Tim Redding looked okay in his first start for the Padres. Scoreboard had his fastball at 88-92 mph. Secondary pitches were nothing to write home about but generally he was effective. Defense, the one aspect of the Pads’ game that has been lacking so far this season, is the one that bit them on Sunday afternoon and hung Redding with a 6-3 loss. Khalil Greene‘s two-out throwing error on a ball hit by Ty Wigginton opened the floodgates in the fourth, leading to four unearned runs. Very frustrating defeat, to cap a homestand that wasn’t bad but that could have been a lot better. The Padres outscored the Bucs, 17-12 in the four games. Unfortunately 11 of those runs for the home team came in one game. Right now the Pads are winning the blowouts and losing the close ones. It’s early, but check out the top four teams in the NL West so far:

    W L RS RA
LA  4 2 42 30
SF  4 2 33 32
SD  3 3 41 30
Ari 3 3 41 47

Again, it’s very early and odds are things will even out over the course of the season, but this division is going to be tight again in 2005. Games that should have been won in April will come back to haunt a club in September.

Upcoming Series: Padres @ Cubs

• Mon., Apr. 11, 11:20 a.m. PT, Ch. 4, Adam Eaton vs Ryan Dempster
• Tue., Apr. 12, 11:20 a.m. PT, Ch. 4, Jake Peavy vs Mark Prior
• Wed., Apr. 13, 11:20 a.m. PT, WGN (?), Brian Lawrence vs Kerry Wood

If you’re going to take a long lunch, make it Tuesday, when Peavy and Prior take the mound. As for Wednesday’s game, some sources have it broadcast on WGN, others not at all. I’ll keep researching.