On Wednesday night, the Philadelphia Phillies (31-20) completed a three game-sweep of the San Diego Padres (25-28) defeating San Diego 5-1 on the strength of a Ryan Howard’s first inning 2-run home run off of Chris Young (4-4). For the first time in five games, Padres fans were not able to celebrate an Adrian Gonzalez homer.

Despite this, at Petco Park there are still positive residual effects of May’s 10-game win streak and a few personnel changes. Gonzalez’s home runs and spirits have been flying high.

During Tuesday’s (10-5) loss to the Phillies, Jake Peavy pitched just one inning because of a respiratory infection, the shortest outing in his career. Then the Padre’s second best hitter Scott Hairston departed the game with a strained left bicep and was placed on the 15-day disabled list. One would suspect that the Padres players would be starting to show some self-doubt

Nothing could be further from the case. Players are walking around with smiles on their faces and are eager to play ball. Commenting on his club’s attitude, Manager Buddy Black said, “We have a bunch of positive guys, a bunch of veteran leadership, everything is fine.”

One veteran that has had a calming effect is David Eckstein. Black said, “[Eckstein] has a presence to him, how he goes about his work . . . He is a very positive guy that knows how to go about winning a baseball game.”

Another key element contributing to the positive attitude is the group of young players who are genuinely grateful for the opportunity that they are getting with the Padres. This is exemplified by Tony Gwynn, Jr.

Gwynn said, “I am having a lot of fun, probably more fun than I have ever had playing since little league. It’s pretty cool playing in your home town. It is pretty cool getting to play a lot.”

Since joining the Padres, Gwynn has had a .297 average. A large part of that success comes from just being himself and not trying him not trying to fill his fathers’ shoes.

Admittedly for Gwynn, separating his game from his was difficult for him early on. Gwynn reflected, “I hit like .223 in AA and it dawned on me that it is going to be tough to have a career average of .336 or .337. It is just not a normal thing that happens very often. After I realized that, I had a lot more success. I just go out there and play the game instead of trying to be my dad.”

Apparently Gwynn’s father is not as relaxed as his son. During batting practice Gwynn, Sr. teased his son that he was not going to stick around for the game. He said, “It is too emotional!”

Regarding his father, Gwynn, Jr. said, “He always got on me about paying [too much] attention to my numbers, but that is exactly what he is doing sitting up there watching the game.”

During a game, Gwynn Jr’s wife sat in the press box with her father-in-law. Afterwards she told her husband that his dad was saying things like, “If he gets a hit right here he will be hitting .333.”

Teasingly, Junior laughed, “I think the proud dad has taken over the baseball player.”