Dick Selma went the distance for the Padres;
he struck out 12 Astros’ while allowing just five hits and one run in a 2-1
victory. The next night the Padres once again beat Joe Morgan (yes, that Joe Morgan) and the Houston
Astros 2-0, but good luck finding anyone that saw the game in person as just
4,218 showed up. After winning their third straight game on April 10^th,
it would be the last time the Padres would be in first place at any point of
any season for the next four years.

Since their inception, the Padres have been essentially a
nondescript ballclub, and I’m not just talking about the jerseys. Over the past
41 years the Friar’s have just 14 winning seasons and currently have the second
worst winning percentage (.436) of any franchise in baseball, just ahead of the
Tampa Rays.

Yes they have been to the World Series twice, which is two
more times than the Cubs have made the series in the last forty years; but they
are 0-2, winning just 1 game and losing 8.

Their first appearance in the World Series is probably the
one most remembered by Cubs fans. In 1984 the Cubs and Padres met in the NL
Championship Series for a chance to play the Tigers in the WS. The Cubs won the
first two games in the best of five series before losing the final three to the
Padres. San Diego advanced to the World Series where they lost to Detroit 4
games to one.

The Padres also made it to the WS in 1998, they were swept
in four games by the New York Yankees.

Why go through a brief history of the Padres? To illustrate
that the Padres are not a team of pedigree.

Yesterday the Cubs lost to the Padres for the fourth
straight time in Wrigley Field. Over the last 41 seasons no matter how bad or
good either the Cubs or San Diego has been, San Diego has never swept a four
game series at Wrigley. Never. And I was there to see it. Well some of it anyway.
I took my daughters to the game and one of them wasn’t feeling well so we left
after three innings.

I really have avoided writing about the team recently
because they are just hard to watch.

Over the years I’ve seen some bad Cub teams, we all have.

But this is a team that I really thought had a chance to make the playoffs. That’s what makes it so frustrating. I know we can’t expect
postseason every year, they didn’t make it last year, but that team still had a
winning record. This may be the worst Cub team I have seen because of the
expectations that I and other fans had. Maybe we were just being blind to the
facts, but this really is bad.

Anyway now that they have lost 10 of the last 11 at Wrigley,
the Atlanta Braves and Derrek Lee come into town.

So………………………Let’s go get ‘em!

Here are a few pictures from yesterday.