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Hacksaw’s Thursday Podcast-1:30pm
You Tube-Lee Hacksaw Hamilton
Hot Topics on Table..Stay for Fans Forum
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“PADRES–WHO ARE THEY REALLY?”
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Should I apologize in advance to Padres fans now or later?
So the Friars are in the midst of a rugged part of their schedule, and we have seen some good games, some bad games, and there are still alot of unanswered questions.
So I will ask you, how really good are the Padres?
They head back out on the road two games out of first place, and 3-games behind the Dodgers in the win column.
And as they head out on the road again, you need to look at the out of town scoreboard, the one that reads more than just this (38-29) record they have in their pocket.
They were (14-3) out of the gate, since then they are (24-26). Does that sound like a pennant contender?
The Padres based their red hot start against alot of the substandard teams in baseball. They are indeed (22-6) against the bottom feeders. Great.
When they play teams with winning records, they are (16-23), so there is work to be done there with some 90-games to go on the summer schedule.
But when they have played good teams, the Dodgers-Yankees-Cubs-Tigers etc, the Friars are just (6-12). They check the pennant contender box with that mark?
The pitching staff is very thin, and there seems to be no outcome in the near future to get Yu Darvish or Michael King back in the rotation soon.
Thank goodness for the quality innings they have gotten from Randy Vasquez, Stephen Kolek and Ryan Berget. They had saved this team, much like Matt Waldren and his knuckleball saved the first half of last season. Nick Pivetta and Dylan Cease need help.
Manny Machado has had an All Star first half at bat, but oddly, has 11-errors already this season.
Fernando Tatis is trying to rally from a dreadful May at bat, but continues to play great defense.
Luis Arraez has been streaky and seems to have lost the parameters of the strike zone-swinging at all types of out of the zone pitches.
Xander Bogaerts, he of big contract, does not have big statistics at bat.
Jackson Merrill is a rock in the batter’s box and in center.
Gavin Sheets cannot hit lefthanded pitching.
The left field committee is hitting less than .180 collectively.
The catchers, good with the gloves, have holes in their bats.
The bench now does not compare to the bench of last year.
And the bullpen phone, which rings constantly, seems to have a collection of arms running on fumes right now.
And just ahead, in addition to this road haul of 22-games away in June, is another 4-game series in LA against the Dodgers, who can hit, and who seem to be getting some of their injured pitchers back healthy.
So who are the Padres right now? Not really a 1st place team right now. And more importantly, maybe a struggling wildcard team because they sure don’t look like a complete team, ready to beat ‘good teams’ on the MLB schedule.
Should I have apologized to Padres fans?
No-why should I, when I am telling the truth?
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