Padres Editorial: Padres On a Good Trend

By Nick Lee | Apr 18, 2015

Apr 7, 2015; Los Angeles, CA, USA; (From left) San Diego Padres left fielder Justin Upton (10), San Diego Padres right fielder Matt Kemp (27) and San Diego Padres center fielder Wil Myers (4) celebrate after defeating the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium. San Diego Padres win 7-3. Mandatory Credit: Richard Mackson-USA TODAY Sports

With the San Diego Padres winning Friday afternoon, they move to a 7-4 record on the season. This marks the first time the Padres are three or more games above .500 since the end of the 2010 season, when they missed the playoffs by one game. This marks the second consecutive game the Padres came back to win after being down by two runs late in a game.

It took the Padres just 11 games to get to seven wins. Last year it took until the 15th game, which was after a 2-6 start.

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Things are looking much better this year. After 11 games last year, they were the reverse record (4-7). The bats are hot, the pitching is getting hot and the trend is upward.

The bats have been hitting a lot better to start this season than last. Something else that is very encouraging to see is the fact that not only are the new players contributing, a few of the returning players are also hitting well.

Yonder Alonso is one example, hitting .355 and an on-base percentage of .459. Both of those numbers are nearly 100 points above his career stats.

Yangervis Solarte has been all over the diamond and is hitting .348, proving to be one of the most valuable assets on the 25-man roster.

This is a long season. There are 151 games left, but the trend the Padres are on so far is extremely encouraging. Granted, almost anything is better than the torture that was last year. The team is hitting about 50 points better and the threat in their lineup is ever present.

Another good trend is the fact that the Padres can be down a few runs and still come back. While watching the Cubs take a 4-2 lead in the sixth, I thought to myself, “Last year, you could stick a fork in this game. Now, I expect them to claw back and win.” And they did. It is just a different feeling this year. This team has the weapons to stage a comeback late in games. That could make the difference between missing the playoffs by a few games and playing October baseball.

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