Canepa: Everyone’s to blame for Padres slump

Twiddles gritty toes while waiting for that “David (3 Wins - 9 Loses) Eckstein’s TRIACular Return!” article.

So, were the Padres of April, May, June, July and most of August an aberration, one of those odd comets? It’s easy to say yes. I’ve been shaking my head in wonder at this team since the end of spring training. You’re supposed to stop being a fluke when you’ve excelled this long.

But they smell now. Can the air be cleared in time?

For every baseball reason, they were good. Over this period, for every baseball reason, they’ve been bad. And there’s nothing much that can be done, except to shake it off and go out and play. Willie Mays isn’t available for a call-up.

Critics say the team got slower when it acquired shortstop Miguel Tejada and right fielder Ryan Ludwick before the July 31 trading deadline, that the Padres are more successful when they run. True to an extent, but Tejada and Ludwick were around nearly a month and didn’t seem to hurt anything before the slump began.

“We felt we needed to help our lineup, and I think we did,” Black said. “You add a Tejada and Ludwick and, over time, it will pay dividends — it’s paid dividends already.