Tony Gwynn Jr. needs a lot of tickets for this weekend's Brewers games in his hometown San Diego. Luckily, his mom has as much pull in that department as her Major League son.

"Probably more than I do," the son says with a smile.

That's because Gwynn's dad, of course, is the career Padre who will be inducted into the Hall of Fame this July. Tony Jr. has already received permission from the Brewers to attend -- "You have to go," manager Ned Yost told him.

"It will be nice," Gwynn said of his homecoming. He owns a home in the Mission Beach area of San Diego with his wife, Alyse, who is due to give birth to the couple's first child in October. Gwynn Jr. will be playing his first game in the area since he attended San Diego State University, where his dad is the head baseball coach.

Tony Sr. will not be there for the start of the series because he will be coaching the Aztecs in the Mountain West Conference Tournament in Las Vegas. But dad records every Brewers game and fast-forwards to Junior's at-bats.

There have been some good ones this season. Gwynn Jr. had two hits and scored a run in a start Wednesday at Dodger Stadium and is batting .356 this season. He started the year at the bottom of the Brewers' depth chart, but has since climbed into a more prominent role as Yost shuffles the six outfielders on the roster.

But dad is a perfectionist, and asked for more from Gwynn Jr.

"For a while there he was on me about the fact I didn't have a hit to the left side," said the left-handed hitting Gwynn Jr., who got one last week in Philadelphia. "He was happy that day."

Gwynn and the Brewers could use a jump-start before heading back to Miller Park for a long homestand. They have lost nine of their last 13 games, including two straight this week in Los Angeles. Milwaukee has not fared much better historically in San Diego, going 11-20 there, including 3-6 at PETCO Park.

Pitching matchup
MIL: RHP Dave Bush (3-4, 5.56 ERA)
Bush had one of those games Saturday that looked better on the field than it did in the box score. He surrendered five runs on eight Twins hits, but took a quality start into the eighth inning before Minnesota rallied and knocked him out of the game. Bush has lost three of his last four decisions but will look to bounce back against the Padres, against whom he pitched a complete-game three-hitter last June 6. Bush allowed one run in that game, a 5-1 Brewers win at Miller Park.

SD: RHP Greg Maddux (3-3, 4.14 ERA)
Maddux was roughed up in his last start to the tune of seven earned runs on 12 hits over just 3 2/3 innings against the Mariners on May 19. That marked the first time this season that Maddux has allowed more than four runs in a start. Maddux's command in the strike zone wasn't nearly as good as it was in his last start on May 14 when he earned a complete-game victory over Cincinnati.

Player to watch
Geoff Jenkins does not particularly like talking about it, and he has few answers, but he seems to have Maddux's number. The Brewers outfielder is a career .449 hitter against the future Hall of Famer with four doubles, a home run and seven RBIs.

Tickets
 Buy tickets now to catch the game in person.

On the Internet
 MLB.TV
 Gameday Audio
•  Gameday
•  Official game notes

On television
• FSN Wisconsin

On radio
• WTMJ 620

Up next
• Saturday: Brewers (Claudio Vargas, 3-0, 3.68) at San Diego (Justin Germano, 2-0, 0.47), 9:05 p.m. CT
• Sunday: Brewers (Jeff Suppan, 6-4, 3.49) at San Diego (Jake Peavy, 6-1, 1.63), 3:05 p.m. CT
• Monday: Brewers (TBD) vs. Atlanta (Chuck James, 4-4, 4.13), 1:05 p.m. CT