{"id":131904,"date":"2025-08-09T14:20:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-09T14:20:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/131904\/"},"modified":"2025-08-09T14:20:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-09T14:20:10","slug":"gotta-be-better-than-that-the-tatis-question-san-diego-union-tribune","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/131904\/","title":{"rendered":"Gotta be better than that; the Tatis question \u2013 San Diego Union-Tribune"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good morning,<\/p>\n

The Padres last night took their worst beating at Petco Park since before last year\u2019s All-Star break.<\/p>\n

The 10-2 loss to the Red Sox was the Padres\u2019 largest margin of defeat at home since July 7, 2024, and the third-largest losing margin this season.<\/p>\n

You can read in Jeff Sanders\u2019 game story (here<\/a>) about how the loss went down. Jeff mostly focused on the struggles by Nick Pivetta, who had his roughest outing in a month-and-a-half and one of his four worst outings of the season.<\/p>\n

Pivetta (three) and Sean Reynolds combined to walk eight batters, tying a season high by Padres pitchers in a game this season.<\/p>\n

The Padres had six hits, just the seventh time in the 20 games since the All-Star break they have had fewer than nine.<\/p>\n

They were facing Walker Buehler. So you could have expected the Padres would struggle.<\/p>\n

Had it been 2021 and he was wearing a Dodgers uniform.<\/p>\n

From 2018 up until his Tommy John surgery in 2022, Buehler was 6-0 with a 1.53 ERA in 11 starts against the Padres, including the 2020 National League Division Series.<\/p>\n

However, in three starts against them last season, including the NLDS, he allowed 10 runs in 13\u2153 innings.<\/p>\n

Moreover, he went into last night\u2019s game with a 5.74 ERA in his first season with the Red Sox. And he was not trending upward. His ERA was 7.18 over his previous 11 starts. Opponents were batting .317 against him in that span.<\/p>\n

Yet, he allowed four hits over six scoreless innings last night. It was the first start this season in which he has gone more than 2\u2153 innings and not allowed a run.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt helps with your confidence when you\u2019ve had success against certain teams before,\u201d Buehler said. \u201cBut it doesn\u2019t guarantee anything. \u2026 I\u2019ve pitched here a lot. I\u2019ve had some success here. So to come back and throw good is a big step forward for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some guys thrive against certain teams and in certain ballparks.<\/p>\n

Thing is, though, Buehler\u2019s success last night was not a rarity of late.<\/p>\n

Since July 4 \u2014 around the time the Padres actually started breaking out of an\u00a0 offensive slumber that had endured since mid-May \u2014 they have faced 13 starting pitchers that entered their game against the Padres with an ERA of 4.62 or higher. Many of those ERAs were much higher.<\/p>\n

Those pitchers have a combined 3.08 ERA against the Padres in those 13 starts.<\/p>\n

This is different from the problem in the last half of May and first half of June when they were rendered impotent against a string of good starters.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s uglier.<\/p>\n

Gotta be better<\/p>\n

It is fair to wonder at this point whether it would be a disappointment if the Padres earn the No.6 seed (or maybe even the No.5 seed) in the playoffs.<\/p>\n

They certainly will have to hit (and pitch) better than they did last night if they want to put themselves in position to climb higher than that in the standings. Because this series begins a run of 17 games against teams with winning records.<\/p>\n

But it is also prudent to remember that games like last night happen. Every team has allowed 10 runs in at least three games this season. Every team has lost by eight or more runs at least twice this season.<\/p>\n

And the Padres are in a fine spot.<\/p>\n

Remember, they are not trying to outpace the \u201827 Yankees.<\/p>\n

Barring something of a miracle finish by the Marlins and\/or Cardinals, there are eight teams legitimately in the running six National League playoff spots.<\/p>\n

The Padres remain in the second wild-card spot (No.5 seed) and have to finish better than two of three teams \u2014 the Mets, Reds and Giants \u2014 to make the postseason field.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The Mets lost their fifth consecutive game last night. The Reds lost their third in a row. The Giants have turned things around, winning five of their past seven after a 2-12 stretch.<\/p>\n

The Tatis question<\/p>\n

There is no mama bear as protective of her cubs, no public relations spin doctor as positive about their clients as Mike Shildt is when it comes to his players.<\/p>\n

But he isn\u2019t all that creative about it.<\/p>\n

His default is to scoff at a question or act as if he doesn\u2019t understand (even as he says \u201cI understand the question\u201d).<\/p>\n

Last night, he was asked whether he considers moving Fernando Tatis Jr. out of the lead-off spot \u201cwhen he struggles like this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Anyone who has asked Shildt a legitimate (and often harmless) question and gotten a flummoxed look and then a response that ranges from condescending to combative knew what was coming.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe struggles because he had a bad game?\u201d Shildt said incredulously. \u201cBecause I look at his numbers over the last six weeks and they\u2019re pretty good \u2013 like a .400-plus on-base percentage.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked what he thought of Tatis\u2019 at-bats last night, when he was 0-for-5 with three strikeouts and two groundouts, Shildt did not answer directly.<\/p>\n

\u201cFernando has played very well for us,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t know what more to say. You can always have a kneejerk reaction because a guy doesn\u2019t get a hit. But I trust \u2018Tati\u2019 completely. I love the fact he leads off for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

I wrote Wednesday (here<\/a>) about this version of Tatis \u2014 two home runs since June 24 but also a .369 on-base percentage in those 37 games \u2014 contributing to winning far more than he was from early May to mid-June. (For the record, he has a .395 on-base percentage since June 29. So Shildt was close enough.)<\/p>\n

Questions about Tatis\u2019 lack of slug are legitimate. He is not being paid $20 million to walk.<\/p>\n

Questions about his batting lead-off are understandable.<\/p>\n

But it is difficult to see where he should be moved.<\/p>\n

Second, third, fourth, fifth?<\/p>\n

He is batting .227 and with five home runs over his past 68 games. He is batting .149 (7-for-47) with runners in scoring position in that span.<\/p>\n

Pitchers do respect Tatis. He is not getting very many pitches to hit. But, as I noted in Wednesday\u2019s story, he is getting some pitches that he should do damage on, and he simply is not doing damage.<\/p>\n

Should Tatis bat lower than fifth?<\/p>\n

The last time he batted lower than fourth was 2019.<\/p>\n

He does create havoc when he gets on base, and taking away potentially a plate appearance a game from a guy getting on base nearly 40% of the time seems counterproductive.<\/p>\n

Tatis can be struggling in a significant area of the game and still be the team\u2019s best option at a certain spot.<\/p>\n

To be sure, though, Shildt often balks at questions. And there have been times that shortly after he acts as if a question was the silliest thing he has ever heard he makes a lineup alteration or some other maneuver that essentially validates the question.<\/p>\n

So stay tuned.<\/p>\n

Tidbits<\/p>\n