Although crafty Padres lack big offense, pitching and defense make them winners
By Tom Krasovic / UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

Mike Cameron sees substance in these Padres. Style doesn't concern him.

“It doesn't matter how we get it done,” said Cameron, the team's center fielder. “When you win, everything's good.”

The Padres, despite ranking 11th of 16 in scoring, lead the National League in win-loss percentage and are a game ahead of the second-place Dodgers entering tonight's game in Phoenix against the third-place Diamondbacks. The other five times that San Diego led at the All-Star break – 1984, '96, '98, 2005 and '06 – it went on to win the West.

The Padres are dangerous the old-fashioned way: They prevent runs, surrendering just 3.4 per game, lowest in the majors. They even won three games when notching just two hits per game. Not only is that a franchise record for a season, according to the Elias Sports Bureau it matched a major league record in the live-ball era (post-1919). The 1946 Red Sox, 1965 Dodgers and 1971 Giants also won three games while getting only two hits per game.

Not interested in style points, Cameron sees the team's offensive struggles as overblown.

“We're tough,” Cameron said. “We may not get the big hit every time. But we usually figure out a way to get it done. And it doesn't matter how you get it done.”

Another way to look at the team's success is to consider how good these Padres (49-38) would be if a big bat were added to the mix without greatly harming the defense. Would the midrevenue Padres be running away from the Dodgers had they signed a free-agent slugger such as left fielder Carlos Lee last offseason?

Shortly after Albert Pujols led the Cardinals past the Padres in the 2006 divisional playoffs, General Manager Kevin Towers said acquiring an impact hitter would be a priority and that a “big bat” could be critical the next time the Padres played in October. The Padres passed, saying it was an extreme seller's market.

The Padres nonetheless are outpacing their rivals, with a payroll that ranks 24th of 30 in the majors. And they expect the offense to heat up soon, owing to the recent acquisitions of catcher Michael Barrett and left fielder Milton Bradley, and the return of right fielder Brian Giles. Giles' return was simultaneous with him moving into the leadoff spot, where he has proved to be a better fit.

For all the talk about getting a big hitter, the Padres might end up adding a pitcher and a bench part such as Mark Loretta, their second baseman in 2004-05.

“It's probably doubtful that we go out and acquire a big bat,” Towers said yesterday.

“Our approach is to try to avail ourselves of opportunities,” CEO Sandy Alderson said shortly before the break. “We've got a pretty good team. But there's no reason not try to make it better. We'd like to score more runs, but we don't want to do it at the expense” of the run-prevention units.

Weakening the defense, though, isn't out of the question, if it fits into the overall balancing act. For example, the Padres will employ catchers who are supbar throwers if it means getting above-average offense from them, as with Mike Piazza last year (this year's catching corps has thrown out a league-low 13 percent of would-be base stealers but is fourth in the NL in combined on-base and slugging percentage).

The Padres haven't had to cope with pitching injuries nearly as severe as those dealt several other NL clubs, including the Dodgers, who have lost three starters to shoulder injuries. But San Diego's NL-best record doesn't appear fluky; if you use overall run differential in an attempt to strip out luck, the record would be a majors-best 53-34.

“No matter how you draw it up,” Cameron said, “we're a pretty good baseball team.”

Said pitcher David Wells: “As long as we continue doing what we've been doing to this point, our chances are great – real, real good. If the pitching holds up, I think this team is going to be just fine.”

SignOnSanDiego.com > San Diego Padres -- Just guile over style