A former journalism colleague of mine, Michelle, certainly is not a lifelong Padres fan. She was born in Michigan but grew up in Florida, went to school there and worked at Florida newspapers for most of her life.

She went to the University of Florida, as did one David Eckstein. When Michelle first got to California, David Eckstein was just making his way with the Angels. She introduced herself as a former Gator, and Eck, the new guy, was happy to see someone from Florida, and they hit it off, talking Florida and baseball and Florida baseball.

Anyone who has been around “Eck” knows he is one of the greatest guys in the game. I dealt with him when he played for the Angels, and I loved the little guy to death, because he was polite and earnest and because he played the game so damn hard and succeeded at it despite being about 5-foot-6 and 150 pounds. But I don’t know him half as well as does Michelle, and I don’t know the half of all the good and kind things he does, both large and small. Not like Michelle does. And she loves him even more than I do.

So, Michelle is now a Padres fan … because Eck plays for the Padres. And by freak chance or cosmic intervention, Michelle has become the 2010 Padres’ good-luck charm.

Here’s how:

Michelle likes to see the Padres play. Petco Park isn’t all that far from where she lives, but she makes pilgrimages down there mostly because David Eckstein plays for the Padres. She goes down to San Diego and talks to Eck. And he always makes time for her.

The Padres this year are making a surprise run for the National League West division title. How, exactly, they are managing it is a mystery to everyone, because they have a patchwork rotation led by a young sensation who has been getting battered of late (Mat Latos) and the very definition of “journeyman”, a guy named Jon Garland; and they have a lineup that includes exactly one hitter (first baseman Adrian Gonzalez) whom anyone fears. They do have a nice bullpen led by Heath Bell, but is that enough to win 90-some games and a division?

Might be. Especially if Michelle has anything to do with it.

Turns out that in her enthusiasm to see David Eckstein, and her continuous (she didn’t tell me this, but I’m sure it’s true) stream of psychic best wishes and mental warm-fuzzies aimed toward Li’l Eck … she appears to have a positive effect on the whole Padres franchise.

Michelle told me recently that she has seen the Padres play seven times this year… and the club is 7-0 with her in attendance.

Think about that. Seven-and-oh.

Let’s say the odds of any MLB team winning a given game are roughly 1-in-2. Even then, good clubs rarely win 60 percent of their games. (Only Tampa Bay is playing .600 ball, and on the dot, at this writing. So let’s stick with 50-50.)

For the Padres to come up on the winning side of a 50-50 proposition seven consecutive times … is roughly a 1-in-132 outcome. Those are long odds.

But that’s their situation, with Michelle in the house. Seven-and-oh. And, one of those seven came the night the Padres finally ended their almost-season-destroying, 10-game losing streak, from to August 26 to September 5. Michelle showed up at Petco on Sept. 6,  the Padres beat the Dodgers 4-2 (Eck had an RBI), and it has been a day-to-day dogfight with the San Francisco Giants since.

Let’s back up a minute and ponder that 7-0 stat. Let’s say the Padres would have been a .500 team when Michelle wasn’t around … 4-3 or 3-4 … well, in their desperate race with the Giants for the NL West title, that would leave them 3.5 or 4.5 games back … instead of the half-game they actually are behind.

I have told Michelle she ought to give the Padres some sort of documentation of her attendance in nothing-but-victories … and the club should make a point of having her in the house every night, for their final seven games.

Michelle wrote me the other day to say she will see the Padres play the Cubs on Tuesday. If the Padres win, that would make them 8-0 with her in the stadium, which I estimate to be a 1-in-264 outcome … which means the Padres ought to put her up in a hotel, arrange for a doctor to write an excuse to her employer saying she is ill and can’t work till the end of the regular season, and for, goodness’ sake, they should take her with them to San Francisco for what could be a crazy final three games of the season next weekend …

Just sayin’ … the Padres need all they help they can get, and Michelle in the stands is part of it.

A really random thought that popped into my head, that seems to show a parallel between Michelle pulling for Eck and the Padres benefiting: In the classic movie “Ben-Hur” (certainly one of the greatest 10 films ever made), Charlton Heston’s Ben-Hur character, who has become a galley slave (don’t ask), declares to a Roman admiral before a sea battle that he believes his God will look after him. The battle goes on, the Roman galley on which Ben-Hur is serving is sunk, the admiral tries to kill himself, Ben-Hur (who has gotten free during the chaos), knocks him out, saves him from drowning, and they both float in the Mediterranean for a day or two … and then a searching Roman ship picks them up and the admiral is told the Romans have won a great victory. And the character, played by Jack Hawkins, turns to Ben-Hur and says: “In his enthusiasm to save you, your God has saved the Roman fleet.”

In Michelle’s enthusiasm to root on Eck …  San Diego may win the NL West.