Best in the West? Up- and-down Padres strived for .500, October

Up-and-down Padres strive for .500 and October

SAN DIEGO -- The countdown to mediocrity is sweeping toward its conclusion for the San Diego Padres, who could become the first team in a non-strike year to win a division title despite a losing record.

The Padres don't want to make that kind of history.

"You don't want to be a loser and a winner at the same time, I guess," super-sub Robert Fick said as the Padres closed in on winning baseball's weakest division while their record hovered around .500. "We want to finish above .500."

The Padres are on track to win the NL West, baseball's most wretched division. No matter how good, bad or indifferent the Padres have played, none of their division mates has mustered a serious challenge, although Barry Bonds and the San Francisco Giants have been threatening to make it close.

The Padres are confident they'll reach the playoffs for only the fourth time in their 37-year history, and the first time since being swept in the 1998 World Series by the New York Yankees.

"I'd like to think we can," manager Bruce Bochy said. "That's not asking a lot."

The Padres are sure to be dissed for some time if they don't.

Since 1969, and excluding strike years, the 1973 New York Mets own the lowest winning percentage of a division champion by going 82-79 (.509). They managed to force a seventh game of the World Series before losing to the Oakland Athletics.

The Padres (77-78 heading into a three-game series Monday night against the Giants) have been like a yo-yo since July 29, with their record dipping under .500, then coming back up, but to no more than two games over. They became the first team to lead a division with a sub-.500 record in September. Since June 1, they're 14 under.

After such a season of fits and starts, most Padres are hoping to emerge in October with a chance for a fresh start -- although the prospect of facing the St. Louis Cardinals in the first round of the playoffs wouldn't be much of a reward.

"If we win the division, I don't think anybody's going to care about our record," second baseman Mark Loretta said. "It'll be other people talking about it. The bottom line is in divisional play, it's to win your division.

"This has been a season where the NL West has been through a lot of adversity. Every team's had some severe injuries to big-name players. That's just the coincidence of the season, so it's nothing that you can change at this point."

Loretta doesn't think it would be a stigma to win a division with a sub-.500 record.

"That's the way it's set up," he said. "That's the system we're in. Bottom line is we were better than every team in our division."

Loretta is one of several Padres regulars who spent time on the disabled list this year, the root cause of the mediocrity not only in San Diego but around the division. Bonds missed more than five months while recovering from three knee operations. The Los Angeles Dodgers were hit hard by injuries, including to closer Eric Gagne.

Most fans, though, seem transfixed more by the ugly numbers in the standings than all the players who've been on the DL.

"They just look at the record," Loretta said. "Casual observers probably have some idea with Bonds and maybe Gagne, but nothing probably about our team or anybody else."

Dave Roberts wouldn't be embarrassed if the Padres go into the playoffs with a losing record.

"Even if it's below .500, and we get to the postseason, if we go out there and do something special, then I think people will forget about it," said Roberts, who bats leadoff and plays center field. "We've got nothing to lose. Whatever our record is, nobody expects much of us. As long as 25 guys in the clubhouse do, that's all that matters."

Roberts knows about bleak situations. He was with Boston last October when the Red Sox were three outs from being swept by the New York Yankees in the AL championship series. He came in as a pinch-runner and stole second base to spark the Red Sox to their historic comeback, which carried them all the way to the World Series title.

So the thought that the Padres might not win at least 81 of their 162 games doesn't bother him.

"For us to be concerned about it and to dwell on our record over the season is counterproductive," Roberts said. "I don't think it helps in any way. The point is to get to the postseason. If you can do that, then you give yourselves a chance to get to the World Series. I think that's the ultimate goal.

"This is a different year," he added. "Obviously there has been a lot of inconsistency in our division, but I think it also not only stems from injuries, but there's a lot of parity in the National League."

Right fielder Brian Giles wouldn't be ashamed, either.

"If you're in October, not at all. I don't care," said Giles, who played in the 1997 World Series with Cleveland. "It's a new season in October. Throw your records out the door, and it's about winning series."

Sandy Alderson, San Diego's CEO and minority owner, has the same stance as his players.

"To me it will be one more of those esoteric statistics, one more of those historic footnotes that make baseball so great, because it is unpredictable," said Alderson, who worked in the commissioner's office before joining the Padres and was Oakland's general manager when the A's played in three straight World Series, winning it all in 1989.

"This is something that happens once every 30 years," Alderson said. "It's an unusual situation. Would it be better if we were one of the other four teams in the division at the end of the year? I don't think so. I'd rather be a footnote to history than not in history at all."