Padres 4, Diamondbacks 1

An update on Manny's status revealed an ankle sprain, so we are waiting to see whether he will have to hit the DL or not. Anybody who has had an ankle sprain, and I have had plenty of them, know those won't heal overnight. Reports say his ankle was black and blue, although that doesn't necessarily indicate how serious it is. Ankle sprains can put you out for anywhere from one week to one month, or even more. Rest is needed either way. I feel bad for Manny, because I have always considered him our most important player, even more so than Tatis. He has been our MVP this season, hands down. We need to look on the bright side: the injury is happening 68 games into the season. 

With Manny gone, we needed the other players to pick up the slack. After getting whipped by the Rockies, we needed to up our game. Darvish started the game, allowed a first inning run and threw something like 25 first inning pitches, in other words he was pulling a Blake Snell. He settled down nicely after that, pitching seven innings with four hits allowed, just the one run, and five strikeouts. The total pitch count in the end was 104...beautiful, I guess the extra day of rest does do our pitchers some good. Darvish is now at 7-3 and looking great. We'll go with Manaea tonight, so let's see what we can do for an encore. In the end, this team will rise and fall with our pitching staff.

With Manny gone, we had the usual suspects step in. A homer by Cron, a dinger by Grish. We only had four hits in total, but also five walks, two of them by Austin Nola. Kim had a clutch two-run single that gave us the lead in the second inning, one we would never relinquish. C'mon, guys, we can do it! Even with Manny and Tatis gone, there are plenty of gamers on this team. With the skipper on the COVID list, Ryan Flaherty is taking over nicely. If Ryan is ever going to be a manager himself, though, he will need to work on his public speaking skills. Poor guy looks like a deer in the headlights talking to those reporters, and actually still sounds like he's one of the players. 

A look at the standings: tied for first place, would you believe it, although we have played four more games than the Dodgers. After Arizona, we will play four more games at home with the Phillies, which I absolutely dread. Following the dismissal of their skipper, Joe Girardi, the Phillies have played themselves right back into contention. But first things first: we need to take care of business against the Zonies. Need to win this series after getting squished by the Rockies.