Lefebvre inherits an offense that finished last in the major leagues in runs per game (3.93) and on-base percentage (.317) last year while having the third-highest strikeout total (1,259).

"You get a line drive/down (meaning a line drive or a hard groundball), you can hit at Petco Park ... you can hit anywhere in the world," Lefebvre told the San Diego Union-Tribune.

"All we hear is you can't hit in Petco ... it's a graveyard, graveyard, graveyard. But when you look at our statistics, we strike out a lot. That's the No. 1 thing. We're not putting the ball in play. And when we do, it's popping up and lazy flyballs."

And then Lefebvre went to the numbers.

Most astonishing: The major league average for flyballs of 325 feet or more is .405. At Petco Park, the average is .278, according to Lefebvre's statistics.

Line drives: major leagues, .738; Petco Park, .722. Groundballs: major leagues, .238; Petco Park, .232. Popups: Major leagues, .089; Petco Park, .062.

But at Petco Park, the average for hard groundballs is .433 compared to the major league norm of .431.

In the major leagues, the combined average for line drives/hard groundballs is .672. At Petco Park, it only drops off to .657.

"Petco is not a flyball ballpark," Lefebvre said. "So you want to work on getting the ball down on a line drive or a hard groundball. That's what we want to do, and the numbers prove it."

Lefebvre pointed to a couple of other numbers that the Padres need to improve on.

Taking Brian Giles out of the mix, the Padres leading off the second through the ninth innings had an on-base percentage of .288 last season. The major league norm is .288. And when a Padres runner did get on, the team scored only 32.5 percent of the time -- the worst mark in the major leagues.

"We've got to do better," said Lefebvre.

Listening to the hitting coach speak, it's hard to imagine them doing any worse.