Another Sweep At The Hands Of The Padres...GAH!

22-12, a .647 winning percentage, 1st place in their division, best record in the National League: No, that's not the Phillies or the Cardinals. It's the San Diego Padres. No one thought they'd be in this position; not even the "experts" at ESPN. But the Giants got another good look at how good the Pads are, as they came into AT&T Park and handily swept the Giants.

The Padres are for real, and they should be taken very seriously. They have a fabulous starting pitching staff that rivals the Giants' and a dominant bullpen. If the Padres have a lead after 6 innings, it's game over with the likes of Luke Gregerson, Mike Adams, and Heath Bell in the San Diego bullpen. They don't have an overpowering lineup, but top to bottom, they take great at-bats, draw a lot of walks, steal bases, and come through in RBI situations. On top of that, they play solid defense. The Padres actually win games like the Giants should but don't. Adrian Gonzalez was a non-factor all series, yet the Padres dominated the series. Also, give tons of credit to Padres' manager Bud Black and his staff, particularly in positioning his defense. The Padres had all of the Giants hitters played perfectly. There were many instances where the Giants hit the ball hard (Matt Downs, Nate Schierholtz), but right into the Padres defense.

The Giants usually excel at home, but they played perhaps their three sloppiest games of the year this series. The Giants' pitchers walked 19 Padres hitters in the first two games of the series and committed four errors over the three games. They were a pathetic 3-18 with runners in scoring position. The offense is anemic right now and Pablo Sandoval looks completely lost at the plate. I've never seen him swing through so many fastballs in the strike zone. On top of that, the Giants received some very discouraging news regarding Mark DeRosa, who called his offseason wrist surgery "a complete failure."

You have to feel sorry for Jonathan Sanchez, who has now lost two games to the Padres 1-0 to Mat Latos. What awful luck! Sanchez pitched beautifully today, allowing only 1 run on 3 hits while striking out 5 in 8 innings, and he rebounded nicely from his previous two mediocre outings. Let's just hope that Sanchez, who's somewhat fragile mentally, doesn't get bogged down. He's the best #4 starter in baseball so far.

The Astros are coming to town beginning tomorrow, but it's going to be no cakewalk for the Giants. Lance Berkman is back for the Astros and they just swept the Cardinals in St. Louis. The Giants have to wake up and start playing like major-leaguers, because they won't beat anyone if they continue to play like this.