CAPITAL PUNISHMENT: The Padres wrap up the season series with the Nationals with this four-game set…took two of three earlier this season at Nationals Park from 5/27-29…have won 37 of their last 50 (.740) contests against the Washington/Montreal franchise, dating back to 8/22/03…the club has gone 29-11 (.725) with an 11-2 series record since the Nationals relocated to D.C. in 2005…the Padres have gone 15-6 on the road against Washington, including 7-5 at Nationals Park since the venue opened in 2008…have gone 14-5 against the Nationals at PETCO Park since the team relocated to D.C. in ‘05.

SIGNED, SEALED & DELIVERED: The Padres today agreed to terms with the club’s first overall selection (10th overall) in the 2011 First-Year Player Draft, INF Cory Spangenberg (SPAN-jen-berg)…he is the first draftee taken in the first-round of the 2011 Draft to agree to terms this season…the 20-year-old is a Pennsylvania prep product who spent one year at Virginia Military Institute before transferring to Indian River State College after winning Big South Conference Freshman of the Year honors...played third base at Indian River in 2011, but has seen time at both second base and shortstop since moving to the collegiate level.

BETTER LATOS THAN NEVER: Mat Latos takes the hill today…has gone 4-1 with a 2.93 ERA (10 ER/30.2 IP) over his last five starts…on 5/25 vs. STL he picked up his first win at PETCO in 2010 after working a season-high 8.0 innings of one-run ball with no walks and seven strikeouts…the win snapped a season-long five-game losing streak for the Padres…since that start (including 5/25) the Padres have gone 10-5, with a season-high four straight wins from 5/28-31.

PUTTIN’ ON THE RIZZ: Anthony Rizzo made his Major League debut last night at first base, going 1-for-2 with a triple, two walks and a run scored…he is just the fourth Padre in history to triple in his first career game (also, John Sipin on 5/24/69, Wiki Gonzalez on8/14/99 and Will Venable on 8/29/08)…at 21 years and 305 days (born 8/8/89) he was the youngest Padres position player to make his ML debut since Sean Burroughs (21 years, 202 days) on 4/2/02, who also started that game (ELIAS)…prior to Burroughs, the last five position players younger than Rizzo to make their Major League debut for the Padres were Ben Davis (21-199, 9/25/98), Derrek Lee (21-234, 4/28/97), Roberto Alomar (20-077, 4/22/88) and Shawn Abner (21-083, 9/8/87).

THAT’S REAL BALSLEY: The Padres rank fourth in the Majors with a 3.23 ERA (210 ER/584.2 IP)…relievers lead the Majors with a 2.39 ERA (55 ER/207.0 IP) while starters rank fifth best in the NL with a 3.69 ERA (155 ER/377.2 IP)…over the last 21 games, the Padres’ pitching staff has a 2.70 ERA (57 ER/190.0 IP) since 5/19…over that span, starters have worked 7.0 innings-or-more nine times, including eight of the last 17 games, and have posted a 2.72 ERA (40 ER/132.1 IP) over that span…San Diego starters have also posted 14 quality starts in that stretch.

LUD-WICKED: Ryan Ludwick has hit safely in 22 of his last 30 games since 5/11, batting .374 (37-for-99) with four homers and 22 RBI, the best average in the Majors since 5/11, just ahead of Michael Morse’s .368 (32-for-87) mark in the span for WSH…raised his average from .181 (on 5/10) to his current mark of .265 in that span…has 37 RBI on the season which rank 13th most in the NL…is also leading all NL outfielders this year with eight assists.