“Padres Pitching–Time Running Out”

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Giants-Dodgers-Padres.
The Pennant Race is now here.
2-months from today, the season will be over.

The Giants have refused to give up first place and now have added power hitter Kris Bryant.

The Dodgers have added Max Scherzer-Trea Turner and hoping that the return to health of Corey Seager, Mookie Betts and Clayton Kershaw puts them into first place.

The Padres added a reliever for likely bullpen days, and Daniel Hudson will help.

But the schedule and stats now come into play.

The Padres have 18-games left against the Dodgers and Giants, but must close the gap in the next three weeks before they lineup for all those games with San Francisco-Los Angeles.

The Padres can be there if they can beat the bad teams just ahead of them…7-with lowly Arizona…3-each with Miami-Colorado and the Phillies after they wrap up this series with the A’s..

The Giants have 6-with Arizona…4-with the Rockies and 3-with Milwaukee.

The Dodgers start this stretch with Houston, and 7-with the Mets, 3-with the Phillies, 3-with the Angels and 3-with the Pirates, probably the toughest stretch ahead.

But the Padres pitching issues are still there,unaddressed at the trading deadline.

The team that went to spring training with 19-pitchers with major league experience, cannot fill out its rotation right now.  And those pitching aren’t doing well. Look at the breakdown since the end of July and tell me if you are fearful of what’s ahead.

Look at the ERA’s of the starters.  Check the total baserunners against innings pitched.  It is stunning on a staff that started so well.

YU DARVISH: (25-INN..21R..28H..9HR..6W)..7:36-ERA
..Has not pitched well since going on DL with hip issues

JOE MUSGROVE (26INN..18R..33H..4HR..10W)..6.23-ERA
..Only trustworthy starter in rotation-battling fatigue

CHRIS PADDACK (29INN-25R..42H..4HR..6W)..7.98-ERA
..Highly erratic-good starts-bad stars

BLAKE SNELL  (30-INN..22R..36H..4HR..23W)..6.60-ERA
..No control of strike zone-seems clueless

RYAN WEATHERS (19INN-14R..24H..5HR..11W)..6.59-ERA
..Competes-might link up with Lamet in piggy back starts

Those starters in the last 30-days:  (129INN..100R..163H….56W…26HR)…7.03-ERA

The bullpen remains deep-trustworthy-rock solid and now adds Daniel Hudson and Matt Strahm to the mix plus the hopeful return to health of Dinelson Lamet and Drew Pomeranz..  Bullpen days could become part of the next couple of series.  Days off won’t help all that much if the guys you give the ball too cannot be consistent.

9-pitchers are still recovering from surgeries, led by Mike Clevinger and Adrian Morejon.  They won’t be back till next spring at the earliest.

So we start the real pennant race on Tuesday night with the top three teams in the National League West.

Can the Padres do this?  Catch, LA and SF?  Maybe, but they have to mop up against the bad teams, and no one is mentioning this team has lost 29-games this year to teams that are .500 or worse in the standings.  They cannot be 7-8-9 games behind in the standings before they lineup against the Dodgers-Giants in late August into September.

Alot to prove, without a lot of time left on the schedule, and a staggering starting rotation they have to give the ball too.

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