Greg Maddux is The Stopper

Greg Maddux continued his string of excellent pitching, halting the Padres' losing streak at 3 games by leading the Padres to a 3-1 win over the Rockies. It took Maddux just a hair over 11 pitches an inning to tame the Rockies, using just 67 bullets over 6 innings. He allowed just 3 hits en route to extending his streak of walk-less innings to 54 1/3. Doug Brocail and Heath Bell each posted solid relief performances to earn holds; Trevor Hoffman looked like his pre-August self, notching his 37th save with a perfect inning with a pair of strikeouts. His first strikeout marked number 1000 in his storied career.

Khalil Greene brought the lone Friar extrabase hit, a double, and an RBI to the party. He also supplied a fantastic play in the field at shortstop in the 8th to save a run for Heath Bell. The screamer took a nasty hop and appeared to be head hunting the young shortstop. Greene conjured images from the Matrix as he seemingly stopped time, changed his body's axis and deftly snagged the ball. His throw was a little late at first, but simply fielding the ball held the runner at third. Kevin Kouzmanoff added an RBI.

Notes:

• Brady Clark started for Milton Bradley, who is listed day-to-day with a strained right oblique.
• Adrian Gonzalez's ninth inning knock marked 11 consecutive games with a hit.
  
• Scott Hairston was activated from the Disabled List, but wasn't quite ready to start Saturday night. He is available for pinch hitting and running. Marcus Giles is expected to be activated Sunday.
  
• Arizona snuck past the Cardinals 9-8, maintaining their 2 game lead in the NL West.
  
• The Padres win dropped the Rockies to 4 back in the NL Wild Card race. The Dodgers and Phillies both won to keep pace at 2.5 and 4 games back, respectively.