The bad news is, everybody’s hurt. Mark Kotsay led the charge, as the Pads tallied 11 runs against Dennis Stark and company. Stark, who walked four in the first inning alone, somehow managed to work into the sixth. Kotsay drew two walks and slammed a mammoth three-run homer into the second deck in right field.

Jason Middlebrook worked seven shutout innings in relief of starter Brian Tollberg, who is expected to head to the DL with a sprained right elbow. Phil Nevin, playing his third game of the year at the hot corner, hurt his shoulder diving to his left to field a Todd Zeile grounder. His status is uncertain but the DL is a possibility.

Bobby Jones comes off the DL to make the start in this afternoon’s game against the Rockies. Replacing him on the DL is rookie Sean Burroughs, whose shoulder has been bothering him since last September and who was a DL candidate earlier this month. He’s struggling at the plate and in the field, and the consensus is that something’s not right with Burroughs.

I haven’t seen anything on who might be called up to replace Tollberg but logical candidates would include Triple-A right-handers Brandon Villafuerte and Junior Herndon, and Double-A right-hander Jake Peavy. My guess is that Middlebrook will take Tollberg’s spot in the rotation (even though he’s been much more effective out of the bullpen this year), with Villafuerte working middle relief. The only potential problem there is that Villafuerte may not be on the 40-man roster, in which case Andy Shibilo might resurface. We’ll see.

As for Nevin, if he’s disabled, his replacement likely would be one of the utility guys at Portland, either Cesar Crespo or Alex Pelaez. We should know more about Nevin in the next day or two.

Gettin’ excited about the draft? I am. All signs point toward the Padres snagging local southpaw Cole Hamels at #13. According to Baseball America some clubs have been scared away by an elbow injury but apparently the Padres aren’t one of them; their team doctor has helped treat Hamels, and he’s given the kid a clean bill of health.

Meantime, the Padre phase of the Matt Harrington saga is complete. Harrington failed to impress Padre brass enough to get them to meet his demands. So he continues to pitch for Long Beach of the Western League and waits to see whom he’ll get to dance with next. That can’t be very satisfying…