SAN DIEGO - Cla Meredith had hopes of pitching in the big leagues and going to the playoffs this season.

"I just figured it would be with the Red Sox," he said.

But on May 1, Meredith and catcher Josh Bard were dealt to the Padres for catcher Doug Mirabelli in what could go down as one of the biggest fleecings of all-time.

Mirabelli is hitting under .200 for the Red Sox, who are longshots to make the American League playoffs.

Bard is hitting .325 as the principle backup to Mike Piazza.

And Meridith is 5-1 with an 0.75 ERA in 36 innings for the Padres. Tuesday night, the sidearming right-hander extended his scoreless innings streak to 27 1/3, a Padres record for a rookie pitcher. Then Wednesday, he threw another 1 2/3 shutout innings to get the win in the Padres' 2-0 victory over Colorado in 11 innings.

Only Randy Jones (30) has thrown more consecutive scoreless innings in a Padres uniform.

"I'd be a liar if I said I wasn't pretty confident right now," said Meredith, who hasn't been scored on in his last 24 appearances.

Meredith said he had a scoreless streak of 17 innings earlier this season at Triple-A Portland and had an ERA around 0.60 in his sophomore year at Virginia Commonwealth.

"I had to have a run of scoreless innings there," he said. "But I don't remember anything like this.

"What's so special about this is that the team is in the thick of the playoff hunt. So every pitch is important. This ain't no dad-gum college summer league.

"What's really special is being able to sit next to Trevor Hoffman in the bullpen. Or come in a game behind Boomer (David Wells). There are huge age and experience gaps on this club. But we have great resources for the young guys if we chose to listen and take advantage of it."

Padres manager Bruce Bochy said his biggest problem with Meredith is having to fight the urge to overuse him.

"He's throwing great, and I won't hesitate to bring him in the game in crisis situations," Bochy said.

Asked what Bochy says to him in those situations, Meredith laughed and said "He just hands me the ball and says 'go get 'em."'

Short hops

RHP Woody Williams was named the Padres recipient of the Roberto Clemente Award, given for outstanding service in the community. … Fort Wayne, the Padres' low Single-A affiliate, lost the first game of the Midwest League playoffs, falling to West Michigan 8-3.

- Contact staff writer John Maffei at (760) 740-3547 or jmaffei@nctimes.com.