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Best case: This looks to be a pretty good year for the Frair Faithful. They’ll get a full season out of Juan Soto, signed Xander Boaegarts, will get Fernando Tatis back in late April/early May, Manny Machado signed an extension to stay in SD, and Blake Snell should be in for a rebound season.
Worst case: Injuries could derail this team. Musgrove is already out to start, but should be back in relatively short time. The Tatis black cloud could hang over the club, especially with former players criticizing him and his decision making last year. Snell could have another bad season, and the Josh Hader from June to August could show up the whole year. The Giants could be better then we think, and the D’backs could be really better than what we think, and they slog through the season, and get bounced early in the playoffs. In any case, with the expanded post season, they should be a playoff team come seasons end. Also, as the Padres have proven in years past, the off season champion most of the time disappoints once real games begin.
Prediction: This has all the makings of a special season. I see them finishing ahead of the Dodgers in the West with the moves they made, and the moves the Dodgers didn’t make, and it will end in a coronation for the teams first ever championship. 106-56 regular season record, 1st round bye, beat the Dodgers in the NLDS in 4 games, Braves in the NLCS in 5 games, and finally, beat the Toronto Blue Jays in 6 games for the title.
Game 1 of the season goes on Thursday, first of 4 games I believe against the Rockies; Blake Snell (8-10, 3.38 last year) gets the ball for the Friars with Musgrove out, and Yu Darvish getting up to speed returning from the World Baseball Classic, while the Rockies hand the ball to German Marquez (9-13, 4.95) with first pitch scheduled for 9:40; 6:40 out west, but since I live in the Eastern time zone doing these recaps, I will be using Eastern time for all game times.
Kris Bryant had a 1 out double in the 1st, Charlie Blackmon had a single to move Bryant to 3rd, a wild pitch from Blake Snell moved Blackman to second, and a C.J. Cron single scored Bryant before Elehuris Montero struck out and Ryan McMahon grounded out. Trent Grisham lead off the bottom half with a double, went to 3rd on a Juan Soto ground out, and scored on a Manny Machado sac fly. Xander Bogaerts had a double in his first Padres at bat, went to 3rd on a balk, but Jake Cronenworth ended the inning with a strikeout. Bryant started the 3rd reaching on a Ha-Seong Kim error, a Blackmon double moved Bryant but Snell struck out Cron, Montero, and McMahon to end the inning. Machado lead off the bottom of the 4th with a single, a Bogaerts double moved Machado to 3rd, Machado was erased at home on a Cronenworth fielders choice, Matt Carpenter reached on an error which allowed Bogaerts to score to go up 2-1, but Austin Nola ended the inning with a double play. Yonathan Daza started the 5th with a single, 2 batters later Blackmon had a single, a wild pitch moved runners to second and 3rd, and Cron put the Rockies on top 4-2 with his first home run of the year. Elias Diaz starts the 6th with a single, Ezequiel Tovar had a 1 out single, Daza would strike out, but Bryant made it 5-2 with a 2 out RBI single before Blackmon ended the inning with a fly out. Bogaerts had a 2 out single in the bottom half, Cronenworth reached on catchers interference, but Carpenter ended the inning with a fly out. Cron & Montero had back-to-back home runs to start the 7th, McMahon followed with a double and then stole 3rd, but Diaz, and Harold Castro struck out and the inning ended on a Tovar ground out. Nola & Kim started the bottom half with back to back singles, but David Dahl & Grisham struck out, and Soto ended the inning with a ground out. Bryant had a 1 out double in the 8th, and 2 batters later got thrown out at home on a Cron double. Montero lead off the 9th with a single, 3 batters later Castro singled to put runners on first & second, but Tovar ended the inning with a force out. Nola walked with 1 out, moved to second a Kim ground out, but got left there when the game ended on a Dahl fly out. Snell (0-1) allows 3 runs on 6 hits with 1 walk and 9 strikeouts in 4.1. German Marquez (1-0) allows 2 runs on 5 hits with 0 walks and 5 strikeouts in 6 innings.
Game 2 of the series takes place on Friday evening. Kyle Freeland (9-11, 4.53 last year) starts for the Rockies while the Padres will give the ball to Nick Martinez (4-4, 3.47 in ’22) with game time slated for 9:40. In other West action this evening the Giants were shut out by the Yankees 5-0, and the Dodgers beat the D’backs 8-2. Dodgers & Rockies are atop the division at 1-0, while the Giants, D’Backs, and Padres are all 2-1.
Kris Bryant singled with 1 out in the first, Charlie Blackmon reached on an infield single, C.J. Cron walked to load the bases, a Ryan McMahon force out scored Bryant and put the Rockies up 1-0 but had Xander Bogaerts not dropped the transfer it could have been an inning-ending double play, Elehuris Montero followed with an RBI single before Elias Diaz struck out to end the inning. Ha-Seong Kim had a 2 out double in the second, but Trent Grisham ended the inning with a strike out. Ezequiel Torvar had a leadoff single in the 5th, 2 batters later Blackmon would hit his first home run of the year and first since last July to give the Rockies a 4-0 lead and complete their scoring on the night. Kim had a 1 out double in the 5th, but Grisham flied out and Jose Azocar grounded out. Yonathan Daza had a 2 out single in the 7th, stole second, but Bryant ended the inning with a strike out. Blackmon was hit by a pitch to start the 8th, Cron followed with a single, McMahon grounded into the very rarely seen 2-5-3 double play to move Cron to second, Montero reached on an infield single moving Montero to 3rd before Diaz struck out to end the frame. Kim walked and Grisham singled to start the Padres 8th, an Azocar sac bunt moved the runners up to 2nd & 3rd, Bogaerts scored Kim on a sac fly, but Juan Soto was called out on strikes to end it. Daza had a 2 out single in the 9th, Bryant followed with a walk before Blackmon struck out to end the inning. Manny Machado started the 9th with an infield single, with 2 outs went to second on catchers indifference, but Jake Cronenworth ended the inning and game with a strikeout. Kyle Freeland (1-0) had 1 walk, 1 strikeout and 3 hits allowed in 6 scoreless innings, and Pierce Johnson (1st save) had 2 strikeouts and 1 hit in a scoreless 9th inning, registering his first career save against his former team. Nick Martinez (0-1) allowed 4 runs on 6 hits (1 home run) with 2 walks and 5 strikeouts in 7 innings.
Game 3 of the series is on Saturday. Jose Urena (3-8, 5.01 with the Brewers & Rockies last year) starts for the Rockies, while the Pads give the ball to Michael Wacha (11-2, 3.32 with Boston last year) with game time slated for 8:40. The Giants had the day off, and the D’Backs beat the Dodgers in other West action on Friday, so the Rockies go into first by themselves at 2-0, D;Backs and Dodgers are 1 game back at 1-1, Giants are 1.5 back at 0-1, and the Padres are 2 back at 0-2.
They rebounded from the first 2 losses to end up with a split. The season opening home stand continues against the D'Backs before they go to Atlanta for 4 games over the weekend.
Split the series with the D'Backs who they are surprisingly tied with for the division. Lost the first game on a walk off before rallying to win the final 3 games. 3 games in New York Monday-Wednesday before heading home to play 4 games with the Brewers.
Lost 2 of 3 in New York, and than returned home and got blasted by the Brewers losing 3 of 4. And it seems strange to say, but maybe the Braves coming in, can be what ails them?? Even though the Braves have the second best record in baseball (and best in the NL) 3 of their 4 losses are to San Diego, and the division so far is a complete mess. I don't even think hot garbage does enough justice to describe it's current state at this point in the season.
Another 7 game week this week; start with 3 home games against Atlanta, and than they head to Arizona to play 4 games in Phoenix against the right now division leading D'Backs.
Lost 2 of 3 to Atlanta before winning 3 of 4 in Arizona. Hopefully they are coming back to full health as Fernando Tatis returned to the team on Thursday, and Joe Musgrove made his season debut on Saturday night. They've got a short 5 game week this week 3 in Chicago starting on Tuesday and than 2 neutral site games vs. the Giants in Mexico City where the Pads will be the "home" team.
..neutral site games vs. the Giants in Mexico City where the Pads will be the "home" team.
I don't think you have to put home in quotes.
Padres wear (& peddle) those City Connect uniforms.. where they celebrate Baja California & their team's connection to the corrupt country of Mexico.
So at least in their own minds, I think the Padres view themselves as a bi-national home team
Shildt, 55, spent the past two seasons with the Padres as a senior adviser in player development and occasionally filling in on the major-league staff.
He replaces former Padres manager Bob Melvin, who was hired last month to manage the San Francisco Giants.
The Padres went 82-80 last season and missed the postseason despite a $250 million payroll.
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