Crasnick Pegs Pads Perfectly

Jerry Crasnick's column today on the Padres hits the nail on the head; the Padres can't hit - regardless of venue. He quotes Bud Black as saying,

"In any given lineup, when things are going well and you're scoring runs and the offense is clicking, you might have five, six or seven guys really swinging the bat well... When things are going along as normal -- win a couple of games, lose a couple -- you have three or four guys in the lineup swinging well. What we have going now, on a given night, is maybe one or two guys swinging well.

I think we're going to get out of it, and we'll reach the level of what our guys have done in their careers. Over the course of six months, it's never smooth sailing. But this storm has hit early and it's hit hard."

Of course the real question here is how much career norms will help. FF (unfortunately) sees it as something like this:

1. Brian Giles - Good for 30 doubles, .400 OBP, and 60 pop outs short of third base
2. Tad Iguchi - A solid hitter likely to match his career average of about .274
3. Adrian Gonzalez - Solid #3 hitter on most clubs
4. Kevin Kouzmanoff - Should quietly hit about .300 with 35 doubles, but not a classic 4 hitter
5. Jim Edmonds - This season's Vinny Castilla - great clubhouse guy, but it's likely the end of the road
6. Khalil Green - Will hit .250 with about 25 bombs, but it on fire or not
7. Josh Bard - Seems gassed already, but should fight back to about .280
8. Scott Hairston - The reason he hasn't been a regular has become apparent

Not exactly a fear inducing lineup. We honestly like Jake Peavy's at bats more than many of the team's fielders. We'd love to be wrong about this and hope the Friars catch on fire, but two thirds of the outfield doesn't seem likely to play at an average pace as the season continues, putting the club at a severe disadvantage.