Record: 67-60. Pace: 85-77. Change on last season: -4
Magic number: 34. Playoff odds: 63.8%

Here's what the Padres fans [if there are any left - their Gameday Thread for the opener in this series merited a sad 72 comments] should be singing themselves to sleep with tonight:

Well, it seems to me that you have seen too much in too few years.
And though you've tried you just cant hide
Your eyes are edged with tears.
You better stop
Look around
Here it comes, here it comes, here it comes, here it comes
Here comes Webb's nineteenth. Nervous? Breakdown!

Yes, Brandon Webb rolled imperiously to his major-league leading nineteenth victory, with seven innings of shutout ball, that also reduced his ERA to 2.74, third-best in the National League, trailing only Volquez (2.73, 15 wins) and Lincecum (2.60, 13 wins) - and the gap is narrowed, or wiped out entirely, by park factors. Absent a spectacular implosion over the last six weeks of the season, he'll be clearing space on his mantelpiece for another Cy Young.

Tonight, he was basically impeccable, with the minor exceptions of when facing Giles and Adrian Gonzalez. Both reached against Webb their first two times up, and when they did so back-to-back leading off the fourth, they caused the only real moments of concern for our ace during the game. However, Webb struck out both Kouzmanoff and Headley, then got Hundley to ground out to third, to preserve what was, at that point, a one-run lead for Arizona. He finished at exactly 100 pitches after seven inning, allowing only three hits, all singles, and three walks. In his last six starts, Webb is 6-0 with a 1.60 ERA and three - count 'em, three - extra-base hits allowed in 45 innings.

There was a nasty moment in the sixth when Webb took a sharp comebacker from Kouzmanoff in the chest. Though clearly in some discomfort, he picked up the ball and got the out at first, but it still hurt. Fortunately, there was no damage and Webb was able to joke about it afterwards.  “This is the worst one, for sure. It got me pretty square, then I had to go toward first base but I had to get the out. As bad as it hurt, I just went after it and was able to make the play... When we came inside, I said, ‘I’m going to take my shirt off and give everybody high-fives'. That was a good show.” For a moment, it looked like he'd tried to bare-hand the ball, and on the whole I'm glad he opted to use his body instead.

Tony Peña came in for the eighth and basically blew the Padres away, striking out two in a perfect inning of work. He certainly seems to have righted the ship again, after a shaky spell: his last five appearances cover 4.2 hitless innings, with only one of the fifteen batters he has faced reaching base, on a walk, and seven strikeouts. That's comforting, as Lyon is continuing to struggle: he got the first two out in the ninth easily enough, coming in for another non-save situation. But he then allowed two hits and a run, looking less than convincing in the process. I would be very, very wary of putting him in there for a one-run save over the weekend, and would be far happier going with Rauch - I have a nasty feeling Melvin does not share my doubts.

Adam 'The Treadmill' Dunn - so-called, because he's a walk machine - continued his merry assault on ball four, with another three free passes tonight, increasing his OBP to .537 with Arizona. That gives him 14 in his nine games, the same number as Chad Tracy has in sixty-four games for the Diamondbacks this season. I doubt even 'Roidman would have been quite as effective at getting on base, if we'd bothered to sign him. The rest of the team weren't quite as patient, mustering a mere one walk between them [to Snyder], but they did at least out-hit the Padres, something they didn't manage over the first couple of games. Snyder reached twice, on a hit and a walk, while Jackson had a pair of hits.

That included the most important blow of the night. Opposing starter Reineke, in only his second major-league appearance, had pitched very well, with only a sacrifice fly by Tony Clark to blot his record in the first four innings. However, in the fifth, singles by Ojeda and Young brought CoJack to the plate with two out: Reineke had to pitch to him, or face Dunn with the bases-loaded. Jackson smashed a line-drive down the line, past the outstretched third-baseman's glove, that scored both runners and gave Arizona a much more comfortable three-run lead. Snyder completed the scoring with an RBI single in the eighth.

[Click to enlarge, in new window]
Master of his domain: Brandon Webb, +39.2%
Honorable mention: Conor Jackson, +16.4%
God-emperor of suck: Stephen Drew, -7.6%

Enjoyed the Gameday Thread, alongside the presence of DbacksSkins, hotclaws, foulpole, J Up, 4 Corners Fan, snakecharmer, kishi, Turambar, Muu, UofAZGrad, singaporedbacksfan, TwinnerA, SongBird, utahdbacksfan, Scrbl, Diamondhacks, AF DBacks Fanatic, Azreous, njjohn, Zephon, AJforAZ and srdmad. seanprh was also present, but managed to get his solitary post deleted, for attempting to Rickroll readers. How amusing and novel - if only this were, oh, four months ago. Insert image of a deceased equine being chastised here.

Always nice to sweep the Padres, feeble though they might be - San Diego is now on pace for 101 losses. It keeps us two games ahead of the Dodgers, and send us back to seven games above .500, which is heading towards respectability for a division leader. Next up for us are the Marlins, who have struggled of late, losing seven of ten, but have some decent young pitchers to throw at us - and we don't get to send Webb and Haren out in this series. The Dodgers are also facing NL East opposition, in the shape of the Phillies, who will be looking to obtain revenge for the sweep they suffered in LA. Here's to them obtaining it, and us extending the lead further. At least tonight's win means we are guaranteed to be alone in first for SnakePitFest on Saturday!