Padres Weekly Preview

Padres Prospect

Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports

Glimpse of the Future

Yes, let’s start right here shall we? As the year winds down the Padres need to figure some things out. It appears Will Venable will be gone to make way for some Padres prospects who actually can play some consistent baseball. Liriano was supposed to be the starting right fielder a couple of years back until he had to have the dreaded TJ surgery. However, he has picked up this season right where he left off. He slugged 14 homers in AA before being promoted to AAA and hitting over .400 and 13 RBI in 16 games for El Paso.

Meanwhile, the no-undershirtless wonder Tommy Medica continues to play more consistently with more playing time. There was a scare this weekend when he got hit in the head, but he recovered to pinch hit Sunday and appears ready to go. The helmet cracked, but Tommy didn’t. Seeing this two on the field together along with a resurgent Jedd Gyorko and steady Yongervis Solarte at 3B might make Padres fans actually get excited about an offense that is traditionally in the bottom half of everything. Medica still needs to be more patient and improve on his walk count, but we will take a .276 BA anytime, and a gritty determination to do the job the Padres haven’t had since David Eckstein.

The Rockies come to town this week. Mandatory Credit: Matt Kartozian-USA TODAY Sports

Rockies Preview

The Padres take on the Rockies again this week at Petco Park. The Rockies are finishing up another losing season and considering some long-term changes. Recently it was even suggested that their captain Troy Tulowitzki might be traded at the deadline. He wasn’t, but the mere suggestion must make Rockies fans wonder where their team is headed.

 Monday night on Phil’s BBQ Tailgate Night the Padres take on the Rockies and another resurgent pitcher in Jordan Lyles. Lyles came up with the Astros to much fanfare but never really turned into what they thought he would. Now he is 6-1 on the year with a 3.72 ERA and 7 quality starts. He, along with Tyler Matzek, the Rockies hope are some starting pitching they can build on.

Of course, the Padres send their own Jesse Hahn, Odrisamer Despaigne, and Ian Kennedy to the mount in hopes to winning another series and fighting back into the wild card race.

The offense has been coming around of late for the Cards. Mandatory Credit: Joy R. Absalon-USA TODAY Sports

Cardinals Preview

The Padres finish off the week with a 4 game series against the Cardinals in St. Louis, hoping to repeat their success at Petco against the Redbirds. St. Louis overall has not taken advantage of the struggles of the others in their division, and are likely hoping to capitalize on a 4 game series against the Padres at home. In fact they need to. Newcomer John Lackey was rocked in his first start for the team, but still has a proven pedigree of coming up big when it counts. See World Series 2013 and 2002. He gets the ball in game 1 of the series against Eric Stults and hopes to set the tone for the series.

The Cardinals have gone 6-4 in their least ten games but are still just 2 games back of the Brewers who have proven all year long that they are for real. Their pitching trio of Lohse, Gallardo, and Garza has proven enough to best Wainwright, Lynn, and Lackey.

 I expect the Padres to keep rolling offensively against the Cardinals and Lackey but they will likely lose to Wainwright, who has been the absolute best pitcher in the National League this side of Clayton Kershaw and Tyson Ross over the last two months.

Mandatory Credit: Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports

Week Predictions

The Padres have their work cut out for them. A week after they had two off days, this week they play all 7 days with an afternoon game on Wednesday. It is certainly imperative that they beat up on the teams that they should beat up on – in this case the Rockies – and that they can at least get a split with the Cardinals in St. Louis later this week. The starting pitchers have been doing their job with effective starts and lasting deeper into games than earlier in the year, and this will really help keep that dominant bullpen fresh. It is a luxury for Bud Black to be able to mix and match so many fresh arms and have confidence in all of them.

Key Player of the Week:

Welcome to the bigs, Rymer Liriano. The prospect will likely get chances to show off his stuff, as it was a nice move to bring up Jeff Franceour but he just did not get it done up in the majors, and his career just might be over. Let’s hope this rookie hits the ground running the way he hit AAA recently and carries his offense, athleticism, and defense into Petco Park this week.

Predictions:

The Padres will be able to sweep the Rockies, but only split the St. Louis series, going 5-2 on the week. Another winning week, but if they do mean to make any push at the Wild Card they have to beat teams in front of them like St. Louis.