The San Diego Padres Should Be Better Than What They Are

By: Steve Atkinson

The 37-40 San Diego Padres should be a lot better. It’s almost the end of June and they are 4th in the NL West 8.5 games back and 6.5 back in the wild-card. Unacceptable for the amount of money that was invested in this team. This team is still inconsistent with runners in scoring position. They rank 30th in Baseball in batting average 1.97. The Padres rank 30th in on-base percentage .294. When you have Machado, Bogaerts, Soto, Tatis, etc. You should be scoring with runners in scoring position no problem. But not this team why? Because borefest Melvin isn’t getting the most out of his players.

Padres Looked Good Heading Into Giants Series

Last weekend the Padres took two out of three from the Rays and were about to take a big 4-game series with the Giants. In the first three games of that series, the Padres crapped their pants and Melvin got ejected on Wednesday. They were  9.5 games back in the division and 5 games back in the wild-card heading into Thursday’s game. The Padres would score 15 runs on Thursday, and you know what I say to that? Big deal. By that point you are further away from catching up with the Giants in the division and not even close to a wild-card spot. The Padres should’ve scored those first three games. Not to mention still under .500.

Padres with RISP in 2023

.197 BA (30th in MLB)
.294 OBP (30th)
.335 SLUG (30th)
.629 OPS (30th)

— Al Scott (@AlScott1998) June 20, 2023

Padres Made A Mistake Calling Up A Pitcher With A 7ERA in Triple-A

The Padres beat the Nationals on Friday then call up  pitcher Matt Waldron  with a 7ERA in Triple-A to pitch on Saturday. What the hell was borefest Melvin thinking? There is nobody else you can call up that game was over before it even started. Today is the final game of the series the Padres will probably win before they head to Pittsburgh.

The Padres are still inconsistent on offense and have frustrating losses. Why can’t Josh Hader pitch three days in a row? I’ve never heard a closer not being able to pitch consistently if he had pitched one of the games against the Giants they might be at least .500.

Bob Melvin said this  after the game on Saturday

“If you told me we’re gonna give up two runs tonight, I (would have) thought we’d have a pretty good chance to win,” Padres manager Bob Melvin said. “Obviously, it didn’t happen. We had a few opportunities but didn’t really hit all that many balls hard to really put a scare in them. We had a couple guys on a couple innings, but that was it. Not enough offensively.”

Melvin doesn’t get it, give up two runs yeah you probably should be able to hit. However, if you had a different pitcher with a better ERA in the minors they probably give up no runs. There is a complete disconnect between that coaching staff and the players. It starts with Melvin the team is built to win and they aren’t producing on a consistent basis.

The Padres have yet to sweep a series in this Country this season. The only series they’ve swept was in Mexico City against the Giants. They haven’t won four games in a row yet the most is three and that took until the middle of May. At one point they were winning every other game that’s how bad this season has been so far. Will it change? I don’t know it doesn’t look too promising. They need a spark in that clubhouse and it won’t come until Melvin isn’t the manager anymore.