Splitting a series against a non-contender this late in the season doesn’t really get it done, but I suppose after Saturday’s thrashing at the hands of rookie Jeff Francis, things could have been worse. Fortunately, Jake Peavy and a 12-run ninth did some nice damage control on Sunday, sending the Pads out of Coors on an up note.

With four in LA and three in San Francisco this week, now would be a real good time for the Pads to get their act together. Some clutch hitting and even passable outfield defense would be helpful. I don’t know how many more bad routes I can watch, to say nothing of guys taking some serious liberties against those arms. It’s not good baseball, and it won’t help win games against good teams.

On the bright side, Mark Loretta is back in the lineup. He and Khalil Greene have been unbelievable up the middle this year. Greene was NL Rookie of the Month in August, and he’s been even better so far in September. I don’t know who will win ROY, but I do know that .295/.346/.544 after the All-Star break is pretty insane for a middle infielder in his first big-league season. And I do know that at age 24, Greene is already the best offensive shortstop in team history.

Here’s an interesting comparison:

     AB   BA  OBP  SLG BB/PA  ISO XB/H
KG  479 .273 .347 .447  .092 .174 .374
MT  607 .275 .349 .479  .097 .204 .377

Top line is what Greene is doing this year; bottom is what Miguel Tejada did as a 24-year-old. Greene’s numbers don’t quite measure up to Tejada’s (especially when you take into account the latter’s 30 homers to the former’s 15), but the fact that we can even make this comparison is pretty darned impressive. No disrespect whatsoever to Greene, but if you’d told me before the season that he’d put up similar numbers to those produced by Tejada at the same age, I’d have called the folks in white coats to come take you away.

Sometimes it is good to be wrong.

Getting back to Peavy, by my estimation he’s got four starts left this year. He needs 22 2/3 innings to be eligible for the ERA title. With his current 2.26 ERA, he’s almost half a run better than leader Randy Johnson (2.75). Assuming Johnson continues his present level of performance, Peavy can give up 14 earned runs in those 22 2/3 innings and still win the ERA title.

I’m sure Peavy is more concerned with finding ways to help his team make the playoffs, but leading the league in ERA sure would be a nice feather in the proverbial cap. BTW, twice this season Peavy has surrendered as many as nine earned runs over a four-game stretch:

Aug. 23 - Sep. 7
  IP  H  R ER HR BB SO  ERA
23.1 25 13  9  3  9 24 3.47

May 7 - Jul. 7
  IP  H R ER HR BB SO  ERA
22.2 25 9  9  3 10 24 3.57

Damn, that’s consistent. It’s easy to become a little desensitized to just how good this kid is when you see him out there every fifth day. His worst ERA over four consecutive starts this year is 3.57? Everybody say it with me this time: Damn, that’s consistent.

Okay, enough drooling over the future of this ballclub. The talent is there right now to make a run. The window is shrinking, but it’s still open. Gotta win every series. It can happen. Pads just need to execute and play smart baseball. Here’s hoping…