So does Miguel Tejada lose some of his MVP support after dropping that feed from Mark Ellis last night? Yes, I’m being facetious. Sort of. The point is that a couple of game-winning hits late in the season shouldn’t have been enough alone to push him into MVP contention. Don’t get me wrong, Tejada is a heckuva ballplayer. He’s passed Jeter and pretty much caught Nomar. Of course, A-Rod is in a class by himself and will be for a long time to come, but there’s no shame in playing second fiddle to that guy.

What a strange way to extend a 20-game winning streak. How do you blow an 11-run lead over the Royals?

But enough of that. How ’bout those Padres? Nice to see Brett Tomko string together back-to-back solid outings. Here’s a date for you: May 28. Before last night’s game, that’s the last time Tomko struck out more than five batters in a game.

Sean Burroughs is looking real good at the plate and in the field. This is what we were expecting back in April.

Getting back to winning streaks, the Storm won their 12th straight last night against Lancaster. Took ‘em 15 innings, but they advanced and will play Modesto in the Cal League championship. Justin Germano, in what has become almost routine, pitched six solid innings. Call him "QS." Germano has made it through 5 innings in all 28 of his starts this season. He’s made it through 6 innings in 21 of those. All but one of his starts this year has rated a Shandler PQS score of 3 or higher. The one concern is that Germano has worked 180 1/3 innings. On the other hand, he’s walked just 24 batters so maybe he isn’t throwing a lot of pitches. Still, that’s a lot of innings for a kid who turned 20 last month.

The Astros designated infielder Keith Ginter for assignment the other day. Anybody think the Pads could use this guy? Stick him at second, move Ramon Vazquez back to shortstop? Sorry, it’s just that Deivi "466 at-bats with 23 games to play" Cruz is really getting to me.

For the second time in as many weeks, the Padres released Bobby Jones. This time it’s the right-hander. Reliever Jason Shiell was recalled from Portland to take his place. Trenidad Hubbard also was let go.

Felix Jose? Kevin Orie? Pat Borders? All back in the big leagues. Baseball is a funny game…