![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/lineup.png\")
<\/p>\nGood morning from San Francisco,<\/p>\n
The Padres getting 14 hits and scoring 10 runs last night to break out of their offensive rut had everything to do with their approach.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were aggressive,\u201d Gavin Sheets said. \u201cWe were in attack mode, which is good. We\u2019ve talked about (how) we have waited until later in the games to get in attack mode. As a team, we made a decision to get in attack mode early and put some really good at-bats together and put a lot of pressure on them. \u2026 It\u2019s a good form of baseball.\u201d<\/p>\n
It doesn\u2019t matter where a player is batting in the order if he is passive or making bad swing decisions or whatever else might contribute to the poor quality of a plate appearance.<\/p>\n
So credit to the Padres players and to the hitting coaches.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou could put a finger on a number of things,\u201d manager Craig Stammen said. \u201cI think bringing awareness to it, talking about it, moving things around, you know, whatever it is. I think one thing is, they\u2019re a determined group, and they\u2019re not satisfied with just being OK. They want to be great. And I think today was a little bit of them showing that\u2019s what they\u2019re in for this season.\u201d<\/p>\n
But give some credit to Stammen for being bold.<\/p>\n
It didn\u2019t hurt anything, and it probably at least sent a message that he ain\u2019t messing around.<\/p>\n
Relatively speaking, Stammen blew up the batting order yesterday.<\/p>\n
The pin pulled in that grenade was dropping Fernando Tatis Jr. from second to fifth, the lowest he has batted since early in his rookie season.<\/p>\n
Stammen downplayed the significance of his move before and after the game.<\/p>\n
But a lot of managers don\u2019t do that to struggling stars. Bob Melvin didn\u2019t do it to Xander Bogaerts in 2023. Mike Shildt didn\u2019t do it to Luis Arraez in 2025.<\/p>\n
Stammen, a rookie manager, has acknowledged he is on a learning curve. But he is in some ways already playing chess, thinking several moves ahead.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to be open to different ideas,\u201d he said. \u201cI want to be creative \u2026 and not subject to \u2018This is how it has to be.\u2019 Part of that philosophy is that I want to be pliable throughout the season so when we really need to be pliable, when it matters most, it\u2019s not panic; it\u2019s just kind of what we do.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Just better<\/p>\n
You can read in my game story (here<\/a>) about how the Padres\u2019 10-5 victory over the Giants went down, including how Walker Buehler recovered from a pair of two-run innings at the start to pitch into the sixth and how Sung-Mun Song had a big night in his first major league start.<\/p>\n Today will be the first newsletter in four days that doesn\u2019t talk about how the Padres did not jump on the opposing starting pitcher.<\/p>\n The biggest thing that happened last night was that Padres hitters took advantage of Logan Webb leaving his sinker (and other pitches) up in the zone. Moreover, they swung at those pitches and put them in play.<\/p>\n They didn\u2019t wait to fall behind, as they had against Trevor McDonald on Monday.<\/p>\n \u201cYou try to put your best swing on a little early,\u201d Bogaerts said. \u201c\u2026 He gets settled in, like that guy yesterday. That guy got in a groove, and he didn\u2019t care who you were. He was going after you with strikes. Webb also throws a lot of strikes. So we tried to get him early, and it worked out good.\u201d<\/p>\n The Padres saw just 21 pitches from Webb in the fourth inning. That is preposterous. Nine batters, five hits, five runs all in 21 pitches.<\/p>\n They saw just 24 pitches when scoring five runs in the ninth inning against the Rockies on April 23. But that inning came with a three-run homer.<\/p>\n Not every quality at-bat is eight pitches long.<\/p>\n Sometimes the Padres are at their best when they don\u2019t wait around. It can look ugly when it results in three straight outs. But the great balance is between being disciplined and being passive.<\/p>\n Their primary problem this season has been not doing damage on pitches they should.<\/p>\n They are batting .274 on pitches in the strike zone this season. That is six points below the MLB average and 30 to 40 points below the league leaders in that category.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it\u2019s the identity of our team,\u201d Stammen said of the selective aggressiveness. \u201cWe like to swing the bat. And if they feel like they\u2019re getting a good pitch to hit, they\u2019re going to swing the bat. And we give them the freedom to do that. We trust that they have great swings and that they can hit mistakes. And they hit the mistakes today, and we got the good results.\u201d<\/p>\n Tatis\u2019 take<\/p>\n Tatis certainly felt a certain type of way about being dropped in the order, as any player of his stature would.<\/p>\n But his public reaction demonstrated the proper humility.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m just another baseball player,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Also, there was the matter of his entering the game with a .625 OPS and having not hit a home run and increasingly having struck out and hit the ball on the ground.<\/p>\n \u201cI just know baseball,\u201d Tatis said. \u201cI know how baseball works. And that\u2019s it.\u201d<\/p>\n Meaning if you\u2019re not hitting, you should have no expectations to continue hitting near the top of the order.<\/p>\n That does not mean Tatis won\u2019t be back hitting second, third or fourth soon.<\/p>\n He still has the potential to be the most dangerous batter in the Padres\u2019 lineup, and pitchers still approach him that way.<\/p>\n Tatis doubled last night on a soft line drive to right field. His other four at-bats: three groundball outs and a strikeout.<\/p>\n Eight of his past 11 balls in play have been grounders. That includes three hits.<\/p>\n Merrill rising?<\/p>\n If Jackson Merrill continues to make swing decisions like he has in his past five games, he could see more time as the Padres\u2019 leadoff batter.<\/p>\n \u201cFor sure, he\u2019s an option at the top of the order,\u201d Stammen said. \u201cThat\u2019s a place that is not going to be someone\u2019s (for) the entire season. It\u2019s going to be continuously changed in and out based on how the team is playing, how the guy at the top is hitting and how he is setting the table. So although he didn\u2019t get off to a great start as the leadoff hitter, I think we proved getting him more at-bats at the top of the lineup is a good thing.\u201d<\/p>\n Merrill was 0-for-3 with a walk last Wednesday in his only previous game in the leadoff spot and began last night with two strikeouts before finishing with three consecutive hits. That included an RBI single and RBI double.<\/p>\n It was his third multi-hit effort in his past four games. He is 8-for-17 with a double and a homer in that span and has raised his season batting average 35 points to .235.<\/p>\n The most noticeable change for Merrill is that he has been more disciplined while also being aggressive in the zone and, for the most, hitting pitches he should.<\/p>\n He did have an eight-pitch at-bat last night in which he fouled off a cutter up and over the middle before striking out two pitches later by chasing a cutter up and in off the plate. But, as I am sure he might put it, that is because hitting is f\u2014ing hard, dude.<\/p>\n Merrill has over the past five games chased just 25% of the pitches he has seen outside the strike zone. He was before that chasing at a 38.3% rate, 16th highest in the majors.<\/p>\n Ram\u00f3n Laureano, who has hit leadoff each of the past 23 games he has started, sat last night. Laureano is 5-for-31 (.151) with 15 strikeouts in his past nine games.<\/p>\n Buehler pushes through<\/p>\n Buehler left a slider up over the middle of the plate, and Casey Schmitt did what a major league batter is supposed to do when given such a pitch.<\/p>\n \u201cThe guy is hot, that\u2019s a bad pitch,\u201d Buehler said. \u201cI think there\u2019s not a day that\u2019s not a two-run homer.\u201d<\/p>\n Buehler allowed two more runs in the second inning without really making a mistake.<\/p>\n Three consecutive singles \u2014 on pitches down and off the plate or just on the edge of the strike zone and none hit harder than 75.5 mph off the bat \u2014 brought in one run. A fielder\u2019s choice grounder brought in the other, furthering the Giants\u2019 lead to 4-1.<\/p>\n He then retired 11 straight batters before leaving two runners on with one out for Jeremiah Estrada to clean up in the sixth.<\/p>\n \u201cAt some point, there\u2019s a responsibility for a starting pitcher to try and go deep, and I haven\u2019t done a very good job of that this year,\u201d Buehler said. \u201cIn years past in my career, (after a) tough first inning, it\u2019s like, \u2018OK, the job is now to go six.\u2019 And so there\u2019s a little bit of a mentality switch. But, all in all, I feel like we threw the ball well. The offense obviously picked me up and kind of, you know, put some momentum back on our side, and then a good third, good fourth and good things happened for us.\u201d<\/p>\n While he failed to complete what would have been his second six-inning outing, Buehler pitched into the sixth for the third time in his past five starts. That followed his working a total of 6\u2154 innings in his first two starts.<\/p>\n The extended periods of effectiveness are what the Padres are looking for from Buehler as they assess their rotation needs.<\/p>\n Lucas Giolito is likely about 10 days from joining the Padres. He threw 78 pitches over four innings in a start for Double-A San Antonio<\/a> last night. The plan is for him to make one more minor-league start.<\/p>\n Song\u2019s debut<\/p>\n My pregame notebook yesterday led with the circumstances surrounding Jake Cronenworth\u2019s placement on the seven-day concussion injured list.<\/p>\n