Padres 6, Giants 2

The die is cast. The Braves clinched the east, whereas the Phillies got blasted by the Astros. This means we play the Mets in New York. Now we'll see just what our 89 (and possibly 90) regular season wins are worth. We'll have to win on the road, and yet, I don't think people are necessarily quick in giving the Padres the underdog label. 

The Mets, on the other hand, have won 100 games. That's a remarkable season for any team, no matter what your expectations or your payroll happens to be. Jacob DeGrom, obviously, is the one player I fear the most. He can be electrifying, especially at home, and I don't think he'll disappoint. The Mets rise and fall with their ace. Over the last three seasons, he's pitched 12, 15, and 11 games respectively, so his health his questionable. He was only 5-4 this season, but don't let that fool you. 102 strikeouts (versus eight walks, a 12.75 SO to BB rate!) in 64 innings tell me the man is still packing some serious heat. By DeGrom's standards, his numbers are down. The ERA is at 3.08, for example, and his WHIP is slightly up. His lifetime stats against the Padres are deceptive: 6-3, but with a 1.28 ERA over 10 games. DeGrom hasn't pitched in the postseason since 2015, and I'm sure he'll be ready. Here the over/under should be three runs. In playoff baseball, there will be more one-run games, the margin for error is razor thin. We'll see what happens.

In yesterday's game, Sean Manaea pitched six shutout innings, allowing one walk and one hit. The stats ignore the fact that the Giants missed quite a few pitches high and over the plate. Too late, Manaea. Everybody can come through in games that don't count. Wil Myers padded his horrible stats with a homer, Nola had two hits, Profar had another two. Bell batted cleanup and drew two walks. This is when we offer rest to whoever needs it. Soto rested today, Manny did yesterday. Our guys now know that the focus is on the playoffs. Take a day off, but then be ready. 

Meanwhile, Aaron Judge broke the AL record with his 62nd dinger against the Rangers. Good for him. To me, this should be the real record. McGwire, Bonds, and Sosa, also known as the doo-wop trio the Asterisks, should never be in the record books. I will never forgive Bud Selig for allowing the roiders to flourish the way he did in the 90s. Call me a snob, but that's also why I don't care about 1998 pennant winning team. I can't think of a team that was more roided than them.

Padres 7, Giants 4

That's win number 88 for the year, for what it's worth. The Phillies clinched a playoff berth earlier in the day when they shut out the Astros in Houston. We now know who the dancers are for the postseason, now we need to establish the order.

The Dodgers are the one seed, no calculations needed there. Two: the Braves lost to the Marlins, but I doubt they will lose the NL East at this time. It looks like Atlanta has the two seed wrapped up. St. Louis is at three, New York at four. Our Friars at five, Phillies at six, unless...the Phillies make up a game on us. In that case, there would be a tiebreaker, which the Phillies would win. The question at this time is where we will be booking our tickets, to New York or St. Louis. As it stands now, we head to New York.

In last night's game, we scored all of our runs in the eighth, the Giants all of theirs in the ninth thanks to a meltdown by Tim Hill, which actually required Hader saving it for us in the end. Musgrove hurled six shutout innings, so he is getting ready for the postseason. What bothers me is that, again, we were shut out for the first seven innings. The Giants opened with John Brebbia, a bullpen journeyman who pitched one shutout inning. Next came Sean Hjelle (Lord, the Giants' pitchers have some weird names), who had a seven plus ERA entering this game. Of course he shut out the Padres for five innings, striking out eight in the process. 

Brandon Drury was one-for-two with two walks, which is good to see. Drury has had a .295 OBP since joining the Padres, which is atrocious. If we keep penciling him in at the three or four spot, he will have to take pitches. If you have an OBP under .300, pitchers drool. They know you're an out machine and that the percentages are with the pitchers. A .300 OBP is a liability to the team, I don't care how many homers you hit.

I keep reading on the forum that our fans want Wil Myers to be re-signed. Please, no. We already got rid of one underachieving first baseman (Hoz), let's just finish the job. There is absolutely nothing Wil Myers has done that would make me miss him. 

White Sox 2, Padres 1

Well, we clinched a playoff berth despite losing two of three to the White Sox who, quite frankly, suck this year. Whoever thought that it would be such a good idea to bring Tony LaRussa back was probably the guy who traded away Tatis, and should probably be banned from baseball. Nothing against LaRussa. He's a Hall of Fame Manager, look it up. I don't think that it's a stretch to say that the game has passed him by. Let it go, Tony. You have nothing left to prove.

We punched our ticket before the game, when the Brewers lost to the Marlins in extras, which all but guaranteed our place in the postseason dance. The Phillies could still catch us (and in a way I wish they would), but we will be the five or six seed. This means we will face either the Mets (more likely) or the Cardinals (more desirable). The Mets just got swept by the Braves over the weekend, which means the Braves will probably win the NL East and have the second seed. That leaves us with the Mets as the four seed. Either way, it looks like a best-of-three on the road with the Mets. They will probably throw DeGrom and Scherzer at us, and we'll counter with Darvish and Snell.

All right, so the plus is that we're in the playoffs for the first time since 2008, not counting the 2020 COVID-shortened season. The fact that our owner has spent the money necessary to build a winner has been rewarded, and the community acknowledges that. We have a winning team in town, which is kind of nice, when you consider they're the only show in town, as far as professional major sports go. As a Padres fan, having a winning team is no guarantee, and I am living proof of that. In baseball, we have always been a bottom feeder. So, ring one up for the owner.

The downside is, of course, that we still suck. Too often, we would play down to the level of our competition. There were the games against the Rockies, who beat us 11 times this season, if I'm not mistaken. The Tigers beat us...I know, right? We lost too many games against average teams like the Marlins, the Nationals, the Pirates, and the White Sox, among others. Even after the big trade, our offense still looks paralyzed at times. Surprisingly, even Manny joined in on the suckfest yesterday. First and third, one out, eighth inning, down by one, and he pops out. Yet, based on last year's postseason results, we are supposed to grab the opportunity and roll to a World Series win. I highly doubt that, it's more likely we'll get rolled in two games. 

But heck, that's why they play the games, right? Bring on the Mets! Actually, we need to travel there, for one. But there are still three games left against the Giants, a team we have owned this season.

Dodgers 1, Padres 0

We squeezed out Game 1 after a bases-loaded walk in the 10th inning by Alfaro, which cut our magic number down to four. It's still four after the Dodgers silenced our bats for 10 innings. This is playoff baseball, really, when every out, every pitch counts. With the Dodgers, it is always a battle. Beat them one night, and you need to cure the hangover in time to try and beat them again. 

Urias, their guy, shut us out for six innings, Musgrove shut out the Dodgers for five. Only this time, Musgrove put on a Snell, 106 pitches in five innings. They made our boy work. Urias, too, would have gone longer, but it was a grind for him as well. Urias is just huge for the Dodgers. He is the anchor, although not necessarily the ace, of that staff. With the Dodgers already losing valuable man hours (Bauer, Buehler, May, most notably) from their pitchers, you have Gonsolin and Anderson stepping up in a big way to fill the void. Kershaw is no longer the dominator he once was, but he is a presence. Urias won 20 games last year, and it's 17 so far this year. That's no accident.

The Dodgers never beat themselves. They snuff out the enemy when it is needed, where it is needed, home or away. They don't give you extra outs, extra bases or commit those base running blunders that might end an inning. That professionalism and talent is hard to match for most ballclubs. When you look at the top of that lineup, Betts-Turner-Freeman, you just have to tip your cap. These guys were already champions before they signed with the Dodgers, it didn't really take much for them to buy into what needed to be done in LA. Betts is a sure fire HOFer, Freeman will get serious ink for it, and Turner is building his credentials as we speak. They know that they will probably need another ring or two to make that happen, and they are well on their way.

Too often, our players get lost in the moment when we beat the Dodgers. How many Game ones have we won, only to lose the series after realizing you need to bring that effort, that A-game every single day? You can't rest with the Dodgers, I think we've lost 15 out of our last 20 to them. The good news is that we would "only" have to win a best-of-five or best-of-seven in the playoffs against them should we advance that far. For all of their bluster, the Dodgers are vulnerable in the postseason. They won the 1920 World Series, and rightfully so, but the results before and after that are puzzling. They lost the World Series against Houston and Boston, then lost against the Braves last year before they could get another shot at winning it all. Even with those division titles and pennants, the Dodgers have won the World Series only once since 1988, which makes them postseason underachievers. And Dodger fans know I'm right. 

The Dodgers have already clinched the one seed and the right to Kumbaya for a weekend, but you knew they weren't coming to San Diego without all of their guns. They're going to keep that foot on our throats for as long as they can. 

On to the rubber game. Who wants it more?