Fear Factor

Picture yourself in a pregame meeting in which Cardinals pitcher Jeff Weaver and catcher Yadier Molina are going over the Padres' lineup with pitching coach Dave Duncan. In doing so, they must determine which Padres hitter are you not going to let beat you in a key situation. In other words, who among the Padres' batters is going to put fear into Cardinals pitchers?
Weaver, Molina and Duncan must have been giggling like 13-year-old girls at a slumber party.
Seriously, if you're an opposing pitcher, who do you fear in that Padres lineup?
Adrian Gonzalez is the team's best pure hitter and has improved his power this season, but he doesn't scare anybody. He's no Barry Bonds or Albert Pujols. Mike Cameron? Sorry, too easy to strike out. Brian Giles is a singles hitter who's paid as if he produces power, but he doesn't scare anybody. Mike Piazza was a feared hitter in the prime of his career, but those days are gone. Todd Walker? Yeah, sure.
Probably the only hitter on the Padres' roster who could put any fear into pitchers is a guy who doesn't even start. A guy who had all of four at-bats this year after spending nearly the entire season on the disabled list. Ryan Klesko might be the one Padre who could put a little fear into an opposing pitching staff -- and that alone tells you all you need to know about how pathetic the Padres' offense is.
A man who hit .750 (3-for-4) with no homers and appeared in six games this season is the only guy on the team who could possibly put a little fear into opponents.
When this playoff series started, we heard and read a lot about how the Padres are a team built around pitching and defense and many baseball experts predicted that combination could carry the team deep into October. But all that talk about pitching and defense ignored the team's glaring weakness all season -- hitting.
David Wells certainly pitched well enough in Thursday's 2-0 loss to St. Louis in Game 2 of the NLDS, but he can't get a "W" if his teammates can't hit. We have to hand it to old tubby; he did his part. We won't even point out that the Padres' blue jerseys make Wells' sizable gut look even more immense.
With the Padres one loss away from elimination, we won't say they're done. But the skillet is simmering.
But, what the hell, we're going to start talking 2007.
When general manager Kevin Towers, who answers to the colorful nickname "KT," starts assembling the '07 Padres, it might be a good idea to acquire at least one legitimate power hitter to stick in the middle of that lineup.
And by legitimate power hitter, we don't mean guys like Russell Branyan and Todd Walker.