Bill Center, longtime sportswriter for U-T San Diego, is an employee of the Padres.
The Padres went into Wednesday night's game in Arizona having lost three straight after a five-game winning streak.
Before that, the Padres had lost eight of 11.
"I see my job as keeping it level," Padres manager Andy Green said recently. "Figuring out things you are doing wrong in games you lose by a mile and things you do right when winning by a mile.
"We're probably doing more extra work than any team in baseball right now. You just don't look at a few games and say, 'We're doing it right.' The job is to get better. You don't stop working because you're winning games. You work harder."
Green noted that the job is ongoing.
"We're a long way from arriving," he said. "We need to keep the hammer down when we're doing well. I'm not wondering about how other teams are doing. There's plenty to concentrate on here.
"We've done a better job recently rallying when we're down. A lot of times we're deflated when down."
NOTE WORTHY
• RHP Carter Capps restarted his rehab assignment with Triple-A El Paso on Tuesday night. He gave up a homer to the first hitter he faced, then allowed only one more hit and no more runs the rest of his inning. He had one strikeout. Before Capps went back out, Green said, there were "mixed reviews" on Capps' most recent performance against hitters in extended spring training. "Capps had some rough ones and showed some flashes," said Green. He said Capps' velocity was around 92 while throwing at 80 percent.
• RHP Christian Friedrich, who started the season on the disabled list, has reported to Double-A San Antonio and is expected to make his first rehab start Thursday.
• RF Hunter Renfroe homered twice in Arizona on Tuesday night. It was the second multihomer game of his Major League career (the first was last Sept. 27 against the Dodgers) and gave him three homers over back-to-back games, marking the second time this season that he has homered in back-to-back games. Renfroe has eight homers in his past 22 games.
• 1B William Myers has hit safely in seven of his past eight games but is only 7-for-31 with a double and a homer for two RBIs with 12 strikeouts as his average has slipped to .260. "Wil's always been a little streaky," Green said recently. "But he's been a little unlucky lately."