San Diego Padres morning after: Maddening roller coaster continues but one right decision shines bright

Stop us if you've heard this one before, but the San Diego Padres couldn't get their offense on track on Tuesday night against the Seattle Mariners. Because of that, the Padres lost another home game in front of a sellout crowd.

It has become a very familiar theme in San Diego this season. A massive crowd shows up (the 22nd sellout of the season, by the way) only to watch the Padres bumble around at the plate and end up with a loss. Said crowd gets mad, throws some boos toward the Padres, then grumbles heading out of the gate, hoping that the brown and gold can still find some consistency at the plate.

However, one thing Padres fans have learned quickly this season is that consistency isn't a strength of this team. It's been a maddening run in recent games, with the offense looking like a behemoth one night and a bellyflop the next.

As Dennis Lin of The Athletic pointed out in this tweet, "Padres run totals in their past eight games: 9, 1, 10, 1, 6, 1, 5, 1." The madness has to stop at some point, right? If past indicators are anything to believe, the Padres will put up a big number in Wednesday's home finale against Seattle before heading on the road to Denver to meet the Rockies on Friday. If the Padres score one run on Friday at Coors Field, then someone needs to unplug the Padres and plug them back in.

Going 4-for-30 like the Padres did on Tuesday night won't cut it. Neither will going 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position. Neither will Manny Machado going 0-for-3 with three strikeouts. In fact, until the Padres can solve their offensive problems, this team isn't going anywhere any time soon, and all of the talk about what needs could be addressed at the trade deadline is just talk because the Padres may already be out of the postseason picture.

That's the negative for the San Diego Padres. Now for a positive...

On Tuesday night in Denver, Dinelson Lamet continued to show that the Padres made a wise move by including him as a part of the trade package sent to the Milwaukee Brewers in exchange for Josh Hader at last year's MLB trade deadline. Since that trade (and since the Brewers designated him for assignment before he ever pitched a game for them), Lamet has continued to spiral downhill.

Lamet had to throw 83 pithces to get through three innings in Colorado's 10-4 loss to the San Francisco Giants on Tuesday night. After giving up six hits and three runs, plus walking two and hitting a batter, Lamet's ERA for the season now sits at 12.42 and his WHIP is an astronomical 2.46 in 16.2 innings of work. While the Rockies do need warm bodies to fill out their rotation (one that has been decimated by injuries), the clock seems to be ticking for just how long Lamet may be a part of that.

The 30-year-old right-hander is scheduled to get another start on Sunday against the Padres in Denver. It could be just what the doctor ordered for the series finale for a San Diego offense that needs to find its way, whether it's hitting at sea level or a mile high.