first pitch: 7:10 p.m., PT
television: Channel 4
matchup: Tim Stauffer (1-3, 4.44 ERA) vs D.J. Houlton (3-1, 5.72 ERA)
previews: ESPN | CBS | Padres.com

The much anticipated Stauffer/Houlton rematch takes place tonight in the hills of Los Angeles. Thanks to a lack of timely hitting and a surprisingly poor performance by the bullpen, the Padres dropped round one of what is bound to become one of the great pitching matchups of our time. Or not.

These two pitchers haven’t even worked a total of 100 combined big-league innings, so individual matchups are pretty pointless. Let’s see; what else can we talk about. How about the Pads’ late-inning dominance: is it still there?

Here’s where we were through May 15:

       G  R R/G   BA  OBP  SLG
Pads  38 80 2.1 .281 .379 .437
Opp   38 37 1.0 .198 .278 .310

And now, through June 26:

       G   R R/G   BA  OBP  SLG
Pads  76 134 1.8 .270 .361 .415
Opp   76  92 1.2 .241 .303 .373

Yeah, you couldn’t really expect to mantain that. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted.

Other Stuff

• Top 5 Pet Peeves About Sports Today (featuring, among others, Channel 4 broadcaster Matt Vasgersian; thanks to Eric Mirlis for the heads-up)
• Stats vs. Scouts: Do We Need to Choose Just One? (Baseball Digest Daily). This one spawned an interesting discussion at BTF. And even the U-T has an article on the need to balance the objective and the subjective. Synergy. It’s not just a word I don’t really understand.
• Padres play it safe, place Nevin on the disabled list (NC Times). Quoth Ben Johnson: “It took me a long time to get here, but I’m not surprised by that. I really didn’t know the game, and I wasn’t very good or consistent. I had to mature and trust my ability.” Also, Eric Young has started a rehab assignment at Portland.
• Nady views himself as everyday ballplayer (U-T). We’re with you on that one, X. Quoth Robert Fick, no slouch himself: “There are not many players in the major leagues whose position is first base/third base/center field and not be out of position in any of the three.”
• Reese having one heck of a weekend (MLB.com). Yankees have recalled USD alum Kevin Reese. He started in left field Sunday night against the Mets and went 0-for-1 with a walk. Reese joins Milwaukee’s Brady Clark as the only current big leaguers from USD. We’re mostly about the Padres around here, but gotta give some love to the alma mater. Toreros represent!
• Boone or Moyer could be Padre-bound (U.S.S. Mariner). It’s that time of year: we’ve got rumors. Make of them what you will.
• M’s blog Lookout Landing’s take on the finale between the bitter I-5 rivals. I can so get behind Jeff’s sentiments on Lee Ann Rimes. Or that other guy, Lee Greenwood. Really old patriotic songs aren’t subject to interpretation, dig? While I’m at it, I don’t ever need to hear another R&B version of “The Star Spangled Banner.” I’ll be honest: from a purely musical standpoint, our national anthem ain’t that great; but let’s not make it worse, m’kay? Just deliver the song and get on with life. Anyway, Jeff also likes Damian Jackson.

And there you have it. Go Pads!