Pads win, 9-5. Brian Lawrence looked good early. That fastball he buried up and in on Michael Tucker for a strikeout to end the third was impressive. Surprised the heck out of Tucker, that’s for sure.

Lawrence still worked behind in the count too often and had trouble with location. It’s early in the season, but the Padres need their starters to last longer than five innings and 67 pitches. And they need Lawrence not to walk three batters in those five innings.

But a win is a win, and we’ll take it. Great games from Sean Burroughs and Ryan Klesko last night. Burroughs doubled twice and singled twice in five at-bats. Klesko had three hits before being pulled in a double switch in the fifth. I cringe every time that happens, and I sure hope that at some point he’ll be allowed to finish games. You know, just in case we need him (like the other day against Matt Mantei).

Barry Bonds is amazing. We knew that, but it bears repeating. He saw exactly one strike last night and he hammered it into McCovey Cove.

The Giants as a team hit pretty well last night. Fortunately they also grounded into four double plays, which kept killing their potential rallies. The one Phil Nevin started in the sixth was a beauty. A. J. Pierzynski grounded sharply down the line. Nevin grabbed the ball, stepped on the bag, and instead of going to second to get Pedro Feliz, spun and fired a strike home to nail Michael Tucker. I’m liking Nevin over at first.

Speaking of Nevin, he is off at the plate right now. He’s hitting a respectable .276, but he is opening up early and getting himself out on off-speed stuff down and away. There is no reason to throw him a fastball for a strike (although that’s just what Dustin Hermanson did on a 1-2 pitch in the fourth, which Nevin lined back through the middle for an RBI single; it was the last pitch Hermanson would throw). We suspected this might happen at the start of the season thanks to Nevin’s lack of spring training at-bats. No cause for concern. He’ll adjust and start driving those balls to right-center like he always does.

Oh yeah, Brian Giles is awake. His two-run blast to deep right in the first got the scoring started. He went after Hermanson’s first pitch on that one and didn’t see a lot of strikes in subsequent trips to the plate. Like Nevin, Giles will be fine. But you knew that.

Bruce Bochy found the perfect use for Eddie Oropesa last night. Bring him in to intentionally walk Barry Bonds. Then force Felipe Alou to pinch hit for Michael Tucker with Jeffrey Hammonds, thus causing Bochy to replace Oropesa with Aki Otsuka. I’m not always crazy about Bochy’s use of his bullpen, but this was classic. He got Oropesa in the game and didn’t let him throw a strike, then yanked him and got a great matchup. Otsuka promptly fanned Hammonds, who represented the tying run, to end the seventh.

Otsuka also worked a perfect eighth. Trevor Hoffman closed with a scoreless ninth in a non-save situation. Is it just me, or is this going to be a fun bullpen when Rod Beck returns?

Khalil Greene continues to impress. Single and two walks in five trips to the plate, plus some nice work in the field. Helped turn three of the four twin killings. I don’t understand why some people don’t think he can play shortstop at this level. He’s got a good first step, his arm is reasonably strong and accurate, his instincts are good. He isn’t real flashy, but who cares? Dude can play.

Ten Terrible Songs

Inspired by an article in Blender, Jeff lists his bottom 10 songs of all time. Inspired by Jeff, I list mine:

10. tie: “Cherry Pie” (Warrant), “Concealed Weapons” (J. Geils Band). Some bands (AC/DC, Aerosmith, even Whitesnake) do innuendo real well. Others not so much. Somewhat remarkably, not the worst song with “pie” in the title.

9. tie: “I Need You” (Stacey Q), “Touch Me” (Samantha Fox). Some careers are beyond explanation.

8. “I Got You Babe” (Sonny and Cher). Musically annoying, lyrically even more annoying. At least Stacey Q and Samantha Fox had that whole skank thang going for them.

7. “Tell Laura I Love Her” (Ray Peterson). Most. Irritating. Vocal. Ever.

6. “All Out of Love” (Air Supply). Nosed out the rest of their catalogue, mainly because it’s the only one I can think of off the top of my head. To give credit where it’s due, they’re all equally unlistenable.

5. “Baby Come Back” (Player). If she wasn’t coming back before the song, she ain’t coming back now.

4. tie: “We Are the World” (USA For Africa), “That’s What Friends Are For” (Dionne Warwick/Gladys Knight/Elton John/Stevie Wonder). Proof that adding more people to the equation makes it that much worse. I still can’t believe that Quincy Jones and Burt Bacharach wrote these. What were they thinking?

3. “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now” (Starship). Anything that makes El DeBarge’s “Who’s Johnny” look good by comparison is a force to be feared.

2. “Seasons in the Sun” (Terry Jacks). I do not expect to hear a worse song, note for note, in my lifetime. Memo to bad songwriters: This is not a challenge.

1. “American Pie” (Don McLean). Actually not quite as bad as #2, but it lasts longer and gets played more often. I feel about this song the way some people feel about Jimmy Webb’s “MacArthur Park.” And to think, if the levy hadn’t been dry, the speaker in the song might’ve drowned and never lived to tell us all his interminable tale.

Thanks for indulging. When the Padres win, I get a little giddy. Tonight they’re back at it. Good matchup: Jake Peavy and Jason Schmidt, 7:15. Let’s see if we can get into that Giant bullpen early again…