SAN DIEGO -- A little over a month ago, after the Padres dropped two of three games to the Royals at Petco Park, they called a team meeting and vowed that things would change. At some point, a team like this one -- a team loaded with All-Stars and generational superstars -- simply had to be better.

Perhaps they still can be. The season has not yet reached its halfway point. But on Sunday afternoon, the 2023 Padres hit a new nadir. Their 8-3 loss to the Nationals at Petco Park gave them another series loss to a rebuilding, last-place team.

• Lesko gets first pro outing under his belt

“It’s just not good enough right now,” said Fernando Tatis Jr., summing things up aptly.

If that Royals series felt like a low point, this one stung just a bit more. Because this one came with a piercing reminder of the price the Padres paid to get here.

MacKenzie Gore pitched five excellent innings for Washington. He’s a 24-year-old left-hander whose ceiling remains tantalizing. CJ Abrams reached base three times. He’s a 22-year-old shortstop with some special tools. And that’s only part of what the Padres relinquished to acquire Juan Soto last summer.

For most of the next decade, when the Nationals come to town, San Diego will likely get a reminder of all the talent once in its system.

Thing is, the Padres always knew that would be the case. The whole point of the trade was to sacrifice future assets to win in the present. And yet, here they sit -- 37-41, 9 1/2 games back in the NL West standings, and 6 1/2 out of a playoff spot.

“We never expected to be where we were record-wise at this point,” said manager Bob Melvin. “But it is what it is, and it basically tells you who you are.”

There is, of course, time to change that. Coming off a disheartening four-game set in San Francisco, the Padres set an informal, unofficial goal for the remainder of the first half. Win each of their five series, and they’d head into the All-Star break above .500.

“Ten and five, starting from this series, would’ve been nice,” said shortstop Xander Bogaerts. “Obviously we’re already two losses in, so that’s not a good start. But it’s not how you start, it’s how you finish. We still have a chance to turn that around -- 10-5, end on a really strong note.

“But we have to start. We have to. There’s not a lot of tomorrows left. The season is coming to an end -- not soon, but it is. If we keep tacking on losses, it’s going to come by quick.”

That’s a grim outlook for a team that opened the season with World Series ambitions. It’s also a pragmatic one. As Bogaerts noted, the Padres have time. Just not as much time -- or wiggle room -- as they once did.

“It doesn’t look great,” Melvin said. “There are a lot of teams ahead of us, as far as playoff teams, at this point. But there is a run that could get us right back into it quickly. We just haven’t done it.”

In theory, this was a chance to start. The Padres took out some frustrations with a 10-run win over the Giants on Thursday, then followed with a 10-run win over the Nats on Friday. It only made the next two days even more maddening. They scored just three runs in two games against one of the league’s worst pitching staffs.

“It’s been on the offense, if we’re going to be real about it,” Bogaerts said. “It’s been on us, man. The pitching has nothing to do with it. They’ve been excellent.”

On Sunday, that offense at least looked threatening (more than could be said about Saturday’s shutout). But in the game’s biggest moments, the Padres again fell flat. They put the tying runs on second and third in the sixth as Melvin went to his bench for two favorable matchups -- Matt Carpenter against a righty and Gary Sánchez against a lefty. But after Carpenter walked, Sánchez flailed at what would’ve been ball four from Joe La Sorsa, leaving the bases loaded.

Things spiraled from there. The Nats scored five times in the seventh, aided by a pair of Tim Hill throwing errors. A chorus of boos rained down at Petco Park. The Padres had struggled at home before, but this had gotten uncharacteristically sloppy.

“There’s not going to be a ‘give up’ here,” Melvin resolved afterward. “We’re going to continue to fight as hard as we can and know that with the talent that we have, we have the ability to win a lot of games.”

If so, that’s precisely what the Padres will have to do in the second half. To make up for the hole they’re digging themselves in the first.