San Diego Padres

Today the Padres will try to get back-to-back wins against the Nationals for the first time since 2011. Andrew Cashner will take the mound in the series finale of the four-game set between the two ball clubs at Petco Park. He is coming off two of the best starts of his career, each of which lasted 7 1/3 innings and saw him and giving up a combined two runs (one earned) and go 1-0. He is also 1-0 all-time against the Nationals in five relief outings. He's given up two hits and struck out six over 5 2/3 innings. Washington will send Dan Haren to the mound to go for his fourth win in five starts. His last time out he pitched a solid seven innings while allowing just two runs on six hits, but ended up with the loss as the Nats failed to provide him with any run support. Haren hasn't had much luck pitching in San Diego. In two starts at Petco Park (as a member of the Angels) he's given up nine runs in 11 2/3 innings and taken the loss in both.

Cabrera has two-game winning hits in last five games

Kalian Sams has been tearing the cover off the ball since signing as a free agent with the Padres organization on May 4. Assigned to AA San Antonio, the 26 year old hit two home runs in his first game with the Missions and hasn't cooled down. In Saturday's 9-6 win over Frisco, only his eleventh game, Sams went 3-4 with a pair of doubles and his seventh home run. His three RBI brought his season total to 18. Again, because I cannot stress this enough, he has done this in only eleven games. Born in The Hague, Netherlands in 1986, Sams signed with the Mariners as an undrafted free agent in 2006 after spending two years in the Dutch Major League as a teenager, first with Hypotheekzeker and then with ADO. In six years in the Mariners system Sams hit .215 with 80 HR in 1,513 AB over 450 games in A and AA. He struck out frequently, four times as often as he walked. Before his amazing run to start this season, his best year was 2011, when he set career highs with a .231 BA, 24 HR, 66 RBI, and an uncharacteristic 26 SB- twice as many as his next-best total. A member of the 2013 Netherlands World Baseball Classic team, Sams hit .238 with three doubles and three RBI in 21 AB over seven games. Before that he was part of the Netherlands' gold medal winning team in the 2011 Baseball World Cup in Panama and the silver medal team at the 2006 Intercontinental Cup in Taiwan. Although Sams' .361 BA and home run pace are as unsustainable as they are awesome, there are encouraging signs that it might not be all a mirage. Sams has only struck out five times in his 46 plate appearances and has drawn eight walks. While there's no way he'll keep getting on base exactly half of the time, he certainly looks like a different person than the one whose career high OBP was a meager .306. If he settles into even a happy medium between the two he could find himself in AAA for the first time.

Santana High alumnus James Needy picks up first win of the year as Storm end losing skid.

The Tucson Padres beat the Iowa Cubs 4-2 Saturday night, led by a strong pitching performance by San Diegan Sean O'Sullivan and two-hit nights by catcher Yasmani Grandal and shortstop Gregorio Petit. Grandal and Petit also drove in one run apiece, as did right fielder Dan Robertson and newcomer Mike Wilson. In his first game of his 10-day "rehab" stint before his return from his 50-game suspension, Grandal went 2-4, scoring one run and driving in another. He singled in his first at bat, driving in Wilson for the second run of the first inning, and came around to score the third. Grandal singled again in the top of the eighth inning but Rene Rivera promptly grounded into a double play. Moved to first base due to the presence of Grandal, Rivera went 0-4 to lower his PCL-leading batting average to .398. He is .001 ahead of Scott Van Slyke, whose number isn't changing any time soon as he has been recalled by Los Angeles. Left fielder Mike Wilson went 1-5 in his first game with the organization. Wilson, who briefly saw time in the majors in 2011, drove in Tucson's first run with a double. The twelve-year minor league veteran was signed by the Padres after hitting .325 with three homers and 18 RBI in 23 games with Somerset of the independent Atlantic League. Released by the Mets on the final day of spring training this year, Wilson spent 11 years in the Mariners organization before signing with New York in January. Particularly astute fans might recall the only multi-hit game of his eight game major league career; it came against the Padres nearly two years ago, on May 21, 2011. Tucson starting pitcher Sean O'Sullivan allowed six hits and a pair of earned runs in seven innings, lowering his ERA to 3.96 and picking up his third win. Colt Hynes earned his fifth hold by retiring all five batters he faced. He has yet to allow an earned run in 9.2 innings spread over 11 games at AAA; he only allowed one in 12.1 innings with AA San Antonio. Brad Boxberger got his fourth save, striking out the only batter he faced. The win moved Tucson's record to 23-19, one game behind division leader Sacramento. They face Iowa again at 11:05 Sunday morning before embarking on a four game set starting Monday against Omaha, somewhere in middle America.

After the Grandal news, two nice pitching performances by O'Sullivan with Tucson and Needy for Lake Elsinore. Errors do in Fort Wayne and Roach has another tough outing for the Missions.

Yasmani Grandal went 2-for-4 for Triple-A Tucson in his season debut.

The good and the bad from the Padres' 2-1 win over the Nationals.

Someone from this famous field would know how to repair the Chargers and Padres, right?