Making progress on the BTF Padres Preview. I’m through the starting lineup and into the bench. Then it’s onto the pitchers, farm system, and front office. One thing I’ve noticed is that the first five hitters in the lineup are all age 33 or 34 and hail from SoCal. We should come up with a name for these guys: Freeway Five?

Or maybe not.

So here are some box scores (ESPN):

• Mar 3: Sea 5, SD 4 Jon Knott, Adam Eaton, Damian Jackson, Josh Barfield, and Paul McAnulty.
• Mar 4: Ana 6, SD 4 Jake Peavy, Michel Hernandez, Ben Johnson, Jackson, and McAnulty.
• Mar 5: SD 5, Sea 2 Joey Dawley, Brian Lawrence, Steve Sparks, Ramon Hernandez, Robert Fick (at catcher).
• Mar 5: SF 5, SD 4 Darrell May, Tim Stauffer, Chris Oxspring, Rusty Tucker, M. Hernandez, Jackson, Mark Sweeney.
• Mar 6: SD 9, Sea 6 Blaine Neal, Woody Williams, Xavier Nady (in center), Brian Giles, McAnulty, B. Johnson, Humberto Quintero, M. Hernandez.

And some other goodies.

• Closer (Hardball Times). Studes looks at the P rankings of big-league closers in 2004. “P is the measure of how important a situation is, based on its potential impact on Win Probability.” According to the article, “Trevor Hoffman had the highest P among all closers last year, primarily because almost half of his appearances occurred during a one- or two-run lead.”
• Stauffer thrives on skepticism (U-T). Stauffer draws comparisons to Khalil Greene for being underestimated by talent evaluators and for his competitiveness and poise.
• Padres Notebook: Klesko makes spring debut (NC Times). Reports on his balky left shoulder are good. Let’s hope that remains the case.
• Hernandez excels as mentor to pitchers (NC Times). Nice piece on the Man Who Wiped Our Memories of Wiki Bennett.
• How The Sausage Is Made: Inside The Ranking Process (BA). John Manuel talks about how Baseball America assembles its top 100 prospect list.
• Boston Red Sox Top 20 Prospects (Minor League Ball). John Sickels has former Padre David Pauley at #18.

That’s all for now. Back to the Padres bench…