Since taking over as Padres manager before the 2007 season, Bud Black has had a steady stream of All-Star closers.
Trevor Hoffman led to Heath Bell who led to Huston Street. It's a luxury, not having to worry about the 9th inning, and one most skippers don't enjoy with this kind of consistency.
"The common denominator amongst all these guys is they're confident," said Black after Sunday's 2-1 win over the Diamondbacks at Petco Park. "They want that stage, They want to be the guy. They pitch with conviction with their stuff. That's what Huston does. He knows what he needs to do with his three pitches. We're lucky we have him."
The question now is, how much longer will they have him?
Street is 21-for-21 on his save chances in 2014. With the Padres sitting 12 games under .500 and realistically having no chance of making a playoff run, contending teams will be clamoring to find a reliable closer for the pennant race.
Which leads us to another big question. Who, exactly will be taking those phone calls? The Padres are still searching for a new General Manager, and in the interim they have three guys sharing the job.
But, I digress. The genesis of this speculation is Street saving another Padres win. His perfect 9th finished what Odrisamer Despaigne started.
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The Cuban import had another strong showing, allowing just one run in 6.2 innings to get his second straight win.
You may recall Despaigne's start on Monday in San Francisco, when he tossed seven innings of shutout ball in his MLB debut to beat the Giants. Just how impressive has he been?
Since 1914, Despaigne is just the 21st player in Major League Baseball to go 2-0 with 0 or 1 run allowed in at least 13.2 inning pitched in his first two career games.
Talk about setting the bar high.
The Padres got both of their runs in the 4th inning, first on a Cameron Maybin double, then an Alexi Amarista sacrifice fly.
In the 3-game series against Arizona, the Padres pitching staff allowed six total runs ... and the DBacks still nearly got a sweep.
On Monday the Padres start a 3-game set at Petco against the Reds and, yes, Mat Latos will be on the mound against another impressive San Diego rookie, Jesse Hahn.
