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.

hugs The Little Ninja after his spectacular catch to send the game into extra innings, where the Padres would win. Mandatory Credit: Brad Rempel-USA TODAY Sports

Twins Recap

The Padres started the week off with a nice off day on Monday after playing great baseball last week at home against the Cardinals and Braves. They went north to Minnesota and Target Field, home of the 2014 All-Star Game, but already only Tyson Ross could relate the experience to his teammates with other All Star Huston Street closing games for the LA Angels of Anaheim.

In this game, the Padres continued their hitting barrage with 12 hits, but were only able to bring home 1 home and left 11 stranded on base. It was rookie Kennys Vargas who came up big for the Twins, hitting his first major league home run and giving the Twins a glimpse of their own future after hitting 17 homers in Double-A this season. Jesse Hahn pitched effectively but didn’t quite get through 6 innings this time around, allowing 4 earned runs and walking 4. He also only struck out 3, a change from his pace most of the season as he has struck out 57 in 59.1 innings this season. Will Venable had two more hits this game and has raised his batting average up to .229 from the low 200s since the start of July himself. Whether or not he can convince the Padres to hang onto him one more season only time and Mr. Preller will tell.

In game 2 of the quick series against the Twins, the Padres nearly lost it in the 9th except for a sensational play by Alexi Amarista with two outs that saved the winning run.

Then

who has been the most reliable offensive player for the Padres all season, came through with a go-ahead homer in the 10th before

came in to close it out in the bottom of the 10th. Starter

was a little shaky once again, as he too failed to get out of the 6th inning, but that Padres bullpen carried it the rest of the way, only allowing 2 hits the next 4 1/3 to finish things out.

also provided two RBI and hits in the victory.

Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

Pirates Series Recap

After another day off on Thursday (and they say August baseball is a grind), the Padres headed to Pittsburgh and beautiful PNC Park, where they have actually never lost a series in 12 road series since the park opened. Just a couple of years ago, Vance Worley was supposed to be the next Philadelphia Phillies ace. Then a few injuries and ineffectiveness really slowed him down, but he has found a groove this year for the Pirates. Friday against the Padres, he pitched 7 innings, struck out 7, only allowed one run, and improved to 5-1 on the season with the Pirates. He was given two runs to work with in the bottom of the first after allowing a run in the top half of the inning, and that would be all he needed from there.

Ian Kennedy continues to be the tough luck loser for the Padres, as he only allowed 1 earned run (2 total) in 6 innings of work, but fell to 8-10 on the year, a record not indicative of how well he has pitched this year. The Padres were limited to 5 hits however, and it is tough to win games when no one is on base to score runs!

Saturday once again all the scoring of the game took place in the first inning. This time however, it was the Padres who were able to get two runs and held the Pirates to just one. Eric Stults pitched into the 7th inning and only allowed one run, getting the victory to improve to 5-13. Everth Cabrera got the Padres moving on the base paths, and doing the little things right enabled the Padres to squeak out a victory against Francisco Liriano.

The bullpen was awesome in this one as well, especially rookie Kevin Quackenbush. He got himself in trouble early, letting the Pirates get runners to second and third with nobody out. Yet, he was hung in there and was able to induce a broken bat line out, a strikeout, and a fly ball to right to end the threat. Certainly if the Padres do end up trading Benoit after this season despite one year left on his contract Quack seems ready to be the closer of the future for the Friars.

Sunday finished things off with Tyson Ross continuing his run of outstanding performances. It got off to a bad start, allowing a home run to the second hitter of the game and the Padres down early 0-2. Yet Seth Smith once again delivered a clutch two-run triple in the 5th inning, then scored on a wild pitch to give the Padres a 5-2 lead. Ross finished by going 6 innings and the bullpen finished things out for another PNC Series victory for the Padres. The offense added on a few more and won the game 8-2. This was another victory for Ross where he showed how not only is his “stuff” maturing, so is he as a pitcher. He allowed a hit and homer to start the game, then buckled down and did not allow another run the rest of his outing. Nicely done. He is now safely within the top 7 for NL ERA leader on the season.

The Padres beat up on the Pirates relievers to win Sunday 8-2. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

Weekly Awards

The Padres had a good week, as they continue to hit much better over the last few weeks than they have done all season. As is beginning a tradition for the Padres, they always seem to start hitting far too late into the season, then doom themselves again the following year with a slow start. They have a lot of pitching depth, both starting and in the bullpen it seems, and can only hope that this will continue to benefit them in the future as well. The Padre of the week was once again Seth Smith, who seems to always have THE big hit that the Padres need, whether it be the go-ahead HR in the Minnesota game or the 2-RBI double against Pittsburgh that broke the tie, what a difference it makes for the Padres to have that kind of reliable hitter in their lineup.

Baseball is a long season, and so often it is the small moments that are the difference between teams winning their division or finishing 10 games back from the lead. While not to be confused with a superstar or franchise player – I believe Seth Smith is that kind of reliable difference maker for the Padres. The only question is will Preller get some more offense around him next season in the batting order?

Current Record: 54-62

Standings: 11.5 GB Dodgers, 7.5 GB in Wild Card.