SAN DIEGO — The San Diego Padres shook up their light-hitting offence by demoting leadoff batter Will Venable to Triple-A Tucson.

Venable was hitting just .224 with no homers in 134 at-bats. He was one of a handful of returning players the Padres were counting on to have a solid season offensively, along with several new players.

The move came in the midst of a brutal slump at Petco Park. San Diego has lost four of its first five in an eight-game homestand, scoring just five runs on 29 hits with 52 strikeouts.

Going into Monday night’s series-opening game against NL Central-leading St. Louis, the Padres were 8-18 at Petco Park, the worst home record in the majors.

Venable seemed stunned by the move, but vowed to make the most of it.

“I’ll be working toward the goal of getting my act together and getting my swing right with the idea that when I get everything right, I’ll be back to where I need to be,” he said. “I haven’t been consistent with my approach, I haven’t been consistent with my setup and that’s something that I need to be better at.”

The Padres haven’t come close to living up to their claim that they were a more complete team without all-star slugger Adrian Gonzalez, who was traded to Boston in December.

“I can only really speak for myself and I need to get my act together, and that’s it,” Venable said.

Venable batted .245 with 13 homers and 58 RBIs last year. During spring training, general manager Jed Hoyer said Venable, catcher Nick Hundley and third baseman Chase Headley were at the stage of their careers where they can “take a big step forward.” Hundley is on the disabled list and Headley is hitting .255 with only one homer.

“We thought it was the thing to do to get Will back to Tucson to work on some specific things that we think will help him move forward offensively,” manager Bud Black said. “Most notably, in the batter’s box, his at-bats, his approach, some technical things that probably the minor league environment is better than him trying to work through these in a major league game.”

Chris Denorfia will move into Venable’s starting spot in right field. To take Venable’s spot on the 25-man roster, the Padres selected outfielder Blake Tekotte from Double-A San Antonio. Right-hander Samuel Deduno was designated for assignment to open a spot on the 40-man roster for Tekotte.

Petco Park has frustrated Padres sluggers since it opened in 2004, particularly the sprawling right field, where fly balls go to die.

Asked if Petco Park is psyching out the Padres, Black said: “I don’t think so. I hope not. No.”

Asked if he thinks the fences should be moved in, he said: “I think there’s room for discussion there.”

The two deepest parts of the downtown ballpark are the gaps, which are listed at 401 feet in left-centre and 400 in right-centre. The fence in right-centre was moved in a few years ago.

When Petco Park opened, the Padres joked that they had made it Barry Bonds-proof, since the Giants slugger always tormented San Diego. Bonds later quipped that the Padres had made Petco Park “baseball-proof.” Bonds hit his 755th homer at Petco Park on Aug. 4, 2007, tying Hank Aaron with an opposite-field shot to left-centre.

San Diego was swept in a weekend series by the Seattle Mariners, who like the Padres have a good pitching staff but a suspect offence.

“We didn’t pitch well,” Black said.

One stat the Padres can’t blame on Petco Park is their staggering 391 strikeouts, most in the big leagues.

“That’s something that we have to address, is the strikeout total,” Black said. “You can’t do that. I think in this park you have to put the ball in play. Or any park, it helps to put the ball in play. That’s no secret.”

San Diego has hit only 29 homers, fifth-lowest in the majors.

The San Diego Padres are reaching new lows at Petco Park, their spacious downtown ballpark.

While other teams have no problems getting hits and runs at Petco, the Padres do.

On Saturday night, rookie Michael Pineda allowed only two hits while striking out nine in seven innings and Mike Wilson had two run-scoring hits to lead the Seattle Mariners to a 4-0 win against the Padres.

Pineda (6-2) and relievers David Pauley and Jamey Wright combined to four-hit the Padres and strike out 13.

The Padres were shut out for the ninth time, the most in the majors. San Diego’s home record of 8-17 also is the worst in the bigs. The Padres have totaled one run, eight hits and 22 strikeouts in the first two games of this series, and must face reigning AL Cy Young Award winner Felix Hernandez on Sunday. They’ve struck out 39 times in the first four games of this eight-game homestand.

Padres manager Bud Black doesn’t think his players are psyched out by Petco Park.

Asked if it’s different playing at home versus on the road, Black said: “If it is, it shouldn’t. I wish I could put a finger on it. I can’t.”

It was the sixth home shutout, tied for the most in a season at Petco Park, first done in 2007 and matched last year. It didn’t help that the Padres committed two more errors, giving them at least one error in each of their last nine games, and a total of 14 in that streak.

“I don’t know if there is anything specific I could point to,” Padres leadoff batter Will Venable said about San Diego’s struggles at Petco Park. “I’m not sure. It’s nothing really about the ballpark that makes a difference.”

The Mariners won their fourth straight game. Jack Wilson had two hits, an RBI and scored a run.

The Mariners frustrated the light-hitting Padres for the second straight night. After Erik Bedard allowed only three singles while striking out nine in Friday night’s 4-1 win, Pineda allowed only a double to Orlando Hudson in the second and a single by pinch-hitter Eric Patterson in the sixth. The big right-hander struck out the side in his last inning, the seventh, the third time in his nine big league starts that he’s struck out nine.

Pauley struck out the side in the eighth and Wright struck out Venable leading off the ninth, making it seven straight Padres to go down on strikes. Wright allowed two straight singles before getting the final two outs.

The Padres had only one runner reach third. Chase Headley walked leading off the fourth, stole second and advanced on Ryan Ludwick’s fly out before being stranded.

The Mariners had three straight singles with one out in the second against Clayton Richard (2-5), including Mike Wilson’s base hit to bring in the game’s first run. Jack Wilson followed with a sacrifice fly to make it 2-0.

After Brendan Ryan was hit by a pitch with one out in the fourth, Mike Wilson followed with an RBI double to right-center.

The Mariners added an unearned run against Pat Neshek in the sixth when catcher Kyle Phillips’ errant pickoff throw to third allowed Jack Wilson to score.

Richard allowed three runs and seven hits in five innings, struck out two and walked one.

NOTES: Hernandez will oppose San Diego’s Tim Stauffer on Sunday. … The Mariners have allowed two or fewer runs in their last five games. … Seattle starters have gone at least seven innings in eight straight starts and 13 of 17. … Richard is 0-3 in five home starts. The Padres have scored four runs while he was in those games.

Editor’s note: Yahoo! Sports will examine the offseason of every MLB team before spring training begins in mid-February. Our series continues with the San Diego Padres.

2010 record:90-72
Finish: Second place, NL West
2010 final payroll: $43.7 million
Estimated 2011 opening day payroll: $45 million

Offseason action

During his eight years in the Boston Red Sox front office, Jed Hoyer learned how to run a baseball team with urgency. Every move around the American League East affected the Red Sox’s standing and often called for a countermeasure. His ability to carry over the same philosophy to such a different situation – the Padres are indeed the Little Friars of the Poor – speaks to his skill as an executive.

Hand it to Hoyer: Forced by impending free agency to deal Adrian Gonzalez(notes), a legitimate franchise player and native San Diegan to boot, the general manager didn’t stop there. Nearly one-third of the expected 25-man roster is brand new and, at a majority of the positions, improved.

Now, Brad Hawpe(notes) can’t replace Gonzalez at first base. Five Hawpes couldn’t. Orlando Hudson(notes), however, is an upgrade over David Eckstein(notes) at second base. Same with Jason Bartlett(notes) over the Miguel Tejada(notes)-Everth Cabrera shortstop combination last season. Cameron Maybin(notes) is a huge talent, and escaping Florida was the best thing that could have happened to him, even if it is for Petco Park, which swallows home runs like Pac-Man does cherries.

To get Maybin, the Padres dealt relievers Edward Mujica(notes) and Ryan Webb(notes). Hoyer’s fundamental understanding of relief – except for the elite of elite, they’re fungible – bodes well. He’ll find some more young arms, plug ‘em in and let Petco do its work.

Another beneficiary, Hoyer hopes, is right-hander Aaron Harang(notes), who needs help of any kind, be it environmental or mechanical. Sticking Harang with Darren Balsley, San Diego’s renowned pitching coach, could help find the strikeouts he lost last season. Pitching at Petco solves half the issue. Even Charlie Brown could win there.

Oh, there was more: Signing Dustin Moseley(notes) away from the Yankees – New York spends $90 million on its free agents, the Padres spend $900,000 on theirs – and trading for backup catcher Rob Johnson(notes) and, all the while, sending a warning bugle to the NL West.

If the Padres are going to dip back into the dregs of their division, it’ll be with a mighty fight.

Reality check

As nice and romantic a story as it would be to ink Heath Bell(notes) to a long-term deal, Hoyer understands that he cannot do so unless Bell takes a severe discount, which simply isn’t going to happen. It’s nuts for a team with a pea-sized payroll to devote 10 percent of its payroll, let alone the 20 percent it would take to keep Bell, to a guy who throws 70 innings a year.

This sort of conversation colors every discussion about the Padres. It’s one thing to pare salary during rebuilding. It’s another to hoard money and handicap management. And while we can’t yet say definitively how owner Jeff Moorad, the former agent, will support the Padres, it’s worth noting that Forbes said the franchise had the fifth-highest operating income at $32.1 million in 2009.

Rather than focus any energy on an extension for Bell, Hoyer will find a suitable trade partner and do what he did with Gonzalez: extract a good return. Casey Kelly should join the Padres’ rotation by next season at latest and complement Mat Latos(notes), who proved himself last season one of the best pitchers in the NL. Another solid season from Clayton Richard(notes), a Tim Stauffer(notes) breakthrough in the rotation and Corey Luebke or Wade LeBlanc(notes) stepping up alongside Harang makes for a rotation that can prevent runs.

Like last season’s? Well, perhaps that’s too much to expect. The 581 runs allowed by the Padres were the fewest in the last seven years. San Diego can have the best rotation and bullpen around, and it’s still not going to give up less than 600 runs this year. And that makes gaining ground offensively imperative.

There are no impact bats anymore, nothing like Gonzalez, so the Padres have to hope outfielder Jaff Decker or one of the two prospects acquired from Boston – first baseman Anthony Rizzo and outfielder Reymond Fuentes – turns into one. For now, they’re content with Maybin’s deep-down power and Chase Headley’s(notes) steadiness and Bartlett regaining his 2008 form instead of the sub-standard ugliness to which he’d become accustomed.

Picking the Padres to spend almost the entire season in first place last year was an exercise in faith, and it’s tough to flex those muscles in two straight seasons. Maybe Hoyer does have the right formula: pitching and defense overcomes all – a simple, straightforward philosophy on the game that has served him well. That, and the urgency to make this work – now, next week and well into the future.

Padres in haiku

Game at Petco Park
Or tacos at the Tin Fish?
Both: A perfect day

Next: New York Mets