Padres’ Week in Review: New Sheriff In Town

Quackenbush continues to shine in the bullpen and pitch the Padres to victories. Mandatory Credit: Brad Rempel-USA TODAY Sports

Week Summary

Well the offensive explosion sure was fun last week, wasn’t it? This week, the Padres mostly stayed in the low scoring realm, though they did manage to bring home 8 runs Sunday to finish out the week with a winning record (3-2). Overall, not too bad but, if the Padres are to make any sort of furious finish they need to win more consecutive games. The organization did make a significant stride this week in naming a new general manager after several weeks of having no one to run the ship during an important trading deadline after the dismissal of Josh Byrnes. Welcome to San Diego AJ Preller.

The pitching staff continues to pitch very well, with the bullpen still leading the National League in both earned run average and opponents batting average. The offense, which until this week had actually led the entire National League in batting average and runs scored since the All Star Break, reverted back some to their season average, but they still lead the National League in BA since the All-Star Break.

The Pirates series featured a few moments that the Padres excelled in as well in playing small ball. First of all, Everth Cabrera certainly seems to have his legs back after some time on the disabled list, as he has now had two multiple stolen base games since returning from the DL. He is hitting .350 in his last two weeks, with 5 stolen bases, after only notching 13 (in 20 attempts) the first three months of the season. In game 2 of the series, he singled, stole second, and was driven home for one of the only two runs the Padres would need. Against the Braves last weekend, he stole second and third in the same inning before scoring on a sacrifice fly.

Second of all, the bullpen continues to make the games shorter and shorter, as Kevin Quackenbush continues to gain experience in high leverage situations. So let’s move in to the series recaps and find out what went right and what went wrong for the Padres.