Coming up short: Padres were a good team, but couldn't overcome obstacles

By: DAN HAYES - Staff Writer | Thursday, October 4, 2007 11:31 PM PDT ∞

Following Monday's season-ending loss at Colorado, Bud Black emphasized that the 2007 Padres were a true "team." The first-year manager spoke about the leadership his veterans provided and how the unit worked together to keep the Padres in the chase for the postseason until the last day of regular season.

General manager Kevin Towers felt this was the best team he's fielded since the Qualcomm Years as the Padres won 89 games. The win total was one more than last year's National League West division champions and the most by the Padres since they won the NL pennant in 1998.

"I think this was by far our best club since we moved into Petco Park," Towers said. "Our guys battled all year. It was a talented and fun team to be around."

What Towers and Black didn't say was that this team produced more than it should have.

When you look at the poor offensive numbers, injuries to several key players, and the partial overhaul of the roster at midseason, it's a wonder the Padres stayed in the race until the final day of the season.

That effort was a testament to a stout bullpen and Black's ability to keep his players on the same page. Ultimately, however, it was a team that came up one win short of its third straight playoff appearance.

The good

Without question, the bullpen was the glue that held the Padres together. Heath Bell struck out 102 batters, posted a 2.02 ERA and was the team's Superman.

Trevor Hoffman had 42 saves, and though he had a bad final week, provided the Padres with stability in the ninth again.

A year after he had an angioplasty, Doug Brocail appeared in 67 games and finished 5-1 with a 3.05 ERA. Joe Thatcher, who was acquired in the Scott Linebrink trade, was 2-2 with a 1.97 ERA. And Justin Hampson, claimed off waivers, had a 2.70 ERA.

While the bullpen was great, Jake Peavy was simply outstanding.

Never mind his final start; Peavy was a Cy Young candidate through and through as the Padres were 23-11 in his starts.

Part of Peavy's success can be attributed to the veteran presence of Greg Maddux, who was signed to a two-year deal last offseason. Maddux was splendid down the stretch and his importance ---- with 198 innings pitched, 14 wins and a sheer presence that can't be quantified ---- was massive.

And though he was never the same after oblique and back injuries, Chris Young's outings through late July made postseason success seem likely. Before he was hurt, Young was 8-3 with a 2.00 ERA.

Another key component to the Padres' success was Towers' trades for Thatcher, Milton Bradley and Scott Hairston.

Bradley came here with a poor reputation, but while he was on the field, he was everything the Padres asked for and more. His season ended on a bad note, however, when he was injured after umpire Mike Winters started a confrontation on the second to last Sunday of the year.

Bradley's influence showed most in August when the Padres had their second highest monthly home run total in club history. The switch-hitting outfielder provided a veteran presence and a sense of confidence to the team's trio of developing young hitters, Adrian Gonzalez, Khalil Greene and Kevin Kouzmanoff.

All three made considerable strides this season as Gonzalez became a legitimate cleanup hitter, Greene showed his clutch capabilities in September, and Kouzmanoff overcame a horrid start to add another stick to the lineup.

Another plus was Brian Giles' ability to adapt to the leadoff spot, a move that utilized the veteran outfielder's strength of getting on base.

The bad

Last offseason the Padres signed a pair of aging veterans in Maddux and David Wells while depending on Clay Hensley, who was a starter for most of 2006, to eat up a lot of innings.

But in May, Hensley was injured and he never fully recovered meaning rookie Justin Germano had to eat up innings out of the fifth spot.

While Germano stormed out to a 5-0 start, the league eventually caught up with him and he was removed during the stretch run. Meanwhile, Wells showed his age.

The shortage of innings produced by the Padres' starters ---- only Peavy had more than 200 ---- was magnified when Young was injured on July 24.

Following the tall Texan's injury, Padres starters not named Maddux and Peavy were 5-16 with a 6.80 ERA in 184 innings in 34 starts.

Young ---- who didn't win after July 19 ---- Wells, Germano, Jack Cassel and Brett Tomko produced only 10 quality starts over that stretch while Peavy and Maddux were 17-5 with a 3.26 ERA with 20 quality starts in 30 outings.

A lack of starting stability forced the Padres to turn to their bullpen far too much.

The relievers' 549 innings pitched was the third most in the NL behind Washington (590 2/3) and Florida (586 2/3).

And whereas the Padres' offense was fifth in doubles and seventh in home runs, it was only ninth in runs and fell to atrocious levels in batting average (15th), on-base percentage (14th) and stolen bases (16th).

That cost them in one-run games ---- a stat they should have dominated. They were 23-26 while Arizona was 32-20.

Just plain ugly

One of the keys to the Padres' 2006 NL West title run was their ability to produce off the bench. Last year the Padres' pinch-hitters raked at a .260 clip with eight home runs and 33 RBIs. This year's bench hit .188 with three homers and 26 RBIs.

One key component to 2006's bench, Geoff Blum, became a starter when Marcus Giles' slumped and was injured. Instead of having Blum off the bench ---- where he hit .387 in 2006 ---- he was a fixture in the lineup.

Towers tried to upgrade the Padres' bench with a series of midseason trades as he brought in Michael Barrett, Morgan Ensberg, Rob Mackowiak and Hairston.

And while Hairston had eight homers, he was forced into the lineup when Bradley went down, weakening the bench.

Because of injuries, neither Ensberg or Barrett had the impact Towers was hoping for.

Ensberg hit .224 with four home runs, but was sidelined by a back injury for two weeks in August. Barrett was out for several weeks with concussion-like symptoms and hit .244 with no homers and 12 RBIs in 44 games.

And Mackowiak, who suffered a double sports hernia, hit .196.

The Padres were also hurt by their inability to hit behind the runner and get guys over, a point exemplified by the team's 1,229 strikeouts ---- the second most in the NL.

Center fielder Mike Cameron, who started 68 games hitting in the second and third spots in the order, struck out 160 times, Gonzalez whiffed 140 times, and Greene, who had a .291 on-base percentage, struck out 128 times.

Opening Day leadoff hitter Marcus Giles struck out 82 times in 464 plate appearances and Kouzmanoff struck out 94 times. Only leadoff man Brian Giles had more walks (64) than strikeouts (61).

And you can't overlook the team's problems in throwing out would-be base stealers as 189 of 209 thieves were successful against the Padres.

Contact staff writer Dan Hayes at dhayes@nctimes.com.

Three things the Padres must do this offseason

1. Keep Greg Maddux and add a strong arm to the rotation.

The Padres need Maddux's presence ---- he has a $9 million option and the Padres have an $11 million team option ---- but they also need a fourth pitcher ---- to go along with Jake Peavy, Chris Young and Maddux ---- to reach 200-plus innings in order to take pressure off the bullpen.

2. Build a better bench

Padres pinch-hitters hit 72 points lower than they did when they won the National League West in 2006. This team needs major-league talent on the bench to succeed.

3. Upgrade the offense

The 2007 squad never got the production it needed in the second spot in the lineup and only got what it needed out of the third spot when Milton Bradley was available.