Padres News: Bob Melvin Down on Friars Lineup After 'Disappointing Effort' vs Tigers
It has been the same story all season long for the San Diego Padres. They gain some momentum, only to lose it in their next game. It’s been an endless cycle of mediocrity this year in what was supposed to be a potentially crowning season.
They were expected to take that next step forward toward winning their first-ever World Series, but at least so far, it hasn’t played out that way. And after a 5-5 road trip to open the second half of the season, things remain the same.
The team had hoped to use this road trip as a springboard to help get them back into contention, but it was just another reminder of their issues.
San Diego dropped games against the Toronto Blue Jays and Detroit Tigers when they could have gone for the sweep, and winning two of three against any team should feel like a victory. But the reality is that the Friars missed a few opportunities on this road trip.
“We’ve seen this game before, and these are key games,” manager Bob Melvin said. “This is a key game today, to go out with a little bit more fire. Now, look, when you don’t hit, it doesn’t look great. But I just felt like we should have done a little more damage.”
Just a day after the Padres hung 14 runs on the Tigers on Saturday, their wildly inconsistent offense struck again. The team scored just one run on Sunday as the Tigers avoided the sweep. These are the kinds of things that have gone against the Friars all season.
“I think it was more about today, to tell you the truth, and it’s a pretty disappointing effort, at least off the starter,” Melvin said. “I mean, you give him credit. He somehow got us out, nothing against him. But we gotta have a better approach."
There is still plenty of time for the Padres to turn things around, but they need to act fast. They are six games back of the final wild-card spot in the National League entering play Monday with 60 games to go, so the clock is ticking.
“If we want to get where we want to get,” Fernando Tatis Jr. said, “stuff like this cannot be happening.”
