Bill Center, longtime sportswriter for U-T San Diego, is an employee of the Padres.
The Padres' 3-0 shutout loss at Philadelphia Tuesday night marked the fourth time in eight games that the Padres have been shut out this season.
The last team to be shut out four times in their first eight games was the 1963 Mets.
Statistics bear out the Jekyll-and-Hyde nature of the Padres' first eight games.
The Padres are 3-1 in the four games in which they have scored. They have scored 36 runs in those games, an average of 9.0 runs per game. In the nine games in which they have scored, the Padres have batted .336 (51-for-152) with 14 walks, six doubles, a triple and seven homers.
In those four games, the Padres have a .392 on-base percentage and a .526 slugging percentage for a .918 OPS.
But in their four shutout losses, the Padres have hit .123 (15-for-122) with two walks and two doubles for a .137 on-base percentage and a .139 slugging percentage.
Notes from the scorebook
• Robbie Erlin has needed only 121 pitches to work through 9 2/3 innings in two outings. That's an average of 12 ½ pitches an inning. The left-hander has been the Padres' most efficient pitcher, although he officially opened the season on the roster of the Triple-A El Paso Chihuahuas. Erlin has allowed one run on four hits and two walks with nine strikeouts in those 9 2/3 innings for a 0.93 ERA.
• Although he has been with the Padres since he and Joe Wieland were acquired from Texas on July 31, 2011, in a trade for reliever Mike Adams, the 25-year-old Erlin ranks fourth in tenure among Padres on 25-man roster to three players taken seven weeks earlier in the 2011 Draft -- second baseman Cory Spangenberg (first fourth, 10th overall), and right-handed pitchers Kevin Quackenbush (eighth round) and Colin Rea (12th round).
• Jon Jay doubled Tuesday night to extend his season-opening hitting streak to eight games. The center fielder is hitting .303 going 10-for-33 with three doubles, five RBIs and five runs scored and three walks.
• Left fielder Melvin Upton Jr. had two of the Padres four hits Tuesday night and now leads the regulars with a .304 batting average (Jay and Matt Kemp are at .303). Upton Jr., who hit .259 last season in 205 at-bats, is off to a 7-for-23 start with a homer, three walks, two RBIs and five runs scored.