I\u2019ve never seen a Padres manager as consistent as Craig Stammen in terms of being upbeat. It\u2019s not a rah-rah energy. It\u2019s a cheerful steadfastness that seems attuned to the unique length of the baseball season and to this era\u2019s big league culture.<\/p>\n
Stammen, 42, talks with the media after every game and before most games.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s been no roller-coaster ride with Stammen, no wondering which Craig is going to show up.<\/p>\n
He may have been a bit peeved once or twice but has maintained an equilibrium in these daily encounters, many of them coming 15 minutes after the game ended.<\/p>\n
A go-to for Stammen is to frame the team\u2019s performance that day within the context of a 162-game journey.<\/p>\n
When the Padres were hot, he talked about \u201criding the wave.\u201d<\/p>\n
As the recent slump stretched to six, seven and eight defeats in a row, Stammen leaned into the bedrock context of 162 games.<\/p>\n
Take Thursday night\u2019s loss in which the Padres jumped to a 6-0 lead, only to get another subpar outing from a starting pitcher, in this case, Randy V\u00e1squez. Stammen delved into the game\u2019s details, something he always does, but once again spoke to the big picture.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not going to say this is going to happen the rest of the season,\u201d Stammen said. \u201cIt\u2019s happening right now. I don\u2019t think just because it\u2019s happening right now that means it\u2019s gonna happen forever. So, we\u2019ll get through this tough stretch, and hopefully get our bullpen in a better spot and not be used as often.\u201d<\/p>\n
Friday, responding to a question after the Dodgers had rallied to win 4-3, Stammen noted the losing streak had come in \u201cthe middle of the season.\u201d<\/p>\n
Then he pulled a Jedi mind trick.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have the opportunity the rest of the season to play better, and be a better baseball team,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The 3-0 defeat Saturday, which owed mostly to Dodgers ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto\u2019s mastery, raised the question of whether doubts may be creeping into the players\u2019 outlook about where this season is headed.<\/p>\n
Stammen said discussion among Padres players and staff differed from outside speculation.<\/p>\n
\u201cInternally,\u201d he said, \u201cwe talk about what the future could bring, too. And my message to them is, the best is yet to come.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd it always will be that way,\u201d he added. \u201cAnd I internally believe that, and I will keep saying that message \u2018til the day I die.\u201d<\/p>\n
If Stammen weren\u2019t a former big leaguer, I\u2019m not sure he\u2019d have the chops to hit all of these notes without coming off as a bit forced.<\/p>\n
He put on the spikes, an expression favored by former Padres outfielder Nick Castellanos. For 13 years, he pitched in the big leagues. He lacked lights-out velocity and pitch movement but picked up 55 wins against 44 losses, finishing with a 3.66 ERA and six saves apart from his 10 playoff appearances.<\/p>\n
No stranger to bad outcomes, too, Stammen pointed out on Thursday night, following the series-opening loss in L.A., that he allowed four home runs in one game.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverybody says there\u2019s no crying in baseball,\u201d he quipped. \u201cThat\u2019s a lie. Cried several times about baseball. I won\u2019t be crying tonight, though.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stammen often mentions attitude, and doing his best to make sure Padres players maintain an effective one.<\/p>\n
\u201cCan you make yourself win a baseball game? You can\u2019t make yourself win a baseball game,\u201d he said after the losing streak reached seven.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut you can have the right attitude. You can have the right mindset, keep the same focus and discipline. You know, sooner or later, if you put those things together, you\u2019re going to win a baseball game.\u201d<\/p>\n
While Stammen manages the team, Manny Machado serves as a leader among Padres players.<\/p>\n
If their personalities differ, Stammen and Machado share a core baseball belief that\u2019s hardened by experience:<\/p>\n
An appropriate steadiness is rewarded over the 162 games.<\/p>\n
\u201cManny is just as steady as they come, as steady they come,\u201d Castellanos, who has been a friend since their childhood in Miami, said soon before the Padres released the outfielder June 5. \u201cI had an idea of that, just from knowing him as long as I have and talking with him. But, after being his teammate night in and night out, he\u2019s as steady as they come.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Padres seem determined to not overreact to whatever the ballgames dishes out that day or night, while reprising the competitive aptitude Machado and teammates drew upon in seasons that stretched into the postseason.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I\u2019ve never seen a Padres manager as consistent as Craig Stammen in terms of being upbeat. It\u2019s not…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":369147,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[181,1334,74,76,75,2611,127],"class_list":["post-388725","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-latest-headlines","tag-mlb","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news","tag-san-diego-padres","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/388725","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=388725"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/388725\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/369147"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=388725"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=388725"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=388725"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}