It has been a season of streaks for the Padres. After starting a miserable 2-10, the Friars righted the ship and actually played some solid baseball. In fact, the Padres climbed all the way into second place after sweeping both the Braves and Diamondbacks, part of a 7-game mid-June winning streak that propelled the Padres to a season best two games over .500.

Unfortunately the month of July has been most unkind. The Padres haven't won a series since June 16th. That's eight straight losing series sandwiched around a 10-game losing streak, not to mention a no-hitter thrown against them by Tim Lincecum on Saturday.

At the break the Padres sit at 42-54, dead last in the NL West and 8.5 games behind the division leading Diamondbacks.

If the Padres are to make any headway in the second half of the season they'll need to get off to a good start. The schedulers at Major League Baseball did them no favors. The Friars play a three-game series at the NL Central leading Cardinals (57-36) beginning Friday followed by four in Milwaukee then three at Arizona. That's ten straight road games.

The team's next game at Petco Park isn't until July 29th when the Reds come to town.