"First batter of the game, Chris Young, Arizona Diamondbacks.

Ball one. Ball two. Ball three. Ball four. In that order.

"On all four of them, I'm like, you know what, I'm just going to throw it right down the middle," said the pitcher, Padres right-hander Aaron Harang. "Every one of them went whoooop and took off to the left."

As they often have against the Padres, things got worse before they got better in the first inning at Petco Park, but they also got much better than worse. Consequently, thanks to a three-run homer by Jorge Cantu and great eighth-inning catch by fleet center fielder Cameron Maybin, the Padres prevailed 4-3 in the rare game where their first at bat made all the difference.

Not long before Harang actually caught a ceremonial first pitch from mom Robin Harang on Mothers Day, Padres manager Bud Black was emphatic in saying the Padres had to break this season-long habit of being victimized by the opposition's first-strike capability. In the previous 33 games, the Padres had been outscored 23-5, so their 4-0 lead heading into the second inning Sunday was almost worth a snapshot of the scoreboard.

"That's a good head start," said third baseman Chase Headley, who drew a walk directly before Cantu's two-out, two-strike homer. "Nobody wants to say it, but we've been swinging the bats a lot better. To me, it looks like we're making progress. It's nice to get ahead like that and play our style of baseball."

Trying to climb out of the National League West Division basement, the Padres took a step upward by taking two of three from Arizona, splitting their six-game homestand and heading off to Milwaukee.

That the triumph ended with closer Heath Bell striking out Young, the potential winning run, brought it all back to the original point. Leadoff hitters have been highly successful against the Padres, reaching base a dozen times at the start of 34 games and scoring eight runs.

That the Diamondbacks didn't score first this time was somewhat remarkable, given how Young wound up at third base with one out. Harang had Young trapped off first base, but in his debut as a major-league starter, Logan Forsythe dropped the pitcher's throw on the play at second. Harang gave Young third base on a wild pitch, but got himself out of the jam with two pop-outs."