Alonso and Gyorko played well on Sunday. Mandatory Credit: Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports

I knew that the ball traveled better at Petco Park in the daytime, but the Padres put on an incredible offensive display today as they beat the Nationals by a score of 13-4.

How well did San Diego’s hitters perform?  Here’s a quick rundown:

• Five of San Diego’s hitters logged two rbi’s (Jedd Gyorko, Everth Cabrera, Yonder Alonso, Will Venable and Kyle Blanks).

• Blanks, Venable and Alonso each hit one home run.

• Seven of the Padres’ 15 hits today were for extra bases.

• San Diego’s hitters went 6-15 with runners in scoring position.

The Padres were an offensive force all afternoon long, and they were especially potent whenever the Nationals tried to crawl back into the game.  They extended a 3-2 lead to 7-2 in the fifth inning.  Then in the seventh, San Diego’s hitters stretched a 7-4 lead into a 12-4 lead to put the game entirely out of reach at that juncture.  Whenever Washington tried to chip away at the lead, San Diego just answered.  It was downright fun to watch.

While the offense definitely found their collective groove, kudos must also go to Andrew “Grizzly Adams” Cashner for his work on the mound today.  Cashner had himself yet another solid outing as he worked 6.2 innings, struck out six hitters and gave up three runs. “Grizzly’s” only big mistake came when allowed one mistake pitch to Ryan Zimmerman for a two-run homer in the fourth inning.

I tip my cap to the Padres for fighting back to salvage a series split after they lost the first two of their four-game set with the Nationals over the weekend.  Just like they rebounded in Baltimore after their tough series against Tampa Bay, the Padres are certainly not a team that will roll over if things do not go their way.

With that in mind, I am definitely intrigued to see how well they will perform against an experienced team like St. Louis over the next three games.  As I alluded to last week, taking on talented teams like Washington, Baltimore and St. Louis will be a terrific litmus test for the young and developing Padres.

I just hope that their hitters are ready for the Cardinals’ awesome starting staff.

May 6, 2013; San Diego, CA, USA; San Diego Padres relief pitcher Andrew Cashner (34) throws during the first inning against the Miami Marlins at Petco Park. Mandatory Credit: Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports

The Miami Marlins visit San Diego on a rainy day and run into a buzzsaw in Andrew Cashner, who goes 7 1/3 innings, giving up no runs, allowing 4 hits and striking out 4.  My heart is singing on the inside.  The Miami Marlins, while not to be confused with the Yankees or Red Sox, nonetheless, come into San Diego hot, but end the night ice cold.

Cashner goes deep into the game and pitches efficiently and effectively, throwing only 97 pitches.  He was only truly stressed in the 3rd inning, loading bases with 2 outs before striking out Justin Ruggiano swinging on an 86 mph change up that was set up on the previous pitch by a 96 mph four seam fastball.  Andrew Cashner still is a fire baller - but he is learning to be a pitcher, and quickly.  Tonight he mixed in a slider as well, and was able to command his change up and throw it with comfort and from virtually anywhere in the count.

As for the hitters, I wanted to call out especially the play of Everth Cabrera again for another great line on the box score with all sorts of stats.  He went 1-2, with 2 BB, 1 R, 1 RBI, and 2 SB plus a few good defensive plays.  However, a lasting impact that Cabby had on the game beyond the box score, was scoring the first Padre run off a Rob Brantly miscue in the first and setting the tone early.  Brantly incidentally is an almost San Diegan local, playing high school in Temecula at Chapparal High School.  Cabby walks in the first and steals second.  While on second, Carlos Quentin skies a fly ball with 2 outs only a few feet out of the hitters box for a routine pop fly.  Cabby puts his head down and start running from 2B, and motors past 3B on his way to home before Brantly is even in a position to make a play.  Cabby puts himself in a position to manufacture a run out of really nothing, which when you add in a little bit of (mis)fortune on the side of Padres, you end up with a recipe for a run.  That’s scrappy, that’s opportunistic, and that’s what we need right now.  I just watched 42 over the weekend, and Cabby sure reminds me a little of another baseball great who could create havoc on the basepaths in Jackie Robinson.  And he can steal home too.

I have to say that tonight’s lineup - looks pretty fearsome and has some scrappy swagger to it.  I really like this line.

1) Chris Denorfia CF

2) Everth Cabrera SS

3) Chase Headley 3B

4) Carlos Quentin LF

5) Kyle Blanks RF

6) Yonder Alonso 1B

7) Jedd Gyorko 2B

8) Nick Hundley C

9) Andrew Cashner P

Here we go Padres, here we go!

May 2, 2013; Chicago, IL, USA; San Diego Padres shortstop Everth Cabrera (2) hits an RBI single during the eighth inning against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field. Mandatory Credit: Reid Compton-USA TODAY Sports

After losing the first game of the four game series at Wrigley Field against the Cubs on Monday night, the Padres managed to take two of the final three games to earn a split. The Padres now head back home to face the Arizona Diamondbacks for the first time all season, followed by a three game series against the Miami Marlins.

Some observations from the series with the Cubs.

Too many strikeouts

During the four games in Chicago, we saw flashes of both the old Padres offense that struggles to score runs at times, and also a glimpse of what the offense is capable of when they are able to string some hits together. While the offense is certainly improved from past Padre teams, they still strike out too much. And it’s not just the sheer number of strikeouts (although that can certainly be improved), it’s when they occur. I alluded to this in my post from Monday, but the Padres are in the lower tier of the league with runners left on base. Much of that comes from swinging and missing at inopportune moments. During the four games against the Cubs, the Padres were rung up 38 times. I watched all four games pretty intently; I cannot tell you how many times the Padres had a chance to drive in a run or, at the very least, extend an inning, and the guy at-bat struck out. They need to improve on getting the ball in play, and putting more pressure on the defense.

A perfect example of this happened earlier today in the series finale, and it sparked the big 8th inning rally. Yonder Alonso popped a ball up to shallow right field.  From there, the Chicago wind took over, making a routine inning-ending play an adventure in the outfield. The ball dropped in, a run scored, and the rest of the two-out rally is history. Put the ball in play, and good things will happen.

Ex-Padres continue to burn SD

One of the big storylines coming into this series was Anthony Rizzo going up against the Padres. The Padres received Rizzo from Boston in the Adrian Gonzalez trade, and then proceeded to flip him to the Cubs after getting Yonder Alonso in the Mat Latos deal. While Rizzo was held relatively in-check during the series (4 for 12 with only one RBI), Padre fans can’t feel too good about seeing his 8 HRs and 20 RBIs in the month of April alone, while Andrew Cashner, the fire-ball pitcher the Padres received for Rizzo, still floats between the rotation and the bullpen and is struggling to find an exact role on the team.

In addition to Rizzo, Cody Ransom, who the Padres let go just two weeks ago, seemed to make big play after big play in this series, particularly on Monday night, when he hit a huge home run and made a key defensive play at third late in the game. Scott Hairston, who spent several years in a Padre uniform in the late 2000′s, hit two homers in the series, including what looked to be the game-winning home run in Thursday afternoon’s contest, until the Padres scrapped and clawed for four runs in the 8th inning to take the lead for good.

Cashner’s first start was sub-par

To say the least. He looked terrible on Wednesday night. Probably a little over-amped to face his former team, he only lasted 4 innings, giving up 5 runs, 6 hits and 4 walks. Cashner had zero command of his pitches, as he looked uncomfortable on the mound virtually the entire 4 innings of work. It looks like Cashner’s spot in the rotation is set for now, which will hopefully allow him to relax his next time out against Miami. With a Stanton-less Marlins squad back at the friendly confines of Petco Park, I’m willing to bet Cashner throws a gem on Monday.

Quick hits

It was good to see Jedd Gyorko get off the schnide and hit his first home run as a big-leaguer. I think you will see a different Gyorko for the rest of the year than we saw in April.

What is wrong with Clayton Richard? A few more bad starts and he could find himself out of the rotation.

Everth Cabrera is the most productive player on the team right now. He is playing very solid defense and he’s getting on base.

I’ll have more to say on the Chase Headley extension talks in my next post or two, but I am cautiously optimistic that they will get a long term deal done before the trade deadline.