Just one day after a 16-4 loss against the Seattle Mariners, the Friars were served a plate of sour grapes from one of their own.
Padres Executive Chairman Ron Fowler expressed his displeasure and frustration with the team’s performance over the last few weeks by calling them "miserable failures" during a radio interview on the Mighty 1090 Wednesday morning.
"It's been embarrassing," says Fowler. "I don't know how else to put it. Our performance on the road, 1-7, was pathetic."
The Padres lost 12 of their last 15 games and are in last place in the National League West division. The team is 20-33 this season.
While Fowler did say the team as a whole isn't performing effectively, he went on to call out pitcher James Shields saying: "To have a starter like Shields perform as poorly as he did yesterday is an embarrassment to the team, an embarrassment to him.”
Shields had the worst start of his career against the Mariners on Tuesday, allowing eight hits, 10 runs and four walks in just three innings of work.
Shields briefly addressed Fowler's comments today in the Padres clubhouse saying, "I’m an ultimate competitor and I don't like losing. I understand his frustration. As far as it being an embarrassment to myself; I don't consider it an embarrassment. It was only one game."
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Manager Andy Green had a far more diplomatic response to Fowler’s comments.
“I appreciate his passion, his energy and his desire to have a winner here. His passion is almost unmatched and I appreciate that.”
Green did say he wouldn’t use the same verbiage to describe his team.
“I’d stay away from that term myself if I’m talking about how I feel about my team,” says the Padres skipper. “I look at effort. People can control the level of effort that they get on the field with on an every single day basis. I can’t fault anybody’s effort right now.”
And as the head of the helm, he placed the blame on himself saying: “Now our execution, that falls on me. It’s my responsibility to figure out a way to get us to execute at a higher level and I take full ownership and responsibility over that.”
The Padres are back at Petco Park Wednesday night to close out the interleague series against the Mariners. Christian Friedrich will be on the mound against Mariners pitcher James Paxton.
