{"id":404356,"date":"2026-07-19T13:47:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-19T13:47:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/404356\/"},"modified":"2026-07-19T13:47:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-19T13:47:09","slug":"padres-daily-perception-vs-reality-regarding-craig-stammens-smiles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/404356\/","title":{"rendered":"Padres Daily: Perception vs. reality regarding Craig Stammen’s smiles"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good morning from Kansas City, Mo.,<\/p>\n

Craig Stammen walked into his hotel room around midnight Friday after the Padres\u2019 extra-inning loss to the Royals.<\/p>\n

He said just four words to his wife.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m going to bed.\u201d<\/p>\n

He was angry.<\/p>\n

He woke up refreshed and spent time with his family before heading back to Kauffman Stadium.<\/p>\n

But he was still not pleased.<\/p>\n

He had strong words for his players during their daily hitters meeting yesterday morning. Some of them shared later that there was no doubt how he felt about the inconsistency of the at-bats and that they knew where he was coming from.<\/p>\n

It didn\u2019t exactly manifest in a festival of hits in a 6-1 loss to the Royals a few hours later. That is how it goes sometimes. A rant by the manager doesn\u2019t mean Manny Machado won\u2019t ground into an inning-ending double play with the bases loaded.<\/p>\n

But we are starting here today because there seems to be a widespread perception that Stammen does not take losses hard enough.<\/p>\n

Based on the abundance of emails I receive on the subject and what I see and hear about on social media, there is among the faithful a fair amount of frustration about how the Padres manager comes across in the televised portion of his postgame media scrums.<\/p>\n

He is friendly. He\u00a0 smiles at least a little on almost every occasion. He often laughs and talks about the sun coming up the next day and the privilege of being in the big leagues.<\/p>\n

It seems to be largely ignored that Stammen is also frequently more critical of his team\u2019s play and more forthcoming about his thoughts and his own missteps than any recent Padres manager.<\/p>\n

Perception just is not reality in this case.<\/p>\n

And whatever messaging disconnect there might be or however understandable it is that some fans want a manager who looks as ticked off as they feel, Stammen is not changing the way he communicates publicly.<\/p>\n

He has explained in the past that he sees one the most important aspects of his job to be remaining even. His primary audience is his players and his staff.<\/p>\n

Further, Stammen is optimistic and positive by nature.<\/p>\n

That is who he is at his core. He prioritizes things beyond baseball. And he has been through enough major league seasons to know how they can turn.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve seen it from many other teams in the league already that it can change fast,\u201d \u00a0he said yesterday.<\/p>\n

That doesn\u2019t mean those who are less confident about his team are wrong. It doesn\u2019t mean Stammen and his coaches and A.J. Preller ought not be held accountable for some things.<\/p>\n

But that is an entirely different matter than Stammen not caring or not communicating to players the need to be better or working with his staff and players to affect change.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not happy,\u201d he said yesterday. \u201cWe\u2019re not where we want to be. That\u2019s a fact. But we\u2019re not out of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Upside down?<\/p>\n

Maybe we could spend more time second-guessing Stammen about important stuff. Like where he is putting his \u201cbest\u201d hitters and where he is putting his best hitters.<\/p>\n

As if that matters with this group.<\/p>\n

You can read in my game story (here<\/a>) about the multiple missed opportunities all over the lineup yesterday, including a pair of double-play grounders with runners in scoring positions (one by Miguel Andujar and one by Machado.)<\/p>\n

But the topic before the game was how Andujar hit three doubles on Friday night, the second time in four games he did so.<\/p>\n

He went into yesterday\u2019s game batting .389 with a 1.047 OPS over his previous 13 games.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s one of those guys that when he gets hot, he stays hot and can carry the offense for a little bit,\u201d Stammen said. \u201cThe at-bat he had in extra innings with the guy on second, battling pitches \u2014 you could tell he was trying to get it to the opposite field to get the runner to third. He got rewarded for a team at-bat right there. Very selfless at-bat. He got a ball down the line and got another double. Those are the type of at-bats we need consistently throughout the game to help us go where we need to go.\u201d<\/p>\n

It might seem odd then, that Andujar was batting eighth again, two spots behind Ty France, whose game-tying home run in the ninth inning on Friday was his 10th extra-base hit in his previous 66 at-bats. France was batting .318 with a 1.044 OPS in that span.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Jackson Merrill continued to be in the No.2 spot in the order despite his .216 average and .619 OPS on the season and .240 average and .656 OPS in July. And Xander Bogaerts was still batting third while hitting .224 with a .645 OPS overall and .163 average and .539 OPS in July.<\/p>\n

The Padres stopped playing the pregame video montage at Petco Park in which Stammen is heard saying, essentially, that the Padres will go as Fernando Tatis Jr., Machado, Bogaerts and Merrill go.<\/p>\n

But they still very much believe it to be true.<\/p>\n

So there is no indication Merrill or Bogaerts will move down after Merrill went 0-for-4 and Bogaerts 0-for-3 with a walk yesterday.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got our four big boys at the top, and we want to get those guys going,\u201d Stammen said before the game. \u201cIf we get those guys going, then the rest of the guys will take hold. \u2026 We have to. That\u2019s a big piece of it. For us to be the team we want to be, have a chance to make the playoffs and make a run, those guys are going to have to carry us. And they will carry us. That\u2019s why they\u2019re at the top.\u201d<\/p>\n

It also turns out that Stammen, who varied his lineup frequently early in the season, has been given pause by the results.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnytime we\u2019ve had guys get hot and then moved them up, it\u2019s cooled them off really quickly,\u201d he said. \u201cSo we\u2019re trying not to cool them off.\u201d<\/p>\n

Andujar has actually been the exception to that rule. He is batting .280\/.308\/.490 in the 2-3-4 holes and (after going 0-for-4 Saturday) is batting .277\/.317\/.429 when in the sixth, seventh or eighth spots. France is batting .172\/.264\/.266 when hitting second, third or fourth and (after going 2-for-3 with two doubles and a walk Saturday) is hitting .281\/.322\/.581 when down in the 6-7-8 spots.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose guys getting on base at the bottom of the order puts people on base for the top of the order,\u201d Stammen said. \u201cThe more guys we have on base when Fernando comes to the plate, the better off we are.\u201d<\/p>\n

Buehler\u2019s days off<\/p>\n

Walker Buehler threw in the bullpen yesterday in advance of a start tomorrow or Tuesday in Atlanta.<\/p>\n

When he takes the mound against the Braves, it will have been at least nine days since his last start.<\/p>\n

The Padres hope the rest served a purpose for Buehler, who has allowed 20 runs in his past three starts, most in any three-game stretch in a career that has spanned 165 starts.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can never underestimate what a little breather does for an older player with a lot of miles on his tires, what a little bit of a breather does for him,\u201d Stammen said. \u201c\u2026 Maybe that little breather is what he needed to get back on track and pitch the way he was pitching.\u201d<\/p>\n

Buehler, who before this run in July had a 1.71 ERA over five starts in June, was not so keen to acknowledge the down time was significant.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s general fatigue of the season. I\u2019ve physically felt pretty fine the past three.\u201d<\/p>\n

Buehler, who turns 32 on July 28, did acknowledge the toll of the recent stretch, which saw the Padres play 17 games in 17 days leading up to the All-Star break. His past three starts were all made on four-days\u2019 rest. Just four of his first 16 starts were made on four days\u2019 rest.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe went regular (rest) when we haven\u2019t gone regular much,\u201d he said. \u201cYeah, it\u2019s difficult.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tidbits<\/p>\n

Among players with at least 150 career plate appearances against the Royals, France\u2019s 1.087 OPS (172 plate appearances) ranks third all-time behind Yordan Alvarez (1.191) and Hall of Famer Dick Allen (1.140). France began yesterday at 1.065 and with two doubles and a walk passed Alex Rodriguez (1.076) and Mike Trout (1.080) on the all-time list.
\nTatis hit his sixth home run and stole his 24th base of the season yesterday. The stolen base was the 148th of his career, which moved him into a tie with Bip Roberts for fourth most in Padres history. The home run was Tatis\u2019 158th, which moved him out of a tie with Phil Nevin for fourth most in franchise history.
\nMachado\u2019s heater (he entered this series batting .307 with a 1.069 OPS in his previous 21 games) is turning into a cooler. He was 0-for-3 with a walk yesterday and is 0-for-7 with two walks in the two games here. His season batting average, which was above .200 for two games, has fallen to .199, and his OPS has fallen to .698.
\nFreddy Fermin got a partial standing ovation when he went to the plate for the first time yesterday. He played for the Royals from 2022 until being traded at the deadline last season. Yesterday was Fermin\u2019s first start since coming off the injured list (head bruise). He was 1-for-3 with a double and is 4-for-13 with three doubles in his past four starts.
\nAndujar grounded into two double plays yesterday. He leads the Padres with 20 doubles and has grounded into a team-high 12 double plays.
\nThe Padres have grounded into three double plays in consecutive games for the first time since Aug. 30 and 31, 2023.
\nGavin Sheets is 0-for-25 in a career-high eight-game hitless streak.<\/p>\n

All right, that\u2019s it for me. Early game today (11:10 a.m. PT).<\/p>\n

Talk to you then.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Good morning from Kansas City, Mo., Craig Stammen walked into his hotel room around midnight Friday after the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":404357,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[181,1334,74,76,75,2611,127],"class_list":["post-404356","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\/404356","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=404356"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/404356\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/404357"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=404356"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=404356"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=404356"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}