San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
Playoff ball can be very cruel, just ask Padres
The near misses torture, still. There was 2007, when Matt Holliday’s phantom run on a sacrifice fly clipped the Padres during the National League wild-card tiebreaker against the Rockies. There was 2010, when the Giants dashed hopes on the final day of the season.
Then and since, playoff stars failed to align.
The Padres have waited 14 years to reach the postseason. The exasperating slog lasted longer than current droughts for all but the Marlins (2003) and Mariners (2001).
“You never think it’s going to take that long,” said Adrian Gonzalez, the former Padres first baseman who played during the last trip in 2006. “Now, they traded for (Fernando) Tatis (Jr.) and some other guys that really helped. Tatis sparked them early on, giving them that energy and swag they’re playing with right now.
“That’s what it takes, striking gold. That’s what happened with the Royals (World Series appearances in 2014, ’15). Hitting and winning are contagious. Especially in a short season like this, you just need to hit a little streak and keep the momentum going.”
In 2006, the Padres seemed in position to become a playoff staple with back-to-back postseason visits.
Then came the 2007 tiebreaker. Gonzalez drove in half of his team’s runs as the Padres built an 8-6 lead in the top of the 13th inning. The Rockies answered with
eryone is just waiting with giddy anticipation for the celebration.
“I don’t want to think about it,” manager Jayce Tingler said Saturday afternoon. “For the entire organization, the players and coaching staff, it’s been a goal from day one. It’s been talked about. It’s been intentional.”
The rookie manager’s preference was to give a “more organic” assessment once his team does become just the sixth group of Padres to make the postseason in the franchise’s 52 years of existence.
The Padres entered Saturday with a magic number of two to get into the playoffs, needing a victory and a Reds loss.
The Reds lost. So did the Giants, which means the Padres’ magic number to clinch second place in the National League West fell to two. Since Miami and St. Louis both won, the Padres’ magic number remained at four to clinch the fourth seed and first-round playoff series at home.
A couple players the Padres traded away three weeks ago conspired Saturday to make it more difficult on their old mates.
Ty France’s RBI single in the first inning put the Mariners up 1-0, and Luis Torrens’ two-run double in the third gave the Mariners their second lead of the night at 3-1.
Both were sent to Seattle as part of a seven-player deal on Aug. 30 that brought catcher Austin Nola and relievers Austin Adams and
Dan Altavilla to the Padres.
It was an Altavilla slider that Torrens lined to left field.
As the Padres were coming to bat trailing 1-0 in the top of the third inning (the series was moved from Seattle to San Diego due poor air quality in Washington), the White Sox completed a 5-0 defeat of the Reds.
Fernando Tatis Jr. hit the first pitch of the third to the base of the wall in left-center
field for a double, his first extra-base hit in 36 at-bats. Two pitches later, Manny Machado grounded a single through the right side to tie the game.
Machado would be thrown out trying to tag up and reach second on Nola’s deep fly ball to left-center. And after Wil Myers followed with a single, he was picked off trying to steal second.
It was the second time Eric Hosmer was at the plate as an inning ended. In the first inning, he was up when Machado was picked off between second and third.
Mike Clevinger was supposed to be on the mound for the Padres at the start Saturday, which seemed fitting in that the right-hander was acquired at the trade deadline to pitch in such moments. But “tightness” in the biceps of his throwing arm caused the Padres to hold Clevinger out at least a couple days.
Luis Patiño was called up from the team’s alternate training site at USD to start in his place. The team’s second-ranked pitching prospect, more a hoped-for cornerstone in future seasons than a major contributor now, took 35 pitches to get through the first inning.
France lined the 11th
pitch he saw from Patiño into right field to score Dylan Moore and give Seattle a 1-0 lead.
Torrens led off the bottom of the second inning with a single to center field. Patiño got two outs and allowed another single before Altavilla was called on with runners at the corners. He walked Moore before striking out Kyle Lewis to end the threat.
But Altavilla issued another walk, to Kyle Seager leading off the third. He got Jose Marmolejos swinging at a two-strike slider, but the pitch skidded under Nola’s glove and rolled to the back wall as Marmolejos sprinted for first and Seager made it to third. Torrens drove them both in.
Lewis’ home run off Adrian Morejon leading off the bottom of the fifth made it 4-1.
The Padres got one hit between the fourth and ninth innings.
Wil Myers, Hosmer and Tommy Pham singled to start the ninth before Jake Cronenworth hit a hard grounder back to pitcher Yoshihisa Hirano to start a 1-2-3 double play and Jurickson Profar grounded out.
kevin.acee@sduniontribune.com
How they scored