Padres News: Bob Melvin Believes Players Need to Respond As Season Reaches Pivotal Point

The Friars are at the make or break point of their year.

The San Diego Padres dropped yet another one-run game on Sunday, losing 5-4 to the Arizona Diamondbacks to fall to 2-7 in their last nine games, 6-19 in one-run contests, and five and a half games out of the final NL wild card spot. 

They'll head back to the friendly confines of southern California, but they'll do so needing to respond -- and do it extremely quickly -- if they hope to keep any sort of playoff hopes alive. 

After the Friars loss in the desert on Sunday, Padres manager Bob Melvin spoke about the urgent need to respond after another brutal loss -- and ahead of their most pivotal stretch of what has been an extraordinarily underwhelming season. 

“You keep getting punched like this and you keep getting beat down a little bit. Sometimes you lose your spirit. That’s not an excuse, but we’ve had some really tough games this year that we’ve had to respond to and we keep having to respond to. Tomorrow will be the same thing.”

via Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune

This is not how the Padres imagined their season would go. Not after getting to the NLCS last season for the first time since 1998, and running back a roster that boasted stars up and down the lineup and littered the pitching staff. 

But after a season where inconsistency has been an unfortunate hallmark for a previously promising group, the Padres are on the brink of getting nothing out of a year where they had incredibly high expectations. 

It'll take a lot for them to get into the postseason -- they'll have to jump four teams to grab the last playoff spot -- but they have the star power to make it happen. 

Now it's time for them to reach back and grab the ultimately response to what wasn't supposed to be a season full of adversity. 

Their manager's implored them to find that resolve. Now they need to put their skipper's pleas into practice.