Good morning,
Joe Musgrove could hardly have been better in his Padres debut.
Ryan Weathers continued to pitch with a poise that belies his years.
The Padres played their best defense in three games, and at the plate they continued to be sold out on making pitchers work.
“This was game three in just starting a season; it was our best-played game,” Jayce Tingler said. “Being able to get the first two games was nice, but if we’re being honest with ourselves, we haven’t been as clean defensively, we’ve certainly made some mistakes on the bases. We’ve thrown a couple extra pitches here or there. Tonight, we were able to bring that all together. We were on the attack. It starts on the mound. We played good defense behind. I just really love what we’ve been able to do so far offensively and how much pride our hitters are taking in their judgement, decision making in the zone and the ability they have to keep the line moving and trust the next guy behind them. I really appreciate that.”
The story of the night was Musgrove going six scoreless innings in his first start for his hometown team. And Weathers getting the Padres’ first three-inning save since 2006 might portend good things.
But the story of the season is that the Padres remain steadfast in their offensive approach.
For the third straight game, they got a Diamondbacks pitcher up to an unsustainable number of pitches by the third inning.
The Padres lead the major leagues with 18 walks. Their 25 full counts are third most in the majors. Their .414 on-base percentage is third.
The Padres non-pitchers chased just nine of 68 pitches they saw outside the zone last night. Over the three games, their non-pitchers are chasing at a rate of 26.5 percent. That’s slightly lower than last season, when their 27.2 chase rate ranked third in the majors.
The point is they are building on the offensive improvement they made last season.
So far. It’s just three games.
But get this:
The Padres were also 3-0 in 1969 and 1980.
The only time they have been 4-0 was 1984. That team, which ended up making it to the franchise’s first World Series, lost its fifth game that season.
Manny handling
The signs were there that Manny Machado was about to break out.
He wasn’t swinging at bad pitches and he was making hard outs in the first two games. Last night, he went 3-for-4 with a home run.
Those are his only three hits after starting the season 0-for-7. But of the 10 balls he has put in play, a major league-leading seven have had an exit velocity of 100.3 mph or higher.
“He was really crisp at the plate,” Tingler said. “It’s really good to see. Once he feels that, he’s got the ability to maintain and hold it.”
Still searching, still amazing
Fernando Tatis Jr. went hitless for a second straight game and is 1-for-12 on the season.
It’s pretty clear he is pressing, which is something he has done only in rare and brief stretches in his career.
He swung at nine of the 20 pitches he saw outside the zone in the first two games and three of nine last night. That’s a 41.4 percent chase rate — 12 points higher than in his first two seasons.
Once again, however, Tatis did something that few other players would have even thought/known/been able to do. And he scored a run because of it. Plus, there was a bonus in the play, in that Tatis showed how he is working to smartly preserve his body while still remaining one of the most dynamic players in the game.
On a routine grounder to shortstop in the fourth inning, Tatis was essentially going about 80 percent to first base, which is something he simply hasn’t done. It’s what a veteran does. But when Tatis was almost to the bag, the throw bounced and got away from first baseman Christian Walker. Tatis did not hesitate even an instant before turning on the burners and getting to second base. He then scored on a single by Machado, the next batter.
The ball wasn’t that far from Walker or catcher Stephen Vogt, who was trailing on the play. Most runners would have wasted time looking for where it went and not been able to advance, but it was as if Tatis just knew right away he could pull off the extra base.
Weathers attack
The reason Weathers made the team out of spring was on display last night.
The 21-year-old left-hander threw strikes.
He was protecting a seven-run lead, yes. But he didn’t let that lead get any smaller as he retired nine of the 10 batters he faced. He struck out three of them and threw 25 strikes among his 38 pitches.
“To be able to finish the game with two pitchers and kind of reset the bullpen, it was huge,” Tingler said. “… For Weathers to do what he did tonight just pumping strikes, stayed on the attack. For him to finish the game, that was huge. He did his job.”
Rest is good sometimes
Even if Weathers hadn’t saved the bullpen, Emilio Pagán wasn’t going to pitch last night after throwing 20 pitches Thursday and 16 on Friday.
Two days in a row is enough. It’s evidently just right for Pagán, who threw a perfect inning and was awarded the win in both games. He is among the best relievers in the game on zero days’ rest. Only Alex Claudio’s 1.37 ERA is better than Pagán’s 1.38 mark in 27 games (26 innings) pitching on consecutive days since the start of the 2019 season.
Grateful
I think one of the coolest things in baseball is when an outfielder makes a spectacular play to save a hit and the pitcher tips his cap in appreciation.
It has all the feels. The play, the crowd going nuts, the salute from a grateful teammate.
That’s what occurred in the fourth inning last night when Musgrove gave up rare hard contact on a drive to deep left field by Christian Walker. Mateo denied Walker at least a double by sprinting back and leaping to make a catch as he crashed into the wall.
“Mateo saved me,” Musgrove said. “… I hadn’t had anybody on second. A lot of things come into play with a guy on second. You’re worried about a guy stealing your signs, so you have to go to your sign packages. There’s a lot of things that come into play. So Mateo making that play was huge.”
Time to get after it
Today feels like a significant start for Chris Paddack.
He couldn’t get out of his own head his final two spring training starts and let bad innings become horrible ones, a problem that followed him from the 2020 season.
“I want to see him get athletic and get aggressive and finish pitches,” Tingler said. “Bring the fight to them. Whatever is going to happen, make it happen early. Don’t be dancing around the zone, get after it. Use the bottom of the zone, use the top, use the corners and be an athlete and get after it. That’s what we’re expecting to see.”
Tingler agreed that Paddack’s issues are more in his head than his arm or mechanics.
“I think it’s just going to be a little bit of a mindset, aggressiveness,” Tingler said. “I think it’s going to be good, get a little bit of that adrenaline out there and be able to go.”
I don’t know that Paddack is in danger of losing his starting job just yet. But the Padres of 2021 figure to have less tolerance for players figuring out things on the fly. Dinelson Lamet is targeted to return by the end of the month, and Weathers looks good.
She’s right
Susie Tyler wrote to compliment me for “a great newsletter as always.” (Her words. What can I do?)
But she also called me out for an omission: “You didn’t say one thing about Machado’s fabulous new shoes.”
It’s true. I blew it. I should have mentioned the gold shoes Machado wore Friday.
By the way, do you know how cool you have to be to pull these off?
Machado did not wear the shoes last night.
Rookie next up
The Diamondbacks’ Taylor Widener will make his first career start tonight.
The right-hander, who is officially still a rookie, made his MLB debut against the Padres on the second day of last season. That was the first of his 12 appearance out of the bullpen for Arizona and first of three games in which he pitched against the Padres.
Eric Hosmer is the only current Padres player to get a hit off Widener.
April 04, 2021 at 09:30PM
https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/sports/padres/newsletter/2021-04-04/padres-manny-machado-jorge-mateo-joe-musgrove-chris-paddack-fernando-tatis-ryan-weathers-padres-daily
Padres Daily: Grinding pitchers; Manny hits hard; Mateo's big play; Paddack's big day - The San Diego Union-Tribune
https://news.google.com/search?q=hard&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en
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