Baseball for Masochist

WHAT THE F*** IS GOING ON?

Whew, ok, that's off my chest now.

But seriously, what has happened to our once proud team. The Padres find themselves in precarious situations these days: a record of 9-14 and 7.5 games back of the Diamondbacks. In the past 7 days, the Padres, as a team, have hit below the Mendoza Line (.200). Not surprisingly, in that same span, the Padres have gone 1-7. This includes such offensive "outbursts" as scoring 1 run in 22 innings, 2 runs in 13 innings, and 0 runs last night in support of Chris Young.

Now, I think we can all get on board with the fact that the past two days the Padres have faced Cain and Linececum, two of the best young arms in the NL. But, neither pitcher threw a complete game and the Giants bullpen scares no one. Well, no one but the Padres apparently.

A microcosmic look at the Padres offense: Last night the Padres, down 1 after CY threw 7 innings with 10Ks, loaded the bases on Walk, Groundout, Single, Wild Pitch, Walk. 7th Inning, down one, bases loaded, 1 out. This requires ONLY a fly ball to the outfield to tie the game as Iguchi was the runner at third. Hairston instead popped out to the third baseman and AGon grounded out. No runs in what was the Padres only legitimate threat the entire game. This has been the Padres offense in 2008.

I heard this line today on the radio and I'm going to steal it here. "Forget timely hitting, right now, I'd take untimely hitting."

Solutions? Few and Far Between. For one thing, and I've said this before, Jim Edmonds should NOT be hitting 5th in any lineup in baseball. His bat is to slow, and he strikes out to much.

But perhaps its time for Chase Headley. Chase is not lighting the world on fire up in Portland (.224 BA) but he offers legitimate power in a lineup void of such a commodity. Perhaps more importantly, he offers a fresh change, injecting some life into a team that is struggling.

Or, perhaps a trade is in order. Options are scarce but one name brought up a lot is Reggie Willits. Willits adds speed and a contact hitter. .293 BA in 2007 to go along with 27 SB would fit nicely into this team. I think its pretty clear how much the Padres miss Mike Cameron. Willits would fill that void.

But the only real solution...WIN! I beg of you, for my sanity, please, win a game!

Coming Up:

When you've lost 7 of your last 8, the last thing you want to see is a team 16-6 heading to town. Lucky us! The Diamonbacks come to town with Randy Johnson against Randy Wolf (a rematch of last Sunday, also the last Padres win), Micah Owings vs Justin Germano on Saturday, and the marquee matchup, Brandon Webb vs Jake Peavy.