TRIP DOWN SOUTH: The Padres continue this six-game road trip with the first game of a three-game set against the Atlanta Braves…wrapped up a three-game set against the Nationals yesterday by taking the rubber match…went 2-6 on their previous eight-game homestand against the Brewers (1-1), 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.

BRAVE NEW WORLD: The Padres went 1-2 in their three-game series against the Braves last month (4/25-27)…are set to play six more times in 2011 with this three-game set and another next month from 6/24-26…have lost six of the last eight matchups, 15 of the last 22 and 27 of the last 38 games against the Braves…at Turner Field, the Padres have lost 12 of their last 17, 19 of their last 30 and are 17-34 (.333) here all time since the venue opened in 1997.

NO REST FOR WEARY: The Padres are three games into a stretch of 20-straight games in 20-straight days, their longest stretch without a day off this year…also had a scheduled stretch of 20-straight games in 20-straight days earlier this season from 4/8-27 but had a postponed game on 4/19 at CHI which was made up as a doubleheader the following day…will start a season-long 11-game homestand on Thursday…next scheduled off day is 6/16 before the club starts interleague play back up at MIN (6/17-19) and BOS (6/20-22).

HERE COMES THE SUN: San Diego has gone 14-7 this year in day games, the most wins in the Majors in day games…the Padres pitching staff has posted a 2.87 ERA (61 ER/191.0 IP) in their 21 day games, while hitting .249 (177-for-712) with 99 runs scored (4.7 runs per game)…Dustin Moseley has a 1.08 ERA (3 ER/25.0 IP) in four starts during the day.

TOO CLOSE FOR COMFORT: A total of 32 of the Padres’ first 53 games (60.4 %) have been decided by two runs or less with SD posting a 15-17 record…played 17 one-run games (8-9) and 15 two-run games (7-8)…last season the Padres had 80 of their 162 games (49.4 %) decided by two runs or less…in addition, five of the Padres last six games have been decided in the last at-bat.

RISP: The Padres were 4-for-10 with runners in scoring position yesterday and are now 6-for-15 (.400) with RISP in their last two games after going 4-for-50 (.080) with RISP over the previous 10 games…were 33-for-80 (.413) with RISP in the previous eight games from 5/8-16…hit .124 (25-for-201) with RISP in 29 games at home this season while hitting .320 (63-for-197) with RISP in 24 games on the road…the .320 mark with RISP on the road is the best average in the Majors with the St. Louis Cardinals (.314, 107-for-334) and Cleveland Indians (58-for-192) the only other two teams to sport a .300-or-better average with RISP on the road this season.

SUPER BALS: The Padres rank fifth in the Majors and fourth in the NL overall this season with a 3.30 ERA (178 ER/485.2 IP), right behind the San Francisco Giants (3.29 ERA)…relievers lead the Majors with a 2.37 ERA (46 ER/174.1 IP) with Atlanta second at 2.50 (48 ER/173.0 IP)…bullpen also ranks third in the Majors with 154 strikeouts and fourth with a .218 (139-for-637) opponents batting average…over the last 10 games the Padres pitching staff was posted a 2.47 ERA (25 ER/91.0 IP) since 5/19…over that span, starters have worked 7.0 innings-or-more six times, including five of the last six games, and have posted a 2.32 ERA (17 ER/66.0 IP) in the last 10 games.