They deserve better.
Padres pitchers deserve better than this. For the second straight game, San Diego "hitters" were shut out in a game where the pitchers allowed one run.
The Dodgers claimed their second straight 1-0 win on Sunday in Los Angeles, taking three of four games from San Diego despite the fact the Padres staff allowed seven runs in the entire series.
This time it was Tyson Ross who again took an L he should not have to shoulder. Ross threw 7.0 innings, allowing one run and striking out nine. That kind of performance wins 95 percent of the time (I'll go ahead and make the joke for you, "That 5 percent is the Padres").
The Padres hit the All-Star break with a 41-54 record, which is still (amazingly) good enough for 3rd place in the National League West, 12 games behind the Dodgers.
Just go crystallize how awful their position players have been in the 2014 season, here's a quick look at the offensive categories the Friars are dead last in baseball in:
- Runs scored
- Hits
- Batting average
- Runs batted in
- Slugging percentage
- Extra base hits
- Total bases
- On-base percentage
How have they won 41 games? It's a miracle. That miracle's name is the pitching staff, a group that has, due to injuries, used 20 different arms, 10 of them as starters. Despite all that turnover, the Padres are one of only four teams in all of baseball that have allowed fewer than 300 runs.
The others are the Washington Nationals, Oakland A's and Seattle Mariners. All three of those teams not only have winning records, but are currently in control of a playoff spot.
If the Padres offense was even slightly below-average, San Diego would be excitedly anticipating the second half of the season instead of wondering which members of our stellar staff will be throwing up goose eggs elsewhere by August.
