Padres Waste Good Pitching, Lose Series

July 12, 2014; Los Angeles, CA, USA; San Diego Padres starting pitcher

(22) pitches the seventh inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

The Padres (41-54) lost the series to the Los Angeles Dodgers (54-43) three games to one. The main story of the series was the Padres wasting stellar pitching time and time again.

Odrisamer Despaigne, Jesse Hahn, Ian Kennedy andTyson Ross all pitched great games. In fact, all 4 starters pitched at least 6 innings, struck out at least 6 batters and gave up no more than 2 runs. It is an absolute crime against humanity that only Hahn came out with a victory.

Kennedy pitched a masterpiece. He was Sandy Koufax-like in Koufax’s old stomping grounds. He pitched 8 innings, struck out 8 and only allowed 3 hits without a single run. He pitched 8 shutout innings and got a no-decision. It was much of the same on Sunday when Ross hurled 7 solid innings and struck out 9. He pitched like he deserved the All-Star bid and still got the loss.

The reason for the starting pitchers getting robbed was the horrid offense. The excuse was legitimate againstClayton Kershaw. Though, it was a pleasant surprise to see the Padres be the team to end Kershaw’s historic scoreless inning streak. But the Padres seemed to hit like they were facing Kershaw the rest of the series as well.

The team hit a dismal .165, mustering 4 extra base hits in the 4 games. The Friars also were 2-for-16 with runners in scoring position. Chase Headley had 4 hits in the series and seemed to be the only hitter who brought his bat to LA. He also played spoiler, homering off of Kershaw.

Since the Padres 5-game winning streak was snapped, they are 2-7. They now sit in 3rd place, 12 games back of the first-place Dodgers and only a game ahead of the Rockies. The All-Star break comes at a much-needed time, so it gives the Padres the chance to mend up and also find their bats that seemed to have disappeared again.

Huston Street and Ross will go to Minnesota for the Mid-Summer Classic and the rest of the team gets a timely break.