Padres play dead ball

The headline in today's New York Times: "Padres' Offense May Go Down As Worst Ever." The team's .214 batting average is 23 points lower than the second-worst team, says the Times.

If the batting average remained the same the rest of the season, the Padres could tie the New York Yankees of 1968 for the lowest mark in the past century. If the team trades off hitters (it just traded its closing pitcher for a bunch of minor leaguers), the Padres could hit the all-time record for futility: the .210 average of the 1910 Chicago White Sox. That occurred in the so-called dead-ball era.

The Padres have been shut out 14 times this season and in 35 other games failed to get more than two runs.