Credit Friars for not losing ground during tough stretch

The Padres must feel like they’ve been through 10 rounds with Mike Tyson, jaws bruised, ribs tenderized, lungs heaving, after a historic stretch of games not experienced in San Diego since 1990.

Thirty-one games. Thirty-one days. They’ve played a numbing 18 in the last 17 days. And despite falling to the Phillies, 8-5, Sunday at Petco Park, they’ve managed to survive.

Remarkably, really.

It’s all been a bit of a stunner. The Padres finished the stretch with a 17-14 record. When the meat grinder began May 27, they trailed the Dodgers by two games in the NL West. When it ended, they sat ... two games back.

“This a tough stretch we just ended,” manager Bob Melvin said. “… I think everybody was a little rundown toward the end of it. But you know, had a chance to win the game. But we could use the offday (Monday).”

Forget the moral-victories thing. Melvin isn’t into that sort of rah-rah thinking. He’s a straight shooter and realist who preaches living in the daily moment. Stay away from binoculars and rearview mirrors. Win today and worry about tomorrow, tomorrow.

What the Padres have managed to do, though, merits a cap tip.

They’re playing without NL MVP candidate Manny Machado, chained to the dugout with an achy ankle. There’s the stalled return of star Fernando Tatis Jr. Toss in center fielder Trent Grisham’s right shoulder soreness, designated hitter Luke Voit’s hamstring and calf and the knee shelving Wil Myers and the injury ripples became whitecaps.

Melvin missed games while benched because of COVID protocols.

Excuses galore exist. The Padres are not hitching their mental wagons to any of them. Instead, they’re doing enough, enough times, to keep a potential standings slide at bay.

“We’ve been taking the day-today approach real well,” said first baseman Eric Hosmer, who picked up two hits, an RBI and scored a run Sunday. “We’ve been trying to win each day and not worry about what’s coming or what’s happened in the past. That’s been big for us.

“There’s a couple games we

could have won, but just didn’t. But at the end of the day, we got through a really tough stretch and we’re in a good spot.”

Normally, there’s no reason to chill the Dom Perignon after losing a series at home to cap a middling run of 4-6 in the last 10 games. Surviving the grueling run with a winning record, in spite of the widespread lineup wreckage, is a bit of a head-shaker.

Throughout, the Padres have fulfilled Job 1: Keep pace with the Dodgers until the cavalry arrives.

“It’s the identify of our team,” catcher Austin Nola

said. “Bob’s been preaching, you know, defense, baserunning, pitching, good at-bats. I think that’s the key. Over time, if we do a good job of that, we’re going to win some ballgames, no matter who’s in the lineup.”

On Sunday, that meant penciling rookies CJ Abrams and Jose Azocar into the starting lineup. That meant planting inseason call-up Nomar Mazara in right. That meant Ha-Seong Kim continuing spot duty at third. That meant hitting two catchers. That meant a bench as thin as printer paper.

This has been baseball triage, in the middle of running a marathon.

“After (the long stretch

of games), you look back, man, how did we do it?” Nola said. “We did a good job stringing some wins together.”

No team has played more times than the Padres this season, 75 games in all. Just four others have reached the mark. Still, San Diego has plugged along at a clip that remains one of the best in baseball. Why?

The offense, nonexistent for so long, exited the witness protection program in June. Entering Sunday, the Padres led the NL in hits (288) and stood second in runs (137) and extra-base hits (90).

On the homestand, Padres relievers had posted an NL-best 0.40 ERA while

allowing a .114 batting average, second lowest on the NL side.

Math curveballs came at the Padres versus the Phillies. The team had been 33-4 when leading after six innings this season. Relief pitcher Nabil Crismatt, who had allowed just five earned runs and no homers, was rocked by Kyle Schwarber’s three-run shot in the seventh.

It was first time the Padres surrendered a fourgame series this season.

These Padres seem built of sturdier timber than the others over the past decade — and possibly two. It’s obvious that Melvin has pumped unique resiliency into the Padres’ 2022 DNA.

One loss that tipped one series does not change that.

“We feel good about what we’ve gone through so far with this,” Hosmer said. “Just kind of knowing that the second half is going to be a much more favorable schedule. Not that many games in as many days. We’ll be on the West Coast a lot more.

“We definitely see the momentum in that. That kind of plays in our favor a little more, heading towards the second half.”

The Phillies, without All-Star Bryce Harper, did some fighting through of their own to win the series.

The Padres have done something impressive, too: They survived Tyson.