Spring recap No. 21: Padres 6, Mariners 6

Have we heard enough about the contributions of Chase Headley, Jody Gerut and Callix Crabbe this spring yet? Well if you haven't, Headley hit a game tying HR, Gerut and Crabbe both drove runs in. I can't imagine these guys not joining Tony Clark and Michael Barrett on the bench when the season starts.

Justin Germano had probably one of his roughest outings of the spring as he gave up 3 ER and 6 hits in 5 IP, but he also struck out 3.

Spring recap No. 3: Mariners 6, Padres 2

Well, we got our first scare of 2008 in this matchup but luckily we will come out on top. In case you haven't heard, Jake Peavy took a hit in the groin and he never wears a cup. Luckily he will not miss any time.

Highlights (if you want to call them that): Chase Headley went 2-for-2, continuing his bid to earn some playing time. And whil he was credited with the loss, Glendon Rusch (another candidate for that No. 5 starter spot) actually had an OK first outing, giving up 1 run and 2 hits in 1 2/3 innings. Not fantastic but better than the guys he's competing with.

On the downside, all of that talk about Trevor Hoffman being on a downward trend will flare up again after giving up 2 runs and 4 hits in 2/3 of an inning, but there is a simple explanation to all of this - it's spring training.

Spring recap No. 2: Padres 11, Mariners 10

Just so we don't get overhyped about what happens during spring training, I am going to keep these recaps short. This is more just to help me get in a groove for when the regular season comes around.

Highlights from Saturday's game? Chase Headley hit a HR and drove in 4 runs, making a case for getting some serious playing time (or least staying up with the big club) this season. Also, in the race to fill the backend of the rotation, Justin Germano went 2 1/3 and didn't give up a hit or a walk and struck out 2 ...

But that leads us to the downside of yesterday. For the second straight day our "starter" only went 2/3 of an inning - this time Randy Wolf gave up 3 runs in that span. Again he and Estes are coming back from injuries and it is only the first couple games of spring training but still, trends make me nervous. Let's just hope this is one of those times I am nervous because I have nothing better to do.

Spring Training Game 2 Preview: Mariners at Padres

Seattle vs. San Diego
Peoria Sports Complex, 12:05 p.m. PT

The back end of the rotation continues its parade to kick of spring training with projected No. 4 starter Randy Wolf scheduled to pitch the first inning with No. 5 starter hopeful Justin Germano slated to throw the next two. Seattle will counter with Felix Hernandez.

It's spring and it's baseball, what more could you want?

Spring Training: Mariners 10, Padres 3

Spring baseball has unofficially begun as the Padres lost the annual charity game against our "bitter" rivals Seattle on Thursday, 10-3.

Despite being blown out in a meaningless game, si.com is reporting that Trevor Hoffman looked sharp, pitching a "perfect inning."

The one part of the story that gets me is the description that Hoffman "threw sharp breaking pitches and signature changeups in the fifth." Now we all know Hoffman has the wicked change that has made him so effective for so long but I thought he had all but ditched the breaking stuff.

Now before I get carried away I am reminding myself that this isn't even an official Cactus League game, but I can't help but wonder if Hoffman might be reaching into his past to maybe give him some new tricks this year and push off talk of his inevitable decline one more season. But again, it's only the beginning of the spring so I guess we will have to wait and see if this breaking stuff is for real.

Anyways, it's nice to have something other than speculation to talk about. So happy spring and enjoy the return of Shawn Estes to the mound tomorrow against Kansas City.

Ichiro's a no go

Bad news for Padres fans. In case you haven't seen it on ESPN, apparently Ichiro will not be leaving Seattle after all. According to the article, an announcement will be made on Thursday stating that the Mariners will give Ichiro a five-year extension that could be worth $100 million.

Of course this extension means bad things for teams looking for a center fielder this offseason as there will be one less top notch guy for teams to bid on, meaning the prices of Andruw Jones and Torii Hunter just went up.

Now it is still possible the Padres will re-sign Mike Cameron and since his performance has picked up after a slow start, that may be a viable option. But for those of us hoping to get a younger or more consistent center fielder, the chances of doing so may be slipping away. Let's just hope Cameron is willing to stick around.

Swept away

How do the Padres go from sweeping the Dodgers earlier in the week to being swept by Seattle? That should not happen, especially when two of the guys San Diego threw had ERAs under 3.00 while all three of Seattle's pitchers were over 5.00.

Steadying influences Jake Peavy and Chris Young failed to pick up wins this weekend and San Diego lost three straight one run games, a very disturbing trend. When you don't have much offense, these are the types of games that need to be won.

Luckily for the Padres both Arizona and Los Angeles struggled this weekend as well and they are still tied atop the NL West with the Diamondbacks.

Interleague nonsense continues this week as the Padres travel to Tampa Bay to take on the Devil Rays. Hopefully Greg Maddux can get the team back on track Tuesday, even though Tampa Bay is throwing out one of the most promising pitching prospects in Scott Kazmir. And even though the Rays are still pretty bad, as the series with the Mariners showed, the Padres are no lock to take any series.

Walk off walk

You've got to love winning a game on a walk off walk, especially when it seemed that the Padres had blown the sweep. Five runs in the bottom of the ninth is unheard of and what makes this win even better is that is finished off a sweep of the Dodgers.

Jake Peavy got rocked - by his standards - and things seemed to have gotten away from our boys but behold the power of a bottom of the ninth rally. It was even better to get it against LA's interim closer, Jonathan Broxton, whom many feel should take over for Takashi Saito.

These three wins should give us a little bit of breathing room at least with the Dodgers, now we have to focus on keeping up the pace with Arizona, as they have matched San Diego's every win of late. This NL West race is going to come down to the wire and every game is going to count. Next up, the fiercest rivalry in baseball. Yup, you read that right, the Mariners are coming to town.

Justin Germano looks to improve to 5-0 and keep his ERA under 2.00 while his counterpart, Miguel Batista, struggles to prove he actually belongs in the bigs.

East Coast bias

So I'm looking through the baseball box scores in my Washington Post this morning and noticed one glaring omission, the box and recap from the San Diego-Seattle game. With two pages devoted to baseball, you'd think it would be hard to miss a game.

Now normally when the Padres play on the West Coast, their box scores don't make it into the Post the next morning as the game begins only an hour before deadline, but yesterday's game was an afternoon game and last night's Subway Series game made it in.

So those of you wondering if there is an East Coast bias, here's one more piece of ammo to back those claims. Go Padres!

Hail to the (real) Kings

I have to say I was pretty nervous when I saw we were facing King Felix Hernandez today - and putting Justin Germano on the mound opposite him. But despite Trevor Hoffman's attempt to make the game more interesting late, the Friars won the game and took the series.

Except for Greg Maddux's shellacking Saturday, it was nice to see the Padres offense all get going. Kevin Kouzmanoff brought his average up after a 3-for-3 night Saturday (even though it dropped a little bit Sunday) and it appears Adrian Gonzalez also found his stroke Sunday and broke out of his slump.

And after a day off on Monday, the Padres should find more success with Jake Peavy taking the mound Tuesday against the Cubs.

Quick thoughts

Just a couple of quick thoughts from the Reds series.

1. I would have thought this a couple of years ago but based on performance this season, who would have thought Greg Maddux and David Wells would have solid outings while Jake Peavy would need some help? Granted, Wells didn't win his outing either, and the Padres lost that game, but he actually held down the fort pretty well. Maybe this old part of the rotation will be able to hold its own for one more year after all.

2. After slow starts it's nice to see Mike Cameron and Kevin Kouzmanoff starting to get comfortable at the plate, but how depressing is it to go 3-for-3 and only raise your batting average to .163. A couple more games like that and he may actually get his average north of the Mendoza Line.

3. While Cameron and Kouzmanoff heat up, Adrian Gonzalez is cooling off. Gonzalez was 1-for-13 during the Reds series with no RBIs and no HRs. May has been a tough month in general for Gonzalez as he has only added 3 HRs and 6 RBIs to his solid April totals while hitting a sparse .211.

The Mariners and Miguel Batista are up next. Batista is 3-3 this year but his ERA is a nice 6.98 - well at least it's nice for the Padres who might be able to get some runs Friday.