Here come the Padres….

The last week has not been kind to the San Diego Padres (10-10). After splitting with the lowly Pirates, the Dodgers (14-4) took two out of three from the Padres last weekend. But they were all good competitive games. On the other hand, the Padres’ very next opponent, the Milwaukee Brewers came into San Diego and put the HURT on the home team. Behind the lights-out pitching of Brandon Woodruff and Corbin Burnes, the Brew Crew was able to hold the Friars to a total of just three runs over the the three-game series.

Brewers Own Friars

On Monday, Woodruff and the Milwaukee pen held the Padres to two hits, and Burnes pitched a gem of a game on Tuesday, shutting out the Padres and extending his string of 40 strikeouts without a single walk. Burnes lowered his ERA to a microscopic 0.37. Though they still have offensive problems, the Brewers are a team to keep an eye on in the Central.

The Padres have now lost seven of the last ten games. After the Milwaukee series, the Padres are now 20th in MLB in batting average, hitting only .232 as a team. The Dodgers, even with their recent dry spell, are third in baseball with a .248 average. Though Eric Hosmer continues his hot start, Fernando Tatis, Jr. is still hitting only .154 and continues to look overmatched at the plate right now. The Dodgers shouldn’t be afraid to go right at him this weekend.

Pitching Losses for Padres

In addition to looking weak at the plate, the Padres got two doses of bad news on the pitching front. Last year’s Cy Young contender Dinelson Lamet had to leave last night’s game with what was called “forearm tightness”. Lamet was already coming back from an injury that kept him out of the playoffs against the Dodgers last season. His status going forward remains uncertain. “We’ll have to wait and see, ultimately, what the doctors say,” Padres manager Jayce Tingler said. “You think of all the work he’s done to get to this point.”

In addition, Padres hurler Adrian Morejon will be lost for the year. The club announced yesterday that he will be undergoing season-ending Tommy John surgery after injuring himself in a game against Texas earlier this month. Neither Lamet nor Morejon figured in any of the games against the Dodgers last weekend, but it could seriously hurt San Diego’s pitching depth for the rest of the season. Look for highly-touted prospect McKenzie Gore to come up to the big club at some point to make up for the losses.

Series Starts Thursday Night

Of course, none of this is to say we should take the Padres lightly, or that they won’t eventually challenge the Dodgers for the West Division crown this year. And truth be told, the Dodgers weren’t exactly hitting the cover off the ball up in Seattle. But it does give you some assurance that even if the Dodgers are swept in the four-game series (which WON’T happen), they will still be ahead of the Padres in the standings after the game on Sunday night.

Similar pitching match-ups await Dodger fans this weekend. Tonight, it’s Walker Buehler vs. Ryan Weathers. Tomorrow, we’ll see a repeat of the classic Kershaw vs. Darvish match-up, and we get Bauer vs. Snell on Saturday. The only new Dodger starter to face the Dodgers will be Dustin May, who will get the ball for the Sunday night game. Game times on Thursday and Friday are 7:10, Saturday is a 6:10 start, and Sunday night the game will begin at a weird 4:10 game time to please the ESPN overlords.

Lets’ end with some highlights from the last time these two titans met: