This was NOT GOOD...

This was disappointing as the Padres dropped the finale of the series thanks to these poor performances on offense, defense, and pitching. All around a bad game, but will this affect the Padres in the future? Let's talk about it. Hi, welcome back to another episode of Padres Digest with your host, Andrew. Today, not a good day. We've had worse days, but today, not a good day. This is definitely a game we should have won in multiple different occasions. A series we should have won. We could have swept this series to be honest, but it didn't happen and now we're disappointed, right? I don't think this is going to like ruin the Padres or start us off in a cold streak, at least I hope. Hold on, let me do my thing. Got to knock on wood for that, but these are the kind of things we should be winning. These are the kind of series that should be marked as a 2-1 victory or a sweep or whatever, right? It didn't happen, so the two things we can do is either A, be sad about it, or B, move on. You know what I mean? So I choose to move on. There are some things we want to point out, and by we I mean me, but we'll get into it in a sec. Before anything though, please subscribe as always. Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, Padres Digest. So let's start with this, someone noticed on Twitter, and by someone I mean too much Mortens, who I love. Padres run scored per game on the road trip. 7, cool. 1, not cool. 5, cool. 2, not great. So, first stretch in the second half, they've shown some inconsistency. Need to pick it up back at home. And we've had some, like, the stretches in this game too, like we had the Guardians game where we almost got no hit. This game where we were getting no hit for a while. Like, the offense had really good games, really bad games, and it's the kind of inconsistency that can lead to bad habits and bad games and bad series. So I'm hoping this doesn't ruin things for us, but I have faith, right? I have faith. I think we're having players, like Samad Taylor just had a homerun today on his first or second rehab game, I don't know which game it was. But today he had a homerun, so he'll be back soon hopefully. Maybe Musgrove can come back and help a little bit. So I don't think it's the end of the world. I think we're going to get some help back, and Samad Taylor is literally the spark plug on this offense. Austin Hayes has disappointed me a little bit, but I also don't know why we're playing him against righties. He's never been good against righties, so why are we even doing it? But alas, I don't mind the effort of trying, but I don't know. You guys give me your thoughts on that. But just a disappointing day overall. I'm not blaming anyone. I think it's just a team, full team loss. But 2-4 today, no one was a top performer. Maybe Tatis, but I think just overall, if we don't win as a team, no one gets to get a spotlight. You know, disappointing way to close the road trip. King pitched well enough to win, but the offense went 2-for-12 at runner's and scoring position, which is not going to win you many games. But yeah, Padres Kappa rotating six-game road trip through Cleveland and New York with a frustrating finale. Michael King pitched well, and there was traffic all night, but San Diego finished just 2-for-12 at runner's and scoring position. That, of course, is from AJ Kasevel. Luckily, Arizona is also doing bad, so we're doing fine in the standings. We're still holding third place in the wildcard, which, you know, is a playoff spot, so we can't complain about that. But worst case, if Diamondbacks win today, we'll still be above them. And hopefully, the Phillies, I'm pretty sure they're playing today, I don't know why they wouldn't be, can lose today. And we'll see what happens, right? Not the end of the world, but let's not get comfortable with sucking. But hitting-wise, it's not a great day. I mean, Tatis, RBI, the hit, the walk, cool. Machado, not great. Jackson Merrill, not great, which is not good, because when those guys pick it up, we usually win games, especially Merrill. My fear with Merrill right now is, since he told everybody that he'll swing and doesn't care what happens, and like, he'll get results, which was- it was working, right? My fear is that pitchers saw that, and they're like, okay, let me just throw you the most absolute garbage pitches I can think of, and since you don't care anymore, just swing at it. You know what I mean? That's my fear with Merrill, but we'll see if that's actually what's gonna happen. But I expect more from him. Ranjitho, cool, I guess. Camposano, walks a lot, which I love. Bogarts, I don't know what happened to Bogarts. I haven't seen anything yet, but I hope and assume he's fine. But cool that he got a hit. Gavin Cheats with the RBI, nice seeing that. Sungmoon Sung, I love you, please do better, even on defense. Austin Hayes, I already sent my piece on Austin Hayes, but 2 for 12, just not good. Especially the first couple of innings where we actually, you know, walked and looked good, and then did absolutely nothing with it. So not gonna win a lot of games doing that, let's put it that way. Pitching-wise, though, Michael King has torn me a little bit. I mean, he had a good game, but also not a great game, but a solid game. I don't like that he gives up home runs, and he's given up a home run in each of his past five starts, sometimes multiple home runs. So I don't like that. I don't like the walks, but he was actually really good for the first part, and then kind of fell off in the second part. So I'm fine with it, but I don't love it. I think we have better Casey Mize, but I would rather he struggle now than struggle in September or October, right? Jeremiah Estrada has been shaky for the entire year, so I guess I would rather he do bad on this game than another game, but we could have at least tied the game if it wasn't for him and Yuki Matsui, even though Yuki Matsui did get—oh, Jeremiah Estrada got screwed because of Sung Moon Sung, but okay. Okay, but Michael King nearly went 7, which is cool. One bad inning aside, per Papa Frank, this is one of the best starts in weeks. Slider usage went way up, 21% to 9, his highest of the season, with his lowest changeup usage to match. I guess it worked well for him. He had 106 on the sweeper, 103 on the slider, 101 on the sinker, so—on the force, he went 104, so overall, above-average day stuff-wise for him, so cool. 63% strike percentage, so cool, but again, home runs, don't like that. Estrada was booty. 0.2 innings pitched, two runs on two hits, turned a manageable spot into a bigger hole in the eighth, and then obviously Sung's throwing area extended the inning and let the unearned run score, so not great. I did kind of jinx us by saying that Robert Stock, former Padre, was going to throw a no-hitter against us, and he kind of did for a little bit, but yeah, their bullpen just kind of shut us down a little bit, and then Kodai Senga, who I guess is now a closer, did enough. Again, I don't know why Austin Hayes is batting, but okay, whatever you say. I don't know, I'm just—I'm just disappointed. I don't think this is the end of the world. Like I said, I don't think this is gonna—oh, the Padres suck now, this is our decline. If it is, that sucks, and I'm sorry I said that. Uh, hold on, let me just knock on wood just in case, because I'm paranoid. Uh, I—I don't know. I expect more. We'll see what happens next series. I already forgot who we're playing, give me a sec, I'll check. Okay, yeah, I was right in my head, the Twins. We're playing the Twins, who aren't super good, but you know, have talent, so let's not get too comfortable, I guess. We'll move on. I don't know, we'll move on, but what do you guys think? Do you think this is gonna mark the start of our downfall, or do you think it's just a bump in the road? We'll get over it, hot stretch, cold stretch, whatever you want to say about it. Uh, do you think Michael King's a good pitcher, bad pitcher? The results are good, but the pitching is not? You let me know. And how do you feel about the offense overall? Do you think the inconsistencies are starting to rear their ugly head back, or again, is this just a cold stretch for them? We'll figure it out. Let me know how you're feeling right now, and as always, thank you for watching, please subscribe as always, follow us on X, Instagram, Facebook, Padres Digest. Thank you to our channel members, join memberships for awesome bonus features, and I'll see you guys hopefully on Friday. I'll have a video tomorrow, of course, but Friday, hopefully for a stream. I'm getting better, so I should be okay. But yeah, thank you guys. Please win next game, next series, next whatever. Win every game forever, Padres. Thank you, goodbye.