Padres Host Rival Dodgers For Weekend

Mandatory Credit: Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports

Keys To Victory

The Padres are in the middle of a key homestand. They can play spoiler for their rivals as they try to shore up the division. The goal for the Padres now should be finishing with a better record than the last two seasons, when they were 76-86. They are on pace for that as they are only 8 games below .500. The key to a series win is pitching. The Dodgers are throwing two good starters in the first two games, but so are the Padres. Whomever out-pitches whom in those first two games should determine the winner of the series. Hopefully the Padres can rely on Seth Smith, who has been a Dodger-masher this year, hitting .364 with 4 home runs.

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My prediction is that Cashner will pitch well enough  in Game 1 to give the Padres offense a chance to score enough runs. Then Greinke will pitch well enough for the Dodgers to tie the series on Saturday. Sunday’s rubber match will come down to which Eric Stults will we see. I think we will see the Stults that started the month 3-0 and the Padres will come out on top and win their second straight series against a first-place team.