The San Diego Padres dropped two of three games to the Pittsburgh Pirates before going on the road to face the Tampa Bay Rays and the Cleveland Guardians. They return to Petco Park battered and bruised after a 1-5 road trip to host the New York Yankees and the Washington Nationals.
Despite the struggles the Padres will still play meaningful games over the final 22 games of the regular season thanks in large part to the Philadelphia Phillies who took two of three from the Arizona Diamondbacks over the weekend.
San Diego is a half game out of the final Wild Card position and holds their postseason fate in its hands. The most glaring area of need after their trip to Cincinnati was hitting with runners in scoring position. Over the final two games against the Reds, both losses, the Padres went 1-for-17 in that category. Between the lack of timely hits and the untimely inability to play fundamental baseball the current potential playoff berth picture could and probably should look much worse.
San Diego will have to improve in all three phases of the game if it is going to put an end to its current streak of poor play. At times, the offense has looked unstoppable, but then it just disappears. The same could be said for the starting pitching, which had back-to-back poor outings from Randy Vasquez and Casey Mize. The bullpen, which has been the strength of the team throughout the season, has been hittable and no one outside of Yuki Matsui has been immune.
Hopefully the hometown crowd and the friendly confines of Petco are just what the Padres need to get right, but if for some reason they are not, it could be a slow and agonizing end to the season. We should have a feeling one way or the other when San Diego opens its series against New York tonight at 6:40 p.m.
Padres News:
- Padres manager Craig Stammen has some decisions to make and could have more if Nick Pivetta and/or maybe Joe Musgrove return from the IL. Fair or not, his first year and how it will be remembered hinges on how he manages the next 22 games.
- There are probably questions from the Friar Faithful about what went into the decision to call up top prospect Ethan Salas. AJ Cassavell of Padres.com has the answer.
- Brent Honeywell Jr. returned to the San Diego minor league system after leaving the organization and is getting comfortable with El Paso.
- The last catcher to make a name for himself with the Padres was Benito Santiago. Could Ethan Salas be next?
Baseball News:
- Adley Rutschman hit two solo home runs to lead the Boston Red Sox over the Baltimore Orioles.
- Pete Crow-Armstrong connected on his 39th home run and the Chicago Cubs beat the Milwaukee Brewers.
- The Houston Astros topped the Chicago White Sox, 6-2.
