The headline may vary from town to town, but that will be the gist of it. Some probably won’t even mention the Padre victory. That’s cool. As long as it still counts as a win in the standings, folks can say whatever they want.

So congrats to Randy Johnson on becoming the fourth pitcher in Major League history to fan 4000 batters. Jeff Cirillo is the answer to your trivia question. Full count check swing to end the eighth. Last batter Johnson would face.

Meantime, the big stories from our perspective were Brian Sweeney and Khalil Greene. Sweeney, making his first big-league start and evoking comparisons to former Padre Brian Tollberg, held the Snakes to one run in 5 1/3 innings. Sweeney wasn’t overpowering, but he was effective.

Greene, meanwhile, has started to pick up the pace again. His solo shot in the eighth, which hit the yellow line atop the wall in left-center and bounced over, proved to be the deciding run. Greene helped seal the victory with a terrific play on a ball hit up the middle by Danny Bautista that appeared headed into center field to tie the game. It wasn’t the best play I’ve seen Greene make this year, but it was still impressive. His first step and glove-to-hand transfer continue to amaze me.

As on the previous night, both teams had plenty of chances. As on the previous night, the team that didn’t make the crucial error won. Monday night it was shortstop Tim Olson’s second inning miscue that led to five unearned runs. Tuesday it was Olson’s replacement, Alex Cintron, who committed an error in the third that scored an unearned run. Sometimes it is better to be lucky than good.

And speaking of Monday night, how about Humberto Quintero’s first big-league homer? Sure, he’s hitting over his head right now, but his approach at the plate is pretty solid right now. He seriously battled against Johnson last night. And he really is a lot of fun to watch behind the plate. I don’t know that the Pads have had a catcher with that kind of defensive ability since Brad Ausmus. I’m probably forgetting someone, but the point is, Quintero can play. If he can swing the stick at all, he’s got a long career ahead of him as a big-league backup catcher.

The other good thing about last night’s victory is that the Pads are now assured a winning road trip. Even if they lose the final two games in Phoenix (not that I’m advocating anything of the sort), they finish up at 4-3. Very nice.

The Guy We Had, the Guy We Wanted, and the Guy We Got

I was asked to update this every month, so here you go…

CF            AB  AVG  OBP  SLG Salary*
Kotsay,Ma    257 .304 .360 .405  $6.5M
Cameron,Mi   252 .218 .313 .401  $4.3M
Payton,Ja    246 .256 .322 .358  $1.5M

C
Bennett,Ga   102 .196 .281 .275  $0.6M
Kendall,Ja   269 .316 .394 .383  $8.6M
Hernandez,R  184 .266 .340 .424  $2.9M

2B
Jimenez,D    813 .267 .353 .401  $1.6M
Alfonzo,Ed   779 .270 .339 .394  $6.5M
Loretta,Ma   890 .317 .371 .462  $2.5M

I don’t know how serious the Padres ever were about signing this guy, but I’ll throw in one more for good measure:

SS            AB  AVG  OBP  SLG Salary*
Matsui,Ka    299 .254 .325 .378  $5.1M
Greene,Kh    254 .260 .337 .382  $0.3M

*2004 salary per ESPN.

Other Stuff

• Phil Nevin is swinging the bat very well. He’s now at .291/.372/.467 on the season. More importantly, he’s driving balls to right-center and laying off junk down and away.
• Brian Giles isn’t quite there, but he’s showing signs of life. Thanks to the good showings so far of Jason Bay and Oliver Perez, there has been renewed criticism of that trade in some circles. A few quick points: 1) you have to give quality to get quality; 2) you never know when the light will go on for a young player; and 3) the acquisition of Giles sent a message that the Pads were committed to winning now. Some may eschew that line of thinking, but consider if Bay and Perez still were playing here and not performing. How happy do you think folks would be that Kevin Towers didn’t spend some money and bring in a guy like Giles?
• ‘Angry’ Towers holds off on conversation with Bush (NC Times). No movement on the Matt Bush front. Steve Finley rumors (usual suspects: Dennis Tankersley, Xavier Nady).
• Payton has had a dismal June. After hitting .354/.432/.537 in May, he’s fallen off to .178/.202/.222 this month. That’s right, his OPS is lower than his OBP was last month. Maybe he’s watching too much Kerry Robinson.
• What’s up with Aki Otsuka? Is it workload? Tipping his pitches? Something else? I dunno, it looks like he still has good stuff out there.

Seems to me I had a few more things to say, but I can’t remember what they were. They’ll have to wait another day. Dodgers beat the Giants, which means the Pads are back to within 1.5 games of first. Brian Lawrence and Brandon Webb tonight, 6:30.