• Padres 4, Angels 0 (ESPN). Adam Eaton, Scott Linebrink, Rusty Tucker, Brian Giles, Ramon Hernandez, and Sean Burroughs looking good. Is it great to see Tucker back or what? I have a sneaking suspicion we’ll see him in San Diego at some point this year.
• Notes: Eaton pleased with his progress (Padres.com). An update on Eaton’s new delivery, which keeps him from pitching across his body.
• Mailbag: What is Burroughs’ role? (Padres.com). Quoth John Schlegel: “…the bottom line is this is a very talented player and the club no doubt would like nothing better than for him to have a solid all-around season at the plate, with a little more pop and a little more consistent success at getting on base.” Notes also on Tim Stauffer, Brian Giles, and Andy Ashby.
• Young brings versatility, experience (Padres.com). Love the attitude: “I’m at the point where if you’re an athlete, you can basically play anywhere, whether it’s for a short period of time or a day at a time or whatever.”
• Padres’ Johnson opening some eyes (U-T). Thanks to several folks for pointing us to this article. Outfielder Ben Johnson is the prospect who came over from the Cardinals in the Carlos Hernandez deal a few years ago. What we said about Johnson in July 2001:
  

  Ben Johnson made a terrific throw from right field to keep a runner from scoring. This is not the first time I’ve been impressed by his arm. He’s also got a very quick bat but he needs to work the count better to take advantage of it. He swings a lot early in the count and then ends up either striking out or hitting a pitcher’s pitch. Johnson’s numbers are nice in and of themselves; taking into consideration his youth and relatively crude approach, they’re even more impressive. If he learns how to wait for his pitch, he could be a scary, scary hitter.

  What a strange day that was. It marked Oliver Perez’ Cal League debut and the game was cancelled due to a bomb threat. I’d forgotten about that.

On a completely unrelated note, Bertrand Smith’s Acres of Books is a fantastic store. If you’re ever in or near Long Beach, I highly recommend it. The place is huge and very well organized. I found an intriguing book called “Songs in the Key of Z” (which has its own web site) that details “outsider music,” including the likes of Syd Barrett, Captain Beefheart, Daniel Johnston, Wesley Willis (link is to a killer tribute album with free MP3s; “Cut the Mullet” is brilliant – just a heads-up, there is some swearing in here), Jandek, and more. Fascinating stuff.