Tag: San Diego Padres

Manny Machado’s tag that wasn’t in extra innings sums up the Padres’ disappointing season

The Padres might really be cursed.

The San Diego Padres were supposed to be a powerhouse. They were supposed to be a team everyone in the National League feared. Instead, with just about two months left in the regular season, the Padres are three games under .500 and five games out of a Wild Card berth.

As San Diego battled the Colorado Rockies on Monday, a third-base non-tag by Manny Machado summed up the Padres’ woes all year.

When Colorado’s Elehuris Montero tried to take third base in extra innings, Machado laid down a seemingly perfect tag for the out. Except Montero knocked the ball out of Machado’s glove, putting him in scoring position and the Rockies on the verge of an eventual 4-3 upset win.

To be fair to Machado, Montero would eventually be thrown out at home. But not getting the out earlier only extended the proceedings, leading to a game-winning sac-fly from Ryan McMahon.

It’s hard to blame Machado for an unpredictable turn of events. That is a routine play he has made countless times. But such bad luck sums up how the Padres have played all year and why they continue to be a disappointment.

MLB fans rip Padres third base coach for getting Juan Soto thrown out at home by a mile

Not good.

Oh, Matt Williams. This was not a good send.

To be fair, Juan Soto isn’t the SLOWEST of runners. But in Monday’s 4-3 San Diego Padres loss to the Colorado Rockies, Williams — the Padres’ third base coach — waved Soto around in an attempt to grab the lead and watched it fail BADLY.

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Soto was thrown out by a mile in the eighth inning, and what’s even funnier is that the Padres challenged the play, with the hopes that Elias Diaz would be called out for blocking Soto’s path to the plate.

Nope. FAIL:

 

Fernando Tatis Jr. playfully encouraged Phillies fans to get louder during their ‘steroids!’ chant

He’s not bothered by the heckling.

San Diego Padres outfielder Fernando Tatis Jr. expects to get heckled at every away game this season. It was inevitable after he tested positive for the performance-enhancing drug, Clostebol, last season and served an 80-game suspension.

But if Phillies fans wanted to get in Tatis’ head, they should have worked on their material. He seemed to enjoy the heckling.

During a video review in Sunday’s game between the Padres and Phillies, Tatis took a seat in right field at Citizens Bank Park, and that was when the Phillies fans let Tatis hear it with a “steroids!” chant. Rather than ignoring the chant or reacting in a negative way, Tatis had some fun with the heckling.

Video hit TikTok this weekend that showed Tatis playing the role of conductor to the chants and eventually urging the Phillies fans to get louder with the heckles.

By that point, Tatis had probably heard the chant in all 39 away games he’s played in. So why not go along with it? It’s going to follow him the rest of the season after all.

The chants stopped when the replay review ended, and the Phillies went on to win in 12 innings.

A bunch of Reds victory fireworks hilariously interrupted Taylor Swift’s Friday show in Cincinnati

Taylor Swift fans saw fireworks at Friday’s Cincinnati show, but they were actually going off next door.

Taylor Swift fans got an early glimpse at fireworks on Friday night, but they weren’t happening at a concert.

After the Cincinnati Reds defeated the San Diego Padres, 7-5, at home on Friday, the team sparked a round of celebratory fireworks while Taylor Swift concert was going on next door.

The show seemed to be in a quieter mood as piano music could be heard, making the baseball fireworks all the more surprising and jarring.

While there’s plenty of spectacle on display during Swift’s Eras Tour, adjacent fireworks at a baseball stadium probably weren’t part of the plan.

At the least, you can hear a few concert goers get in a good laugh at the random fireworks going off next door.

With the Fourth of July is right around the corner, fireworks will be going off aplenty around the country.

However, baseball fireworks just go off whenever the team wins, but it’s especially funny when it happens during a chill moment at a Taylor Swift concert. That’ll be something those Swifties won’t soon forget.

MLB fans roasted the Padres after a jaw-dropping blunder led to their fifth straight loss

The Padres remain an embarrassment.

The San Diego Padres should probably be thankful that the New York Mets exist because being baseball’s second-most disappointing team is slightly easier to live with. That being said, the Padres are an absolute mess.

Despite heading into the season with baseball’s third-highest payroll and stars throughout the lineup, the Padres are falling rapidly in the National League West standings. And Thursday’s loss against the Pirates won’t make for an enjoyable trip to the weekend series in Cincinnati.

The Padres threw away a win. Almost literally.

With San Diego up by two runs and runners on second and third in the seventh inning, the Pirates managed to tie the game on a soft grounder that didn’t even make it to first base. That’s because pitcher Tim Hill made a complete mess of the play.

Instead of picking up the ball and conceding the run (limiting the damage to a single), Hill made a barehanded, spinning effort without even checking if first base was covered. His erratic throw went by everybody around first base and into right field. Just like that, the Pirates tied the game.

A couple batters later, Henry Davis knocked in the go-ahead run on a single, and the Padres took their fifth straight loss.

There was no telling how the game would have played out had Hill made the smart decision with the grounder, but you can’t really blame MLB fans for piling on the Padres after that embarrassing play.

There’s no excuse for such a talented team to be *that* bad.

Juan Soto took an unreal amount of time returning to the field in the 9th inning: ‘Is this the big leagues?’

It was the ninth inning! What was he doing???

The end of the San Diego Padres and San Francisco Giants’ battle on Tuesday was that of a weird instant classic — a walk-off walk win for the Giants.

But before the bases could even get loaded up for the Giants, every position player for the Padres had to be in place in the field. That includes, you know, Juan Soto, San Diego’s best player. For whatever reason, Soto took so long to return to the field between innings.

He was so late that he even drew the ire of the broadcasters, who pondered whether Soto was breaking some kind of rule:

I don’t know what Soto got up to during his break, but it had to be pretty unusual to stop the game, draw criticism from the broadcast, and even see Giants manager Gabe Kapler advocate for his team.

In a way, the Giants later winning on their walk-off walk was fitting, given how long everyone had to wait for Soto.

The Padres’ Jake Cronenworth couldn’t believe it after umpire Ryan Wills blocked him from second base

The ump seriously blamed Cronenworth …

The San Diego Padres have been one of the biggest disappointments so far this season. But even when it isn’t their fault, the game finds a way to go against the Padres.

During the third inning of Sunday’s game against the Cubs — with the Padres already down six runs — Dansby Swanson seemingly had to make a tough play and retire Jake Cronenworth at second base to end the inning. But the play ended up being way easier for the Cubs shortstop than he probably anticipated.

That was because he got an assist from second base umpire Ryan Wills in the process.

As Cronenworth made his way to second, Wills appeared to be standing right in the base path, essentially blocking Cronenworth from reaching the bag before the inning-ending throw.

The play itself likely wasn’t going to change the game. After all, the Padres were already down big, and Swanson possibly would have gotten Ha-Seong Kim out at first if he threw there instead. Yet, Wills’ poor positioning and subsequent reaction had to be frustrating for the Padres. Wills gestured and spoke to Cronenworth as if it was the baserunner’s fault for running into the umpire. Wills was the one in the way.

Cronenworth could only stand there in disbelief as the inning came to a close. There’s no reason for an umpire to get set up inside the base path.

The Padres promoting 16-year-old (!) Ethan Salas to Single-A makes me feel so old

Dude is just 16! And he’s playing pro baseball!

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There are these moments you have when you get older — or, at least, as a soon-to-be-41-year-old (gahhhhhhhhhhh), I have them.

It usually happens during pro sports league drafts. Like when an 18-year-old or whatever player gets taken No. 1 overall in the NHL draft and I’m thinking, well, here’s a guy who will carry a giant pro franchise on his back and holy cow (not the word I use) I’m in my 40s.

It happened to me on Wednesday morning. I’m sitting here, reading about Ethan Salas. He’s a catcher in the San Diego Padres, signed out of Venezuela and handed a $5.6 million bonus (don’t you wish you could make that kind of money before you turn 21?). And … he’s 16 years old.

What’s more: He just made his debut in Single-A. At 16. SIXTEEN. AND HE GOT A HIT IN HIS DEBUT.

Imagine what you were doing at that age. Were you hitting professional baseballs? This has happened before — Dodgers hurler Julio Urias was 16 and moved up to Single-A a decade ago — but this is wild. The hype around Salas is that he’s got all five tools and that he could move up super-quick — one scout predicted he’d be a 10-time All-Star.

I feel old. But I’m also in awe. Good luck, Ethan, and keep it going!

Quick Hits: NFL RB rankings … Another ump show … and more.

Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

— Christian D’Andrea ranked every NFL team’s RB rotation for 2023.

— Ump Jerry Layne got in Jeremy Pena’s face after making a bad call, and MLB fans rightfully ripped him.

— Eli Drinkwitz went on a confusing NIL rant while discussing NCAA gambling issues.

— Love this Aaron Judge and Teoscar Hernandez exchange after the former robbed the latter of a dinger.

Ha-Seong Kim’s throw to an empty first base summed up the Padres’ embarrassing season so far

Good teams don’t make mistakes like this.

The San Diego Padres went into the season hoping to compete with the Dodgers for the NL West title. On paper, there’s plenty of talent, and they spent big to have free agent Xander Bogaerts join Juan Soto, Manny Machado and Fernando Tatis Jr. on roster.

This team really should not be battling it out with the Rockies at the bottom of the NL West. But after watching their first play in the field of Thursday’s game against the Washington Nationals, it’s easy to see why the Padres are struggling.

They’re making mistakes that contending teams simply do not make.

In the bottom of the first inning, Padres third baseman Ha-Seong Kim made a sweet diving effort on a line drive off the bat of Lane Thomas but couldn’t make the catch.

First baseman Jake Cronenworth assumed that Kim made the catch, so he didn’t go to first base to cover the bag. That ended up being quite the blunder as Kim came up firing to first with Cronenworth watching the ball sail by the empty bag.

Even if it seemed like Kim made the catch initially, Cronenworth has to realize that an out wasn’t called and be at first for the throw. There’s an umpire at third base for a reason, after all.

Thomas advanced to second on the error — which unfortunately was charged to Kim — and would later score in the inning.

Fans also had thoughts on the blunder.

MLB fans couldn’t believe that a motorcycle injury ad appeared during Fernando Tatis Jr.’s at-bat

That cannot be a coincidence. RIGHT?!

The past couple years have been so tumultuous for San Diego Padres star Fernando Tatis Jr. that it’s sometimes difficult to keep track of all the incidents that have kept him away from baseball.

Before Tatis Jr. was suspended 80 games last year for the performance-enhancing drug, Clostebol, he was busy recovering from a fractured wrist that he suffered in a December 2021 motorcycle crash. Well, he’s back from suspension now, and someone at Bally Sports San Diego appeared to have the most appropriate marketing campaign ready to go.

During Tatis’ third-inning at-bat against the Twins on Thursday, an ad for Law Tigers about motorcycle injuries popped up over the Bally Sports scorebug.

I mean, this was just incredible timing. It might have been a coincidence, but it’s difficult to believe that the Padres’ own broadcast would lack the awareness about Tatis’ motorcycle injury.

A company wants its ads to be relevant, and it doesn’t get much more relevant than displaying a motorcycle injury ad during a Tatis at-bat. Law Tigers were getting their money’s worth there — that’s for sure.

Still, MLB fans couldn’t believe that the Padres’ own broadcast did Tatis like that.