But that was merely a continuation of arguably the best stretch of the season.<\/p>\n
Of course, a team would have to be playing extremely well (and the team they were chasing playing extremely poorly) in order to gain 10 games in the standings in a span of 35 games.<\/p>\n
That is what has happened between the Padres and Dodgers, who went into play on July 4 with a nine-game lead in the National League West and now trail the Padres by a game.<\/p>\n
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Maybe the most important thing said in the Padres\u2019 clubhouse yesterday was this by Ryan O\u2019Hearn when he was asked about this weekend\u2019s three-game series at Dodger Stadium:<\/p>\n
\u201cGot a month-and-a-half to play.\u201d<\/p>\n
Yes. This weekend will be the biggest regular season Padres-Dodgers series since the one at the end of September and until the one next weekend at Petco Park.<\/p>\n
What the Padres have going for them is that if they do what O\u2019Hearn asserted next, they will be fine.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re gonna play just like we played the Giants,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The Padres\u2019 victory yesterday was the Padres\u2019 fifth straight and their 14th in their past 17 games.<\/p>\n
What do you know? That matches their 14-3 start to the season.<\/p>\n
That is the stretch we all worried had been\u00a0 misleading. As the Padres played at a .471 clip for three months, it became easy to wonder if the way they began the season had been a tease and whether they could ever really be that team again.<\/p>\n
And now, they are that team again.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/thenNOW.png\")
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Those are some pretty similar numbers.<\/p>\n
Given that it is later in the season and we have more context, this version of the Padres actually seems more complete.<\/p>\n
For one thing, nine of their past 14 victories have come against teams that are .500 or better. Of their first 14 victories, 10 came against teams that currently have one of the six worst winning percentages in the major leagues.<\/p>\n
For another thing, the current Padres lineup has a full-time left fielder who has a .901 OPS after 340 plate appearances this season and a catcher who plays almost every day and has a .680 OPS after 242 plate appearances.<\/p>\n
The left fielder, Ram\u00f3n Laureano, has hit in the seventh spot in the majority of his 11 starts with the Padres. The catcher, Freddy Fermin, has hit ninth in all eight of his starts.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis one through nine is outstanding,\u201d said Jake Cronenworth, who has hit seventh or eighth each of the past 12 games and is batting .316\/.416\/.447 in that span. \u201cIt seems like the at-bats from the top to the bottom, no matter the situation, everybody is giving it their best.\u201d<\/p>\n
The renaissance at the bottom of the lineup, which I wrote about in yesterday\u2019s newsletter<\/a>, did not continue yesterday.<\/p>\n It mushroomed.<\/p>\n Laureano, Cronenworth and Elias D\u00edaz combined to go 6-for-11 with four walks and four RBIs.<\/p>\n The 7-8-9 spots in the order are producing at a preposterous rate in the 12 games since the trade deadline, batting a collective .289 with a .390 on-base percentage and 24 RBIs.<\/p>\n \u201cThe guys we got at the trade deadline,\u201d Nick Pivetta said, \u201cI think it\u2019s just built a really killer, killer, killer offense.\u201d<\/p>\n Here is who has hit in the 7-8-9 spots since Aug. 1, the day after the deadline.<\/p>\n The bottom third was actually beginning to make the lineup less top-heavy in the week prior to the deadline. The players in those spots hit .290, got on base at a .347 clip and drove in eight runs over the final six games in July.<\/p>\n Before the past 18 games, the 7-8-9 spots were hitting .206 with a .269 OBP and averaging a little better than an RBI a game.<\/p>\n The focus is on the guys who joined the team at the deadline. But it can\u2019t be ignored that the Padres\u2019 surge began before the trades.<\/p>\n It is the best-case scenario.<\/p>\n They were winning. They got players to shore up their weaknesses. And they kept winning.<\/p>\n The real difference lately is the offense\u2019s ability to score more than one run at a time and win by more than one run.<\/p>\n \u201cThe little things give you every opportunity to stay competitive and stay in every ballgame and win on the margins,\u201d Shildt said. \u201cBut also, when you have crooked numbers offensively, it creates more breathing room, and so it\u2019s just really the best version of it.\u201d<\/p>\n Savage<\/p>\n In the daily Padres hitters meeting known as \u201cBall Talk,\u201d coaches made a big deal yesterday morning about an at-bat by Laureano in Tuesday\u2019s\u00a0 second inning.<\/p>\n Not even a couple hours later, Laureano went out and put together another tone-setting plate appearance in the second inning.<\/p>\n Among his three hits yesterday was a two-run homer in the fifth inning that gave the Padres a 10-0 lead. He also scored their final run after a single in the seventh.<\/p>\n But his day began by being the straw that stirred the second inning again.<\/p>\n On Tuesday, he led off the second inning with a single on the ninth pitch he saw from Robbie Ray and scored when Jose Iglesias homered on the next pitch.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s really in the middle of everything,\u201d Shildt said Tuesday night.<\/p>\n Yesterday, his 10-pitch walk against Kai-Wei Teng loaded the bases with one out immediately before a single by Cronenworth drove in the first of what would be seven runs by the time the inning was finished.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s up there trying to freaking kill the ball, and also while\u00a0 having great zone discipline,\u201d Cronenworth said.<\/p>\n Laureano is batting .333 (15-for-45) with a 1.000 OPS with the Padres.<\/p>\n His OPS is the second-highest ever in a player\u2019s first 12 games with the Padres after being acquired via a July trade. Only Milton Bradley\u2019s 1.042 OPS over his first 12 games in 2007 was higher.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s just a savage,\u201d said Ryan O\u2019Hearn, who came to the Padres in the same trade as Laureano. \u201cJust gets in there and gets after it. Not afraid of anybody. \u2026 He\u2019s just a hard-nosed, tough player. He\u2019s really talented on top of that.\u201d<\/p>\n Laureano has scored (nine) or driven in (10) nearly a third of the Padres\u2019 64 runs this month.<\/p>\n Said Manny Machado: \u201cHe\u2019s had really good at-bats, some big hits for us.\u201d<\/p>\n Getting after it<\/p>\n Fernando Tatis Jr. was 2-for-3, walked twice, drove in three runs and scored once yesterday.<\/p>\n And he made this catch (on a 103.5 mph line drive that was spinning away from him) with the Padres leading 10-0 in the fifth inning:<\/p>\n Nando makes it look easy. pic.twitter.com\/FatjfakPDF<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 San Diego Padres (@Padres) August 13, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve still got a game going,\u201d Tatis said. \u201cYou have a guy on the mound that\u2019s going for something special. If you\u2019re in the field, you can never be asleep on your feet.\u201d<\/p>\n Not just quality<\/p>\n Yesterday was Nick Pivetta\u2019s 12th start this season that ended with him having gone at least 6\u2154 innings while allowing no more than four hits and no more than one run.<\/p>\n That is second most in the major leagues behind the 13 such games by the Tigers\u2019 Tarik Skubal.<\/p>\n Pivetta, who has 15 quality starts, ranks seventh in the NL with a 2.87 ERA, second with a 0.95 WHIP, first with a .192 batting average allowed and eighth with 141\u2153 innings.<\/p>\n I wrote last week (here<\/a>) about Pivetta\u2019s intensity and the changes he has made to affect the immense improvement in his results.<\/p>\n One of the things I did not include in that story was Pivetta\u2019s response when I asked him about betting on himself in the offseason when he turned down a qualifying offer from the Red Sox that would have paid him $21.05 million<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a lot of money,\u201d he said. \u201cSo I think anytime that you get offered $21 million to play for one year, it\u2019s life-changing money for the year. But it\u2019s not about the one year. It\u2019s about multiple years. It\u2019s about, where I am going to be in five years, where I am going to be in six years, how I am going to set myself up for success in those years and continue to make money, which I will, and it\u2019s going to be fine. I\u2019m not worried about the money. I\u2019m still making stupid amounts of money. But I\u2019m always willing to bet on myself. I like to gamble, I like to have fun, and I believe in myself a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n Pivetta has been quite a bargain for the Padres \u2014 at least in the immediate term. He is making $2.5 million in 2025 in the first season of a four-year deal that could end up paying him $55 million if he plays it out.<\/p>\n Pivetta will make $20.5 million next year and then he can bet on himself again. He can opt out instead of making $14 million in \u201827 and has another opt-out before he is scheduled to make $18 million in 2028.<\/p>\n Rare down time<\/p>\n Yesterday was the first time since July 27 that the Padres did not use at least one of their five highest-leverage relievers in a victory.<\/p>\n With today being an off-day, this will be just the second time in three weeks (since July 22-23) that all of their back-end relievers will have gone two consecutive days without pitching. Jeremiah Estrada and Mason Miller will have had three days off by the time the Dodgers series begins.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s important,\u201d Shildt said of yesterday\u2019s blowout allowing for that rest. \u201cWe\u2019ve got the off day, which we knew we were going to (have) to reset anyway, but we had some guys down last night that now we\u2019re getting three days. And then the guys that carried the mail (Tuesday) \u2014 (Adrian) Morej\u00f3n, (Jason) Adam and (RObert) Suarez \u2014 them being able to get their full two (days) and everybody rested full bore.\u201d<\/p>\n Tidbits<\/p>\n All right, that\u2019s it for me. I have an early flight.<\/p>\n The next Padres Daily will be in your inbox on Monday morning. I need to attend to a family matter and will miss the first two games at Dodger Stadium.<\/p>\n Jeff Sanders will have the coverage on our Padres page<\/a> until then.<\/p>\n Talk to you Monday.<\/p>\n \t\t\t![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/789.png\")
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