more superstitious guys in the clubhouse<\/a>.<\/p>\nBogaerts hit the seventh postseason homer of his career in Game 1 of the NL Wild Card Series, doubled in Game 2 and has two hits in both postseason games to continue a hot finish to the regular season.<\/p>\n
The split grip definitely has something to do with it, too.<\/p>\n
The organization suggested it to him during the mid-September trip to Coors Field as a way to combat the rollovers that contributed to 12 double-play grounders and a lot of the weak contact while hitting a career-worst .231 this season.<\/p>\n
By keeping 1 to 2 inches of space between his top and bottom hands, Bogaerts is staying through the baseball and creating a swing path that helps loft his hits.<\/p>\n
It was a suggestion made to former Padres prospect CJ Abrams during his time at Double-A San Antonio.<\/p>\n
Shortly after trying the split grip in Coors Field, Bogaerts fell a single shy of the cycle, the start of a .400\/.500\/.800 finish that\u2019s carried into the postseason.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe started doing it,\u201d Padres hitting coach Steven Souza Jr. said, \u201cand he started hitting lasers.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018A brilliant business vision\u2019<\/p>\n
The NLDS is being played by two teams that could both be put up as arguments for the players\u2019 side of the salary-cap argument that seems destined to lead to a lockout this winter.<\/p>\n
The Brewers led the majors with 103 wins despite ranking 19th with a payroll of $147 million. The Padres ranked ninth this year with a $221 million payroll and have surged to rank second or third in total attendance in each of the past four years, largely because of the investment in such players as Manny Machado, Fernando Tatis Jr., Xander Bogaerts and Jackson Merrill.<\/p>\n
The Brewers are proof that a well-run team can compete for championships. The Padres are proof that spending improves your product.<\/p>\n
Brewers owner Mark Attanasio was asked for his stance on a salary cap as part of workout day availability. He batted away every pitch to keep the focus on the series, but he did highlight the Padres\u2019 path to their place in the current landscape.<\/p>\n
\u201cI look at it most from a business standpoint,\u201d Attanasio said. \u201cFrom a baseball standpoint and more like a fan, they just went to being a very athletic, dynamic team. From a business standpoint, Petco used to be half-full when we would go, and now it\u2019s full every night. I think Peter Seidler really had a vision that he was able to execute on, as they were the only team in town to brand. It\u2019s like going to a Broadway show and seeing stars.<\/p>\n
\u201cA brilliant business vision. And sadly, I was friendly with him. I miss him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Notable<\/p>\n
RHP Michael King will start Sunday\u2019s Game 2 on regular rest. That would also put him on regular rest should the series extend to a fifth game on Friday, back at American Family Field.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MILWAUKEE \u2014 It\u2019s certainly not \u201cFight Club,\u201d but Xander Bogaerts did not want to talk about the split…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":483890,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[181,1334,74,76,75,2611,127],"class_list":["post-483889","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\/483889","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=483889"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/483889\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/483890"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=483889"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=483889"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=483889"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}