JV

JV thats what the padres have been this series against the Phillies. JV as in junior varsity! Seriously the padres looked like a bunch of high schoolers who were out there to just have fun, not really caring if they win or lose but at the end of the game they will get their snack bar ticket and go home. The only thing varsity about this team right now is the pitching which has been superb supporting the NL league leading era of 2.95. And that is without much help from Latos (which will hopefully change soon) and starting Yankee/Angel castoff Dustin Moseley.

Junior varsity (my new nickname for the padres anemic offense) is continuing a yearly trend of drinking too many 40oz. bottles of preseason hype and stumbling to the finish as the worst of the bat swingers. The JV currently holds the rank for 16th out of 16 teams in the NL in terms of offense and is the lowest in almost all categories except stolen bases.

Now granted the Phillies are no chumps and are probably one of the best teams in the league, the friars offense still had a chance to win every single game of the series. The varsity did a hell of a job holding the phillies sluggers to no more than 4 runs in any game. And it would have been less if it weren't for some blooperesque defensive plays.

For now though lets focus on the JV and dissect two of my main reasons for the collapse of offense in the sunny san diego. And no I am not like most people right now blaming the hitting coach, petco park effect (though that heavy sea air does create one),  or lack of fan support. Instead my two main reasons for the fall of the offense are this:

1. Lack of leadership and accountability

2. Payroll

Though both of these are almost interchangeable lets start off with number 1. Even if you have the most talented team in the league, you will never win without leadership!!! All great teams have great leaders, think Kobe and the lakers, Pujols and the cardinals, and all the other great leaders who have defined their teams throughout the years. And its not always the big star money makers who are the team leaders.  Last year adrian might have been our best hitter and overall best player but personally I don't think he was our team leader. The 2010 team could be defined by Eckstien, Jerry hairston Jr. and the BK "big kid" Heath Bell. Yes adrian led almost all offensive stats and was definitely a leader, the three aforementioned players truly led the padres to an almost cinderella story.

One word defined those three players mentioned and that would be CLUTCH! I can't remember how many times Jerry Hairston Jr. came through with a huge double play or big hit to drive in a winning run, but that guy was the shit! Right now the padres have NO offensive leadership. No one they can truely count on to be consistent. No one to drive in that run when it counts. No one to get a team fired up. Who ever once quoted that "hits are contagious" was a total genius. We need someone on the team to step up and be that spark to start some hitting flurries. IF one of Ludwick, Cantu, Headley, Hawpe, or Hudson can't get some leadership qualities soon we are done. All of them have the potential and experience, someone needs to step up!

The second cause of a woeful offense is the payroll. The UT in February quoted the padres as having a payroll of close to 40 million (it could be less). That gives us a ranking of close to 27-29th (depending on what payroll we take on or get rid of in the coming months). Sorry to say but trying to find lightening in a bottle only happens every once in a while. There is only so many times upper management can put out a meager amount of money and hope to get maximum value. Kevin Towers was a master at pulling this off with the bullpen which is always a possibility but offense is a different beast. The padres got lucky last year that they had an anchor and leader in Adrian and clutch leaders in Hairston Jr. and Eckstien, this year they have neither.

The padres spent little money on high risk high reward guys which right now is paying off very poorly. Getting high value players on the cheap is an extremely important value to have when running a small/mid market team but don't count on that model paying off very often. Very few teams with payrolls under 50 million tend to every win world series. It is just too hard to put a good product on the field with such low input and thus the Junior Varsity was born. But seriously common Morad, is 50 million really that much to ask for??? Even with 50 million we could have spent the money on a decent hitting outfielder or first basemen.

Without a change in either of these the padres could be doomed to be the bottom dwellers of the NL West. I am still holding the hope since I will never turn my back on the padres but it is serisouly getting sad, boring and hard to watch.  And don't believe todays stat line of 0 errors. I saw at least 3 padres errors in the game, a grounder to Hawpe that lead to a run, a ball in and out of the glove of diving venable that allowed an inside the parker, and a diving ball missed by ludWIG.

This is your Friar faithful padres blogger Patrick McQuinn, over and out.