In today's U-T, Kevin Towers is quoted as saying, "our one common goal is to win the NL West championship again."  Winning a 5-team division is not a championship.  I hope this is not what Sandy Alderson means when he says the team's goal is to yearly compete for championships. The Padres' goal should be to win the pennant.  

I received a bill for $2,430.00 for playoff tickets for two field box seats.  That represents the cost of the team playing all the way through the World Series.  If the team's goal is to win the lousy NL West and get swept in the first round of the playoffs, my bill should be a lot less.