What's worse than bad? Boring

Padres of 2008 offer few thrills to counter losses Bud Blacks lifts Greg Maddux, after which Cla Meredith gives up a home run – and the lead. Admittedly a glutton when one of the goodies at baseball's buffet table is all-you-can-eat punishment, I've been watching the major league Padres since their inception in 1969. I go back many years before that with the minor league Pads, but never could have guessed we'd be watching them again in 2008. Are we gluttons witnessing the worst Padres team since they joined the “bigs”? Yes. For sure, there have been San Diego teams with less overall talent, but all things considered, this one out-bottoms all of them. Our intrepid Padres beat writer, Tom Krasovic, who now knows what it's like to be smeared with honey and tied down over an ant colony in the desert 162 days a year, calls this a... [read full story]