Few quick notes from Tuesday night’s game:

• Didn’t get to our seats till the bottom of the second, so we missed Brian Giles’ first Padre at-bat in San Diego. From the ticket window it sounded like he got a pretty good reception. And all the folks, such as myself, who missed his first trip to the plate cheered wildly in his second.
• Ben Howard looked good. Scoreboard had his fastball at 91-94 mph. Had his changeup at 86-87, which doesn’t seem like enough separation to me. Weird thing about Howard is once or twice an inning, he’ll throw a pitch that isn’t anywhere near the plate. I mean, it’s hard even to figure out what he’s trying to do with those. Howard also collected his first big-league hit, a grounder between third and short.
• Phil Nevin hit a bomb to left-center that landed about four rows in front of us. I didn’t pick up the trajectory until it was maybe 30-40 feet away. Man, am I glad it landed where it did. That would’ve been hard to explain. (Just saw the replay on TV; I’m the idiot in the upper right corner standing and waving his hands in the air like he just doesn’t care.)
• Sean Burroughs had a single and was hit twice by pitches. If I’m counting correctly, he’s been plunked four times now in the 10 games he’s batted leadoff.
• Does anyone know what third base umpire Jim Reynolds was watching when he called Mark Loretta’s homer foul? If the ball lands in the stands directly beyond fair territory, that’s generally a good indication that the ball was fair. Thankfully at least one of the other guys in the crew saw what happened and reversed the call. But it does make you wonder what Reynolds was doing there if not watching the ball.
• I don’t know that I’ve ever seen four left-handers pitch for the same team in the same game before last night.
• John Patterson looked pretty good for the Diamondbacks in his two innings of work. His fastball was barely cracking 90, but that overhand curveball was something.
• Trevor made his 2003 debut. Received a standing ovation when he entered to start the seventh. Retired the side on eight pitches. Fastball ran about 86 mph, not too far off his normal velocity. Great to see him back on the mound.
• No Khalil Greene. With the lefty on the mound, I liked my chances. But it wasn’t to be. Oh well, two out of three ain’t bad.