first pitch: 4:10 p.m., PT
television: Channel 4
matchup: Brian Lawrence (2-3, 5.19 ERA) vs Brandon Claussen (1-3, 5.60 ERA)
game preview: CBS

The Padres, fielding their projected Opening Day starting lineup for the first time all year, mounted an improbable comeback victory in the series opener at Cincy. And although he went 0 for 3 in his return from the DL, Khalil Greene was a welcome sight out on the diamond Monday night. Pads have closed the gap on LA and are now just two games out of first place. With the Dodgers battling in St. Louis, the Friars have a good opportunity to gain even more ground.

Tonight’s matchup:

                           AB   BA  OBP  SLG
Lawrence vs current Reds   98 .296 .355 .469
Claussen vs everybody     372 .304 .378 .481

The only Reds who have faced Lawrence much are Adam Dunn (.267/.389/.600 in 15 AB) and former Padre Rich Aurilia (.333/.333/.458 in 24 AB). Each has a homer against Lawrence, as do Wily Mo Pena (3 AB) and Jacob Cruz (2 AB).

Claussen is making his 20th big-league start. No current Padre has ever faced him, so I’ve listed Claussen’s career numbers. Although he’s a southpaw, lefties (.367/.466/.617) have had much better success than righties (.281/.343/.434) in his limited time in the Show.

Lawrence has been two entirely different pitchers so far in 2005. He’s made three starts each at home and on the road:

        IP  H HR BB SO   ERA AB   BA  OBP  SLG
Home  23.0 15  0  4 14  1.57 83 .181 .227 .229
Road  11.2 23  3  8  6 12.34 54 .426 .500 .722

His road starts have been at Wrigley, the BOB, and Busch, so we can’t even blame Coors Field. Here’s hoping this is nothing more than a small sample anomaly and Lawrence can buck the trend in Cincy.

For the Pads, over the past 7 days it’s been all Brian Giles (.370/.485/.741 in 27 AB) and Ryan Klesko (.290/.353/.774 in 31 AB), with a dash of Ramon Hernandez (.348/.348/.565 in 23 AB) thrown in for good measure. The bullpen has worked 31 innings over that span, so now would be a good time to have the starter go deep into the game.

Other Stuff

These don’t really belong here, but there wasn’t enough to justify a separate post, so here they shall be:

• Thompson promoted to Double-A (NC Times). Sean Thompson is headed to Mobile. Southpaw has fanned 10.22 batters per 9 over 284 1/3 pro innings. On Monday, in the Love Boat thread, I said it would be “interesting to see how well his success translates to higher levels once he’s deemed ready.” Well, he’s been deemed ready. Go get ‘em, kid! Also of note: Michael Johnson is on the DL with “inflammation in his right hand.” He expects to be back later in the week.
• Also, as Dave mentioned in the comments to Monday’s In-Game Discussion, Rickey Henderson will be playing for the San Diego Surf Dawgs of the independent Golden Baseball League. The Surf Dawgs play their home games at Tony Gwynn Stadium, and the opener is Thursday, May 26, against the Long Beach Armada. I don’t know about you, but I’m pretty psyched at the prospect of seeing Rickey here in San Diego again.