110 Losses, Here We Come!

Padres opening days are nothing if not classy. When we think Padres baseball, we think first-class all the way.

The day began as Padres openers always do -- with the dignified tradition of a tuxedoed Ted Leitner doing a poor man's version of Michael Buffer. After the 20-minute pregame ceremony -- which seemed more like 20 hours -- the impression it left with us was: Leitner is having a love affair with the sound of his own voice. Too bad the smattering of fans in the house at the time didn't seem to be paying much attention.

And what's with the lame gimmick of introducing the Padres starting lineup as they walk in from the stands, amid ultra-cheesy NBA-style intro music? Who came up with this genius idea? If a player would have have turned an ankle on the makeshift stairs while stepping down to the field, now that would've been what Padres baseball is all about. We're surprised the players' union didn't file an OSHA complaint over this brilliant pregame schtick.

But it's comforting to know that the broadcast team on Channel 4 was in midseason form. After Jake Peavy allowed two first-inning runs, one of the Dorky Marks on Channel 4 noted that Peavy was "one strike away from getting out of the inning unhurt." Uh, yeah, and we're one hot wife away from being Tom Brady.

Oh, and this is typical Padres: While looking up information on new Channel 4 play-by-play man Mark Neely, we discovered that the Padres haven't even updated the broadcasters portion of the team's Web site yet. Matt Vasgersian is still listed as part of the broadcast crew, with no mention of Neely. Yeah, nice job on the timely updates. Neely was hired only three months ago.

If you care how the Padres did Monday, it was a 4-1 loss to the Dodgers. And Padre fans should get accustomed to many of those this year.

If the Padres can't win with Peavy pitching in the shadows with a ludicrous 4 p.m. start time, while going against the team he's owned over the years, well ... it's not a good sign.

No, this Padres team, coming off a 99-loss season, did virtually nothing to improve in the offseason, and unceremoniously dumped all-time saves leader Trevor Hoffman in the process.

We can't see much to be optimistic about with these Padres.

Predicting a 100-loss season would be too optimistic for this bunch, so we'll call it right now: The Padres will lose 110 games this season.