Padres Daily: No offense, it’s amazing they’re still in playoff position

Good morning from Los Angeles,

Numerous less-than-glowing summations of the Padres’ performances have appeared in this newsletter and other stories I have written the past 2½ months.

All of it has been merited.

But my lede last night for the early edition of the newspaper was a little off the mark:

Manny Machado and Fernando Tatis Jr., once again the All-Stars on the left side of the infield, were doing what they could to stop the Padres’ season from swirling the drain.

It wasn’t inaccurate. But upon reflection, I did not make any reference to the season going down the drain in my stories for later editions. (Final game story here.)

Because the Padres’ season, amazingly, has not been flushed. At worst, it is in a slow swirl. They have the power to plug the drain, too. Maybe.

The Padres have the lowest OPS (.641) and have scored the fewest runs per game (3.5) in the major leagues over the past month. Their record is 8-18 in that span, better only than the Washington Nationals (8-21) and Baltimore Orioles (8-23).

Yet the Padres head into the finale of their series against the Dodgers today in a tie for the National League’s second wild-card spot.

Technically, they are a game ahead of the Cincinnati Reds in the loss column.

(MLB.com)

Since moving in front of the Padres for the first time in four months on Aug. 22, the Reds are 6-11. The Padres are 9-11 in that time.

The St. Louis Cardinals and Philadelphia Phillies have snuck closer simply by being .500 over the past 2½ weeks. Both are 9-9 since Aug. 22.

The Cardinals and Reds are playing this weekend. The Padres play at St. Louis next Friday through Sunday. That is the only remaining head-to-head matchups between the four teams.

Unless the Padres start hitting again — yes, they did have a productive offense for a few stretches this season — the standings will stop mattering sooner than later.

They scored multiple runs in multiple innings last night for the sixth time in their past 26 games. Heck, it was just the 15^th time in that stretch they have even scored at all in more than one inning.

But all four runs in the 5-4 loss to the Dodgers were driven in by Tatis (three) and Machado (one). Both went 3-for-4, as the rest of the team combined to go 2-for-26. Tatis (1-for-2) and Machado (1-for-1) got both of the team’s hits with runners in scoring position while everyone else was a combined 0-for-10.

Jayce Tingler called the duo’s performance encouraging. It seems a little late to be encouraged.

But then, somehow, it’s not too late yet.

No more

Blake Snell will start against the Dodgers this afternoon.

Snell considers himself nocturnal by nature. But that it’s daylight won’t matter to him today.

There was a time it did. When things weren’t going well early in the season, he allowed certain circumstances to get into his head.

He was pitching an abundance of afternoon games, which he has never preferred. He pitched after a couple off days, which threw off his routine. He was pitching a lot of road games.

The list went on. Until he stopped it.

“You’ve got to own what you are,” he said recently. “I kept saying it and people were saying it to me. I was like, ‘Damn, that’s just an excuse. Everybody is doing the same (stuff) you’re doing. So why does it matter?’ It doesn’t matter. I just got mad at myself. I was just being a whatever you want to call it. I got sick of it. I was like, ‘Stop making up excuses. If you’re going to be good, stop making excuses.’ ”

Snell is on a seven-start roll. His 1.85 ERA since Aug. 1 is ninth lowest in the majors, and his .136 batting average allowed is second lowest.

In that stretch, he is 3-0 with a 1.59 ERA on the road, and he threw seven scoreless innings in his only day game.

Through July, he had an 8.01 ERA in 11 starts on the road and a 9.21 ERA in seven daytime starts.

Going for 3K

Max Scherzer starts for the Dodgers today six strikeouts shy of 3,000 for his career. Just 18 pitchers have ever reached that milestone.

Scherzer has recorded at least six strikeouts in all but four of his 26 starts this season, including in all three against the Padres. He struck out 10 in 7 2/3 innings in his last start against them, Aug. 26 at Petco Park.

Tidbits

• Chris Paddack attributed his peculiar fluctuation in fastball velocity to his being three starts into a return from the injured list. Seven of his first 12 fastballs last night were 93 mph or slower. He threw a few more at 92-93 at the start of the third inning, and the rest of the night was at his standard 94-96. In his previous start, his velocity dipped precipitously to 90-91 in his final inning. He generally starts out at 95-97 and ends up around 93-94.

• At the plate, Paddack drew the first walk of his career.

• Machado extended his on-base streak to 15 games, one shy of his season high.

• Mookie Betts’ three-run homer off Craig Stammen ended a nine-game (11 1/3-inning) scoreless streak for Stammen.

• Correction: In the chart about quality starts in yesterday’s newsletter, I transposed the number of starts for Paddack and Snell. Snell has made 26 starts. Paddack last night made his 22^nd start. Both are 5-2 in their quality starts.

At least there’s that

Whatever value A.J. Preller’s trades have yielded — that is up for debate and will be for a while — he deserves credit for locking up Tatis for 14 years.

Because had he not, the Dodgers might already be putting together a package that included half of The Getty and a few blocks in Manhattan Beach to have ready for when Tatis hit the free agent market.

Tatis hit his eighth home run of the season against the Dodgers last night, including his sixth at Dodger Stadium. Both are the most ever by a Padres player in a single season. He is batting .500 (13-for-26) at Dodger Stadium this season.