Thursday @ Phillies: 3-7 Loss
Philadelphia Game Recap
Kyle Kendrick, the same Kyle Kendrick that won just once in his last 18 starts, shut down this struggling offense to the tune of seven base runners and one earned run in six strong innings of action: and that's with three of the first four batters of the game reaching base! The Padres offense was unable to tack on any meaningful runs after an early 2-0 lead, allowing the home team to hang around and eventually record the big hit.
Eric Stults was unable to record the all important shut-down frame after being staked to a two-run lead (a Ben Revere double and Jimmy Rollins single led to a run being scored before Stults recorded a single out), and while San Diego still held the lead, the momentum was halted. A Dom Brown sac fly evened the score in the fourth inning, and with the Padres offense getting just three hits in the final seven innings, their opportunity to win this game had vanished with the lead.
Stults wasn't good (5 innings, 8 hits, and 4 earned runs), but he exited the game with the Padres down just a run, making it a gutsy effort that gave the visitors a chance to win. That chance, however, flew out of the ballpark as John Mayberry took a 2-2 changeup from Alex Torres and drove it over the left field wall with two men (two base runners that reached base via the walk on a total of nine pitches) on. The Padres still had two innings left to work against a sporadic Phillies bullpen, but a four run lead against the 2014 Padres is safe for a week or two.
The offense struck out 19 times while earning just one free pass in the final two games of this series, a trend that is going to have to change if San Diego wants to be competitive, let alone win, once in a while. That's four straight losses and a 2-8 start to the month of June ... but the Mets haven't been much/any better, as they had dropped eight of nine prior to hosting the Padres for a three-game series.
Friday @ Mets: 2-6 Loss
Saturday @ Mets: 5-0 Win
Sunday @ Mets: 1-3 Loss
New York Series Recap
The light-hitting Mets scored nine runs in three games, but they proved to be enough to beat the Padres' ace while taking two of three in their weekend series against San Diego.
Andrew Cashner and Ian Kennedy failed to offer anything near elite performances (they allowed 21 base runners and seven earned runs in 17.1 innings of action), and was it not for the heroics of Jesse Hahn (six innings of one-hit ball) in his second career start, the Padres would have suffered a sweep at the hands of a team that entered action as the lone team in the MLB that was playing as poorly as San Diego. Hahn's gem was backed by an encouraging performance from Chase Headley (he reached base as many times on Saturday as he did in the previous week), but the offensive groove was short-lived as the Padres followed up their victory with a four-hit effort in a game in which the Mets were forced to burn through bullpen arms after the first inning. While they did manage to display patience with 15 walks earned in this series, San Diego recorded only one hit with runners in scoring position in their two losses (16 at-bats) ... and that was an infield single by a player in Rene Rivera who would be timed with a sun dial for his 40-yard dash. Getting runners on base is obviously a step in the right direction, but it becomes a moot point if those runners remain on base after the third out of the inning is recorded.
Chase Headley had the offensive performance of the series, matching his total number of times on base from the week previous on Saturday alone (four), while Rivera continued to quietly produce runs when given the opportunity. But the offense was sporadic at best (the top four hitters in the lineup combined for one hit in their two losses) and simply couldn't string enough good at-bats together in succession to score nearly enough.
The relievers were good in this series, but the damage was done by the time they entered the contest. They gave up two earned runs in 7.2 innings of work, striking out 11 batters in the process. I'd feel good about the Padres chances against any team in the MLB if they could get to the seventh inning tied, but that simply hasn't been the case very often, thus minimizing the impact of this team's greatest strength.
*Prior to Monday's series opener in Seattle, "Mr. Padre" Tony Gwynn passed away after an extended battle with cancer. The hall-of-famer was just 54 years of age and was arguably the best pure hitter the game of baseball has ever seen. His career was full of amazing statistics (for example, in 1994 he notched 165 hits in a strike shortened season that saw him take only 419 at-bats: Starlin Castro of the Cubs, who has been tabbed as a future batting champ recorded 163 hits last season ... in 666 at-bats), but it will be his genuine love of the game that will be most missed.*
Monday @ Mariners: 1-5 Loss
Tuesday @ Mariners: 1-6 Loss
Wednesday vs. Mariners: 2-1 Win
Seattle Series Recap
The Mariners are far from an elite team, but they proved to be a better version of the Padres this week as San Diego was lucky to escape with one victory in the first three games of this series.
With both teams boasting top ten pitching staffs in terms of ERA, and below average offenses in terms of runs scored, runs figured to be at a premium in this series, and while Seattle's 12 runs in three games didn't light the world on fire, it was plenty. The Mariners got dominant pitching from their starters (0.90 ERA, 0.55 WHIP, and a 23:1 strikeout-to-walk ratio) and early offense (they held the lead after the 2nd inning in every game), never allowing the Padres to have much hope. San Diego's lone victory came with, of all people, King Felix Hernandez on the bump, on an emotional day in which they honored their fallen legend before the game.
The Padre starters didn't take advantage of a weak-hitting Mariners lineup, recording a 4.59 ERA through three games and giving up four homers to one of the least powerful teams in all of baseball (they still rank 27th in team slugging percentage, even after this series). When they weren't giving up long balls, they allowed the Mariners to steal five bases, an extra 90 feet that is crucial when runs are difficult to come by. Unlike Seattle, San Diego's starting staff couldn't produce the crucial strikeout to stunt rallies (1.3 strikeouts per walk), thus allowing the Mariners to move runners up and drive them in.
The bullpen was perfect on Monday and Wednesday (five strikeouts in 4.1 innings), and while they had a blip on the radar Tuesday (two earned runs in three innings), they once again were more than serviceable this week. Ideally, we get to the bullpen in a tie game or, dare I say it, with a lead, but for now, we will have to settle with the deficit not growing when our starter is yanked. As you can imagine, the bats had another quiet series, going hitless in the first two games (11 opportunities) with runners in scoring position. Our once lethal leadoff man in Everth Cabrera was dropped to eighth in the lineup with the thought that a shakeup might lead to a sense of urgency ... it didn't. Carlos Quentin and Rene Rivera connected on home runs, but that was the extent of the power. Tommy Medica recorded his first hit in a week, but it was a timely one, as his pinch-hit single proved to be a game-winning run last night, giving the Padres an improbable win in which Felix Hernandez was dominate (the only run scored off of the ace was courtesy of a wild pitch). If you're looking for a statistical quirk (hey, if I can't give you good news, I might as well make you a smarter fan that can impress at the water cooler) it's the number 18. That's how many strikeouts the Padres lineup has had since their last free pass. It is also the number of consecutive games in which the Padres were involved in that one (or both) teams failed to score more than three runs.
Weekly Grade: D-
The pitching had a decent week, but this is a results driven sport, and dropping five of seven to three teams that simply are not very good is not acceptable. Opposing pitchers were comfortable against the Padres lineup, as they are well aware that it'll take multiple mistakes within a single inning to allow even a single run, thus allowing them to dictate at-bats and keep the hitters off balance. My primary hope for the week ahead is that San Diego will play to the level of their competition, a bad thing this past week but a potentially good thing this week as they wrap up their four-game series with the Mariners this afternoon and then host Yasiel Puig and the Dodgers for three-game set. They then head west to San Francisco for three. It can't get worse, right?
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