Despite the horrific start this season by the San Diego Padres, they at least have something to be proud of.

Greg Maddux won his 350th career game last night, as the Padres knocked off the Colorado Rockies by a score of 3-2.  Maddux is the only current active pitcher to reach the mark, the ninth all time, but the second in two seasons.  Roger Clemens picked up his 350th win last July 22nd against the Minnesota Twins.

It wasn't easy for Maddux to get there, however.  After picking up his second win of the year, and 349th of his career in Chavez Ravine against the Dodgers on April 13th, he had four chances to pick up the historic victory.  He went 0-3 with a no decision, that coming against the Giants, where Trevor Hoffman blew a 1-0 lead to wipe that chance out.  The Padres are the worst team in major league baseball at 13-24, and yesterday's victory was just the team's fifth in the last twenty three contests. 

That's a far cry from last year, when the Padres were a last weekend meltdown against the Brewers from being a wild card team, a season culminating in a thirteenth inning, three run rally by the eventual NL Champion Rockies to steal a 9-8 win at Coors Field, propelling them into the playoffs and sending San Diego home for the winter.

The club retooled a bit, adding Jim Edmonds, Mark Prior, and Randy Wolf.  They hoped that the extra arms would be a boon for a rotation with Jake Peavy, Chris Young and Maddux.  However, Wolf has not won in double digits, or been healthy for that matter, the past four years.  Prior is still recovering from injuries that cost him half of 2006 and all of 2007.  The Padres say he threw off a mound this week in Peoria, Arizona, and may throw to live hitters next week.

As for Edmonds, he was released this week by San Diego, after posting a .178 average with one homer and six RBI in 26 games.  His on base percentage was .265, and he was slugging a paltry .233 on the year.  To put that in perspective, Cubs starter Carlos Zambrano, is slugging .435 for the season.

Back to Saturday night, where Maddux was facing Ubaldo Jimenez of the Rockies.  Maddux was sharp early, retiring the first seven hitters he faced.  After Clint Barmes singled to center with one out in the third, Maddux retired Jimenez on a fielders choice, then fanned Wily Taveras looking.  In the fourth, he got all the offense he would need.

Jimenez walked Tadahito Iguchi leading off the bottom of the fourth.  With Brian Giles at the plate, Iguchi would swipe second base.  Giles would eventually draw a walk as well, while a passed ball by catcher Yorvit Torrealba would move Iguchi to third.  First baseman Adrian Gonzalez then ripped a three run homer to left, his ninth of the year, to give San Diego a 3-0 lead.

Maddux's lone lapse was in the sixth, where he made a poor throw on a Taveras dribbler.  The throw got past Gonzalez and rolled into the Colorado bullpen, sending Taveras all the way to third.  He would score on a ground ball by Omar Quintanilla to make it 3-1.  Maddux would finish the sixth, and his evening was done.  His line:  six innings, three hits, one run, unearned, no walks, one strikeout, and a total of just 68 pitches thrown, 45 for strikes.

Cla Meredith retired the Rockies in order in the seventh.  Heath Bell gave up a leadoff single to Barmes, who would take second on a passed ball.   Ryan Spilborghs grounded back to the mound, advancing Barmes to third.  Taveras then doubled Barmes home, cutting the lead to 3-2, before Bell rallied to fan both Quintanilla and Holliday.  In the ninth, Trevor Hoffman walked Todd Helton to lead off the inning, but struck out Garrett Atkins and induced a 4-6-3 double play off the bat of Brad Hawpe to end it.

Milestones like this don't come around all that often in this era of specialization, pitch counts, situational relievers, and the rest.  We may not see another 350 game winner for quite a while.  There are only 11 pitchers with at least 150 wins that are active right now, and all of them are at least 35, ranging to Jamie Moyer and his 45 year old arm. 

For Maddux, it is another tribute to a fantastic career:  17 Gold Gloves, four National League Cy Young Awards, 3299 strikeouts, a World Series title, 17 consecutive 15+ win seasons, eight All Star Game selections, 20 straight double digit win seasons, and now, a member of the 350 win club at 350-217.  Now, I may not be as big a fan of Maddux as some, as his greatest years were in Atlanta after he left the Cubs as a free agent, but watching him pitch was like watching a master craftsman build.  He could hit the corners, paint the black, change speeds, move in and out and generally befuddle hitters.  This was never clearer than in the 1994 and 1995 seasons, when Maddux went 16-6 with a 1.56 ERA and then 19-2 with a 1.63 ERA with an unheard of WHIP of 0.896 and then 0.811 for those years.  To put that dominance in perspective, the average ERA in the league those years was 4.22 and 4.27, so Maddux was over two and a half runs per game better than the league average.

Congratulations Greg, on a tremendous accomplishment and a brilliant career.  I'm sure your spot in Cooperstown is already reserved.