through tough start

By STEVEN G. WATSON

Sports Editor

It’s been a tough start of the 2000 season for the San Diego Padres (17-26) who find themselves at the bottom of the National League West standings, but for Troy native Brian Meadows things have been on a little bit of an up-swing as of late.

The 25-year-old Meadows (4-3) picked up one of his biggest wins to date a week ago Sunday in a 3-1 victory over the NL West leading Arizona Diamondbacks holding his opponent to only two hits through eight innings.

The win snapped an eight-game losing streak by the Padres and also put an end to an nine-game winning streak by the D-backs.

The Diamondbacks, behind the strong pitching of the "Big Unit" Randy Johnson and some powerful offensive support brought to the team through off-season trades boasted the league’s top record coming into the game. Despite a lead-off home run by Tony Womack, however, Meadows shut them down through eight retiring 19 of 20 batters at one point.

In his last outing, Meadows was chased from the mound early by the hard-hitting braves, but watched as San Diego went on to get the 11-7 win. Now he must face off against the New York Mets later today in an attempt to pick up his fifth win of the season.

The right-hander is second on the Padres’ pitching staff in wins with Matt Clement (5-3) leading the way after a 1-0 win over the Mets Monday and Woody Williams (3-2) as the only other starting pitcher on the staff with a record above .500.

He is tops among starters in ERA with a 4.45 and third in innings pitched seeing action in 54.2. He can also be said to be on a career pace in the early going after winning 11 games in 31 starts as a Florida Marlin in 1998 and 1999. He already has four wins in only nine starts this season.