Hi!
Been a while. Some of you probably forgot you ever signed up for this newsletter. Others of you forgot it existed. Many of you have asked me in person over the last few months “When is the next newsletter??” and I must say I really appreciated that and it’s motivated me a bit. So let’s jump back in. Will there be more after this? Who knows! But let’s give it a rip…
Today we cover the state of the Padres relative to the standings and the playoffs and all that—I get on quite a roll, so I hope it’s readable. We also celebrate the tradition of Hanging a Star at Petco, dive into Mason Miller’s immaculate inning yesterday and I ask for a little help.
Enjoy!
One of My Baseball Truths
This is one of those things that applies on a micro level—slumps and hot streaks; but also on a macro level—wins and losses. I say it a decent amount on the radio, but it would seem to be particularly relevant at this moment in time:
In baseball, when you’re hot, it feels like you’ll never lose again. And when you’re cold, it feels like you’ll never win again.
I know a lot of people are feeling this right now. The second one, to be clear. And I totally get it. When you’re locked in on a team every day and you see them drop four straight and eight of 10, especially at this time of year, it feels like the wheels are coming off or the whole ball of yarn is coming apart. And i totally get that, too.
A quick reminder, though…
Prior to this stretch, the most recent four-game losing streak was back towards the end of July. They lost the last two games of a series in Miami, then the first two games of a four-game series in St. Louis. It was ugly. It didn’t look good or feel good. And then what happened? They reeled off six straight wins: the last two games at Busch, followed by a three game sweep of the Mets and another win over the Cardinals at home.
And by the end of that Mets series, the four-game losing streak felt like a distant memory.
I’m not going to sit here and insist that they’re about to win five or six in a row…and I won’t even try and sell you that in a week this will be forgotten, but what I will say is that it’s important to remember these things happen1.
Late Season Struggles
Great perspective on all this from Kevin Acee of the Union-Tribune in his newsletter earlier this week.
If you missed it, Kevin pointed out that 17 of the 18 pennant winners since 2015 have endured a losing stretch of at least nine games in late August and/or September. He also provided a handy chart:
That’s pretty wild. And such a wonderful reminder that even the best of the best often look listless this late in the season.
Which Brings Us To…
I don’t actually think it’s that late yet.
And I know that might sound insane.
But 24 days in baseball life is way more than 24 days in regular life. While that might not stand up to mathematical scrutiny, there’s something to it because the amount of things (both in the standings and with vibes) that can and usually will change week-to-week in this sport is unreal.
Not to ignore this weekend’s games at Coors, but let’s use this coming Monday (9/8) as our jumping off point. That week, the Padres will host the Reds for three and the Rockies for four. That’s seven games. The difference between a potential 5-2 week and a 2-5 week is massive, right?
Then, the next week, they go to Citi Field and and Rate Field to play three against the Mets and three more against the White Sox. Possibility of anything from say 6-0 to 0-6, right?
And either one of those weeks could and would feel like a massive swing in emotion!
And guess what? After that…there are STILL six more regular season games (Milwaukee and Arizona at home). So you have another chance for a big swing one way or the other.
Those are three long (and yes, big) weeks ahead. To say nothing of the games this weekend. And so I guess what I’m getting at is that my thought (and hope) is that the Padres are getting their last ugly stretch out of the way right now…but also that there’s still quite a bit to be decided the rest of the way.
Hang a Star!
Padres radio listeners certainly know about our wonderful tradition of hanging a star for a great defensive play at Petco Park. It’s one of those great little things that provides some of the extra character that we have downtown.
AJ Cassavel of MLB.com recently did a fun story on some of the behind-the-scenes aspects of The Star, which I obviously recommend.
He digs into the mechanics of how the star gets hung, the actual physical star itself, and much more. Fun read, for sure, and I appreciate AJ shining some light on our little tradition.
Also included: a screengrab of the ridiculous spreadsheet I’ve been keeping this year and some great quotes from Manny Machado and Jake Cronenworth about if they think we do a good job or not.
Speaking of Padres Radio…
I hate to politic for votes, but! The sports media website Awful Announcing is currently running a poll to grade all the different radio teams around MLB. I believe voting closes tomorrow (Friday), so if you ever listen to Tony, Dave and myself, and think we do a decent enough job, we would certainly appreciate your support.
Holy Mason Miller
When we use the term “immaculate” these days, it seems we’re generally talking about vibes, but yesterday afternoon Padre reliever Mason Miller brought us back in time by throwing an immaculate inning against the Orioles.
Nine pitches (all sliders!2), nine strikes, three outs.
It was only the second time in Padre history that a pitcher pulled that off. As in, for a time, there were more Padre no-hitters than there were immaculate innings.
The other one? Brian Lawrence, in June of 2002 against…these same Orioles.
The last time it happened to the Orioles? 2022. The pitcher? Nestor Cortes. As in the same guy who started yesterday’s game for the Padres.
Baseball is the best and dumbest.
Miller’s three victims: Jeremiah Jackson, Ryan Mountcastle and Emmanuel Rivera. Lawrence’s? Brook Fordyce, Jerry Hairston Jr. and Melvin Mora.
Thanks as Always for Reading
I kind of forgot how much I enjoy punching these newsletters out. They’re easy to push aside during the season, when the daily grind of baseball rules my life, but I hope you all have enjoyed. Hopefully we’ll run it back in a couple of weeks with a bunch of wins under our belts and some more fun stuff to talk about.
Have a great weekend!
jesse
I don’t want to come across as delusional, btw, so it’s certainly worth pointing out that the team MUST get more from their starting rotation for the next three weeks. I think it’s fair to say that the troubles in that department have led to some of the other issues, which I think they’re capable of shaking off, but top of the priority list right now, without question, is starting pitching.
When Miller arrived in San Diego and we all started to get to know him, one of the first questions was about his repertoire. And Mason was insistent that his best pitch was his slider. And I think a lot of us kind of stood there thinking to ourselves something along the lines of “uh, does the guy know he throws 104?” But yeah I get it now.