The Padres owner took to the airwaves to criticize his team in the harshest terms:

Padres executive chairman Ron Fowler, in a radio interview with the Mighty 1090 AM on Wednesday, labeled the team “miserable failures” on the win-loss front, calling its performance “embarrassing.”

Fowler’s comments came less than 24 hours after the Padres absorbed a 16-4 beating from the Mariners, completing a 1-7 road trip.

The Padres, 20-33, are in last place in the National League West, 12½ games behind the Giants.

“It’s been embarrassing. I don’t know how else to put it,” Fowler said. “Our performance on the road trip, 1-7, was pathetic.

“I’m a very competitive individual. I think I’ve won a lot more than lost in my life. This baseball experience has been very frustrating, very embarrassing.”

Now I suspect this will be backed up with heads rolling, probably in the front office.

“It’s on the player, but the organization has to accept responsibility for probably having the wrong players,” Fowler said. “We don’t have a team out there right now that is competing effectively. We’re doing everything we can going into the draft and looking at international signings to get some guys who can get us there.”

Overall, this is a positive for the club. It’s classic George Steinbrenner, letting the fans know you’re as unhappy as they are, and your personnel are on notice. By itself, it won’t make a bad team better, but it will make everyone step up their game a bit.