By: @PadresConnect 7/31/2022
You know, as many Padres fans would tell you, it's quite easy to get carried away at the ball yard. Petco Park and the Padres organization does such a great job in terms of fan experience and engagement, a myriad of food and beverage choices, the Padres hall of fame, team store, and more. If one is not careful, it's easy for the baseball to become slightly overlooked seeing as though there's so much to see!
Over the course of a 162-game season, it's also easy to go into "auto-pilot" mode so to speak. What we mean by that is that the season is no longer in its infancy, it's well underway, but we're also not near the end of the season either. Therefore, many casual and seasoned fans alike denote this portion of the season as a time where we can take a beat, miss a few games, maybe watch some golf, take the family out for vacation, and for all intents and purposes understand that if there was ever a time to not pay as close attention to the friars then right now would be it.
However, given the fact that Padres Connect works tirelessly to keep up with any and all things Padres (especially with the trade deadline coming up), we decided to attend the game this Sunday against Minnesota and compile a list of our thoughts and observations. Some of these points may lack a bit of nuance and some may be outright random but irregardless, they are salient and may provide some insight as far as ideas or trends to consider as the season progresses.
Sean Mannaea, the starter today, ran out to the bullpen for warmups alone. Earlier in the season we had seen the entire pitching rotation accompany the days starter to the bullpen for warmups. Perhaps today was the exception rather than the rule but noteworthy regardless. Also, Mannaea has struggled through the year with his control and location. Coming into the day he sports a 4+ ERA and has allowed 136 baserunners (94 hits and 42 BB) in 104 innings pitched. Those numbers prove out to be over one baserunner per inning which of course isn't optimal. He has, however, done a decent job of keeping the Friars in games (6-5 W/L record) and is in position to fight for the third spot in the rotation during a (potential) playoff run and especially so after Mackenize Gore landed on the IL.
Sean Mannaea shaved his beard. We had an unofficial vote of the fans around us, bearded Mannaea wins over no-beard Mannaea in a photo finish 5-4.
Bob Melvin continues to place Manny Machado before Cronenworth in the lineup. This isn't new as BoMel has done this a lot throughout the season; however, earlier in the year we may have thought it was more experimental than anything else. Conventional wisdom would place a heavy hitting slugger like Machado behind Cronenworth instead of vice versa because that would (theoretically) force the pitcher to pitch to Jake and pitch aggressively for fear of facing Machado with a runner on base. Perhaps the advanced stats don't play out this way and it is worth nothing that Twins manager Rocco Baldelli constructed his lineup similarly with heavy hitting Carlos Correa batting 2nd in the lineup as well. For what it's worth, Manny in the three hole is something we'd at least like to see explored a bit more.
Today's Padres who played with at least 1 button undone on their jersey: Ha-Seong Kim, Jorge Alfaro, Jurickson Profar, Sean Mannaea, Luke Voit (obviously). It seems Voit's fashion sense is rubbing off onto the rest of the team.
Jorge Alfaro has two walk-up songs and they are both the best walk-up songs on the team. "El Rey" and "Volver, Volver" both by Mexican artist Vicente Fernandez send the crowd into a sing along frenzy each time Alfaro approaches the plate. In terms of fan engagement and a unifying sing along moment for all hispanic fans in attendance, it's hard to beat Alfaro's song choices.
The early season worry that Alfaro was just a Spring Training sensation has since withered away. At this point in the season post all star break, Alfaro has essentially become the undisputed starting catcher. With a WRC+ over 100 and hitting over .270 with the respect of the pitching staff, it's easy to see why.
Ha-Seong Kim still plays great defense and has hit .316 over the last 5 games. Once Tatis comes back Kim will undoubtedly be moved to the bench; however, his contributions out of the 8 spot of the lineup shouldn't be overlooked especially for a Padres team that consistently has to fight tooth and nail for runs.
8. We will not stand for San Diego sports fan slander! (cc Chargers owner Dean Spanos) Petco Park had over 33,000 fans in attendance Sunday for the game against Minnesota (See video). Not bad for a random Sunday home game against a non-rival from the American League!
9. It's past the all star break and Jake Cronenworth is still batting just .237. Earlier in the season we wrote about how Jake will get back to his averages from his all star campaign a year ago. It's definitely taken longer than we expected and is worth monitoring into the second half of the season. Croney is likely closer to his historic averages in terms of how good of a hitter he is; however, how much closer to those averages he will be remains to be seen.
10. Everyone sports hates Carlos Correa still. Or perhaps the boos that rained down every time he came to bat were coincidental?
11. Rulebook Reminder: Managers cannot argue any replay rulings or it will result in an automatic ejection from the game. Perhaps the average fan is more closely aligned with the replay rules; however, this came as a surprise to us! BoMel was thrown out for doing this on a play where Hosmer caught a pop up but the replay ruled it hit the netting prior to the catch being made.
12. The "Closer by Committee" is in full effect; don't be surprised if Taylor Rogers does not get the job back. Rogers is sporting an 8+ ERA in the last month and therefore Bob Melvin decided to announce he'd be, "getting a break from his closing duties" for the time being. Today, the 7th was handled by Nabil Crismatt, followed by Tim Hill, and closed by Luis Garcia.
All in all, it was a great day at the ballpark. The good guys won 3-2 and won the series against Minnesota. Stay tuned for our next edition of Field (Level) notes for more insights and random observations from one Padres fan to another. Additionally, be on the lookout for a Trade Deadline piece coming soon!
Thank you for reading! Padres Connect exists for the purpose of providing insight, sparking conversation, and discussing the team we all love without having to pay to subscribe. We believe Padres baseball talk should be accessible to everyone and serve as a supplement to following the game we know and love. If there's a topic you'd like us to dive into please shoot us a DM @padresconnect on Twitter or send us an email to padresconnect@gmail.com.
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