7th Straight Pulls Padres Within A Half Game

Kevin Tower has been called a sludge merchant in the past. When he jettisoned David Wells, we at FF considered it a wise move. But as time went by and it became clear that Towers had effectively traded Wells for NL West castoff and former Friar Brett Tomko - we had to cringe a bit. But this move has Towers looking like a genius once again - especially in light of Tomko's 6 inning, 6 strikeout performance in San Diego's 6-3 win on Thursday afternoon. Their seventh consecutive victory extended the Padres' 2007 campaign's longest streak and brought the club within 1/2 game of the Diamondbacks in the NL West race. Philly kept pace with a 7-6 win over the Nationals to remain 2 1/2 games back in the Wild Card. Offensively, it was the usual suspects of late doing the damage for Bud Black. Khalil Green and Scott Hairston each knocked in a run with Kevin Kouzmanoff pitching in a pair of hits and RBI. Michael Barrett also made a splash with RBI twins. The bullpen saw Doug Brocail, Heath Bell and Trevor Hoffman each silence the Pirates for an inning. Hoffman earned his 40th save of the season - extending his own MLB record for 40 save campaigns to 9.