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Seattle Season Sweep Musings

Posted on by Paul

With the “Seattle” road trip (being the Brewers started as the Seattle Pilots for a year before moving to Milwaukee) ending tonight, some musings:

  • Going into this six-game road trip against two tough teams (even though the Padres swept Seattle at Petco last month, Seattle was 14-4 against the Padres the last four seasons prior to this year and the Padres hadn’t won a road series in Seattle since 2018), I would have been happy with a 3-3 record. So to get a 4-2 record including a sweep of Seattle to complete the season sweep was awesome to get back to ten games above .500 at 28-18, last seen when the Padres were 19-9.
  • Lucas Giolito looked good for the first five innings, being super efficient to get through in 59 pitches. But seemed like waiting too long in the top of the sixth as the Padres scored five runs and maybe being fatigued since this was his first major league start after four minor league warmups, his velo went down in the bottom of the sixth as he walked the first three batters. This ended up being his undoing as he left with 5+ innings, 78 pitches, 3 strikeouts and those 3 walks. So it didn’t end that well but a good start through the first five innings as he continues building up.
  • To win a game 8-3 with the Mariners only getting one hit (since those three walks ended up scoring on another walk by Yuki Matsui and two sacrifice flies) while not using the high-leverage bullpen was pretty impressive. So kudos to Matsui (two innings) and Bradgley Rodriguez (two innings) for getting through the game without additional damage to rest Miller, Adam, Moreon and Estrada and leave the bullpen in good shape for three more games with the Dodgers before a day off. I’m assuming Miller will be available Monday even though he threw 34 pitches on Friday to get the 4 out save since he’s had two days off and Estrada will be available since he only pitched Saturday. They may try to avoid Adam and Morejon being both pitched back-to-back days on Friday and Saturday and pitching Monday would be three times in four days for both.
  • Holy Sheets what a night for Gavin in this last game of the trip. He’s been pretty clutch this year including the winner on this trip in the second game against Milwaukee but going 3-3 tonight with 2 home runs, 4 RBI and 2 BB to get on base a career high five times really set the tone and gave the Padres breathing room they rarely have had this year with this offense. He’s been so big all year and really even since he came to the Padres starting in 2025. Speaking of this offense,
  • It’s super surprising that the team is 28-18 considering the season Manny Machado, Fernando Tatis Jr., and Jackson Merrill are having. All three got a base hit tonight, the first time the three of them each got a base hit since April 27. We’re still waiting for them to really get going and baseball is a cyclical sport, so we’ll see where these guys are at when it’s halfway through the season. Can’t expect the other guys (Sheets, France, Castellanos, Andjuar, etc) to continue to carry the team as they’ve been doing so we just gotta hope at least one of them gets going soon.

4 Strikeouts in 1 Inning

Posted on by Paul

In Saturday’s game against the St. Louis Cardinals, Mason Miller ended the game by striking out 4 batters in the 9th inning to get the save. This game had some interesting facts since there were three instances where a batter struck out and made it to first base on a wild pitch (bottom 4th Manny Machado struck out versus Dustin May, bottom 7th Ty France struck out versus Justin Bruihl and then top 9th Yohel Pozo versus Mason Miller which lead to the 4 strikeouts in the inning) which in general rarely happens once in a game.

Then add in the fact that the last time a Padre struck out 4 in an inning was done in 2021 by now manager Craig Stammen. Lastly that this is more rare than I thought as Miller was the 108th time it’s been done, more rare than a no hitter, cycle or immaculate inning, which was also an achievement for Mason Miller as a Padre.

Even though it is rare to see a strikeout with a wild pitch for the batter to end up at first base, I was still surprised how rare it was. It made me curious if 5 strikeouts in 1 inning has ever been done but no that hasn’t happened in the majors, but it has happened in the minors, even as recently as 2024.

First Homestand of 2026 Musings

Posted on by Paul

Some thoughts from the first homestand:

  • It doesn’t seem Craig Stammen knows how to manage the bullpen as of yet, despite being a bullpen guy himself. In the second game of the season with a 2-1 lead and Estrada walking two straight guys, you leave him in to walk another guy, give up a slow infield hit to tie it up and then you wait until you have the lefty on lefty matchup to bring in Peralta to face Kevin McGonigle, who even though he’s a rookie in only his second game, had a four hit game in his first game and is on fire and you you don’t really have a book on him yet. I get that Mason Miller wouldn’t be available for a multi-inning save in the second game of the season (though he was available to do it today in the sixth game of the season?) but bring someone else in earlier when Estrada had lost control out there.
  • Then in the fifth game of the season, down 4-3 in the 6th inning, after Kyle Hart had giving you two great innings, you leave him in and he gives up a double and a walk to start the inning. Instead of having another reliever start the inning (asking two innings out of Hart is already a great ask) or pulling Hart at this time, you leave him in. He does strike out the next batter before giving up another two more singles to drive in another run to make it 5-3. At that point you pull him but it’s the bases loaded and you’re putting Bradgley Rodriguez in a tough spot. Of course it doesn’t work out and the game gets out of hand then and becomes 8-3 and eventually a 9-3 loss.
  • The offense continues to sputter, similar to last year. New coaching staff, new hitting coaches and still the same result. I thought with a new manager, you would see more creativity in the lineup. At least in today’s game, Stammen did tinker with the lineup a little bit, moving Manny down to cleanup and Laureano, who’s been the hottest hitter in the lineup, up to fifth. Laureano continued his hot ways, helping give some cushion with a two-run home run in the 8th to push a 3-1 lead up to 5-1 in what became a much needed 7-1 victory.
  • It was great to see Nick Pivetta bounce back today and get through five innings with no runs, one hit, eight strikeouts and only two walks after the bad opening day start of three innings and six runs. Hoping this is the start of seeing him like last year as he continues to build up (only 82 pitches today).
  • Thought the Padres would get off to a better start. The Tigers I figured would be a tough matchup with who they had for starting pitching but seeing them get swept by Arizona after playing the Padres and seeing how SF struggled against the Yankees in their opening series, I expected a little more and figured a .500 homestand. So 2-4 isn’t as bad, especially after yesterday’s poor 9-3 loss to SF. so we’ll see how the team looks after this road trip against Boston and Pittsburgh and finally getting to hit against Paul Skenes.

Opening Day 2026 Musings

Posted on by Paul

Opening Day continues to be one of my favorite days of the year as it’s great to be back at the ballpark and catch Padres baseball again after the end of the previous season, especially being at Petco Park where it’s such a great place to watch a game.

As usual, when we get to the ballpark on Opening Day, we like to walk around and see what’s new as they always seem to be doing something new at Petco.

There is a good article at the San Diego Union-Tribune about the new food, though we didn’t get a chance to try any of it today as we arrived just in time for pre-game ceremonies. I did notice the Coco Ichibanya stand that took over the location of Delaware North’s San Diego’s Finest Chicken in the Mercado and is definitely one I plan to try at a future game.

The one thing that stuck out from my seats is the new video boards on the towers. I’m glad that they’re starting to show pitching metrics consistently now, something that other ballparks have been doing for some time. Last year’s intro of the pitching metrics on the LED ribbon boards behind home plate (see below) in the middle of the season was a good start so it’s nice to see they continue showing this information.

Now with these boards, they have a more permanent place to toggle them in addition to showing the standard pitching data:

They do use these boards to show the in-game messages as shown on the other boards, like “Strikeout”, “Get Loud”, etc and of course (which was probably the main reason to have them), circle through ads before the game and in between innings. But overall being someone who likes tech, I do like having these boards and don’t think it detracts from the ballpark’s aesthetics. Now if they can update the big video board in left field as it’s starting to show its wear (some panels of it look burned from the sun) after being around for 11+ years now…

As far as the game itself, Nick Pivetta didn’t look too good and it got out of hand early as coming back from a 6-0 deficit after three innings (even a 4-0 deficit after one inning) was going to be difficult against Tarik Skubal. So that dampened the mood of the game pretty quick and raises the questions everyone’s been wondering about the starting pitching. It is just the first game so let’s see after the first turn through the rotation.

I feel pretty good about the bullpen, considering Mason Miller is the closer (and should have been the closer to end 2025) and the many arms the Padres have there, even with Jason Adam being slow-played by starting on the Injured List (IL). I know relievers are pretty volatile in general (one year they’ll be great and then the next year fall off), but at the same time it seems AJ Preller and staff are able to find bullpen replacements every year if needed. Who would have thought that guys like Steven Wilson (2022), Tom Cosgrove (2023), Jeremiah Estrada (2024) or David Morgan (2025) would be as good as they ended up being going into those respective seasons?

Even with the return of pretty much the same lineup as the end of last season (Ramon Laureano would have been in the lineup during the playoffs if he didn’t get injured at the end of the regular season), I still like this lineup along with the additions of Miguel Andujar and Sung-Mun Song when he’s healthy and ready to go.

It also makes sense to add veteran guys like Nick Castellanos and Ty France where you can buy low and start the season with them, keeping the guys with minor league options in the minors and hoping these vets bounce back like we’ve seen the past few years with Gavin Sheets, Donovan Solano, David Peralta and Jurickson Profar (though of course with Profar you have questions now considering multiple PED suspensions). If these guys work out, then great as it was a cheap flyer on them and if they don’t, you move on like has been done the past few years with Matt Carpenter, Nelson Cruz, Jason Heyward and Yuli Gurriel and then try one of the young guys that still have minor league options.

Similarly with the starting pitching and the flyers on Walker Buehler and German Marquez. Starting pitching is more worrisome considering Joe Musgrove is starting the season on the IL and you hope Michael King is back to who he was before the injury last year and there isn’t much depth there. But maybe I’m a little too optimistic, but I feel they’ll find ways to fill innings as they have the past few seasons, considering we have Ruben Niebla leading the staff and despite today’s rough start by Pivetta.

Michael King Returns

Posted on by Paul

Going into the offseason, it was unlikely that Dylan Cease and Michael King would return but if I had the choice of one, I would go with Michael King. Cease is a workhorse but seeing how inconsistent he is (not to mention how he’s done in the playoffs) along with King’s repertoire and the fact that I figured his contract would be cheaper, I was really hoping the Padres could find a way to bring him back.

But once Cease signed early in the offseason with Toronto for 7 years $210 million, you figured King would get a good deal especially as you heard about the Yankees, Red Sox and Orioles being interested, all teams on the east coast where King was from.

But then you heard murmurs about the Padres still being interested and the deal was quickly announced. He gets one year at $22 million, which is pretty much the $22.025 million qualifying offer, and then two additional years at his option to make it two years $45 million or three years $75 million.

Three years $75 million was what some were projecting he would get going into free agency and considering the qualifying offer draft pick compensation, his injuries in 2025 plus his limited history as a starter, this may have scared off some teams or lower their offer to a lower average annual value to less than $25 million.

I see this as a good deal for both sides. King benefits more since, if he pitches extremely well, he can go back into free agency for a big payday without the qualifying offer attached that scares some teams off and if he doesn’t, he can opt in and try again in a year or two.

But I see this as a win for the Padres since they need starting pitching for 2026, they know what King’s capable of and anyone else who could be of ace quality would have been at least the same cost if not more. I’ve always felt that long-term contracts for pitchers are extremely risky for the team with how injuries affect pitchers. Just look at Yu Darvish and Joe Musgrove and the injuries to them since they both signed their long-term extensions.

For the Padres with a bunch of large contracts, having King on a short-term contract is ideal so you have quality pitching without being tied to something large and long term. Of course it would have been better if it was team options or a straight three year deal but it seems being creative to reduce the actual cost (since the contract is structured with $12 million as a signing bonus, a $5 million salary in 2026 and a $5 million buyout if he declines the option) is something AJ is having to do to keep the Padres costs down. So this seems to be the only way to get him to accept is giving him options. Then again, it may be what the Padres prefer since they may hope guys opt out so we don’t have too many more long-term contracts on the books.

I’m bullish on King being closer to his 2024 self versus what we saw in 2025. Considering in 2025 before his first injury sleeping awkwardly, he was pitching great (10 starts with a 2.59 ERA, .195 AVG against, 1.02 WHIP, 3.26 FIP) and he says he’s fully healthy so I can see him having a great season in 2026 and being at the front of the rotation.

Craig Stammen new Padres Manager

Posted on by Paul

When it was posted yesterday morning on X.com by Matt Jones out of Kentucky that Craig Stammen was the new manager:

My first reaction was this couldn’t be serious considering we hadn’t heard anything about him being a candidate and Stammen not having any managerial/coaching experience. There had been talk of a fourth mysterious candidate outside of Albert Pujols, Ruben Niebla and Nick Hundley so at that point it didn’t seem that far-fetched if he was the person.

Then the Padres announced it an hour later:

Once the shock wore off and I started reading more coverage of it, I could see why he was the choice. All four candidates that were finalists didn’t have MLB managerial experience (granted Pujols had experience managing in the Dominican Republic league) so any candidate was going to need to learn on the job and have a good experienced staff around him.

And with how highly people speak of Stammen as a leader and people person and how he’s worked in the Padres organization since 2023, I could see AJ wanting someone who knew how the organization worked, its philosophy and how the players are (especially guys like Machado and Tatis who he’s played alongside) to maintain that continuity like they did with Mike Shildt.

Of course, the other side is maybe it’s time to do something different to break up that continuity because depending on how you look at it, it’s either a good or bad thing how the Padres have been lately. Good that since 2020 the Padres have had more success than any other time in franchise history (four playoff trips in six years) but bad in that it still hasn’t resulted in winning the World Series.

I don’t have as much of an uproar about it as other people since it wasn’t like we were realistically choosing him over Bruce Bochy (which would have been great as previously mentioned) so anyone was going to be new in this role. And superstars like Pujols generally haven’t translated well into managerial/front office roles since it’s hard for them to relate and understand the mindset of all players on the roster, since they can’t understand the difficulties that journeyman players have.

So that’s generally why you see a lot of managers being players who were role/bench guys become managers and head coaches. While pitchers haven’t really been managers before and he has no experience, that to me is the unconventional part of this hire, which I don’t mind as much to try something different. So I see it as combination of both something to be stable and unconventional which is on brand for AJ Preller.

There’s been plenty of guys with limited or no experience coaching and managing like Steve Kerr and JJ Redick in the NBA and Aaron Boone and Mike Matheny in MLB. Of course, there have been plenty of other spectacular failures with new guys, just look at Andy Green and Jayce Tingler that AJ hired. So it’s a crapshoot regardless of which way it goes but I’m open to seeing how it plays out with Craig Stammen before bashing the move already like others are doing.

Mike Shildt’s Retirement

Posted on by Paul

I was surprised as anyone by Mike Shildt’s retirement. I wasn’t a big fan of his stubbornness and how he constructed the lineup (Arraez batting 2nd all season) and his use of the bullpen (sticking with Suarez as the closer after acquiring Mason Miller and the way he used Wandy Peralta in high leverage situations) but considering the Padres won 90+ games in back to back seasons for the first time and made the playoffs in back to back years, it was expected for him to be back another year.

But once he retired and word came out about some of the coaching staff and support staff issues, you can see why he would be burnt out trying to do a tough job and working with everyone in the org. Being a sports manager/coach at the professional or college level isn’t an easy job with all the committments you have with players, coaches, the org and media. Maybe it was better for everyone if he left at this time.

What’s interesting is reading about how Ryan Flaherty was AJ Preller’s preferred choice for manager two years ago but he may have been overruled by Eric Kutsenda and Erik Greupner. When the decision was announced then that Mike Shildt would be the new manager, I liked the decision as you were going with someone who had been inside the team for the past two years to understand the team dynamics and organizational structure and was an experienced winning manager. You figured he would keep going what had been built, better handle some of the issues (like the strife between AJ Preller and Bob Melvin) and could keep it running for several years.

And Shildt did exactly that with how they won in 2024 but 2025 you started to see maybe why he left St. Louis because of “philosophical differences”. It was with the way he managed the team as there’s no way the analytics team wasn’t telling him that Arraez shouldn’t be batting second with how much he struggled throughout the season not should he have continued playing first base over Ryan O’Hearn who is a much better defender by the metrics at 1B.

As the search turns to the new manager, my ideal scenario would be to bring back Bruce Bochy for two years and promise Ruben Niebla to be the next manager. Bochy being 70 isn’t going to manage much longer (if he does manage again) so why not bring him home to take it over the finish line like what he did with the Texas Rangers.

He knows how to win and push the right buttons in the playoffs and someone like him would be respected in the clubhouse to make the tough decisions. It feels like part of the reason Mike Shildt didn’t want to make changes was the relationships he built with players that he didn’t want to upset even though it was in the best interests of the club and that’s where I can see Bochy doing this and getting the players onboard. And it would be great to have Boch finish out his managerial career with his first team and get us the elusive first World Series title.

But realistically it doesn’t seem this will happen from what I’ve read (doesn’t seem the Padres want to bring him back and not sure Bochy wants to come back into this) so will be interesting to see who the next manager is.

End of the Playoffs Musings

Posted on by Paul

With the Padres being eliminated by the Cubs in the Wild Card Series 2 games to 1, some musings with the season now over:

  • The Padres played this playoff series pretty much like they have in the regular season with the offense not able to score too many runs and the pitching doing pretty well. I would have taken giving up only 6 runs in a three-game series against a team at their ballpark that slugs (Cubs were third in the NL in home runs during the regular season) going into the series. The Padres only scoring 5 runs total isn’t that surprising considering how the offense has played. They did score 3 of the 5 runs on home runs (60% of their runs) which is substantially higher than what they did in the regular season (about 33% of their runs were on home runs).
  • The top of the order with Tatis (1-12 with 2 runs and 1 walk), Arraez (2-11) and Machado (1-10 with 1 HR, 2 RBI, 1 run and 2 walks) really hampered the offense. Manny did have the big home run in the game 2 win in which Tatis scored two of the three runs, which actually shows that the Padres are dependent on the top of the lineup. This put a damper on how well Fermin, Merill and Bogaerts were able to hit in the series, with all three getting on base all three games.
  • You have to wonder if this team ever gets over the hump. 4 postseason trips in 6 years is the best period in Padres baseball. One way to look at it, is if you keep giving yourself chances to be in the playoffs, that eventually the team breaks through. You can look at how many times the Dodgers have made the playoffs and how many times they’ve won the World Series, with the same for the Astros and the Braves, with the Braves both recently and when they were making the playoffs in the 90s. The other way to look at it is this team’s already at the ceiling and won’t get over the hump so it’s time to break it up a bit and try something different.
  • I do wonder if Manny is the person to really lead this team to the promise land considering his current postseason stats of .209/.259/.423 in 51 postseason games. Not saying he isn’t a part of a championship team but more being the leader of the team as he currently is with the Padres. The team seems to go as he goes and he’s not consistent enough. He’s right when he says he ends up with his baseball card numbers each year but it’s usually because he has hot stretches along with cold stretches. This season is a great example of this where he struggled in April, carried the team in May through July and then ended the season ice cold in August and September. In the playoffs, we need someone who can consistently deliver throughout the month and thus far in Manny’s career he hasn’t done this in multiple playoff runs, including his time before the Padres.
  • The Padres can’t really completely revamp or rebuild their team (and they really shouldn’t) so here are my first thoughts on the 2026 lineup:
    C – Fermin and another catcher
    1B – ?
    2B – Cronenworth
    SS – Bogaerts
    3B – Machado
    LF – Laureano
    CF – Merrill
    RF – Tatis
    DH – Sheets and a righty
    Utility IF – Veteran
    Utility OF – Johnson
    O’Hearn could be an option at 1B depending on what his market is, though I feel he may get offers more than what the Padres are looking to pay for a 1B. I wouldn’t be opposed to Diaz coming back to be the catcher behind Fermin and I don’t believe Salas is ready considering his injury-plagued 2025 and with how long it takes catchers to develop. Having a righty to complement Sheets would be a good mix since Sheets can also complement Laureano in LF as needed.

    SP – Pivetta
    SP – Musgrove
    SP – Vasquez
    SP – Sears
    SP – ?
    Will need at least two considering how injuries happen in a season, so Waldron could be an option here (and I believe he will still have a minor league option in 2026) in addition to a free agent signing if not multiple signings. Hard to see King or Cease coming back with how the pitching market usually is but will be interesting to see what King’s market looks like after the injury.

    RP – Miller
    RP – Morejon
    RP – Adam (may come back after the season starts)
    RP – Estrada
    RP – Matsui (Padres can’t send him down)
    RP – Morgan
    RP – Rodriguez
    RP – Hoeing
    RP – Reynolds
    RP – Marinaccio
    I listed a large amount of relievers as the Padres have pretty good relievers and like the starters, will need additional relievers throughout the course of a season due to injuries or as other things come up. Some of these guys like Rodriguez and Marinaccio will still have minor league options to send up and time as needed to juggle the roster throughout the season.
  • With that said, all we can do is look forward to 2026 and hope that sometime soon the team can win that elusive first World Series. As it has been in this decide, I expect it will be another interesting offseason with the Padres. I’ll see everyone at Opening Day on March 26, 2026.

End of the Regular Season Musings

Posted on by Paul

With the regular season now over, some musings before the playoffs start tomorrow:

  • Finishing with 90 wins so that it was the first time in franchise history to have back-to-back 90+ win seasons and make the playoffs back-to-back for the second time in franchise history is pretty good. I wasn’t expecting the team to win 90 games at the beginning of the season but with the trades made, you expected them to be good (60-49 at the trade deadline so 30-23 after) so finishing with 90 wins feels about right. They ended at a season 18 games above .500 (which they also achieved earlier in the season when they were 74-56).
  • Still disappointing that they had the poor stretch in late August and early September (losing 11 out of 16 games). Even playing a little better at .500 (8-8) would have given them a legitimate shot to win the division or at least finish as the 4 seed to host the wild card round at Petco.
  • The lost of Ramon Laureano and Jason Adam are both big and it’s unfortunate that they happened to freak injuries. Considering how many left handed batters the team has, Laureano provided a good right handed complement. With Adam, you could be less dependent on your starters (and outside of Nick Pivetta, they’re all pretty inconsistent and shaky) as well as have multiple high leverage relievers available every day to keep guys fresh. I get it with the playoffs there are more off days but still it was the reason they got Mason Miller to build the super bullpen.
  • I see the Wild Card series as being pretty even with the Chicago Cubs and going either way. Cubs losing Cade Horton is a big blow and Kyle Tucker is just back from injury. Cubs have the better starting pitching still and more slug while the Padres have the better bullpen and you hope the hitters can hit like they’ve been doing the past week, albeit this was hitting at home where the Padres are much better (52-29 at home versus 38-43 on the road).
  • Looking forward to the playoffs and hopefully the Padres can make a long run. It is true that anything can happen in the playoffs as there’s so much randomness there and role players can get on a run like Trent Grisham did for the Padres in 2022.

Giants and Dodgers 13 Game Stretch Musings

Posted on by Paul

Now that the 13 straight games against the Giants and Dodgers have ended, some musings:

  • As mentioned in my last post, I was expecting 3-3 for the first week. Now that the second week and all 13 games are done, going into this week I was thinking 7-6 would be good (2-2 against the Giants and 2-1 against the Dodgers or some combination of 4-3 this week) so to end up 8-5 after these 13 games is great and I would have signed up for that easily if you told me that two weeks ago before these 13 games started.
  • Starting pitching held up really well against the Dodgers with Nick Pivetta closing out the series with 6 innings and two runs. What was a red flag last weekend in LA (starting with Michael King going on the IL again and the early inning struggles by Dylan Cease and Yu Darvish against the Dodgers) was a bright spot this weekend and is the cyclical nature of baseball and its long season. What Yu Darvish and Nestor Cortes did the first two games of 6 innings of one hit each was impressive, especially when I saw this:
  • As I also mentioned in the last post, we need to do something about Arraez considering how much better Ryan O’Hearn and Gavin Sheets are playing, especially with both playing all the time the past week while Jackson Merrill was out. This weekend didn’t help matters with Arraez hitting into more double plays (2) than he had hits (1). If he can’t be a bench guy like what’s happened to Elias Diaz and how Freddy Fermin is playing 4-5 times a week (versus before with Diaz and Martin Maldonado where it was more of a 50% split), then at least move him down in the lineup as I mentioned in my last post. He’s killing the lineup between Tatis and Machado right now when we could have a much better hitter like O’Hearn there.
  • The decision to go to Jeremiah Estrada today in the 7th inning of a tied game with all his struggles against the Dodgers was another move by Mike Shildt that didn’t make sense except for his continued stubbornness on sticking with guys regardless of what’s happened (just like Luis Arraez in the two hole). Estrada gave up a home run last night when it was 3-0 and Kevin Acee wrote before the game today about his major struggles against the Dodgers. So considering these stats, that Estrada had pitched the night before and struggled, not sure why the move wasn’t to go to David Morgan (who hadn’t pitched either of the past two games) and then go to Mason Miller and Robert Suarez who both didn’t pitch last night either. It doesn’t help when Shildt gives the defiant response as shown in the below audio that doesn’t really give any good rationale to why he put Estrada in other than the 7th inning is his lane, which doesn’t make sense considering how he’s mixed and matched the bullpen and when guys appear in games all year.
  • I do get why Shildt left Estrada in there to face the left hitting Dalton Rushing after two of the first three guys got on base versus going to Adrian Morejon since the Dodgers would have pinch hit with the righty Will Smith against the lefty Morejon. Even though I would have preferred that matchup because of how well Morejon has pitched this year and considering Estrada’s struggles, sticking with Estrada there is understandable. What isn’t, was going to Estrada in the first place.
  • Now it’s time for the conclusion of the Vedder Cup with the Seattle Mariners. The Marines have played the Padres tough recently (3-1 against the Padres in 2022, 2023, 2024 and swept the Padres in a three game series at Petco earlier this year) so even though the Mariners have struggled recently (3-7), I’m hoping the Padres can play well and win one or two up there in Seattle.