Hanging on

Scoring 6 runs in the fourth inning, good.

Giving up 4 runs in the last two innings, not so good.

The Padres had a little too much excitement Friday night when after they had a 7-2 lead the Dodgers were able to creep back into the game. Luckily Trevor Hoffman only gave up one run in the ninth (can you sense the sarcasm in that sentence).

Cla Meredith seems to still be struggling. He pitched a scoreless seventh but then left him in the game and he gave up 2 runs in the eighth. Chris Young had another solid performance and seems to be quietly establishing himself as a great front-of-the-rotation starter.

Which brings us to tonight's game and the No. 1 starter, Jake Peavy. Even though his ERA is above 2.00 for the first time since he gave up four runs in fourth start of the season (April 19 at home against Arizona).

Peavy's last start against the Dodgers wasn't any better than that start against Arizona as he gave up four runs in a no decision. But take the numbers out to his last five starts against LA and Peavy is 3-0 with a 3.03 ERA and 26 K's in 32 2/3 innings.

LA counters with Brad Penny, who in his last five against SD is 1-2 with a 7.62 ERA in 26 innings (and average of about 5 innings per start). Lets hope the Padres can keep that success up again tonight. We'll need it considering Penny is having as good of a 2007 as Peavy is with his 10-1 record and 2.04 ERA.