Padres swept in the desert by the Diamondbacks. The Snakes are much improved this year, but still, that was not a good series. The good news is, it’s early. The bad news is, the games count in the standings. Losses in April will still be there in September. It was nice to see the Padres put up a fight at the end of Sunday’s loss. Maybe they can build on that momentum and take some of that fight with them to San Francisco.

What the papers have to say:

• Padres still waiting for things to click (NC Times). Nobody’s panicking here.
• Perhaps Padres aren’t as good as advertised (U-T). Rejected headlines include “Perhaps Diamondbacks are better than anyone realized,” “Perhaps 19 games aren’t enough to make a sound judgment on anything,” and “Please buy our newspaper.”

And if you need a dose of optimism, you could do worse than to consider that the Padres, despite their 8-11 start, have outscored their opponents this season, 85-82. The same cannot be said of the 11-8 Diamondbacks, who have allowed 11 more runs than they’ve scored. Eventually that’ll even out a bit.

Finally, I’d like to point out an article I wrote about Kevin Towers over at Goat Riders of the Apocalypse (which gets my vote for best blog name ever). I know some of you won’t think I was critical enough, and I’m okay with that. I honestly believe Towers does a pretty darned good job given his resources. Feel free to leave comments here or there.