Currently the padres are one game under .500, averages are plummeting, ERA’s are exploding, and injuries have started to actually take a toll. The great work AJ Preller did in the offseason is starting to look futile, and Padres fans are starting to get restless. A little too restless. It’s in the air, and no one wants to come out and say it. The words, so thick they feel like they’re stuck in your throat forcing you to choose between vomit or pushing it back down like a freshman trying to impress. However, it needs to be said. We need to hear it, and be okay with it, so here it goes, “We’re acting like a bunch of bitches.” Not the team. Oh, no not them – the fans. You and I. We’re babies, crying for more milk. At first, I joined in. I got angry, called people out on Twitter (which is like yelling at the driver next to you on the freeway), and started to get legitimately bummed out. That all changed last Saturday.

After we got spanked by the Nationals, a Padres fan tweeted out “Meanwhile ex-Padres today…” and then went on to give the days stats from Jace Peterson, Cameron Maybin, and Logan Forsythe; pointing out how much better they played than our current Padres did that day. As if to say, “Well, we gave up on these players to have the kind of team that gets creamed?” First off, we got creamed by a team many picked to make the playoffs and be a serious World Series contender. No shame in that. Secondly:

YES, WE GAVE UP ON MAYBIN, PETERSON, AND FORSYTHE.

We also gave up on Quentin, and Hahn, and Gregerson, and a lot of other players who failed to get us over the hump the last five seasons. Did you forget how terrible a lot of these guys were when they played for us? Sure, sometimes letting a player go can end up being a huge mistake (Ozzie Smith, Dave Winfield, anyone from the 80’s), but those are the risks you have to take. Who knew Maybin would finally start playing like he did in 2011, or that Forsythe could play everyday and contribute? It’s not always so cut and dry. Perhaps Forsythe is playing well because of his lineup, because of his new hitting coach, new stadium, or a dozen other little things that would have never been available to him in San Diego. It’s silly to sit around and think that any of these guys would have done what they’re CURRENTLY doing if we kept them in San Diego. If we wanna play that dumb game, I’ll also let you know that Jesse Hahn is having a less than average year in Oakland, and that Carlos Quentin retired. It’s easy to pick out the times we lost, and say this should’ve happened for that should’ve happened, but when we win no one says a word. Of course it’s fun to drink with your buddies and think of what could have been if we just held on to that ’84 team a little longer. But, to think that what could have been, would have been is just foolish and doesn’t help anybody.

Of course, this kind of internet trolling, and shit-talking always rears its ugly head when your squad isn’t playing well, and people (like me) start to get really frustrated. Just like the rest of Padres fans, I wanted the boys to come out of the gate on fire, winning every game, and mowing down the opposition with strikeout after strikeout. We always had the pitching, so all we needed were the bats, and AJ got ‘em. And you know what? Those bats kept us in every game. Down four runs? No big deal. Need a ninth-inning homerun or clutch hit to tie the game? That can be arranged. The new Padres offense looks good. But, somehow our pitching – a San Diego staple – looks bad. We haven’t been used to bad pitching all around in a very long time. We’re confused and have no idea where to put the blame. It’s not like we started this season disliking our rotation. In fact it was quite the opposite. However, something is off. Our relief core seems to still be searching for their footing. Could it be new catchers? New assignments? New faces? Who knows? However, our offense has made up for it.

Until around last week…

Our offense has become a little….thin. And, maybe our depth was never really that deep.

Most Baseball fans and Padres fans knew that from day one this team wasn’t an all-star team, it was a good team. We just got so excited because we haven’t had a good team in a long time. In our minds we got the ’98 Yankees; in reality we got the ’14 Royals, or any A’s squad from the last 15 years. A team that has a lot of question marks, that also needs everything to break right. When you have a good team, you need to have great chemistry. That’s the real problem here, and who knows what moves AJ might make or might not make to fix that, but this is something that really does need to be fixed if we plan on making a serious run now, or in the few seasons to come. Let’s just say I feel a lot better that we may be able to figure this out now, instead of in August.

I look at this season the same way I looked at it in the very beginning: It’s a step in the right direction, and it’s been a really long time since we were even looking in that direction.

So, please stop with your asinine tweets, and your ridiculous assessments. How quickly did we all become so spoiled, so entitled? It’s more embarrassing than being shutout three times in four games. We’re not Red Sox fans, or Yankees fans, we’re Padres fans – we need to start acting like it.

For more expert sports stuff, and things you probably won’t care about, follow me on Twitter @dallas_mc