SAN DIEGO - Combine the last 60 or so games of 2009 with the first 25 games of 2010 and one of the best teams in MLB is — surprise! surprise! — the Padres, a club also with the second-lowest payroll behind lowly Pittsburgh. Yet with a 16-10 mark, San Diego finds itself alone in first place in the National League West.

What in the Padres is going on here?

“Collection of all facets (of the game) playing well, especially the pitching and defense,” explained Bud Black, San Diego’s ultra-mellow skipper who is the National League’s version of Joe Maddon, minus the hoodie. “It’s just been good all around baseball.”

The Padres' superb early season pitching, which ranks third in baseball with a 2.76 ERA, was on display in its weekend series against Milwaukee, as San Diego shut out the Brewers to win three of four games, surrendering a total of just two runs across 36 innings. No small feat considering the Crew entered the series with the most runs scored in the National League. But no staff has tossed more shutouts in baseball than the Padres, and the club ranks among the top defensive clubs in the National League. In fact, up until Saturday night’s 2-1 loss to Milwaukee, San Diego pitching had posted a streak of 26 consecutive innings without allowing a run.

Largely fueling San Diego’s hot start has been its core of homegrown talent, which has included a resurgence from pitchers like Tim Stauffer and Wade LeBlanc, and hitting from Chase Headley. With a payroll under $40 million, nearly a third of the roster was drafted by the organization, a trend fans in America’s Finest City haven’t seen reap success since the last of the 1980s and early 1990s when the Puerto Rican parade hit town with Benito Santiago, Roberto Alomar and Joey Cora. Make no mistake, this isn’t the 2005-2007 Padres, which came within one strike of three-peating as division champs behind mostly a group of veterans acquired via free agency or trade, minus original signs Jake Peavy and Khalil Greene.

“If you watched us play (late) last year, this shouldn’t be (a surprise),” explained second baseman David Eckstein, one of the Padres' clubhouse leaders and an elder statesmen at 35. “We’re definitely not household names, but everyone shows up and plays hard.”

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The Padres lead baseball in pickoffs, thanks mostly to LeBlanc, a southpaw drafted out of Alabama, who’s nabbed five runners alone already this season while failing to surrender a run in 16 1/3 innings. Stauffer, San Diego’s No. 1 selection in 2003 out of Richmond, and a starter turned reliever, has yet to allow a run in 15.1 innings, and Luke Gregerson, acquired from St. Louis for Greene two years ago, has tossed 10 innings of scoreless ball.

Also trending is Black’s penchant for teaching to a club finally built for its pitcher-friendly home ballpark where defense and speed win. A southpaw on the Royals' 1985 World Series team, Black served as Mike Scioscia’s pitching coach from 2000-2006, helping the Angels win the World Series in 2002 alongside bench coach Maddon. He replaced long-time Padres manager Bruce Bochy in 2007 and for the first time since moving into spacious PETCO Park in 2004, his team is truly an athletic bunch, validated by ranking among baseball’s leaders in steals and the fact they’ve won nine of their last 10 at home, and boast an 10-3 overall record off San Diego Bay.

“(Bud’s) stoic, mild-mannered, intellectual, but behind that he looks at himself as a teacher,” explained Dave Roberts, a former Padre now serving as a special assistant to the team, coaching base running. “When you’ve got guys who are impressionable and want to learn, you’ve got something special.”

Added Padres right fielder Will Venable: “In spring training (Black) told us, ‘Don’t worry about what you’re hearing from the outside; there’s not a lot of belief (in this team). But you all saw what happened last year when you played the right way.’ Guys are holding themselves accountable.”

San Diego posted a 37-25 mark over the last 62 games of 2009, third best in the National League and second in the division to only Colorado. That’s particularly impressive when you consider the Padres sent 21 players to the disabled list — the most since 2002 — and also used 24 rookies over the course of 2009.

“What last year showed was that these guys are big leaguers,” said Eckstein, who played for Black with the Angels. “That success gave them the confidence and they’ve fed off that (into this season).”

Continuity reigns, with much of the same nucleus in place from late last year, although first-year Padres general manager Jed Hoyer added veterans with World Series experience, including starter Jon Garland, catcher and former Rockie Yorvit Torrealba, and bench veterans Jerry Hairston Jr. and Matt Stairs.