The one that wasn't cost him the game.

Webb allowed three runs in the second inning and that was all the Padres needed to beat the Diamondbacks, 3-1, in front of 34,238 at PETCO Park.

What that inning does to Webb's NL Cy Young Award chances remains to be seen. The right-hander is locked in a two-man duel with the Cardinals' Chris Carpenter for the award. Carpenter allowed six runs over eight innings in a loss at Houston to drop his record to 15-7 with a 2.93 ERA.

The three runs over seven innings put Webb's ERA at 2.95, and the loss dropped him to 16-7 on the year.

"I knew where he was at," Webb said, referring to Carpenter's numbers entering the game. "I didn't know what he did today. It's really not on my mind when I'm out there and throwing."

What was in his thoughts after the game was a pitch to Mike Cameron that doomed him in the second.

Mike Piazza singled to begin the inning and Russell Branyan followed with a walk. That brought up Cameron, a hitter Webb had success against earlier this year at Chase Field.

"The game we faced him at our place, I think we pretty much stayed down and away and he rolled over almost every time, and that's pretty much what he did today," Webb said. "It was just that pitch."

"That pitch" was a sinker that didn't sink and one that Cameron hammered into left-center for a two-run triple. Geoff Blum followed the hit with a sacrifice fly and the Padres led, 3-0.

"Really, the pitch to Cameron," D-Backs manager Bob Melvin lamented after the game, "it ends up being two runs and a man on third, and then Blum gets the ball in the air and that was it. Other than that, I don't think he got a ball up. Lot of first-pitch swings. Lot of ground balls similar to what we see from him most of the time. It really came down to that one at-bat against Cameron."

Webb settled in after the triple and retired 14 straight batters.

"For some reason, that whole inning I was flat," Webb said, referring to his sinker staying up. "That one was definitely up and one of the ones I'd like to have back. After that, I settled down. Sometimes, it seems like it takes something to fire you up, giving up a run, or in this case, three. After that I felt fine, got back up on top of the ball and was more down in the zone.

"If I had held them to one run, I think it would have been a different story."

Those three runers were enough because the D-Backs struggled to solve Padres starter Woody Williams and a trio of San Diego relievers.

"The balls we did hit hard were right at people," Melvin said. "If we're counting well-hit balls, you're not going to win many games doing that anyway."

No, there is not much solace in how many balls that were well struck if they're caught, and in the second inning, when they had a chance to jump out to a lead, the D-Backs didn't hit the ball hard.

Chad Tracy doubled to lead off the inning and Scott Hairston hustled to beat out an infield roller to short. Williams regrouped and got Carlos Quentin to fly out, and then with runners on the corners, the right-hander got Chris Snyder to bounce into an inning-ending double play.

"We get a double-play ball right there on a 3-1 count," Melvin said. "Woody makes a good pitch, a curveball in a 3-1 count and we end up hitting into a double play."

That was pretty much the sum total of scoring opportunities for Arizona, other than the sixth when it managed to capitalize on an error by Blum at short to score an unearned tally. Conor Jackson drove home the run with a single to center.

"He's one of those guys that if you put up at least two or three runs, you know you're going to have a pretty good chance of winning that ballgame," Jackson said, referring to having Webb on the mound. "We had some opportunities and couldn't come through. Williams threw a good game."

So did Webb. Except for one inning.