SAN DIEGO _ The San Diego Padres returned to Petco Park on Friday staring up at double-digit deficit in the NL West standings. They'd certainly been there before under fourth-year manager Andy Green. But their record _ a symmetrical 40-40 entering the season's midpoint _ certainly marked new territory.
They hadn't been above. 500 at the start of the second half since 2010. They'd been 11 games under .500 or worse to start each of Green's first three seasons as the Padres' manager.
Yes, this feels different.
"We're in the position now where we feel like there's enough here to win," Green said. "I think we feel that excitement in the city. You can feel the expectation, and you can feel both of those things in the clubhouse."
They had enough Friday night.
Three innings after coming up inches shy on another run-saving highlight, Fernando Tatis Jr. hit his 10th homer in the sixth inning and Eric Hosmer followed immediately with his 13th as the back-to-back jobs were enough to send the Padres to a 3-1 win over the St. Louis Cardinals and clinch their first winning first half in a decade.
Tatis' blast made him the second rookie shortstop ever to collect 10 homers and 10 steals in the first half of a season. Nomar Garciaparra, in 1997, is the other.
Hosmer later padded the Padres' lead with an RBI groundout, cashing in Wil Myers' eighth-inning, pinch-hit double, and Kirby Yates capped five shutout innings from the bullpen with a four-out save that upped his total to an MLB-leading 27.
Left-hander Eric Lauer certainly did all he could to keep the Padres in the game.
The lone run he allowed in four workman-like innings crossed the plate in the fourth when a replay review overturned an inning-ending groundout fetched Tatis when dove for Michael Wacha's ball up the middle and jumped to his feet for a bang-bang play at first base.
The call on the field ruled out Wacha. The reversal gave the Cardinals their third hit of the inning and allowed the first run of the game to score.
Lauer allowed seven baserunners (six hits and a walk) and threw 98 pitches through four innings before Cal Quantrill came on for two scoreless frames that earned him the win after Tatis and Hosmer went back-to-back in the sixth off Wacha (7 IP, 2 ER).
Luis Perdomo followed Quantrill with a perfect seventh and Yates bailed out Craig Stammen with a strikeout with runners on first and second to start his first four-out save of the season.
