Padres win without four regulars in lineup; Randy Vásquez might be in line for a postseason role
Manny Machado and Jackson Merrill watch Tuesday’s game against the Brewers from the dugout. ) from last night’s 7-0 victory over the Brewers focused on the balancing act the Padres embarked on after clinching a playoff berth the day before.
The balance they are attempting to achieve is between trying to improve their standing and trying to rest players as much as possible in preparation for the postseason.Because if today goes like yesterday — with the Padres winning plus the Cubs and Dodgers losing — it could make the final weekend sensationally tense. The Padres still need a lot to go right to get a home series next week instead of heading to Chicago. They would host the No.6 seed if they win the National League West and are the No.3 seed. They would host the Cubs if they are the No.4 seed.The Padres trail the Dodgers and Cubs by 1½ games, though they hold the tiebreaker over the Cubs and lose the tiebreaker with the Dodgers .Here is what has to happen for the Padres to pass them: The Dodgers are now 10-10 in September, which has allowed the Padres to gain a half-game on them over the course of the month. Depending on the viewpoint, the Dodgers have allowed the Padres to stick around or the Padres have failed to take advantage of the Dodgers not playing well. That has changed the past few days. The Dodgers lost Sunday, were off Monday and lost yesterday. The Padres won all three days. The last time they had won on the same day the Dodgers lost was Sept. 6.Most people saw the lineup the Padres put forth yesterday — without Jake Cronenworth, Manny Machado or Jackson Merrill — and thought they had given up. And then the Padres scored seven runs, all coming from three home runs. The Padres had not scored that many runs in a game with every run driven in by a homer this season. They just don’t do that. Mike Shildt could not have made it any clearer that they would continue to play to win even as they prioritized resting their regulars. We just get caught up in names, because those names are important. Over a sustained stretch, the Padres need those names to perform. They have not won more in September in large part because Machado has — and I am only using his word here — They have won more the past two weeks than they did the previous two weeks in part because Merrill has a 1.091 OPS over his past 16 games. Fernando Tatis Jr. has arguably been the Padres’ most valuable position player this season. They are 49-29 when their lead-off hitter reaches base at least twice and 38-42 when he does not. But this is without a doubt the Padres’ most balanced team among the four that have advanced to the postseason over the past six years. Machado and Tatis carried the 2020 team into the playoffs. Machado did the lifting practically alone at the end of ‘22. Merrill helped him in the second half of ‘24.Have we been overlooking Randy Vásquez? Have the Padres been overlooking Randy Vásquez?Vasquez last night held the Brewers to one hit and walked two batters over seven scoreless innings. It was the first time in 25 starts this season that he finished seven innings and the first time he did so while not allowing a run. Vásquez’s outing last night was the Padres’ first quality start in nine games. He has three of the Padres’ six quality starts over their past 27 games.Here are his numbers since being recalled on Sept. 6 compared to his first 22 games this season: Vásquez has apparently learned and accepted who he is, a guy who thrives when he pitches to soft contact. And he has more confidence in that guy than he did when he was nibbling around the strike zone last season and earlier this season. “Randy believes in himself,” pitching coach Ruben Niebla said recently. “His stuff has gotten better. And not only better, his stuff has been in zone better.” Vásquez, who has been optioned twice this season, may have worked himself into a potential postseason start. The Padres might have him be available in the bullpen for the wild-card series and possibly the NL Division Series with the idea he could start in a seven-game series if needed. “It’s a conversation for the group,” Shildt said last night when asked about Vásquez’s role. “… I think the conversation for sure. How it shakes out, time will tell. Decisions that the organization … will weigh in on and make.” By that, Shildt meant discussions among himself, president of baseball operations A.J. Preller and pitching coach Ruben Niebla with input from others, including the analytics department. Shildt already said Nick Pivetta almost certainly will start Game 1 of the wild-card series. Indications from people inside the organization are that the Padres will use tomorrow’s off-day to line up the rest of the rotation for that series. If that is the case, it could mean Michael King is not starting Friday, which unless he has a truncated outing over the weekend would rule him out for Game 2. That would presumably leave the second game up for grabs between Dylan Cease, who starts today, and Yu Darvish, whose turn in the rotation comes up Saturday, though it is not known if that is when he will start next.They were one of six teams without a grand slam before the All-Star break. Ryan O’Hearn’s grand slam last night was their fifth in 61 games since then, most in the major leagues.They were averaging 0.88 home runs a game through their first 145 games. They have homered in 11 of their past 13 games and are averaging 1.46 homers per game over that span. Yesterday was the seventh time in their past 32 games they hit at least three home runs. They hit three or more homers in five of their first 126 games.The 323-foot fly ball came down and hit the pole on the black line that delineates between a ball being out of the park or in play.The only shorter home runs hit at Petco Park in at least the past 11 seasons were a pair of inside-the-park homers. It was the second time this season Arraez has hit the right field foul pole. His home run on July 28 struck the wide mesh-like portion that just out on the fair side of the pole. At 89.8 mph off the bat, yesterday’s “blast” was the fifth-lowest exit velocity by any home run hit at Petco Park since at least 2015, the lowest exit velocity on a home run in Arraez’s career and the third lowest in the major leagues this season. “I don’t know,” Arraez said when asked how it felt to hit his ninth home run of the season. “I hit it 89.9, I think. But thank God it went out. I don’t know if it went out, since it hit the pole.” The rarity of Arraez’s home runs is actually not what it used to be. His total this season is one off his career high set in 2023. Still, his average of one home run every 89.8 at-bats since the start of his career is the third-lowest rate among qualifying batters since 2019.) from yesterday about how Xander Bogaerts was feeling as he prepared to play in a game for the first time since fracturing a bone when he fouled a ball off his left foot Aug. 27.He is expected to start again today, though both Shildt and Bogaerts said that will depend on how his foot feels this morning.Major League Baseball announced yesterday that the ABS challenge system will be in place for the 2026 season. Each team will begin a game with two available challenges for ball and strike calls. You can read more details and quotes from Padres players in Sanders’ story over a 12-game hitting streak. It is his second-longest streak of the season and tied for third longest of his career. His season average is up to .288, the highest it has been since Aug. 22 . That is still six points off his previous career low of .294 in 2021.and claiming he was going to do something about it, O’Hearn has gone 10-for-20 and driven in eight runs. Gavin Sheets is batting .120 over his past 14 games. He has started 15 straight games and 30 of the past 33. His 529 plate appearances are a career high , as are his 141 games . The Padres have gone three games without a double for just the third time this season and the first time since May. They last went four games without a double from May 12-14, 2024. Something I would pay money to see and hear: Wil Myers is spending a few days in Arizona working with Padres minor leaguers during the Instructional League. Wil is one of the most earnest, engaging and entertaining players to have played for the Padres in at least the past decade.San Diego Navy doctor removed from role after ‘transgender healthcare’ reference flagged on social mediaSan Diego airport’s Terminal 1 welcomes first flightsPadres Daily: Their kind of win to keep on winning; Tatis’ status; Pivetta in Game 1; rest and conquerPadres pregame: Fernando Tatis Jr. under the weather, not in lineup; Xander Bogaerts remains outPadres homer early, keep winning, start resting
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