Fifteen years ago, deep into the baseball season, a Padres executive checked his phone soon after waking up and saw a text message from a colleague:<\/p>\n
76-49.<\/p>\n
That was the whole text.<\/p>\n
The numbers denoted the Padres\u2019 win-loss record that Thursday morning.<\/p>\n
Both Padres baseball leaders were astonished by what the 2010 team had achieved through more than three-quarters of the season.<\/p>\n
The rest of the baseball world, outside of Padres players, looked on in amazement, too.<\/p>\n
Those Padres were projected to win just 71 games when the season began. Beyond star Adri\u00e1n Gonz\u00e1lez, their offense was thought to be decidedly suspect. The team\u2019s $38.6 million payroll sat last in Major League Baseball. Creating skepticism about the club\u2019s ability to increase payroll, a layaway plan was in place for CEO Jeff Moorad to buy the team from John Moores. But MLB\u2019s approval would be required for the sale to happen, and that decision wouldn\u2019t come before 2012.<\/p>\n
MLB scouts were saying Moorad would order rookie general manager Jed Hoyer to trade Gonz\u00e1lez to a playoff contender once the Padres had fallen deep out of contention. If not then, Gonz\u00e1lez would be dealt after the season.<\/p>\n
But Padres players made a summer sell-off impossible.<\/p>\n
Led by a killer bullpen and Gonz\u00e1lez, the team won so often that Moorad and Hoyer held on to their star and went into buyer mode. Parting with a Double-A pitcher named Corey Kluber, regarded by many scouts as a back-of-the-rotation prospect, they dealt for Cardinals slugger Ryan Ludwick as part of a three-way deal.<\/p>\n
The text message \u2013 76-49 \u2013 was shorthand for baseball madness.<\/p>\n
Not only were manager Bud Black\u2019s Padres atop their division, they led the whole National League on that morning of Aug. 25.<\/p>\n
Then they lost the next 10 games.<\/p>\n
The Giants, who were 6 1\/2 games back, passed the Padres in September.<\/p>\n
In the season\u2019s final game, Bruce Bochy\u2019s Giants beat the Padres to win the division crown.<\/p>\n
Delivering its own stunner, San Francisco would go on to win the World Series in 2010. And again in 2012 and 2014.<\/p>\n
No one with a clue labeled the Padres as chokers.\u00a0Baseball gravity had caught up with them. Their talent limitations could no longer be overcome.<\/p>\n
The postscript served up another baseball surprise. Kluber\u2019s upside, it turned out, was far higher than most folks guessed.<\/p>\n
Kluber would win two Cy Young awards with Cleveland and help the 2016 club get to within one victory of its first World Series title since 1948.<\/p>\n
The Ludwick chapter served up color, too. The then-cavernous Petco Park messed with his mind, and Ludwick admitted he lost the form that had led the Padres to trade for him.<\/p>\n
Baseball smiled instead on the Giants. The club added to its offense by claiming outfielder Cody Ross off waivers. Ross hit three home runs down the stretch, then five more in the World Series tournament.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s enough baseball wackiness to fill a wing in Cooperstown. Footnote: the day before Padres rookie ace Mat Latos started the team\u2019s biggest game \u2014 the finale against the Giants \u2014 he got a large tattoo on his torso in San Francisco. The ink session left him with a sore back going into the contest.<\/p>\n
Takeaway No. 1: Good luck trying to figure out baseball.<\/p>\n
Takeaway No. 2: This year\u2019s Padres team is much more talented than the 2010 Padres and has a great chance to close out its push for a playoff bid.<\/p>\n
The Padres are still in the West race, which the talented but inconsistent Dodgers lead.<\/p>\n
For the Reds to pass the Padres and claim one of the three wild-card playoff spots, it would take several drastic changes. The Reds trailed the Padres by six games going into Tuesday. They will visit for three games this month. They have a much tougher schedule, it appears.<\/p>\n