Padres Week Ahead Preview: June 16th-22nd

The Padres Andrew Cashner squares off against the Mariners Felix Hernandez Wednesday night at Petco Park. Mandatory Credit: Stan Liu-USA TODAY Sports

The Padres look to put a dismal week behind them as they engage in their annual Mariners Inter-league series this week followed by a weekend series against the rival Dodgers.

Monday, they play the Mariners in Seattle for two games, then come home to San Diego for two more against Seattle before the three game Dodgers series.  The Mariners made a huge splash this off-season with the signing of Robinson Cano and were hoping to make a big stride in the division. Cano is hitting .327 but has seen his power sapped hitting only 3 on the year. Might be tough to get to that 29 home run average he displayed his last four years in New York. Kyle Seager leads the team with 9 home runs and

The pitching has been very good too. King Felix Hernandez is having another excellent season. He is set to pitch Wednesday night against Andrew Cashner at Petco Park. Hernandez is 8-2 with a 2.29 ERA. Former Padres pitcher Chris Young is also having a nice rebound year. Young is coming into the series 5-4 with a 3.68 ERA. With Fernando Rodney closing a strong bullpen, the Mariners are holding late leads.

The Dodgers come into town for the weekend. They find themselves at 37-34 and 6.5 games back of the division-leading Giants. Not exactly what they expected when the season started, but it is better than their record last year. Clayton Kershaw missed a month earlier in the season, and they have battled various injuries to Hanley Ramirez, Yasiel Puig, and catcher A.J. Ellis. They are always a dangerous team, but it gives fans a chance to boo all around good guy and former Padre Adrian Gonzalez.

The Padres at this point need to be much more worried about themselves than their opponent. After only winning 1 game against two sub-.500 teams, this week will not be any easier against two teams in valid division races playing good baseball. Safeco plays pretty similar to Petco offensively, so don’t expect any offensive outbursts, but the Padres need to slow down and have better all around at-bats. They have yet to win a series this month. Will Venable had a good week with several home runs, but the Padres have yet to get more than one or two hitters in a groove at the same time this season. Will this be the week things start to turn? Somehow I doubt it.

Player to Watch: Padres Front Office

We will find out this week what Padres’ President Mike Dee meant when he said that changes were coming, and find out the results of those internal discussions among the Padres brain trust. Doing nothing certainly appears to be an option that is not working.

Prediction: 2-5

I think it will be a difficult week for the Padres. Between the front office drama, the trade talk, and of course the inept bats; it will be a long week for the Padres. Wednesday’s matchup between Andrew Cashner and Felix Fernandez should be must-see TV. Besides that and free “Beat LA” shirts Saturday night at Petco, not a lot to look forward to for the Padres this week. Their best hope is to get several players hitting, regroup, and come out strong next week after whatever changes likely come down this week. Even bet on if Bud Black lasts the week.