JAY PARIS COMMENTARY: Knock on wood: Beavers on way

By JAY PARIS - Staff Writer | Sunday, May 4, 2008 11:55 PM PDT ∞

The Padres looked like a fish out of water Sunday.

It was Groundhog Day all over again, as they stumbled against the Marlins.

When will something be done in a season quickly circling the drain? How's this weekend for you?

"I doubt we do anything before the end of the road trip, but when they come back home you could see new faces,'' general manager Kevin Towers said Sunday night.

The Padres are going green.

"I wanted to give it this road trip and maybe the guys would pick it up,'' Towers said. "And if not, we got some kids at the Triple-A level."

Left fielder Chase Headley and catcher Nick Hundley are on Towers' list. Come Friday against the Rockies, they could be at Petco Park.

Towers, like all Padres fans, has seen enough. He'll chat with CEO Sandy Alderson, possibly Monday, and chart the new course.

Here's a hint: draw a line from Portland, Ore., to San Diego.

"To just go outside the organization, I don't know if our club is the type of club where one major move is going to make us a huge contender,'' Towers said.

"The best move is to get some of these kids to come up and play.

"We may be able to shake this up a little bit because we are at the point now that we need to do something. Maybe the prospects can come up and, hopefully, jump-start the club a little bit.''

On Sunday the Padres faced Marlins lefty Andrew Miller, who is hit more than a Web site featuring fresh Miley Cyrus pictures.

Instead, Miller and his pregame 9.12 ERA broke the Padres' fading ticker.

Manager Bud Black didn't see the completion of this 10-3 thumping. Instead, he was 10-4, over-and-out after getting tossed in the seventh inning.

Black is among the most even-keeled skippers. But with his team looking like the Titanic ready to smooch an iceberg, he snapped.

With the Padres absorbing their 20th loss in 32 games ---- no major league team has more defeats ---- can you blame him?

The Padres trail the first-place Diamondbacks by 9 1/2 games after losing for the 13th time in 18 outings. They have dropped eight of their last 11 series.

"It's been a hell of a long time since we won a series,'' Towers said. "We've avoided the long losing streaks, but we're not winning series. We can't get back in this thing if we don't find a way to start winning some series."

The Padres can't hit and don't make contact. Their foot speed is of the running-in-quicksand variety; their bullpen and No. 5 starter Justin Germano are spotty.

It's a squad transmitting a May Day distress signal.

Towers' reply is the kids will be all right.

"Headley had four hits today and Hundley is doing very well behind the plate blocking the ball,'' he said.

Headley is hitting .264 with two home runs. But many of the Padres' other top prospects are struggling.

Hundley is at .229. Second baseman Matt Antonelli, who might be on the radar, is scuffling at .179.

Wade LeBlanc, whose impressive changeup opened eyes this spring, has a 9.27 ERA, allowing 35 hits in just over 22 innings.

So veteran Shawn Estes, with a 4-2 mark and 3.67 ERA, likely will take Germano's spot.

But it's the Padres' anemic offense that has flat-lined.

Before Sunday's frying, the Padres were last in the majors in hitting (.225), on-base percentage (.296) and runs (98; tied with Giants). Only the Marlin had struck out more.

"I think we are a better club than how we have been playing after what I saw in spring training,'' said Towers, who was in Portland on Friday and Saturday. "I was hoping on this road trip it would get on track.

"But it's been over a month now and I haven't really seen any great signs of the offense clicking. Maybe changing it up is something we need to do."

It didn't have to be this way.

Signing creaky center fielder Jim Edmonds has been a disaster; he's hitting .181. The Padres could have fought harder to keep Mike Cameron and/or Milton Bradley.

They could have made a run at high-priced, Gold Glove-winning free-agent Torii Hunter ---- a guy can dream, can't he? Or not get outbid by the Cubs for Japanese sensation Kosuke Fukudome.

Instead they went the has-been, retread route, and the results have been predictable. In fairness, Towers is usually keen at finding Nordstrom merchandise dangling from Wal-Mart's shelves.

"We kind of need some of these veteran guys to pick it up here," Towers said.

Is there time to find the ripcord before this mess leaves an unsightly crater? Maybe. But it has to start fast, and these Padres haven't done anything fast all season.

Privately, the question in the clubhouse is why the brass didn't spend some offseason dough. Because it didn't, this season is tasting like moldy bread.

But soon, at least the ingredients will change.

Contact staff writer Jay Paris at jparis8@aol.com.

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