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Not a good week. They started the week with 2 wins in LA, but preceded to lose the final 2 in LA and then got swept in Phoenix. It's an AL West week for the Pads; 4 with the Rangers, first 2 at the new ballpark in Arlington, and then the AL champs Houston Astros come into San Diego for 3 over the weekend.
In other West action: The Dodgers went up the highway to Anaheim and swept the Angels at the Big A, the D'Backs won 2 of 3 against the Rockies in Denver, and the Rockies followed the D'Backs series by losing 2 of 3 at home to Texas, and the Giants lost both series 1-2 to the Astros (road) and A's (home) this week. Dodgers are in first at 16-7, Rockies (13-8) are 2 back, D'Backs (11-11) have jumped the Pads and are 4.5 back, Pads fall to 5 back, and the Giants are 8 back at 8-15.
They last won an NL pennant in 1998. They've never won a World Series. They've never thrown a no hitter. All 3 could potentially end this year, though with the Dodgers still in the division, number 3 looks easier to happen than 1 & 2 do. They lost Trevor Rosenthal who they acquired at the trade deadline to Oakland and Kirby Yates to Toronto, but resigned Jurickson Profar, signed KBO SS Ha-seong Kim, signed closer Mark Melancon and relief pitcher Keona Kela, and pulled off two blockbuster trades which really solidified their rotation: trade number 1 sent starting pitcher Kyle Davies and 4 other prospects to the Chicago Cubs for Yu-Darvish, who finished second in the NL Cy Young voting last year and catcher Victor Caratini, and the second trade, pulled off a day or 2 after the Darvish trade saw the Pads catcher Francisco Mejia, and pitcher Luis Patino along with 2 other prospects for Rays starter Blake Snell, the 2018 AL Cy Young winner, and than in January were part of the 3 team trade that saw them pull in the Pirates Joe Musgrove as the Pirates continued the "everything must go sale" as the Pads sent the Mets starter Joey Lucchesi, and sent the Pirates 4 prospects.
Best case scenario: Everything clicks this year for the Padres. One of their new additions throws the franchise's first no hitter, the Dodgers after ending their 30+ year title drought last year don't have as much fire to start this year which allows the Pads to sneak in the back door, steal the division, which gives them games 1 & game 7 at Petco Park in a 2021 NLCS against the Dodgers; they win that, and than the power pitching of Darvish and Snell gets them passed the Yankees for their first title in team history.
Worst case scenario: I still think they have enough, and should be a playoff contender, but the Dodgers are still a big threat, so this may only be a Wildcard team, and with the additions of all the starters they brought in, is a 95 win, second place, 4 game NLDS loss to the Dodgers, I wouldn't consider that a good season. If they beat the East/Central winner in the NLDS and then lose to the Dodgers in the NLCS is that considered a "good season??"
My prediction: Lately, it seems reining World Series champions usually start slow the next season, and with the Dodgers having broken their title bid and knowing they are likely a playoff team, will they have fire for the whole season to go out for the division title again?? Unlike the Dodgers, the Padres should and will have fire for the whole season, so them going all out for the division on day 1 is enough for the Pads to get the division title and best record in the NL (and I have to pick something surprising, so why not Padres winning the division?? It's not totally out of left field)............however, they have to play the Dodgers in the NLDS, and the Dodgers take them out in 5 games. Good season??
2021 season kicks off in Slam Diego on Thursday. Darvish (8-3, 2.01 last year for the Cubs) gets the ball on opening day, while Madison Bumgarner (1-4, 6.48 last year) gets the ball for the 3rd straight opening day at Petco Park, 2019 with the Giants and 2020 & 21 for the D'Backs, with game time scheduled for 4:10.
Ketel Marte and Christian Walker had back to back 1 out singles in the first and following a David Peralta strikeout, Asdrubal Cabrera put the D'Backs on the board with a 1-0 lead. Madison Bumgarner had a 2 out double in the 2nd, but Josh Rojas would stike out to end the inning. Wil Myers and Jurickson Profar would walk sandwiched around a Jake Cronenworth single to load the bases in the 2nd, Victor Caratini had a single that scored 2, Yu Darvish struck out, but Tommy Pham was hit by a pitch to re load the bases, but Fernando Tatis Jr. struck out. Marte lead off the 3rd with a double, but Darvish got 3 straight outs to end that threat. Eric Hosmer and Myers had back to back 1 out homers for a 4-1 lead, Cronenworth walked, and following a ground out, Carantini plated Cronenworth with a single for a 5-1 lead. Pavin Smith had a 1 out double in the 4th, but Stephen Vogt flied out and Bumgarner struck out, so the Pads got nothing out of that. Tatis had a 1 out single, and came around to score on a 2 out Hosmer double before Myers lined out to RF to end the 4th. Marte had a 1 out homer in the 5th to make it 6-2, and following a walk to Walker and a pop out from Peralta, Cabrera would cut the Padres lead in half with a 2 run homer, Eduardo Escobar reached on a Tatis fielding error which kept the inning alive as the D’Backs got a pinch hit 2 run homer from Tim Locastro to tie the score and then Vogt followed up with a homer that gave them the lead. Tucupita Marcano walked to lead off the 6th, Pham singled, Tatis followed with a strikeout, Manny Machado flied out, but Hosmer tied the game with a single, but that’s all they’d get as Myers ended the inning with a ground out. Cronenworth lead off the 7th with a triple and scored on a Profar sac fly to give them the 8-7 lead and complete the scoring. Darvish allowed 4 runs on 8 hits (2 home runs) with a walk and 6 strikeouts in 4.2 innings; Emilio Pagan (1-0) had a strikeout in a hitless inning for the win, Drew Pomeranz (1st hold) had a hit and 3 strikeouts in a scores inning, while Mark Melancon (1st save) locked down his first Padres save with a 1-2-3 9th inning. Bumgarner allowed 6 runs on 7 hits (2 home runs) with 3 walks (1 hit batter) and 6 strikeouts in 4 innings, Stefan Crichton (1st hold) had 1 run on 1 hit with a walk and a strikeout in 2/3 innings, and Alex Young (0-1, 1st blown save) allowed 1 run on 2 hits with a strikeout in 1.1. In other divisional action on this opening day the Rockies beat the Dodgers 8-5 and the Giants had like a 6-2 or 7-2 lead on the Mariners in the 8th inning but lost the game in the 10th inning 8-7. Rockies and the Padres are tied atop the division at 1-0, the Giants, Dodgers, and D’Backs are all 1 back at 0-1.
Game 2 of the series is on Friday night. Blake Snell (4-2, 3.24 last year with the Rays) makes his first Padres start, and he’ll be opposed by the D’backs Merrill Kelley (3-2, 2.59). Game time slated for 10:10.
Asdrubal Cabrera and Carson Kelly had back to back 1 out singles in the 2nd, but Blake Snell retired Josh Rojas on a lineout and Wyatt Mathisen on a fly out to end the 2nd. Eric Hosmer and Wil Myers opened the bottom half with singles, a walk to Jake Cronenworth followed to load the bases, and 2 batters later Jurickson Profar put the Pads on the board with a sac fly, but Snell struck out to end the inning. Tim Locastro had a 1 out walk in the 3rd, Ketel Marte reached on an error, but Snell struck out Christian Walker and Eduardo Escobar and in the bottom half, Fernando Tatis Jr and Manny Machado each drew 1 out walks, Tatis was caught stealing 3rd, but Hosmer homered for a 3-0 lead. Cabrera walked to lead off the 4th, Kelly singled and Snell got a fly out and 2 strikeouts to end the inning. Cronenworth had a lead off double in the bottom half, but was caught stealing 3rd. Marte had a 1 out double in the 5th, but 2 flyouts ended that, and Jorge Mateo would double to lead off the bottom half, 2 strikeouts would follow 2 walks to load the bases, but a Myers strikeout kept the score at 3-0. Luis Campusano had a 1 out single in the 6th but would get thrown out at home on a Mortea double. D’Backs had 2 singles sandwiched around a double play, and Marte made it a 3-2 game with a 2 run home run, the double play in between keeping the Pads in a slight lead. Tommy Pham had a lead off single in the 7th, went to 2nd on a ground out and scored on a Hosmer RBI single. David Peralta reached on an error, Josh VanMeter singled, but Mark Melancon would nail down the Pads second victory with a strikeout and groundout. By my count 3 outs recorded on the base paths and between Thursday and Friday I think Tatis has already committed 3 errors at SS, so those 2 things aren’t good, but they are 2-0 and still lead the West by themselves. Snell had 2 walks, 8 strikeouts, and 4 hits in 4.2 scoreless innings, Taylor Williams (1st hold) had 1 strikeout in 1/3 of an inning, Emilio Pagan (2-0) had 0 hits allowed in a scoreless inning, and Melancon (2nd save) had a hit allowed and strikeout in a scoreless inning of work. In other divisional action on the day: The Giants beat the Mariners 6-3 and the Dodgers beat the Rockies 11-6. Padres continue to lead the West at 2-0; Dodgers, Giants, and Rockies are all 1-1 and 1 back, while the 0-2 D’Backs are 2 back.
Third game of the 4 game series is on Saturday. For the 3rd straight day, the Padres will give the ball to a newcomer, this time its Joe Musgrove (1-5, 3.86 last year with the Pirates) making his Padres debut while the D’Backs hand the ball to Caleb Smith (0-0, 2.57 with the Marlins & D’Backs) with game time slated for 8:40.
Manny Machado had a 1 out homer in the first, Wil Myers walked with 2 outs, Jake Cronenworth reached on catchers interference, Ha-Seong Kim had his first major league hit and RBI for a 2-0 lead, Jorge Mateo singled to reload the bases, but Victor Carantini struck out. Fernando Tatis and Tommy Pham each walked and came around to score on a Myers double in the second for a 4-0 lead. Tatis reached on an error to start the 4th, scored on a Machado single, Pham walked to put runners on first and second, but 2 strikeouts and a flyout kept the score at 5-0. Machado had a 1 out single in the 6th, and back to back doubles from Myers and Cronenworth put the final tallies on the board. 2 walks (1 intentional) put a runner on 2nd in the 8th inning, but reliever Ryan Weathers came to the plate and grounded out. Joe Musgrove (1-0) was fantastic in his Padres debut with 0 walks, 8 strikeouts and only 3 hits in 6 innings, and Weathers (1st save) had 1 hit and 3 strikeouts in 3 innings as both pitchers were fantastic and assuming I didn’t miss anything in the play-by-pay, not a single Diamondbacks base runner got further than first base. Caleb Smith (0-1) allowed 4 runs (3 earned) on 5 hits (1 home run) with 3 walks and 4 strikeouts in 3 innings. In other West action on the day the Dodgers beat the Rockies 6-5, and the Giants were shut out by the Mariners 4-0. Padres are on top at 3-0, Dodgers are 1 back at 2-1, Rockies and Giants are 2 back at 1-2, and the D’Backs are 3 back at 0-3.
Final game of the 4 game series is on Sunday. Chris Paddack (4-5, 4.73 last season) starts for the Padres while the D’Backs will hand the ball to Taylor Widener (0-1, 4.50 last season) with game time slated for 4:10.
Ketel Marte walked with 1 out, a Christian Walker single moved him to 2nd, and both Marte and Walker scored on a David Peralta triple with Chris Paddack getting Asdrubal Cabrera to ground out and Pavin Smith to strikeout to end the inning. Eric Hosmer lead off the 2nd with a double, moved to 3rd on a Tommy Pham single, 2 strikeouts followed before the D’Backs issued an intentional walk to Jurickson Profar to load the bases which worked out well for them because Paddack struck out to end the inning. Josh Rojas walked to lead off the 3rd, went to second on a Marte single, and came around to score on a Fernando Tatis throwing error, but Cabrera ended the inning with a ground out. Carson Kelly had a 1 out single, and moved to second on a 2 out walk to the opposing starter Taylor Widener but Rojas flied out. Profar singled with 1 out in the 5th, Tatis walked with 2 outs, but Jake Cronwnworth ended the inning on a fly out. Carson Kelly doubled with 2 outs in the 6th, an intentional walk to Nabil Crismatt followed before Widener struck out. Profar singled with 1 out, Tatis singled with 2 outs, but once again Cronenworth ended the inning on a fly out. Peralta had a lead off single in the 8th, a Tatis error moved runners to the corner with 2 outs, but they got out of the inning unscathed with a groundout. Pham and Wil Myers walked with 2 outs in the 8th, but Luis Campusano struck out on 3 pitches, and Tatis had his first home run of the year in the 9th to complete the scoring. Paddack (0-1) allowed 3 runs (2 earned) on 4 hits with 3 walks and 3 strikeouts in 4 innings. Widener (1-0) allowed 3 hits, 3 walks and 5 strikeouts in 6 scoreless innings, Stefon Crichton (2nd hold), Alex Young (1st hold), Joakim Soria (1st hold), and Kevin Ginkel (1st hold) combined to allow 2 hits, 2 walks, and 7 strikeouts in 2 innings, while Chris Devenski (1st save) allowed 1 run on 1 hit (1 home run) in 1 inning. In other West action on the day: The Giants were off, and the Dodgers beat the Rockies 4-2. The Dodgers and Padres are both 3-1 and are tied at the top, Giants are 1-2 and are 1.5 back, while the D’Backs and Rockies sit at 1-3 and are 2 back of the pace.
D’Backs have an off day Monday before flying to Denver to begin a 3 game series with the Rockies in Colorado on Tuesday, while the Padres stay at home and welcome the Giants into Petco for a 3 game series beginning on Monday evening. The Giants, coming off a series loss to the Mariners, hand the ball to Anthony DeSclafani (1-2, 7.22 last year with the Reds) while Adrian Morejon (2-2, 4.66 last year) is the scheduled starter for the Pads with first pitch from Petco scheduled for around 10:10.
Darin Ruf had a solo home run in the 2nd to put the Giants on the board first, and in the bottom half of the 2nd Wil Myers had a 1 out walk, Jurickson Profar reached on a force, stole second, and scored on a Victor Caratini single to tie it at 1. Evan Longoria homered in the 4th to put the Giants back in front 2-1, and in the bottom of the half Tommy Pham reached on an error, Myers walked, following a pop up Caratini walked to load the bases but Tucupito Marcano grounded out to end the inning. Donovan Solano had a 2 out single in the 5th, Wilmer Flores followed with a walk, but Longoria ended the inning on a force out, and in the bottom half Padres got runners to first and second with 1 out but 2 strikeouts prevented any runners from scoring. Profar had a 1 out triple, scored on a Caratini sac fly, two straight singles would follow, but Ha-Seong Kim, replacing Fernando Tatis who left via injury popped out. Mike Yastrzemski gave the Giants the lead with a 1 out homer in the 7th which would ultimately be the final run of the game, Giants got back to back singles which put runners on the corner but a strikeout and lineout ended the inning. In the 9th Manny Machado had a 2 out walk, Eric Hosmer was hit by a pitch, but Pham flied out to end it. Anthony DeSclafani allowed 1 run on 4 hits with 3 walks and 4 strikeouts, Matt Wisler (1st blown save) allowed 1 run on 2 hits in 2/3, Caleb Baragar (1-0) allowed 1 hit in 1/3 of an inning, Reyes Moronta (1st hold) and Tyler Rogers (2nd hold) had 1 hit and 1 strikeout in 2 combined innings while Jake McGee (2nd save) had a strikeout, walk, and hit batter in 1 hitless inning. In other West series this week, the Dodgers play an interleague series at Oakland which starts on Monday, and the D’Backs and Rockies had Monday off before starting a series in Denver on Tuesday.
Game 2 of the series is on Tuesday. Aaron Sanchez (5-14, 5.89 in 2019) starts for the Giants while Yu Darvish (0-0, 7.71) is scheduled to make his second start for the Padres with game time slated for 10:10.
Wil Myers had a lead off single in the 2nd, stole second, went to 3rd on a Ha-Seong Kim single, but Victor Caratini ended the inning with a double play. Brandon Crawford put the Giants on the board first with a homer to lead off the 3rd, Mike Yastrzemski walked with 2 outs, stole 2nd, but Alex Dickinson popped out. Jake Cronenworth singled with 1 out in the 3rd, 2 batters later a Manny Machado single would put runners on 1st and 2nd, and Eric Hosmer followed with a single to knot the game up at 1’s, but Myers ended the inning with a strikeout. Pads got the 2 runs that won them the game in the 7th, which was also the next scoring chance for either team; Kim walked with 1 out, and Caratini had a 2 run homer. Yu Darvis allowed 1 run on 3 hits (1 home run) with a walk and 7 strikeouts in 6 innings, Keone Kela (1-0) had 2 strikeouts in a hitless inning to pick up the win, Emilio Pagan (1st hold) had a strikeout in a hitless inning while Mark Melancon (3rd save) had a strikeout in a 1-2-3 9th. Pads pitchers retired the last 13 Giants that came to the plate.
The finale of the series is on Wednesday. Blake Snell (0-0, 0.00) starts for the Padres while Kevin Gausman (0-0, 1.35) starts for the Giants with first pitch scheduled for around 4:10.
Evan Longoria started the 2nd with a leadoff double, and Darin Ruf, 2 batters later put the Giants on the board with a 2 run homer. Austin Slater walked with 1 out in the 3rd, stole second, but Blake Snell got 2 strikeouts to end the inning. Ruf reached on an error with 2 outs in the 4th, he stole second, Curt Casali and Mauricio Dubron both followed with walks, Dubron an intentional to load the bases before Kevin Gausman struck out. Jurickson Profar singled with 1 out in the 5th, went to second on a wild pitch and scored on a Jorge Mateo single. In the 6th Manny Machado reached on an error, Eric Hosmer singled, but Luis Campusano struck out, but Wil Myers tied the score with a 2 out solo home run in the 8th. With Alex Dickerson starting on 2nd (as he made the last out of the 9th and that’s the designated runner) he went to 3rd on a Slater fly out, Mike Yazstremski reached on an infield single to the pitcher, and Slater scored on a sac fly off the bat of Donovan Solono. Profar started on second as the designated runner for the Padres, went to 3rd on a Ha-Seong Kim ground out, but Mateo struck out and Tucupita Marcano flied out to end it. Snell allowed 2 runs on 2 hits (1 home run) with 4 walks and 8 strikeouts in 5 innings, and Tim Hill (0-1) allowed 1 unearned run on 1 hit with a strike out in 1 inning. Gausman allowed 1 run on 4 hits with a walk and 5 strikeouts in 7 innings, Tyler Rogers (2nd blown save) allowed 1 run on 1 hit (1 home run) with a strike out in 1 inning, Jake McGee (1-0) had a strike out in a hitless inning, and Wandy Peralta (1st save) had a strike out in a hitless inning. In other West action this week the D’Backs and Rockies have split 2 games in Denver so far with the series finale and rubber game from Denver coming Thursday afternoon while the Dodgers won 2 of 3 in Oakland against the A’s. That leaves the Dodgers in 1st at 5-2, Padres are 1 back at 4-3, Giants are 1.5 back at 3-3, while the D’Backs and Rockies are both 2.5 back at 2-4.
Each team has Thursday off. The Giants will head home and open their home schedule on Friday with 3 games against the Rockies. Padres meanwhile will start their first road trip on the year as they go to Texas to take on the Rangers in Arlington. Kohei Arihara (0-0, 5.40) starts for the Rangers while Joe Musgrove (1-0, 0.00) makes his second start for the Padres. Game time slated for 8:05 on Friday night.
They last won an NL pennant in 1998. They've never won a World Series. They've never thrown a no hitter. All 3 could potentially end this year
I mean it was bound to happen to the Padres at some point, and with the pitchers they had between Snell, Darvish, Dinelson Lamet (who was really good last year) and Chris Paddack (who was pretty good in 2019) along with Musgrove who was great on a crappy team, this year or next year when they got Clevinger back were probably the best time to do it, but I didn't think it would be Musgrove. I would've put money on Darvish or Lamet being the first. Congrats to the Padres, now it's official every team in baseball now has as perfect game/no hitter!
BTW, with all the additions the Padres made Joe Musgrove has been absolutely fantastic. 15 innings pitched, 3 hits, 18 strikeouts in his 2 starts. That's domination.
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2020: 0-0
