Intro4u2u

Bud Black enjoyed a rather smooth tenure during his first three months as a major league manager. It appears we’ll soon find out more about the likeable San Diego Padres skipper’s ability to lead under pressure, however.

The Padres are clearly enduring their most tumultuous period of the season right now. As if losing seven times in a nine-game stretch wasn’t enough, the club has had to deal with an unexpected trade of a key member of its relief corps, and now the news that one of its ace pitchers will be sidelined for at least the next two weeks.

San Diego remains right in the think of a heated battle for National League West supremacy, but the front office sent out a mixed message to the players with Wednesday’s surprising trade of reliever Scott Linebrink to Milwaukee for a trio of minor-league pitchers. While the move will more than likely reap dividends in the future, it doesn’t seem to help the team’s postseason cause in the present.

Although the deal wasn’t warmly accepted in the clubhouse, as Linebrink was among the Padres’ most well-liked players, general manager Kevin Towers saw it as one he just couldn’t pass up. San Diego received 20-year-old pitcher Will Inman, who leads the minor leagues with 140 strikeouts this year and was listed as one of Baseball America’s top 100 prospects entering the season, and Joe Thatcher, a left-handed reliever the Padres consider major-league ready.

Linebrink, an impending free agent at season’s end, was considered expendable due to the emergence of Heath Bell as a capable setup man and wasn’t pitching that well anyway as of late. In his final appearance as a Padre, the veteran right-hander failed to protect a 5-2 eighth-inning lead against Colorado on Monday and was charged with four runs allowed along with a loss.

While Linebrink’s absence is one San Diego can conceivably overcome, it’s highly unlikely the team can sustain a postseason run if Chris Young is unavailable for an extended time. The Padres grudgingly placed the All-Star hurler on the disabled list Sunday, five days after Young strained his left oblique muscle and was forced to make an early exit of his start at Colorado.

The Padres are optimistic that Young, whose 1.82 earned run average is tops in the majors this season, will miss only two turns in the rotation. However, that’s no guarantee with this type of injury. San Diego has gone 14-6 in Young’s 20 starts and will be hard-pressed to find a candidate capable of filling the six-foot-10 right-hander’s rather large shoes.

Despite all those recent setbacks, the Padres stand just a half-game back of similarly-struggling Los Angeles and surging Arizona, the teams that presently share the NL West lead, as they head into this week’s key three-game series with the white-hot Diamondbacks.

A FITTING TRIBUTE

On the day the greatest player in franchise history was being enshrined in Baseball’s Hall of Fame, the Padres went out and produced their best offensive output of the 2007 campaign during Sunday’s series finale in Houston.

While Tony Gwynn was receiving his rightful place in Cooperstown, San Diego erupted for 11 first-inning runs and racked up a season-best 19 hits en route to a wild 18-11 victory over the Astros. It was the Padres’ highest scoring total in a single game since an 18-2 rout over the Montreal Expos on August 23, 2002 and only the second time in club annals that San Diego amassed 11 or more runs in an opening frame.

The Padres scored 12 times in the first inning during a 17-4 victory over St. Louis on August 24, 1993, the year before Gwynn would win four consecutive batting titles to give him eight such crowns over the course of his glorious career.

San Diego recorded eight hits during Sunday’s huge inning, the biggest of which may have come off the bat of starting pitcher Tim Stauffer. The recently recalled righty delivered a two-out, two-run single to extend the lead to 5-0 and turn over the lineup. Brian Giles followed with a double that brought home two more runners before Mike Cameron and Adrian Gonzalez capped the uprising with two-run homers.

Stauffer, who was called on to start due to Young’s injury, didn’t make as significant a contribution on the mound. The former first-round pick gave up only four hits in 3 2/3 innings, but three of them were homers, and was charged with seven runs before exiting.

MORE MOVES

Towers shook up the roster a little more by acquiring outfielder Scott Hairston from the rival Diamondbacks on Friday. The 27-year-old, who is the brother of Texas Rangers utilityman Jerry Hairston Jr., should provide San Diego a needed right-handed power bat off the bench and has some versatility, as he began his pro career as a second baseman.

Hairston isn’t regarded for his defensive skills but is a career .322 hitter in the minors and slugged 13 home runs in just 339 at-bats as a rookie with Arizona in 2004.

The acquisition coincided with the end of Russell Branyan’s stay in San Diego, as the well-traveled infielder was released to make room for Hairston’s arrival. Branyan batted only .197 with one home run this season and struck out 48 times in 122 at-bats.

Towers also signed veteran infielder Shea Hillenbrand to a minor-league contract on Friday. Although the 32-year-old has worn out his welcome in a few organizations, he’s also a two-time All-Star with a .285 lifetime average. Hillenbrand should provide a boost down the stretch at third base, where youngster Kevin Kouzmanoff has hit just .196 against right-handed pitching, and also gives Black the potential option of sitting first baseman Gonzalez against tough lefties.

WHO’S HOT

Infielder Geoff Blum is 10-for-27 (.370) since the All-Star break. The tear has raised the switch-hitter’s season average from .206 to .237.

WHO’S NOT

Blum has been receiving more playing time lately because regular second baseman Marcus Giles has hit a paltry .163 (9-for-63) with just three RBI in July.

Starting pitcher David Wells has been shelled in back-to-back outings. The 44- year-old surrendered seven runs on seven hits over just three innings in Thursday’s loss at Houston, five days after he was battered by Philadelphia for seven runs in 4 1/3 innings of work. Wells also served up three home runs in both of those starts.

ON DECK

The Padres begin a crucial three-game series with Arizona, a club that has won eight of its last nine games, on Tuesday. Justin Germano (6-5, 4.20) will start the opener for San Diego opposite reigning Cy Young winner Brandon Webb (9-8, 3.23), with Wells (5-7, 5.02) matching up against Micah Owings (5-5, 5.13) on Wednesday. Padres ace Jake Peavy (10-5, 2.41) gets the call in Thursday’s finale, with Yusmeiro Petit (2-2, 3.44) scheduled to pitch for the Diamondbacks