Sigh. The players’ union has set the date for a possible strike: August 30. Here’s hoping MLB can get its act together before then and avoid a repeat of 1994.

On a happier note, how ’bout those Padres. I can’t even remember the last time they swept anyone.

Thanks to readers Kristi and Don for confirming what I had guessed yesterday. Justin Germano has been promoted to Elsinore. Don also pointed out that RHP Chris Oxspring has moved up from Elsinore to Mobile, LHP Tom Lipari from Euguene to Ft. Wayne, and LHP Kevin Beavers from Idaho Falls to Eugene.

Khalil Greene made his first appearance at third base last night. Not sure why.

In other news…

SDSU’s Anthony Gwynn was named the 12th best prospect in the Cape Cod Baseball League. Gwynn hit .291/.364/.333 for Brewster.

USD grad Ricky Barrett is dominating the Appy League in his pro debut. The left-hander, drafted in the seventh round by Minnesota, has a 1.25 ERA over 57.2 innings at Elizabethton, with 73 strikeouts against just 45 hits and 23 walks.

Seven Padres will participate in the AFL. Pitchers Brad Baker and Mike Bynum; infielders Tagg Bozied, Jake Gautreau, and Ben Risinger; and outfielders Vince Faison and Xavier Nady will play for the Peoria Javelinas. Risinger will be activated only for Wednesday and Saturday games.

Something that’s been gnawing at my soul for a while is the issue of Corey Patterson. Remember all those walks he was drawing at the start of the season? Check this out:

 AB  R  H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB CS   BA  OBP  SLG
 90 10 30  5  3  1   8 10 14  7  0 .333 .400 .489
365 46 89 18  1 12  37  8 86  8  2 .244 .260 .397

I still think Patterson is going to be a heckuva player once he figures out what he’s doing. After all, Patterson just turned 23 on Tuesday. But it is disturbing that he ditched an approach that was working for him and hasn’t productive since then (except for a recent power surge).

Finally, taking a cue from TwinsGeek.com, I thought it might be fun to look at the most similar players by age (according to Baseball Reference) for a few Padre players:

• Ryan Klesko, age 30: Tim Salmon
• Phil Nevin, age 30: Jeromy Burnitz
• Mark Kotsay, age 25: Garry Maddox
• Bubba Trammell, age 29: Chet Laabs
• Wiki Gonzalez, age 27: Nelson Santovenia
• Ray Lankford, age 34: Fred Lynn
• Bobby J. Jones, age 31: Jon Lieber
• Kevin Jarvis, age 31: Mike Oquist
• Adam Eaton, age 23: Jason Isringhausen
• Brian Lawrence, age 25: Gordon Jones
• Trevor Hoffman, age 33: John Wetteland
• Tom Davey, age 27: Beetle Bailey (just kidding, it’s Tim Layana)

A few notes. Klesko’s most similar player at age 29 was HOFer Willie Stargell. The Nevin comp is amusing, because he and Burnitz almost were traded for one another a couple winters ago. Kotsay’s most similar player from ages 22-24 was Johnny Damon. Laabs, Trammell’s counterpart, played from 1937-1947; Trammell’s best active comp is Brian Daubach. The Eaton/Isringhausen comparison is interesting; Izzy blew out his arm at the same age and for a while it looked like he wouldn’t have a career. But he’s come back strong as a closer.

Frivolous but fun. That’s all for now…