Padres Win Again, Put Distance Between Themselves and Giants

The Padres extended their NL West lead to 2 1/2 games with a 5-2 win over San Francisco today.

Jerry Hairston finally got his offense going with a single, double, two walks, and two steals. A day after David Eckstein was on base all five times he came up, Hairston’s surge is more welcome news for a middle infield that’s struggled to hit all year long.

Clayton Richard wasn’t a shutdown guy by any means, but he got through seven innings while allowing just two runs, so it worked out. Giving a lead to Mike Adams and Heath Bell was predictably deadly for the Giants.

Scott Hairston started in left field and was 1-for-3 with a single and a walk, and the team chose Oscar Salazar (walk, and interestingly, a steal) to pinch-hit over Kyle Blanks, yet another indication Blanks could be on his way down to Triple-A. More on their recent usage of him here.

Anyway, it’s good to see a slight gap between the Padres and the rest of the division. Mat Latos and Jonathan Sanchez go tomorrow in the series finale as the Padres look to finish off what would be a huge three-game sweep. It’ll be a battle of two young, erratic, and sometimes untouchable starters. Should be a great matchup.