Fred Norman & The Indignity Of A 3-12 Record

Oh, man, the Padres are 3-12 now. The good news is that there is no way we're actually this bad; the bad news is that it looks like we're not going to be all that much better. Two other teams in franchise history have started 3-12; the '87 squad finished 65-97 and the '94 Friars ended 47-70 in the strike-shortened season, their win percentage only .008 higher than Tony's BA. As for Fred Norman, what's he doing here? He wasn't still playing in either of those seasons but he did manage to compile a 3-12 record in 1971, his first season with the Padres. It was a deceptive 3-12, as most pitchers' W-L records are, however, as he posted a 3.32 ERA and a dead-even ERA+ of 100. He went 9-11 the next year and began 1973 with a 1-7 record before being traded to the budding Big Red Machine, going 12-6 for Cincinnati the rest of the season and staying there through the '79 season. Norman retired after spending 1980 with the Expos with a career Major League win-loss record of 104-103.