Who’s hot and who’s not for Padres: July 4-10
Mandatory Credit: Orlando Ramirez-USA TODAY Sports
The Padres finished a subpar week at 2-4. They were swept in a two-game series with the Mariners and took a series split with the San Francisco Giants.
Here is a look at those who played well this week and a few that did not.
Hot
It’s nice to see the rookie putting together a few solid games. After a rough first stint in the big leagues that saw him get demoted back to El Paso, Abrams looks more comfortable in his second go-around. This week, he went 5-for-13 (.385) with a double.
Despite the Padres dropping the game, Darvish pitched well on Saturday against the Giants. He completed seven innings for the seventh time this season. Along the way, he allowed just one run and struck out six.
If you look at just his batting average for the week (.158), you might wonder why he is on the “hot” list. First, he was named the National League All-Star starting third baseman this week after winning the fan vote over Nolan Arenado of St. Louis. This marks his sixth All-Star appearance and second with San Diego. This also means the Padres have had a starter in the Midsummer Classic for back-t0-back years (Tatis). Then he ushered in the City Connect uniform era with a three-run homer in Friday night’s 6-3 win over San Francisco.
Things Manny Machado is:
⚪️ An All-Star
⚪️ A Padre
⚪️ Good at baseball
🔘 All of the above pic.twitter.com/p6LRTf39bh— San Diego Padres (@Padres) July 9, 2022
Snell finally looked like the vintage Snell the Padres were hoping for when they traded for him. In six innings on Friday, he struck out 11. That’s 23 total strikeouts in his last two starts alone. He now owns a 1.64 ERA in his last two starts with a gaudy 18.8 strikeouts-per-nine-innings.
Blake Snell, Dirty Breaking Balls. 😨 pic.twitter.com/oB5mM3iZOH
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) July 9, 2022
Not
The Padres’ second baseman continues to struggle after a brief hot period. Over the six games this week, he hit .160 with a lowly .476 OPS. He is having an uncharacteristic season, batting .235 in 85 games.
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The trend with Gore is concerning. After a strong start to the season that saw him soar up the NL Rookie of the Year boards, he has crashed back down to Earth. Since the start of June, he owns a 7.86 ERA in six starts. On Sunday, it came to a head against the Giants. After his velocity touched 96-97 mph consistently, he struggled to approach 95 on Sunday. The Giants teed off on him to the tune of eight earned runs in 3 1/3 innings.
Manaea normally has good numbers against the Seattle Mariners, from his days in their division with Oakland. It didn’t look like it on Independence Day when the Mariners got to him for four runs on four walks and eight hits through just 3 1/3 innings. He owns a 6.75 ERA in his last two starts.
Native of Escondido, CA. Lived in San Diego area for 20 years. Padres fan since childhood (mid-90s). I have been writing since 2014. I currently live near Seattle, WA and am married to a Seattle sports girl. I wore #19 on my high school baseball team for Tony Gwynn. I am a stats and sports history nerd. I attended BYU on the Idaho campus. I also love Star Wars.