The Padres Almost Scored A Run This Season

The early days of the baseball season are fun ones, because the smallest streak projects out to historical greatness. Rockies rookie Trevor Story is the first player in baseball history to homer in his first three games, and will surely finish his year with 216 dingers. Starlin Castro now owns the record for most RBI in his first two games as a Yankee—seven, surpassing the immortal Todd Greene—which projects to 567 on the season. And then you’ve got the Padres.

Solidly in last place, both in the actual standings and in the much more important small-sample-size Olympics, the San Diego Padres were shut out by the Dodgers in their first three games. That’s an MLB record, surpassing the old mark of 26 innings set by the 1943 St. Louis Browns.

A moral victory, though: Cory Spangenberg really looked like he should have been called safe on a play at the plate in the sixth inning last night, even though replay upheld the call on the field. The run did not count, but Spangenberg doubtlessly gathered his teammates around him in the clubhouse afterward and, in hushed tones, regaled them with his story of what home plate feels like.

“There is still perspective here not to be lost,” new Padres manager Andy Green said. “We do have 159 games left. We will score runs this year, and we will win series this year.”

He’s right. The odds are decent that the Padres will not be shut out every day for the next six months. So let’s revel in the offensive futility while it exists.

In falling to Clayton Kershaw, Scott Kazmir, and Kenta Maeda, the Padres have now been outscored 25-0 in 27 innings. They have but 11 hits (10 of them singles) in 92 at bats, and have struck out 29 times to just two walks. That leads to sad team leader graphics like this one:

Not pictured: Jon Jay is also tied for the team lead in runs, with zero.

The Padres now hit the road for a weekend series in Colorado, where the thin mountain air should make their weak infield pop-ups soar even higher.