Padres offense not living up to its lofty billing

By: BRIAN HIRO - Staff Writer | Wednesday, July 14, 2004 10:59 PM PDT ∞

SAN DIEGO ---- Two widely accepted truths followed the Padres out of spring training this year:

The team would end a streak of five consecutive losing seasons and contend for the National League West title, though as much because of the watered-down state of the National League West as the Padres' own competence.

Any drive to meaningful games in September would be fueled by the Padres' hitters, a proven bunch who general manager Kevin Towers memorably boasted would break the franchise record for runs in a season.

Well, here we are at the All-Star break, and the Padres are well en route to upholding the first truth. They stand in third place at 47-41, but only two games behind Los Angeles and 1 1/2 behind San Francisco in a division that offers little threat of a second-half runaway.

"If you had told me in spring training that we'd be only a couple of games out of first at the break, I would have taken it," first baseman Phil Nevin said.

And the second truth? At this point, it's more like a tall tale. Against most expectations, pitching ---- especially the bullpen ---- has carried the load for the Padres while the offense has gasped and wheezed and left many observers scratching their heads.

"To be honest, yeah, I expected our offense to be more consistent," Padres manager Bruce Bochy said. "Just looking at our lineup, it's better than what we've been this first half."

Led by All-Star second baseman Mark Loretta, the Padres actually have hit the ball fairly well, ranking seventh in the 16-team National League with a .265 team average. It's hitting the ball in the right situations and hitting the ball out of the park that have been problematic.

The Padres twice have stranded 14 baserunners in a game and are batting just .244 with runners in scoring position. That figure drops to .226 when there are two outs.

As for power numbers, the Padres seem to be mired in their own personal dead-ball era. Their 63 home runs are 10 fewer than any other National League team, not even half as many as major-league-leader Texas (134).

Early in the season, Padres hitters had a legitimate excuse for their slow adjustment to the daunting dimensions and unfriendly atmospheric conditions of Petco Park. Yet that rationale holds less water as temperatures increase and such undistinguished sluggers as Colorado's Mark Sweeney, Houston's Jose Vizcaino, Kansas City's Tony Graffanino and Toronto's Frank Menechino all manage to clear the fence in the Padres' new downtown ballpark.

When Towers made his spring prediction of 800 runs, he further explained that the magic number wasn't based on pie-in-the-sky projections but rather on "normal years" by his hitters. Clearly, a few are having abnormally poor seasons.

The most guilty party is Ryan Klesko, who was given the dishonor of league LVP (Least Valuable Player) as part of the midseason awards handed out by ESPN.com baseball columnist Jayson Stark. As Stark pointed out, Klesko exits the All-Star break with only two more RBIs (30) than a guy who hasn't played since May 12 (Anaheim's injured Troy Glaus) and the same number of homers (two) as Giants pitcher Jason Schmidt.

"Obviously, we're going to have to improve offensively to go along with this great pitching staff we have," Klesko said.

The lack of production from the fifth and sixth spots in the order has sent the Padres looking outside for help, with Arizona center fielder Steve Finley and his 21 home runs an especially inviting target.

Towers, however, has kept his finger off the panic button, preferring to give his boppers more time to right themselves before giving up valued minor-league prospects. He's just as interested in minor tinkering, like adding a left-handed reliever and an extra bench player, as a splashy trade.

Until something changes, the Padres will continue to rise and fall with a pitching staff that ranks third in baseball with a 3.78 ERA. Darren Balsley's pitchers withstood the loss of emerging ace Jake Peavy for six weeks to keep the team afloat while the offense thrashed in the water. Raise your hand if you thought fifth starter Ismael Valdez, cast away by the pitching-poor Rangers, would have eight wins at the break.

But the real trump card has been the Padres' rock-solid relief corps.

Anchored by closer Trevor Hoffman, healthy again, the bullpen features four pitchers among the league's top 20 in relief ERA (Akinori Otsuka, Scott Linebrink, Hoffman and Jay Witasick) and is the main reason the Padres are 14-2 in one-run games at home.

"I wish we could start clicking offensively and score some more runs so we can give (the relievers) more rest," Bochy said. "But we do play a lot of close ballgames."

Contact staff writer Brian Hiro at b_hiro@hotmail.com.