“Padres–What Did You Think”

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It was a win but it was not very impressive.

It felt anti-climatic.

The Fab 4-didn’t get much done.

But it was a win, this Friars victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks, (7-5).

The anticipation and the excitement went away pretty quickly.

Talking about the return of Fernando Tatis, coming back from his PED suspension and his multiple surgeries.

He didn’t do much, in fact he didn’t do anything, going (0-5) with two strikeouts, a ground out and 2-soft fly ball outs.  He needs to get his timing down because he did not get good swings.

He’s pretty lucky, because he nearly took 2-fastballs on the hands that chased him off the plate.  Lucky, because had he been hit with either errant fastballs, he might have suffered a broken hand.

Tatis really struggled with breaking balls and sliders andlooked overmatched.  Guess he did not see that kind of stuff when he was facing Albuquerque Isotope pitching in the PCL.

But he made a spectacular run and catch into the right field corner for a flyball, as he ran full speed into the corner and then bounced off the fencing.  The new position did not seem to intimidate him at all.

Of course he nearly ran off Ha Kim on a pop fly in the 9th so there is still work to be done in the outfield.

The Fab Four atop the batting order did not accomplish much at all though, and most fans believe these guys are going to hit.

Juan Soto continues to be stifled at home plate.  Yes he has 4-home runs, but he is now hitting (.178) this season for the Friars.  Yes he has 4-homers and a bunch of walks, but 178-is-178 and no explanations or excuses are to be accepted.
He looks like a mechanical mess at home plate with his stance, his crouch, his swing.

And then there is the Manny Machado saga, his worst start to a season ever.  He never did this in Baltimore, nor with the Dodgers,nor in his years in San Diego.

Since April 10th, Machado is hitting (.162) after an 0-for-4 night.  Add on, he has just 1-home run on the season, and looks like he cannot handle breaking balls, sliders or pitches on the outside edge.  He’s not covering the plate with his swings.

Thank goodness for Trent Grisham’s two two run doubles and his glove in the outfield.  Xander Bogaerts continues to crash homers.

The overworked bullpen did a great job bailing out the second bad outing in a row by Michael Wacha. The brigade retired the final 12-batters in a row and struck out a bunch of D-backs in an impressive show of relief pitching firepower.

Take the win but it sure was not impressive, especially for the guys who were going to hit at the top of the batting order.

Feel let-down.  This sure felt anti-climatic, didn’t it?

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