Padres 4, Cubs 1

Another kid starter shut us down today. Ever heard of Justin Steele? Gotta like the name. Pitched seven, gave up one run on six hits. Right now, it seems you can throw anybody at us, and we can't hit. Back to reality following a 30-run barrage in three games. Something will have to give in this lineup.

Darvish, luckily, was more than up to the challenge versus his former teammates. Eight innings, one run, and one well deserved W. Nice to give the bullpen a rest following another cross-country trip with no day off. In the end, though, I am only wondering more about our hitters. The last four starters had a combined five-plus ERA against us. Is it really that easy to shut us down? Today we face Kyle Hendricks, who owns us. Feel lucky, guys? Manaea will need at least a quality start to give us a chance.

Wrigley Field, of course, brings back other memories, aside from movies like The Blues Brothers and Ferris Bueller. I'm referring to our 1984 pennant winners, of course. The old-timers among us remember it well. NLCS, Game 1, Padres versus Cubs, Rick Sutcliffe versus Eric Show. And those who remember also know we got our heads handed to us that day. 13-0. Thirteen. Zip. Unlucky numbers, both of them. Sutcliffe pitched seven shutout innings and hit a dinger, for the final knee to the nuts. Bob Dernier Homered. So did Ron Cey (thought he was done pestering us just because he left the Dodgers?). Gary Matthews even hit two. 16 hits in all, once they let us out of the slaughterhouse. Game 2 was more amenable, although they still won, 4-2 behind Steve Trout's pitching. The Cubs' fans gave us hell. Back in those days, the NLCS format was 2-3, meaning, in this case, two games on the road in Chicago, followed by three at home in San Diego. I don't think there were many Compadres then who thought there would be a Game 5, or even a Game 4. But we did win Game 3 behind Ed Whitson. The rest, as they say, is history. Padres fans came out in droves and carried this team. Still my proudest moment as a Padres fan.

All right, I just turned the time machine around in time for the year 2022. On offense, it's funny how things happen for us when Profar gets on base. Cron had three hits behind him, and Manny had the tiebreaking single in the eighth. Hos had a big two-run double for us that should reverse his fortunes somewhat. Hos is so important to this lineup. If he doesn't produce, we get shut down once Manny had his AB from the three spot. Tied for first place. To make up for the games we lost against the Rockies, I demand three out of four in Chicago.