Tom Pringle (@PedroiasFace) will be covering the Padres during the season. His updates won’t be game-recaps, more like weekly or monthly recaps. If you don’t get the twist on words in the title, you’re dead to him.
What Happened?
After their fantastic 6-0 destruction of the Rockies in Colorado, the Padres enjoyed an off day. I like to imagine that Bethancourt worked on his control, Jankowski worked on hitting the damn ball and Hedges had a congratulatory “First Hit” party set for him. I really hope the team kept that ball and presented it to him!
The Padres then travelled to Atlanta and proceeded to give them the best housewarming present possible. A nice clean sweep of the Padres, wrapped in a bow, with cock all hitting.
The Friars then went home and duly rolled over and allowed the Diamondbacks to give them the good news. An 11-2 bashing. However, those pesky Padres just wouldn’t lie down and accept what was happening to them. They rallied and took the series and even added a 3rd win on the bounce, defeating the visiting Marlins. The streak ended at three as the Padres fell to the Marlins. It hasn’t been a pretty time since Part 2, with those Monk types going 3-6.
What went wrong?
The bats were so so quiet in Atlanta, after all of the excitement at the start of the season the usual suspects almost disappeared. I feel bad putting the bullpen here, as they held until game three in Atlanta, but during that game they started to leak a serious amount of runs, this continued against Arizona where they followed a respectable outing from Jarred Cosart.
The lineup (except Wil Myers & Margot) has cooled off from the start of the season. This could mean any pitching performance will rely on those two stars to produce, unless of course you have Erick Aybar (You’ll see).
Jose Torres probably wished the Marlins home run…thing…would have flown to PetCo and eaten him up the way he pitched in a 2-2 tie going into the 11th inning, giving up 3 earned runs and costing the Padres the game. Unfortunately (and surprisingly) the Marlins Monstrosity doesn’t have wings or the ability to fly. Shame.
What went right?
While playing the Braves for the first time this season, Chacin managed to bag two hits, even slotting in an RBI whilst the rest of the lineup were very quiet.
Speaking of Jhoulys Chacin, his eight inning, three hit, five strikeout shutout of the Diamondbacks was fantastic. Not only was it an impressive personal performance, he was going up against Zack Greinke (Remember him?) and the Padres won 1-0. The only run of the game? From the .150 hitting, SS Erick Aybar. Boom, take that $206.5m over six years.
Clayton Richard continued the sterling pitching performances of the streak, 6 ⅔ innings, giving away nine hits, one earned run and chucking eight strikeouts.
Oh and Wil Myers, Wil Myers, Wil Myers and finally Wil Myers. I love him.
What’s next?
The Padres welcome the Marlins for their final game of the series at PetCo, before travelling to Arizona for a four-game series starting with the mouthwatering rematch of Chacin Vs Greinke. Yes, I’m surprised I have just typed that, just as surprised as you are to read it.
The Great All-Rounder Experiment Will Austin Hedges Ever Hit Again? How long will Jankowski last in the lineup?
Before the Padres faithful scream at me for his 100% SB record, he’s currently 8th in strikeouts for the NL with 21. If he was slugging some serious homers then you could forgive such a high strikeout rate, but he’s slugging .180 – one hundred and eighty! His OPS+ (if you’re not familiar with OPS+, it’s like OPS, but it’s “normalised” for things like ballparks, 100 is league average) is WAY below league average at a fairly pathetic 26.
On the plus side, for those with 58 PA or more and an OPS+ below 27, he is leading.
The advantage Jankowski has, is similar to me playing football as a left-winger, there was no one to replace me. No matter how bad I was.
Until next time, here’s some numbers that I’ll keep updated for the year.
Stats: (Positions in brackets for all qualified players in MLB)
Win/Loss – 8-11 .421
Individual Stats:
Batt Avg. Leader – W. Myers .360 (9th)
OBP Leader – W. Myers .380 (34th)
OPS Leader – W. Myers 1.020 (13th)
Starter ERA – C. Richard 3.04 (42nd)
Strikeouts – T. Cahill 21 (Tied 36th)
WHIP – J. Weaver 1.00 (20th)
Team Stats:
Batting AVG. – .213 (26th)
OBP – .282 (28th)
OPS – .652 (27th)
ERA (Starter) – 3.62 (11th)
ERA (Relievers) – 5.75 (29th)
Strikeouts – 134 (Tied 21st)
WHIP (Relievers) – 1.37 (22nd)
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