Manny Machado credit new teammates for Padres’ mid-season turnaround

Manny Machado credit new teammates for Padres’ mid-season turnaround initially appeared on The Sporting Information

When MLB play on the West Coast concluded on the night time of July 3, the San Diego Padres discovered themselves in a well-known place. The Los Angeles Dodgers, the group that had gained 11 of the final 12 NL West division titles, sat 9 video games forward of their Southern Californian rivals within the standings.

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Within the month-and-a-half since, the Padres have closed down the Dodgers — after which some.

The Padres head into Friday’s motion in sole possession of first place within the division for the primary time since 2010. Between July 4 and Aug. 14, San Diego have put collectively a 23-12 stretch of their final 25 video games. That, coincided with a 12-21 hunch for Los Angeles throughout that very same timeframe, has resulted in a 10-game swing.

Third baseman Manny Machado admitted that the Padres, coming off consecutive highway collection losses to the Cincinnati Reds and Philadelphia Phillies, weren’t involved about chasing down the Dodgers earlier than their latest run of wins started.

“We weren’t actually trying up at that time,” Machado mentioned, by way of MLB.com’s AJ Cassavell. “We had been simply making an attempt to get again within the win column.”

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They’ve achieved precisely that in droves — particularly for the reason that league’s July 31 commerce deadline. The Padres have misplaced simply three of 12 video games for the reason that membership had, arguably, essentially the most energetic commerce deadline of any contending group, bolstering their roster with depth as they appear in direction of a deep run in October.

That energetic commerce deadline got here at a value — the Padres now have the weakest farm system within the league, in keeping with MLB Pipeline — however with the group in win-now mode, Machado believes his newly-acquired teammates have performed a big function in serving to San Diego attain this level.

“They’ve gained us some video games… Our lineup is lots completely different now, and clearly the bullpen has been arising and doing their job,” Machado mentioned. “I’ve been of their footwear earlier than. It’s powerful to make that adjustment — the change of surroundings, studying new names, new faces, new league, completely different division. It’s all powerful. It takes you somewhat little bit of time to get acclimated to your new environment. To see them adjusting how they’re, [they’re] becoming completely in.”

Two gamers the Padres traded for — third baseman Willy Wagner and beginning pitcher JP Sears — are at present taking part in for the El Paso Chihuahuas, the group’s Triple-A affiliate. However a lot of the different 5 have put up robust numbers for the big-league squad since being acquired:

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• catcher Freddy Fermin: 9 G, 11-31 at plate (.331 AVG), 1 HR, 5 RBI, .878 OPS

• outfielder Ramon Laureano: 12 G, 15-45 at plate (.333 AVG), 2 HR, 10 RBI, 1.000 OPS

• first baseman Ryan O’Hearn: 10 G, 5-27 at plate (.185 AVG), 1 HR, 4 RBI, .676 OPS

• reduction pitcher Mason Miller: 5 G, 0-0 file, 3.38 ERA, 1.13 WHIP, 5.1 IP, 12 Okay, 2 BB

• beginning pitcher Nestor Cortes: 2 G, 0-0 file, 2.89 ERA, 1.39 WHIP, 9.1 IP, 9 Okay, 4 BB

The eyes of the baseball world will probably be positioned on the Padres and Dodgers over the following two weeks, as each squads start stretches of 10 video games throughout which they play one another six instances. Momentum is firmly on the facet of the Padres, who’re coming off a three-game sweep of the San Francisco Giants; conversely, the Dodgers head into the collection having been swept by the Los Angeles Angels over the same variety of video games.

The final time these two groups confronted off, hit-by-pitches precipitated tense confrontations and flared tempers. However now, the newest chapter within the Dodgers-Padres rivalry can have rather more at stake.