It’s what the Pads are doing, and it’s what I’m doing as well. We’re going to cover a lot of ground today, so get comfortable.

First off, the Padres completed their sweep of Arizona on Sunday, behind more great pitching from Jake Peavy. The young right-hander allowed one run in six innings and now needs just 1 2/3 innings in his final start to qualify for the ERA title. If he qualifies, he pretty much is going to win the title. At this point, even if Carlos Zambrano were to throw back-to-back nine-inning shutout in his final two starts, Peavy would need to allow three runs or fewer in those 1 2/3 innings to finish on top.

Next up, congrats to Mark Loretta on becoming the second player in Padre history to reach the 200-hit plateau in a single season. In his two years with the club, Loretta has been one of the most consistent performers at the plate and in the field. He isn’t a household name but he probably should be. A pleasure to watch.

Speaking of hits, Seattle’s Ichiro Suzuki is making a serious run at the all-time single season record of 257, held by George Sisler. This isn’t exactly breaking news, but I thought now might be a good time to look back at our earlier discussion on Suzuki vs former Padre great, Tony Gwynn. Well, Suzuki is gaining ground but he still has a long way to go. No offense to Suzuki, who is having a fantastic year, but his current OPS of 873 was eclipsed by Gwynn five times. It’s also worth noting that Suzuki has only 36 extra base hits this season. If that number holds, it would tie for Gwynn’s 13th highest total.

And speaking of Japanese players, how about Aki Otsuka? He isn’t being discussed as a ROY candidate, but his first North American season has exceeded expectations. When Otsuka first signed, we compared his statistical record to that of former Seattle closer Kaz Sasaki and were hopeful that a similarly successful transition to MLB might ensue.

We also looked at each pitcher’s first two months in North America, where Sasaki had a significant advantage. Now that we have nearly a full season’s worth of data to work with, let’s take another look:

          IP  H HR BB SO  ERA BB/9  SO/9
Otsuka  75.1 54  6 26 85 1.79 3.45 10.15
Sasaki  62.2 42 10 31 78 3.16 5.17 11.99

Here’s how each of them did from June till the end of the season in their first year:

          IP  H HR BB SO  ERA BB/9  SO/9
Otsuka  50.0 42  6 17 57 1.98 3.06 10.26
Sasaki  42.0 32 10 26 50 4.71 5.57 10.71

Sasaki, BTW, won the AL ROY in 2000. The difference, of course, is the Mariners didn’t have Trevor Hoffman to close games for them and so Sasaki racked up 37 saves. But it’s pretty safe to say that Otsuka thus far has been the better pitcher.

Finally, you may have noticed a new logo up there at the top. I worked downtown for most of 1992-2003, and for much of that time I enjoyed a spectacular view of the skyline from the 20th floor of a building. My wife still works there, and I finally was able to get a decent shot of Petco Park from her office. The logo is taken from that shot, as is the photo below. Sometimes I forget what a neat city San Diego is. These serve as a great reminder to me, and maybe they’ll have the same effect on you. Enjoy…

Off today, then three with the Giants to finish out the first season at Petco. Pads need to average a tick under 40,000 per game to break the 3 million mark for the first time.