An offenisve offense (cont.)

Khalil Greene and the Padres have done a lot of swinging and missing this year. Dustin Snipes/Icon SMI John Donovan's Mailbag Comments, questions or obviously unfounded criticism? To e-mail Donovan, use the form below. Name: Email: Hometown: Question: SEND

It's hard to pick out one or two players to blame for this mess. It has been, in the truest sense of the term, a team effort. Other than Gonzalez and Giles, everyone is off. To pick out three of the main offenders:

• Jim Edmonds, acquired in an offseason trade with the Cardinals, is hitting just .180 with three extra-base hits. The four-time All-Star and eight-time Gold Glove winner has taken the brunt of fan discontent. He could be on the verge of being waived.

• Shortstop Khalil Greene, who crunched 27 homers last season, has only one so far. He's hitting .206.

• Catcher Josh Bard is hitting a sickly .212, with a .305 on-base percentage.

And on and on and on. Yet as badly as the Padres have looked, both players and management maintain that they are not that far from where they need to be.

"We're having problems from third to home. That's about it," says new hitting coach Wally Joyner, who played for the Padres from 1996-99. "We're not going to stop believing that the guys we have here can do the job."

Still, with a start like this one, few others believe. The Padres have, so far, resisted the urge to scrap what they have and make sweeping changes. Black has toyed with the batting order some, most notably dropping Edmonds from the fifth spot. The manager has tried to platoon some players. He has given some days off. He has had talks.

None of it has mattered. The Padres have trailed after seven innings 16 times this season. They are 0-16 in those games.

"I think you can say that if things continue down this way," Black says when pressed, "we may have no choice but to change some things."

The first move may be getting rid of Edmonds. The 37-year-old has been ripped mercilessly in several circles as injury-prone and past his prime. Several observers say that he looks slow and lost at times in the outfield. His numbers at the plate have dropped so precipitously that Wednesday night, trailing by three runs in the ninth, Black pinch hit for him with rookie Callix Crabbe.

Even GM Towers now has his doubts as to whether Edmonds, who has a history of concussions and missed several weeks in spring training with a pulled calf muscle, can be anything close to what the team envisioned when they traded for him last December.

"You'd like to think that they're able to find their way out of it," Towers says of the team's veterans in general. "If not, maybe that's a telltale sign that they're done. You know, there comes a point in time ..."

It's not as if the Padres' roster is overflowing with raw youngsters with huge upsides, either. Giles is 37. Second baseman Tadahito Iguchi is 33. Bard is 30.

By this time, these guys should have a better idea of what they're doing.

"I know the guys are working. I know guys are putting in the extra effort, whether it's in the cage, whether it's watching video or whether it's talking," says veteran first baseman Tony Clark, 36. "We, as a group, are just not functioning efficiently."

The Padres have a couple of minor leaguers who might be able to help, including outfielders Jody Gerut and Chase Headley. Towers, too, is exploring external options, though he says he is inclined to let the younger players try to work things out and, if they can't, to replace them with young players in the organization.

But that breaking point that Towers refers to is closing in quickly on the Padres, if it hasn't already passed. The Diamondbacks are, arguably, the best team in the league. The Dodgers, after a slow start, have won 10 of their last 12. Even the lowly Giants -- who, by the way, now have a one-game lead on the Padres -- have given San Diego fits. The Padres are 1-4 against San Francisco. All four of the losses have been by a single run.

If the Padres don't do something -- and do it quickly -- they're in danger of regressing to the dark days of 2002 and 2003, when they lost 96 games and 98 games, respectively.

"Worried?" Black says. "I'm ... concerned, just because I know that we have a very tough division with some very good teams. That's my sole concern. What we need to do is just start playing better overall. And we do know that there's enough time to make up ground, to chip away and get back to where we think we should be."

Well, maybe. But all the time in the world isn't going to help the Padres if, like that ball off Gonzo's bat, they keep heading in the wrong direction.