What the heck, haven’t done one of these in a while.

7:08 PM Checking out ESPN’s Stat Pack. Great feature. Surprised to see that the Pads are running four lefties against southpaw Odalis Perez. Getting excited at the prospect of watching Terrence Long hit grounders back to the mound.

7:11 PM So much for Stat Pack. Channel 4 has Jay Payton starting in center field, not Long.

7:14 PM Sean Burroughs strikes out on four pitches. Entering the game, Burroughs was hitting .252/.292/.285 against lefties. Odd stat: two triples in 123 at-bats, no other extra base hits.

7:18 PM Brian Giles hits a weak routine grounder to second that rolls through to center for a single thanks to a bizarre shift by Dodger infielders. Giles had been hitting .220/.281/.316 against lefties.

7:24 PM Khalil Greene negates a spectacular stop with a throw that pulls Phil Nevin off the bag.

7:26 PM I take minimal comfort in knowing that Adrian Beltre’s OPS is over 250 points lower against lefties than against righties this season.

7:27 PM Beltre hits a harmless fly ball to Payton to end the inning.

7:30 PM Ryan Klesko strikes out on four pitches. He was the one lefty in the lineup hitting southpaws this year (.326/.377/.463).

7:39 PM Burroughs dives to his left, robbing Milton Bradley of a base hit. Burroughs’ lack of offensive progress this year has been frustrating but at least he’s still a terrific defender.

7:43 PM Checking Burroughs’ defensive stats. His fielding percentage and range factor actually are worse this year than last. He’s toward the bottom of the pack among NL third basemen in both categories. Vinny Castilla leads the league in range factor, causing me once more to question its usefulness as a stat.

7:44 PM Payton strikes out swinging at a pitch at his neck and a foot outside. Clutch.

7:48 PM Exhibit #2: Payton leads NL center fielders in range factor. He’s actually further ahead of second place Mike Cameron than Cameron is of third place Andruw Jones. Right. Jim Edmonds? He’s down near the bottom.

7:52 PM Interesting. Range factor by position, along with ranking among NL teams:

    Pads Rnk
1B  9.42  10
2B  5.05   8
3B  2.58  15
SS  4.27  15
LF  1.85   9
CF  2.84   1
RF  2.17   4

IF  5.33  11
OF  2.29   1 (tie)

So, does anyone who has watched the Padres at all this year think the outfield defense has been better than the infield? I wonder how much of this is related to Petco Park. Pads’ range factors each of the past three seasons:

    2004 2003 2002
IF  5.33 5.27 5.37
OF  2.29 2.22 2.19

Not much difference. Maybe it isn’t Petco.

8:05 PM Nevin breaks the scoreless tie with a jack to left. The pitch was up around his shoulders. Strong dude.

8:06 PM Klesko doubles down the right field line.

8:10 PM Ramon Hernandez drives a double down the right field line, great job of going with the pitch. 2-0, Padres.

8:13 PM Payton swings 3-0 with two RISP. Shades of Gary Bennett.

8:17 PM After getting two quick strikes on David Wells with the bases loaded, Perez uncorks a wild pitch, scoring Greene.

8:18 PM Perez walks Wells to reload the bases. WTF?

8:19 PM Burroughs serves up an 0-2 pitch to left for an RBI single.

8:20 PM Loretta just misses a grand slam to right. Sac fly. 5-0, Padres. This is getting fun.

8:24 PM Giles called out on strikes to end the inning. It was ball four, but who’s counting. Giles begins and ends the inning with an out. Perez’ line so far:

Inn   IP H R ER HR BB SO Pit
1-3  3.0 2 0  0  0  0  4  42
4    1.0 4 5  5  1  3  1  38
tot  4.0 6 5  5  1  3  5  80

8:31 PM Wells leaves one up in the zone for Shawn Green. Just clears the left field wall. 5-1, Pads.

8:32 PM Milton Bradley doubles just inside the third base line. Uh-oh.

8:35 PM Nintendo curve ball gets Jose Hernandez swinging. Wells has six punchouts through four. His season high in a game was seven in a 7-1 victory over the Royals July 4.

8:38 PM Perez out of the game, Elmer Dessens in. Yummy.

8:45 PM Klesko, after falling behind in the count 0-2, draws a 10-pitch walk.

8:47 PM Double play. So much for that.

8:50 PM Wells ties his season high by getting David Ross on a backdoor breaking ball. Wells is locating his pitches well tonight. What else is new.

8:55 PM Wells freezes Cesar Izturis on a fastball at the knees, outside corner.

8:56 PM Next pitch, Jayson Werth knocks a two-run homer to left-center. 5-3, Padres. Somebody guessed right. Crowd is getting back into the game.

9:01 PM Ramon Hernandez drills one out to dead center. Finley damn near pulls it back, a la Bradley against Nevin earlier in the season.

9:11 PM Green hits another solo shot. They’re starting to get good hacks against Wells. One out in sixth. Scott Linebrink is unavailable tonight due to back spasms.

9:18 PM Strikeout number nine is former Padre spring training invitee Tom Wilson. Wells has thrown 95 pitches through six. With a healthy Linebrink, I’d say he’s done. As is, the tempation to bring him back to start the seventh will be strong. Other options are Blaine Neal, Antonio Osuna, or hope Aki Otsuka can go two. More runs would be good.

9:22 PM Loretta now has 46 doubles on the season.

9:25 PM Nevin swings at a 1-0 breaking ball in the dirt. Runners at the corners, nobody out. What is he going to do with that pitch if he hits it? For a guy with that high of a batting average, Nevin sure does take some ugly cuts.

9:27 PM And sometimes the ugly cuts turn into homers. That ball was down at shin level. I don’t know he hit a ball in that location so hard. Expanded bullpen possibilities with a 9-4 lead. Andy Ashby? Steve Watkins? Maybe let Wells go back out there to start the inning.

9:30 PM Kerry Robinson pinch-running for Klesko. If you ever have to use Robinson, now would be the time. Dodgers need five runs before they get nine outs. When Robinson comes up to bat, there’s a good chance it won’t mean anything.

9:33 PM Robinson steals second, then third.

9:37 PM Wells starts the seventh. Ross singles on the first pitch. Wells departs. WTF? Was Blaine Neal not ready to start the inning?

9:48 PM Neal faces three batters, all three get hits. 9-6, Pads, still nobody out. Finley comes to the plate representing the tying run. Enter Otsuka. I was really hoping Linebrink’s absence wouldn’t kill us tonight. Sigh.

10:02 PM Otsuka strikes out Finley and Green, then walks Bradley. Up comes Captain Grand Slam (aka Robin Ventura) off the bench. Otsuka polishes him off to end the threat. The Dodgers have answered the three runs the Pads scored in the top of the seventh but at least the lead remains intact. Otsuka threw 23 pitches and likely will be asked to work the eighth. Again, more runs would be good.

10:06 PM Freddy Guzman strikes out on a pitch in the dirt; still not ready for prime time. Guzman and Robinson in the lineup at the same time is scary.

10:09 PM Izturis robs Burroughs on a ball hit back up the middle.

10:14 PM Base open, two runners in scoring position. Nevin, due up, has two homers already. Robinson is on deck. Announcers: "They might not pitch to Nevin." Wrong verb there, fellas.

10:17 PM Terrence Long bats for Robinson. Weak fly ball to end the inning. More runs would have been good. Dodgers have the 8-9-1 hitters due up in the eighth. Assuming they’re retired in order, that means the Padres still have to face Finley and Beltre one more time. And there’s a decent chance that Green and possibly Bradley will bat again. The Padres in the top of the ninth? Ramon Vazquez, Hernandez, and pitcher’s spot. Did I mention that more runs would have been good?

10:23 PM Otsuka retires the side in order on 10 pitches.

10:32 PM Padres go quietly in the ninth. Pinch-hitter Robert Fick and Guzman hit weak fly balls on 3-1 counts. Trevor Hoffman will try to nail it down against Werth, Finley, and Beltre.

10:36 PM Werth fans on a sick change-up. 73 MPH, unhittable.

10:38 PM Finley hammers one to right, just foul.

10:41 PM After a terrific battle, Hoffman gets Finley to chase a high fastball on the 11th pitch of the at-bat. Two outs.

10:45 PM Beltre watches a 3-2 fastball on the outside corner to end the game. Huge win for the Pads.

Whew, that was exhausting. Thanks for hangin’ with me. Tonight it’s Justin Germano against Jose Lima. Not a great matchup for the Pads, but you never know.