The ball was in Brian Giles’ glove, Trevor Hoffman’s hands were raised in victory and fireworks were going off at Petco Park.

The San Diego Padres, it turned out, were celebrating a bit prematurely in a game they would go on to lose Monday night to the Giants.

But who really could blame them?

They know by now that nothing – especially winning – comes easily in the National League Worst.

That’s where the Padres occupy the penthouse, despite playing like dogs in the appropriately named Petco Park. Incredibly, four other teams in the division have somehow found a way to play even worse.

Under baseball’s rules, one of them has to make the playoffs, though you could make a case for Bud Selig declaring a walkover in the first round to save everyone from the embarrassment of actually playing.

As it is, it’s going to be embarrassing enough.

Baseball already is assured of having its worst team in the playoffs since the 1973 New York Mets won the NL East despite winning only 82 games.

And now it’s becoming increasingly likely that a team will have a shot at winning the World Series after losing more games than it wins for the first time ever in a full season.

“You don’t want to be a loser and a winner at the same time, I guess,” San Diego’s Robert Fick said last week.

That’s precisely what the Padres will be, unless they find a way to win at least four of their last six games. Then again, they could just as easily collapse entirely and allow the Giants to sneak in even though San Francisco can’t finish over .500.

After what happened Monday night in San Diego, when Giles nearly made a great catch but then dropped the third out to allow the Giants to win the opener of a four game series, that’s within the realm of possibility, too.

“Unfortunately, it provided a little bit of momentum for these guys going into tomorrow,” Hoffman said.

The loss was the fifth in seven games for the Padres, who aren’t exactly peaking heading into the final games of the season. Last week they lost a game 20-1, and they have only five hits in their last two games combined.

Still, they were clinging to a three-game lead over the Giants, who have gone 10-4 since Barry Bonds returned to at least spice up the race a bit.

Things weren’t supposed to be this bad, even in a division that was widely viewed as mediocre before the season began. The Dodgers figured to contend even after losing Adrian Beltre, Shawn Green and Steve Finley; the Giants added Moises Alou to protect Bonds in the lineup; and the Padres thought their starting pitching led by Jake Peavy and Adam Eaton would carry them.

Even the Arizona Diamondbacks upgraded, adding Green and Troy Glaus to the lineup.

Bonds was out before the season even started, though, and both the Diamondbacks and Dodgers faded after quick starts. Moneyball may have worked in Oakland, but Dodger general manager Paul DePodesta underestimated the importance of team chemistry when he signed loners Jeff Kent and J.D. Drew in the offseason, and the team never jelled.

Eric Gagne was lost for the season early because of arm trouble, Drew followed him, and the Dodgers played the rest of the year with a collection of journeymen and players brought up from Triple A.

That left the division to the Padres, who went 22-6 in May and appeared on the verge of running away with it. Since then, entering play Tuesday, they’ve gone a miserable 44-59.

This kind of team has no business in any postseason. But rules are rules, and what frightens baseball purists who have seen wild-card teams win the last three World Series is that the Padres could get hot at just the right time.

That happened in 1973 when the Mets beat a much better team in the Cincinnati Reds to win the pennant, and then took the A’s seven games before losing the World Series.

That Met team, though, had Tom Seaver and two other starters with earned-run averages less than 3.00, some clutch hitters and a reliever in Tug McGraw who told his teammates and anyone else who would listen that “You Gotta Believe.”