Good morning from Philadelphia,
Regardless of what the standings say, the Padres are not a playoff team.
Not the way they are playing.
But that is not anything new.
The reality is no more plain today than it was a month ago.
The fact has always been that if the Padres did not start hitting, they would start losing at a rate that would put them out of contention before A.J. Preller has a chance to make them better via trades.
That slide might very well be what is happening. It seems a little early, and it remains unfathomable how bad the Padres are on offense. But the damning evidence is mounting.
You can read in my game story (here) from last night’s 3-2 loss to the Phillies about Jeremiah Estrada letting a tie game get away and how the Padres again failed again and again with runners in scoring position.
We can’t make the fact they have lost seven of eight seem better than it is. But …
No matter how lousy the Padres are at present, it is instructive to consider that two years ago today they were about to start a three-game series in Anaheim in which they would be swept.
By June 18, they were three games below .500. After losing the first game following the All-Star break, they were 50-50. They won 19 of their next 23 games and went on to finish with 93 victories.
They were 11 games over .500 last June 3. Then they lost 11 of their next 16 games and from there pretty much played .500 ball well into July. They ended up with 90 victories.
Baseball is maddening. The way the Padres screw around this time of year is maddening.
It can be difficult to remember that all it might be is this time of year.
Time to go
Now the Padres get to face two of the best pitchers in the major leagues the next two days.
Tonight, it’s the guy who held them scoreless for seven innings exactly one week ago and has held all five of the teams he has faced since the start of May scoreless for at least seven innings.
Christopher Sánchez will bring his 44⅔-inning scoreless streak into tonight’s game before the Padres face Zack Wheeler tomorrow. Wheeler has gone at least six innings in his past six starts, and even after allowing the Dodgers four runs in six innings on Friday has a 2.09 ERA in that span.
The Padres could really show something by winning for the first time in five games against the Phillies this season, beating a team they will likely be fighting for playoff position and having a good showing against the kind of pitcher(s) they will see should they get to the postseason.
“It’s extremely important, regardless of the playoff matchups and everything,” Gavin Sheets said. “We know they’re a good team, and it’s important to get back on it (tonight) and give ourselves a chance to win a series. (Tonight) is as good as it gets. We know that. … It’s time for us to come (tonight) and show up. This is how you go a long way — you beat pitchers like (Sánchez ).”
Not a lot
The guy hitting third or fourth every night for the Padres is the worst hitter in the major leagues.
OK, just by one measure.
But it is still crazy that Manny Machado ranks last in batting average out of 160 qualifying batters.
By going 0-for-4 last night and having his average drop to .171, Machado switched places with the Rangers’ Evan Carter, who went 1-for-3 to raise his average to .173.
Rarely has a day gone by lately when I don’t get at least one missive from somebody who wants to see Machado dropped in the batting order.
As we have discussed here, a player of Machado’s stature doesn’t bat in the bottom third. It just doesn’t happen.
And especially not given the fact he is still one of their most productive hitters.
Machado is tied for the team lead with 10 home runs. There is clear logic in his hitting near guys who are getting on base.
Also, who is going to replace him at the top of the order?
There just isn’t a lot to work with on this team right now.
If Machado was in the Dodgers’ lineup, he’d be batting seventh. Maybe eighth.
This is the Padres, who are crossing their fingers Jase Bowen can give them a spark.
You can read in my pregame notebook (here) about Ramón Laureano being placed on the 10-day injured list to make room on the active roster for Bowen, who was called up from Triple-A and made his MLB debut last night.
Bowen got his first big-league hit by going down to get a sweeper low and well off the plate and slapping it over second baseman Bryson Stott.
Batting seventh, Bowen was the only man in the bottom five spots in the lineup to get a hit last night. He also swung and missed at numerous pitches he shouldn’t have even thought about swinging at and struck out three times.
Here is the direness of the Padres’ offense in bullet form:
Outside of Bowen (1-for-4), just five of the Padres’ other 12 active position players have a batting average higher than .205.
Two of the players hitting better than .205 for the season are nowhere near that good over the past few weeks. Miguel Andujar’s two infield singles last night raised his average five points to .264, but he is still batting .150 (6-for-40) over his past 11 games. And Xander Bogaerts (.239 overall) is batting .156 (7-for-45) over his past 13 games.
Sung-Mun Song was 0-for-3 batting eighth last night and is now hitting .154 (4-for-26) with a .482 OPS.
Freddy Fermin’s batting average is down to .130 after he went 0-for-2 in the nine-hole last night before being lifted for a pinch-hitter.
Tatis was 3-for-4 last night and is 16-for-33 (.484) over the past eight games. The rest of the Padres are batting a collective .174 (39-for-224) in that span. Ty France (8-for-24) is the only other Padres player hitting over .200 in those eight games.
Sheets is the only other one hitting .200 (5-for-25). This follows a stretch in which he hit .406 (13-for-32) over 11 games from May 12-23. The rest of the Padres hit .183 in that stretch. France (5-for-17, .294) and Andujar (12-for-44, .273) were the only players to hit better than .222 over those 11 games.
Jackson Merrill went 0-for-4 last night. He was 6-for-15 in the previous four games. That was after getting six hits in his previous 59 at-bats.
Dairy strength
Sheets put the Padres up 2-0 and moved into a tie with Machado for the team lead when he homered in last night’s third inning.
Look at this pitch — below the knees and on the outer third of the plate — that Sheets pulled:
The Milk Man always delivers. pic.twitter.com/lZIPvOlAnh
— San Diego Padres (@Padres) June 2, 2026
“Just ran through it and stayed inside and just stopped the body and put the hands up on board,” Sheets said.
He could have also just said, “I’m super strong.”
It was the eighth time a Sheets homer has put the Padres ahead this season.
My off-day story (here) on Monday was about how Sheets has forced his way into the lineup virtually every day and how he is the Padres’ “connector.”
Too much
The Padres are trying to make things happen on the bases. And it isn’t helping. It is hurting.
That is not to say they should stop being aggressive. Bad stuff happens from time to time when a team pushes the envelope.
But there does come a point where they need to assess when and how they are trying to create action.
On Sunday, the Padres were caught stealing three times, including twice to end innings late in the game (once to end the game).
Last night, Tatis’ excellent game was marred by a play that should not have happened.
With two outs in the eighth inning and Tatis on first base, Andujar chopped a grounder to the left side that third baseman Alec Bohm ran in to grab. Bohm then feigned a throw toward first before pulling the ball in, turning and throwing to second.
Always keep your head on a swivel pic.twitter.com/4uYkh7SYD3
— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) June 3, 2026
Tatis wasn’t running all that hard, but he never slowed rounding second base. So he was a sitting duck when Bohm held the ball, which it had seemed likely he was going to do given how slow the grounder was and how close Andujar had gotten to first.
“One of those things, Fernando being aggressive,” Stammen said. “We’ve seen him do things like that and get away with it so many times that you don’t want to take that out of him. You don’t want to take that aggressiveness out of him. Does it look bad in that situation? Yeah, it does. But it’s part of baseball. You’re gonna make mistakes. We tell our guys to be aggressive, make mistakes being aggressive. We can’t be reckless, but sometimes you gotta live with it.”
It is fair to look at a Tatis play on the bases through a lens colored by all the magnificent plays he has made, the runs he has created by derring-do.
“It’s one of those where if you make it, you’re one of the best, and if you don’t make it, then everybody’s pointing fingers,” Tatis said. “It’s just part of the game.”
Tidbits
Jason Adam pitched in a “down” game for the third time in his past four appearances. Before these four games, he had pitched with the Padres trailing in just 14 of his 104 appearances since joining the team.
Adam got the final out of the seventh and extended his scoreless streak to 12⅓ innings.
The Padres have come back to win twice in the past 10 games they have trailed. They had come back to win 13 of the first 30 games in which they trailed.
Randy Vásquez allowed two runs in five innings last night. It was just the seventh time in the past 17 games a Padres starter has gone at least five innings and allowed fewer than three runs.
Bryce Harper hit his 18th home run against the Padres last night. His .958 career OPS against them ranks sixth among active players with at least 100 plate appearances against the Padres, one spot behind teammate Kyle Schwarber (.960).
All right, that’s it for me.
Talk to you tomorrow.