Padres have come up just short on back-to-back nights

Well. This weekend hasn’t gone like we’d hoped it would. The San Diego Padres dropped each of the first two games against the Dodgers – both in heartbreaking fashion.

On Friday, it was an extra-innings marathon that saw the Friars quite literally run out of arms by the end of it – then Saturday, Mookie Betts robbed the ice-cold Tommy Pham of a game-tying hit to end the game and send San Diego to a second-straight loss and drop them 4 1/2 games back in the NL West.

Padres: Tommy Pham can’t catch a break right now

Seriously, there’s nobody on this team – maybe in all of baseball – who needed a bit of luck more than Pham, who is now batting just .128/.276/.128 on the year without a single extra-base knock. The guy is really struggling – and it’s hard to think getting robbed of a game-tying hit is going to do a whole lot to get him going.

"“Pham has been struggling, steps up and squares a ball up, hits a ball as good as you can right there to right-center,” San Diego skipper Jayce Tingler told MLB.com. “Off the bat, you think it’s down. We’re maybe a half-inch away from tying this game up.”"

Still, this loss isn’t on Pham. The Padres mustered all of three hits on the night. That’s not going to get the job done. Saturday’s game was billed as a pitcher’s duel – and, boy, it lived up to the hype with both Clayton Kershaw and Yu Darvish twirling gems.

I’m sure there are folks out there who aren’t happy with Darvish, despite seven innings of one-run ball. Why? That one run came on a bases-loaded walk to Kershaw. Walking your opposite number is never a path to success, to say the least. Still, the big right-hander now carries a 2.55 ERA on the year and has definitely lived up to the hype surrounding him after last year’s second-place finish in NL Cy Young voting.

Now, it’s up to Blake Snell to stem the bleeding on Sunday. The left-hander is coming off a brutal start his last time out. Let’s hope he’s up to the test of facing the Dodgers and helping the Padres stave off a three-game sweep.