For some reason, the Padres taste better than they smell. Real food for thought. The Padres have great fans. Maybe the greatest, most loyal and forgiving fans in baseball. They sell out the cupboard when they don’t have enough in it for a full meal. What’s always been a fair-to-good baseball town has turned great. Kind of like it once was a terrible basketball town that has suddenly gone national. Petco Park is a secular miracle. There is no other easy way to describe it. In 20 years, it has become as much a part of us as the harbor and bike lanes. It’s the Peter Seidler Effect. He willed it in ways we may never understand. Like P.T. Barnum getting people onto the circus, maybe. “Oh, so we weren’t that good, but you came anyway.” Only without the bark and bluster. They have had their chances. Good chances. Last year, they were this close to running the Dodgers into Encino. But the Dodgers were better. And it’s hard to win playoff games when you go 20-some-odd straight innings without scoring a run. It’s inexcusable. But this season makes me feel no different about them. They began the year as the best team in baseball — even with their starting rotation screwed up — and then took on the consistency of an old bar rag. This is why they can’t win big. Consistency. Or is it inconsistency? Or incredibly bad luck? There are just too many lapses. Too many runs where nothing happens — like another 20-some-odd-inning tour without a run. Fernando Tatis Jr. goes over a month without a homer. I spend 23 days in Europe and return to find Manny Machado with four home runs in a third of the season. But, worst of all, it seems impossible for the Padres to get a single Padre to have more than one career year at a time. Machado’s season isn’t career-best-worthy. Tatis, after a promising start has stepped back. I don’t know if Xander Bogaerts even knows what a career year is. Certainly not here. Jake Cronenworth’s has come and gone. Jackson Merrill had his, but he has to be given time past his sophomore year. They’re fortunate Gavin Sheets has had a terrific season. Jurickson Profar could have been replaced in left — by Jurickson. Meanwhile, is the entire pitching staff on the injured list? And yet they are out of nothing. I’ve narrowed it down. What the Pads have that’s hard to get is soul. Which is why you can’t give up on them. There is just enough extra. I’ve been watching baseball a long time. I have faith that, sooner or later, more than one of their players is going to get hot for more than a homestand. Laws don’t mean much anymore. But the one involving averages has been around since the snake and apple tree. It has to come into play for them sometime. … This is the gauntlet now for the Pads — 26 games in 27 days. … To me, the Indianapolis 500 has become the Indy 50. The circuit does a lousy job of promoting this game. Names made it. Built it from the brickyard up. Who are these guys? … Why did I like Indy more when it only could be seen in the mind on radio? I mean, this last one, pit stops stole the show. And I’ve always loved it. Now it’s barely hanging on my bucket list as an “also possible.” … Joey Bosa shuffled off to Buffalo to show Bills fans he doesn’t need a regular season to get injured during the preseason. One of the best players whose body told him: “You’re in the right profession, pal, if all you want to do is make money.” … The Cowboys get the first Thursday night game. The Cowboys. If they won eight games instead of seven, they play themselves. … The most astonishing thing in sports may be the Steelers having three head coaches since 1969. They are Supreme Court justices. … If you just go by arm, Will Levis could be the greatest quarterback of all time. Probably still is to scouts. … Terry Bradshaw calls the Steelers’ flirtation with Aaron Rodgers a “joke” and should just allow him to go somewhere and consume “bark” or whatever he consumes. Dunno, but I much prefer Rodgers over Mason Rudolph, no matter his culinary choice in the forest. … See where millions more will be wasted on Hillcrest bike lanes. No money for roads people actually use, though. This city is so screwed. … Juan Soto has a chance — just a chance, now — to be the most overrated baseball player since Abner Doubleday told his uncle: “Unc, I’m going to invent a game founded on failure, one that will frustrate the masses and gullible media and make heroes and multi-millionaires out of players who are coordinated just enough to be average or worse.” … Not since Ali has there been another athlete such as Caitlin Clark, one so polarizing, who could be so revered for lifting a sport to the sky and yet so despised. At least Muhammad ticked people off for reasons, right or wrong. I have no idea what this woman has done … Did Rory McIlroy do wrong not calling Jack Nicklaus to tell Jack he would be skipping the Memorial? Is there a French fry in Boise? Never one to move the Richter — with talk, Jack, who reportedly gave Rory tips on how to play Augusta, which he conquered — says no. Please. It was classless. … Jim Palmer never allowed a grand slam or back-to-back home runs in his career. Which is not possible, but makes it easier to understand why he wasn’t a Padre. … Eric Davis may be the best pure player not in the baseball Hall of Fame. Stat: He had the same number of home runs and stolen bases after his first six seasons as Barry Bonds. Played 230 fewer games. … There’s only one bigger waste of time than watching the NBA, and ESPN doesn’t know. Talking about it. … Coronado’s once-pristine beaches closed on Memorial Day due to the Tijuana River pollution. We are going to lose the Navy Seals. For America’s greatest military town, I can’t think of a bigger disgrace. You watch. You smell. … A fight in the stands at an American soccer game? What, did somebody score? … Cellphones should not be allowed anywhere near a place of learning — if teachers still are allowed to teach. … If a driverless car gets stopped by a cop, who gets the ticket? … NAIA or not, LSU Shreveport went 59-0. I’ve always been told baseball teams lose. … After touring some of its major cities for three weeks, I can see why Europe’s birth-rate numbers are collapsing. Nobody goes home. … Much has been made about Luka losing weight while at home. I lost 20 pounds in Europe — and it wasn’t my underwear.