SAN DIEGO — A little over a month ago, the Padres lost a home series to the losing Kansas City Royals and called a players-only meeting in response. Less than a week had passed since San Diego coach Bob Melvin took the unusual step — after an unsuccessful run against Minnesota in May — to chide his underperforming team both privately and publicly.
On Sunday, the Padres lost relatively easily to the weak Washington Nationals after a stunning victory and a narrow loss at a sold-out Petco Park. In response, both defended their efforts and drew attention to a new low.
“A lack of willingness to fight – I don’t feel any of that at all. You know?” said Xander Bogaerts after an 8-3 loss. “But maybe trying to do too much is one of them.”
The veteran shortstop added: “C’mon man. We’re playing the Nationals. … I don’t think they have playoff ambitions. I mean, they obviously have a young team and they’re struggling. They fight. But I wouldn’t say anyone picked the Nationals for the playoffs. So you have to beat the teams you have to beat.”
The Padres suffered their most lopsided loss against a bottom National League team since losing another 8-3 game to the Arizona Diamondbacks on Sept. 1, 2021. What was an upset in the desert would be the start of a final change of month that saw San Diego knocked out of playoff contention by a 7-21, resulting in the firing of manager Jayce Tingler and most of his coaching staff.
This season hasn’t sunk that low yet, but the Padres can’t say they’re on a significantly better course. AJ Preller, president of the Padres’ baseball division, has easily assembled the three most expensive rosters in franchise history, but nearly nine years into his tenure, he’s clearly responsible for more glitter than major league substance.
The Padres are 37-41 this season and haven’t dropped below .500 since their straight loss to the Twins. They’re 17-17 years old since they agreed behind closed doors it was time to improve their game and concentration. And they’re in their worst seven games of the season without a playoff spot, with two strong teams in Milwaukee and Philadelphia between them and the last National League wildcard.
You can’t expect the Brewers to slump again after the trading deadline like it did last summer. Especially not when the majority of the evidence to date suggests that San Diego isn’t nearly the same team that’s often worked late-game magic throughout 2022.
The Padres are now 8-30 when their opponent scores first, 5-13 in one-run games, 0-6 in extra-inning games, 3-31 when trailing six innings, and 4-34 , if they score three runs or fewer . Of course, only a few of these qualifiers applied on Sunday afternoon.
The Nationals took a 1-0 lead in the first half. Given the home team’s record in such situations, it arguably felt even worse.
“It just feels like when someone else scores first, you’re like, ‘Oh shit, trouble.’ You know? “That kind of feeling,” Bogaerts said. “And that’s not how it should be, especially what we’ve been doing for the last two or three days – not during the shutdown (Saturday) of course, but in the days leading up to it.”
However, against old/young friend MacKenzie Gore and a bottom-placed club, the problems did not abate. Gore pitched at Petco Park for the first time since the Padres traded him and four others to Juan Soto and Josh Bell, and held the Padres to a single game-winning run in the fifth set. He didn’t come back for the sixth time, but still racked up nine strikeouts and finished seven with his fastball. Six of these heaters were located within the zone. Four of them landed near the heart of the zone.
“He hit us with his fastball,” said Fernando Tatis Jr., who hit a lone fastball in the fifth inning.
Blood on his jersey so you know he’s evil pic.twitter.com/mS95FKQ4LZ
— Washington Nationals (@Nationals) June 25, 2023
The Padres didn’t manage to refill in time. In the sixth game, the Nationals took a 3-1 lead. Then an 8-1 lead in the seventh game. San Diego scored once in game seven and once in game ninth, the game seemed out of reach.
Not long ago, the Padres hit 23 runs in two games, with 13 of those runs coming in the series’ opening game against a seemingly overwhelmed Washington team. A 2-0 defeat followed, making the final on Sunday practically a must. The Padres responded with their early defeat of the year.
“There’s been frustration throughout the year, but this one especially,” Melvin said.
“It’s been a tough road to where we are now. We never expected to be record-breaking at this point. But it is what it is, and it basically tells you who you are. And we weren’t able to play consistently enough to have a better record and get over .500.”
It was the biggest concession Melvin made this season. Still, the same manager who was responsible for last summer’s turnaround and October rebound was unwilling to back down. When asked about his concern that the team would eventually lose heart, he was quick to reply.
“NO. That’s not going to happen. That’s not going to happen,” Melvin said. “There’s a lot of baseball left. I mean, you go running and you’re right back at it. So it’s not looking good; As for the playoff teams , we still have a lot of teams ahead of us at the moment. But if there’s a run, it could bring us back quickly. We just haven’t made it yet. That’s the hardest part.”
Unlike before Soto’s acquisition last summer, the Padres no longer have a surplus of high-level talent to trade for a blockbuster boost. Not that they should in their current position. Few people in the industry believe that firing another manager (and allowing Preller to pick a fifth manager) or firing another batting coach should be the answer to San Diego’s troubles in the batter’s box. Rival scouts say the Padres’ troubles with hitting fastballs — they started Sunday with a worst batting average of .230 against the field — are more down to roster composition and Preller’s key offensive acquisitions from the offseason didn’t cause much uproar have .
Bogaerts, 30, hits .389. Nelson Cruz, 42, hits a .337. Matt Carpenter, 37, hits .329.
Manny Machado hits .408. His lowest slugging percentage in a season was .431 in 2014. (Orlando Ramirez / USA Today)
And the Padres’ inability to score consistently continues to waste a unit of top-run prevention. Even after Sunday’s loss, San Diego has given up the second-least runs in the majors.
“All the talk all year was basically about offense. I mean, if we mean it, it’s up to us, man. The pitching has nothing to do with it,” said Bogaerts. “They were excellent and they will have days like this. That’s the game.”
Now that the season is almost halfway through, it’s debatable whether the Padres and their $249 million payroll have assembled the right batter mix. Not surprisingly, the people in the clubhouse say they’ve had enough.
“I don’t think so,” Tatis said when asked about a possible parallel to the franchise’s infamous 2021 team. “I just believe in the people we have here. We will find out and keep working hard.”
The work at this point could be harder than ever. FanGraphs gave the Padres a 40.7 percent chance of qualifying for the postseason after Sunday’s loss.
“It’s pretty tough,” said Soto, who scored in each of his three attacks against Gore before falling out in the seventh and scoring a one-off in the ninth. “Like I said, we had to start from day one. We can’t wait too long. I think we still have a chance. We just have to find out and play better baseball.”
Early Sunday evening, the Padres boarded a bus to the airport. A three-game series awaits you against the extremely beatable Pittsburgh Pirates. In addition, a visit to the surprising Cincinnati Reds is imminent. The Padres then return home to host the Los Angeles Angels and New York Mets before the All-Star break begins.
What would be a successful conclusion to a sluggish first half?
“I think a 10-5 start in this (Nationals) series would have been nice,” said Bogaerts. “Of course we’ve already suffered two defeats, so it’s not a good start. But guess what, it doesn’t matter how you start. That’s how you get done. So we still have a chance to turn things around and… finish with a really strong result. But we have to start. We must. There’s not much left of tomorrow, you know. The season is coming to an end – I mean not soon, but it is. If we keep struggling with losses, it will be over quickly.”
Three straight wins against the Pirates would be a start – and a much-needed turnaround. The Padres are one of only three teams this season not to have won a streak longer than two games. The others? The Royals and the Nationals.
(Top photo by Jake Cronenworth: Orlando Ramirez / USA Today)