NATIONAL ROAD TRIP: The Padres begin a six day, six-game, road trip through Washington and Atlanta beginning with the first of three against the Nationals tonight…concluded an eight-game homestand with a victory on Wednesday against the St. Louis Cardinals, finishing 2-6 on the homestand against the Milwaukee Brewers (1-1), Seattle Mariners (0-3) and Cardinals (1-2)…will start a season-long 11-game homestand on Thursday against the Houston Astros (four games), Colorado Rockies (three games) and Nationals (three games) following this road trip.

CAPITAL PUNISHMENT: The Padres will play the first of six games against Washington this season…will also host the Nationals to end the next homestand from 6/10-12 to wrap up the season series…have won 34 of their last 46 (.739) contests against the Washington/Montreal franchise, dating back to 8/22/03…the club has gone 26-10 (.722) with a 10-2 series record since the Nationals relocated to D.C. in 2005…since becoming the Nationals, the Padres have gone 13-5 on the road against Washington, including 5-4 at Nationals Park since the venue opened in 2008…four of the five losses have come in their last five games here.

TOO CLOSE FOR COMFORT: A total of 29 of the Padres’ first 50 games (58 %) have been decided by two runs or less with SD posting a 13-16 record…played 14 one-run games (6-8) and 15 two-run games (7-8).

ON THE ROAD AGAIN: The Padres hit .319 (94-for-295) with 16 doubles, three triples, seven home runs and 55 runs scored in eight-games (6.9 runs per game) on their last road trip through Milwaukee (three games), Colorado (three games) and Arizona (two games)…have hit .265 (194-for-731) overall in 21 games on the road this season, the third best road batting average in the National League and fifth best in the Majors behind the New York Yankees (.266)…hit .180 (45-for-250) with 11 runs scored in eight games on this previous homestand and have hit .199 (190-for-953) in 29 games overall at home this season.

ON A HAWPE AND A PRAYER: Since April 25, Brad Hawpe has hit .322 (29-for-90) with 14 runs, eight doubles, four homers and 11 RBI…he’s hit safely in 20 of 26 games (reached in 24 of the 26) over that stretch…has raised his marks overall on the season from .098/.145/.118 (AVG/OBP/SLG) to .241/.299/.390 since 4/25 over that span.

J&B IS SMOOTH: Jason Bartlett has the second most RBIs (16) in the National League by a player without a homer this year…has hit safely in 13 of his last 16 games, batting .324 (22-for-68) over that stretch since 5/8…has raised his average on the season from .217 to .259 in that span…had collected an RBI in nine-straight games from 5/8-5/17, tying the club’s record also held by Sixto Lezcano in 1982 (4/16-27) and Steve Finley in 1996 (6/22-7/1).