--1B Adrian Gonzalez finished the season with 36 homers, the sixth-highest total in franchise history, and 119 RBIs, tied for the third best. Gonzalez drove in 18.7 percent of all the runs scored by the Padres this season and had a hand in 29.2 percent of all of the team's runs. Gonzalez has 66 homers and 219 RBIs over the past two seasons and 90 homers and 301 RBIs in his three seasons as a Padre. Gonzalez joins Fred McGriff (1991-92) and Phil Nevin (200-2001) as only the third Padre to have back-to-back, 30-homer, 100-RBI seasons. Before Gonzalez, only Ken Caminiti (twice) and Nevin topped 90 homers and 300 RBIs in three-season spans as a Padre.
--Behind RHP Chris Young and a two-run homer by Kevin Kouzmanoff, the Padres defeated the Pirates 3-2 on Sept. 27 to avoid the stigma of a 100-defeat season. But LHP Wade LeBlanc gave up tape-measure back-to-back homers to Adam LaRoche (446 feet) and Steve Pearce (398) in a 6-1 loss the next day in the season finale. --RHP Trevor Hoffman, 40, picked up his 30th save Sept. 27 to extend his own major league record for 30-save seasons to 13. Despite the Padres' woeful record, Hoffman successfully converted 30 of 34 save opportunities this season -- the 88.2 percent success rate being just below his career rate of 89.2 percent.
--RHP Heath Bell, whom many view as the eventual successor to Trevor Hoffman as the Padres' closer, allowed three runs on two hits and a walk in two-thirds of an inning in the season finale. Bell allowed at least one run in each one of his last five outings (seven total on six hits and four walks in 5 2/3 innings) to raise his ERA from 2.99 to 3.58.
--RHP Chris Young went 3-1 over his last four starts of the season with a 1.55 ERA. He finished 7-6 on the year despite missing a total of 15 starts over two trips to the disabled list (the first lasting 10 weeks after he was hit in the face by an Albert Pujols liner on May 22).
--RHP Cha Seung Baek was 2-0 with a 0.98 ERA over his last four starts, although two of those outings were cut short by forearm and calf strains.
--Rookie C Nick Hundley ended the season with a career-high nine-game hitting streak (10-for-34).
--RF Brian Giles finished the season with a .306 average, .398 on-base percentage and 40 doubles (tying the eighth-best single-season mark in Padres history). Giles has 179 doubles as a Padre, leaving him tied him with Dave Winfield for the third on the team's all-time list.
--3B Kevin Kouzmanoff finished the season in a 1-for-24 slide with 10 strikeouts, although the lone hit was a decisive two-run homer Sept. 27.
BY THE NUMBERS: 3.9 -- Average runs per game scored by the Padres this season. 4.7 -- Average runs per game scored by the Padres' opponents this season. 26 -- Fewer wins by the Padres this season than their 2007 total, the largest drop-off in franchise history (the old mark was 24 from 1998 to 1999). 36 -- Bases stolen by the Padres this season. .317 -- The Padres' on-base percentage, the lowest in the major leagues.
QUOTE TO NOTE: "It's frustrating the way this season went. It doesn't feel good, any of it. I handled it. I don't know if I handled it well. As the manager, you are responsible for so much. In my position, I don't think about me. I think about the players." -- Bud Black, reflecting on being the manager of the Padres during a 63-99 free-fall.
