Good morning,
Skepticism is allowed and perhaps even advisable.
But there is no denying this sounds far less silly than it would have a week ago:
“I think we just keep doing the same thing we’ve been doing right now,” Jackson Merrill said yesterday afternoon. “… I think we’re doing good stuff and winning good games.”
He’s right.
You can read in my game story (here) about the opportunistic nature of the Padres’ 5-4 victory over the Blue Jays yesterday in their final game before the All-Star break.
Their eighth inning yesterday, in which the Padres stole two bases to get in position to score the tying and go-ahead runs, is starting to look more familiar.
They won the past two days by not letting starting pitchers off the hook and putting up crooked numbers in innings early and by adding on later. They moved runners with productive outs. They stole bases. They extended plate appearances.
“Definitely more innings like that,” manager Craig Stammen said. “And even early on, you know, against (Kevin) Gausman and yesterday against (Trey) Yesavage, being able to take the walks, grind out those at-bats, get to the 3-2 counts, fight a couple pitches off and then get on base somehow. Those are fighting at-bats. Those are team at-bats. Those are not selfish at-bats. Those are selfless at-bats. We talk about that all the time.
“It’s hard to be selfless for 162 games. It just really is. Like, we think it’s easy — as fans and people watching from afar, even on the bench. But, you know, to think about everybody else when you’re doing something individually is a difficult thing to do. And the guys are starting to do a little bit more of that as we go.”
Call it an indictment. Call it an awakening. Call it a reckoning and a realization of how they will have to win.
It has been lamented in this space a few times that the Padres were not doing enough of the small things. They spent the latter part of May and all of June trying to figure out how to be different and better.
Maybe it is happening now.
Now, consistency has been elusive.
Since they are 48-48 and 3½ games out of the final wild-card spot with four teams between them and that spot, consistency is now imperative.
Can it last?
Fernando Tatis Jr. made a wonderfully paradoxical statement yesterday that pretty much sums up the inability of the Padres to get it together.
“Sometimes we show some signs that we can be consistent,” he said.
Yesterday’s game was a good reminder of what hinders the Padres in their effort to tear off a winning streak that could get them on more solid footing. But it also served as a reminder that inadequate starting pitching doesn’t have to be a death sentence.
Germán Márquez allowed three runs and was done after throwing 85 pitches in four innings. It was the 16th time in the past 25 games a starter failed to go five innings. But it was not one one of the 10 times in that span a starter did so while allowing more than three runs.
Yesterday’s game was tied 3-3 when Márquez departed. That is most members of the Padres rotation’s version of keeping the team in the game.
It is what it is. And the offense has too often shrunk from the challenge.
The past two days, the offense did not shrink, as the Padres won 8-7 and 5-4.
Yesterday was the third consecutive game they won when allowing four or more runs, but they had won just four of the previous 20 games in which they allowed four or more runs.
“The offensive side, like we have been doing this the last couple games, where we have executed,” Tatis said. “I feel like that’s the identity that’s gonna keep us pushing. So we better keep getting better at that area. … Obviously, we’re not coming together as a team — our offense and pitching, you know, bonding together. So we’ve just got to keep cleaning that area, and then hopefully we’re gonna be in a great spot.”
Another Manny run
Manny Machado could look out to the video board beyond left field as he walked to the plate for his final at-bat yesterday and, for the first time in more than two months, see a batting average that did not begin with a “.1”
He hit his third single of the day in that eighth-inning at-bat and headed into the break with a .203 batting average. It is his first time above .200 since May 8.
“I really haven’t really been concentrating on trying to look up there too much,” he said. “But yeah, definitely feels better to have a ‘2’ up there in front of it. I was kind of stuck at .180 there for a long time. So yeah, it’s definitely better to start the second half with a ‘2’ in there.”
Machado is batting .314 (16-for–51) with a 1.054 OPS over his past 14 games. In 30 games since June 9, around the time he said he felt like he was shaking off the effects of some offseason work that set him back, he is batting .279 with a .958 OPS.
“I feel good,” he said. “I mean, I wouldn’t say ‘locked in.’ But I feel good. I feel like I’m with my approach, and just gotta stay consistent with it.”
This is the 12th consecutive season in which Machado has had at least one stretch of at least 30 games in which he has had an OPS of at least .950.
Generally, his heaters have heated the Padres. There has almost always been a correlation between his numbers and the number of Padres’ victories.
But they are 13-17 over the past 30 games.
Maybe that is changing.
Machado scored the Padres’ first run and drove in the game-tying run in the eighth inning yesterday. His two-run single tied Saturday’s game in the second inning. His three-run homer on July 5 at Dodger Stadium was the difference in that game. He was 10-for-23 (.400) with seven RBIs over the past eight games, during which the Padres went 5-3.
“Very important for us,” Stammen said of Machado getting back to normal. “I think it’s a game changer. The Padres have always gone how Manny goes, which is a lot of pressure on somebody. But there’s also a reason why we have 42,000 fans every single night, and that’s because we have Manny Machado on our team. He’s a big part of this franchise, a big part of this group. That’s why we support him in the way that we do and believe in him so much, and he can win us a few games like he did today.”
Tom Krasovic’s column (here) used Machado’s surge as a jumping-off point to assess where the Padres are at the break.
A little rest
Machado fouled a ball of his left big toe on Tuesday, and other than cramping in his calf back in late April, that is the extent of the specific injury information revealed about him this year.
Even before the foul ball, it was clear Stammen and Machado had worked out a plan for him to be off his feet a bit more.
Yesterday was the second consecutive day and fourth time in the past 11 games Machado served as the Padres’ designated hitter. That is the most time at DH in such a short time since he was the team’s primary DH at the beginning of 2024 and end of ‘23, before and after elbow surgery.
As there are almost every season, there have been cryptic references over the past couple months by members of the organization about Machado playing through various maladies.
Asked yesterday what he has been dealing with, Machado offered his typical vagueness when talking about his health.
“What haven’t I?” he answered
Stammen got more specific.
“I think that foul ball off his toe just lingered a little bit longer than a normal foul ball off someone’s foot, and he’s had ankle issues and knee issues all in that same leg,” Stammen said. “So whenever he’s on his feet for a long time, especially in a 17-day stretch, you just need to give him those days. He has been very good at communicating with me about when he’s feeling good, when he needs a day or when he can DH and still play. So it was a good homestand for him, getting a day off and a couple DH days, and I think it set him up for success going into the second half.”
Back in the grass
Tatis loves playing the infield, and he still will on occasion.
But the Padres are better for having Jake Cronenworth back playing second base and Tatis back in right field, where he has won two Platinum Gloves and can do this:
Fernando Tatis Jr. takes away a hit from Vladimir Guerrero Jr. with a smooth sliding catch 😮💨 pic.twitter.com/8VoVycxHk1
— MLB (@MLB) July 12, 2026
Tatis came up as a shortstop and played there his first three seasons in the major leagues before moving to right field. He had played one inning of second base prior to playing it on occasion early this season and then becoming the team’s primary second baseman while Cronenworth was on the concussion injured list.
Yesterday was the 17th time in 20 games he started in right field after starting there nine times in the previous 41 games.
“Just grew up doing it,” he said of moving around the field and playing so capably. “I’m not gonna say it comes easy, but it’s not that hard.”
The victim of his catch yesterday, for which Tatis covered 71 feet, was someone who watched him play baseball growing up. Vladimir Gurerrero Jr., a fellow Dominican whose father played with Tatis’ father in Montreal, rounded first base and then stood facing Tatis for a few seconds. Tatis responded by slapping his chest as if to say, “My bad.”
Much-needed break
Tatis has at times seemed tired recently.
Yesterday was one of those times. He chased five of the seven pitches he saw outside the strike zone, including three nowhere close in a four-pitch strikeout, and finished 0-for-4.
He is batting .229/.302/.313 in 12 games in July after hitting .345/.383/.525 in 33 games from May 24 through June 30.
His plans for the next three days:
“Rest, sleep, be far from humanity … and then come back.”
Running rookie
Rookie Jase Bowen replaced Machado on second base with one out in the eighth inning and stole third so easily off pitcher Jeff Hoffman that it seemed Bowen was playing with some sort of cheat code.
The Blue Jays made no attempt to hold Bowen, who took a 17½-foot lead and doubled that distance with his secondary lead before taking off while Hoffman still had the ball and beginning his slide into third as the pitch crossed home plate.
“It made my job easy,” said Ty France, who was at the plate. “He had such a good jump, I just shut it down, let him get the bag and go from there.”
France drove Bowen home with the go-ahead run by sending the next pitch deep to right-center field for a sacrifice fly.
Bowen’s cheat code, it turns out, is knowing what he is doing.
“It’s his investment in preparing for the look of every (pitcher),” first base and base running coach Dave Macias said. “He knows all their picks, when they’re going to pick, how often they pick. He’s very astute to that stuff. He’s aggressive. He’s fearless. And he’s got the tools.”
Bowen has hardly played and has struggled at the plate, batting .119 (5-for-42) with 17 strikeouts and two walks, since being called up to make his MLB debut in early June. But his outfield defense is exemplary. And in addition to being fast, he is a quick and diligent study.
“I want to give him a lot of credit,” France said. “… He knows what his job is. He studies. He has cheat sheets of guys and all their moves. I give him a lot of credit. Because it’s not easy to come up here and do that job.”
Tidbits
Starting pitcher Lucas Giolito is up to 94 mph with his fastball and should begin a rehab assignment by the end of the month. I wrote in Thursday’s newsletter about the work he is doing to get his body going faster in his delivery while on the IL with shoulder inflammation. Giolitio said yesterday, “It’s like I’ve been stuck in third gear all year. We’re getting into that next gear.”
France’s sacrifice fly gave him the deciding RBI for the second straight day against the team he went to the World Series with in 2025. France was 5-for-9 with a double, a home run and three RBIs against the Blue Jays. Playing for his original team, France has fared well against two former teams he has faced so far this season. He was 5-for-12 with three RBIs against the Mariners this season. He was just 1-for-6 against the Reds but can improve on that with three games in Cincinnati Aug. 31 to Sept. 2. Also still to come, the Twins at Petco Park Aug. 21 to 23.
Gavin Sheets was hitless for the sixth straight game, the longest he has gone without a hit this season. But he extended his on-base streak to 13 games, the second-longest streak by a Padres player this season. He is getting on base at a .358 clip during the streak. His .171 average during the streak is the lowest since 2020 by any MLB player with an on-base streak of at least 13 games.
Cronenworth was 2-for-4 yesterday. Since going hitless in his first four at-bats after coming off the concussion IL, Cronenworth is batting .333 (14-for-42) over the past 12 games.
Jeff Sanders had all the pertinent draft coverage. He recapped the final day (here). If you missed his story from Saturday on first-round pick Coleman Borthwick, read it (here).
Sanders wrote about Ethan Salas and Kruz Schoolcraft in the Futures Games (here).
Annie Heilbrunn wrote (here) about Bradgley Rodriguez honoring victims of last month’s earthquakes in his native Venezuela.
Catcher Luis Campusano was originally in yesterday’s lineup but was scratched with what the team called abdominal soreness not related to an oblique injury. Stammen said Campusano was available to hit yesterday and should be ready to play Friday against the Royals.
All right, that’s it for me.
All-Star break is here. I will have a story on Mason Miller and some other stuff on our Padres page today and coverage of the game tomorrow.
I will also have a midseason report, focusing on how (and whether) the Padres can improve.
The next newsletter will arrive in your inbox on Saturday morning following the series opener in Kansas City.
Talk to you then.