Padres Series Preview: Snakes Head to San Diego to Take on Padres
The San Diego Padres have just finished up a horrific series against the Tampa Bay Rays. The Padres would be outscored 25-3 throughout that series. We now head into a new chapter of this 2016 season.
The Padres will start a four-game series against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Petco Park. The Padres and Diamondbacks find themselves in very similar positions in this 2016 season. They are currently the bottom two teams of the N.L. West both with a 50-70 record.
The Snakes are definitely coming off a much better series than the one the Padres had. The Dbacks have just won two out of three games from the New York Mets. Their offense would be really on point in the series scoring 28 runs throughout. The Friars are of course struggling as they have now lost their last four series. The Snakes have the edge right now when it comes to head to head stats between the two teams. The Dbacks have won two out of the three series against the Padres this 2016 season. All of this could possibly play a factor in this series. But you really never know with these divisional games. We should be in for a weekend of some great and exciting baseball at Petco Park.
Pitching Matchups
Archie Bradley vs Paul Clemens 7:10 p.m.
Zack Greinke vs Jarred Cosart 7:40 p.m.
Robbie Ray vs Clayton Richard 5:40 p.m.
Braden Shipley vs Luis Perdomo 1:40 p.m.
The pitching matchup in this series really do not favor either team. Both teams have struggled this season when it comes to starting pitching. The first game of the series will most likely not be decided by good pitching performances. The Dbacks will have, Archie Bradley on the mound. Bradley has really struggled this season going 4-8 with an ERA of 4.91. In addition to this Bradley has been terrible in his last three starts. Bradley is winless with an astronomical ERA of 9.45 in his last three outings. The Padres will really not have it much better with Paul Clemens on the hill. Clemens is just simply in the rotation to eat up innings. He is capable of having a decent start here and there. But it’s not likely against an offense like the one the Diamondbacks have. Offense should turn out to be key in the first game of this series.
The second game of this series will bring a matchup which is much more pitcher oriented. The Snakes will have their ace Zack Greinke on the mound. Greinke has really been having a disappointing season. He has gone 11-4 with an ERA of 4.31 on the season. Greinke is definitely beatable  as the Red Sox showed us this past weekend. They would manage to put nine runs past the former Cy Young Award winner. Despite all of this Greinke really should not be taken lightly. Greinke has killed the Padres throughout his career. In 14 Career starts against the Padres, Greinke has only lost once and has held a very nice ERA of 1.91. The Padres will definitely have a very tough task in the Orlando native on Friday night. Cosart has not been able to win a game in his last three starts but he has held a decent ERA of 3.77. Cosart would have his best start of the season his last time out. He would go six innings and only allow a run against the New York Mets. I can definitely see a nice low scoring, pitching oriented game for the second game of the series.
The third game of the series will bring a nice pitching matchup which many might not expect. The Dbacks will have lefty, Robbie Ray on the mound. Ray has been up and down this season with a decent number of strikeouts at 161. Ray has done well in his last three outings going 1-1 with an ERA of 3.00. He can definitely be a threat to the Friars despite the struggles he has had against them in the past. Ray has gone winless against the Padres in his career with a very high ERA of 6.00. The Padres will try to counter the Snakes lefty with a lefty of their own in Clayton Richard. Richard has recently become a member of the Padres staff once again after a three-year absence. He just had his first start for the Friars this season a few days ago. Richard would look real sharp against the New York Mets. The lefty would throw five solid innings and only allow two runs to score on just three hits. Two out of the three hits would be two home runs. Even so Richard would look solid and he is definitely capable of doing it again on Saturday.
The final game of this series will bring forth an interesting matchup between two young pitchers. The Snakes will have 24-year-old, Braden Shipley on the mound to wrap up this series. Shipley has looked decent but not overpowering in his first few MLB starts. He would really struggle severely in his last start up against the New York Mets. Shipley would end up giving up seven runs inn five innings of work. The Friars will have 23-year-old, Luis Perdomo on the mound on Sunday afternoon. Perdomo has been one of the more hard-working pitchers for the Padres this season. He really has eaten up a lot of innings for the Padres and has performed very well at times. He would look very solid in his last start against the Tampa Bay Rays. Perdomo would allow three runs in five and two-thirds innings of work. I can see Perdomo and the Pads taking the final match of this four game set. This will be a long and very hard-fought series for the San Diego Padres. I can see a series draw as the end result of the series, but it is quite hard to say what team will have the edge. One thing I can say is that we will see some exciting baseball throughout the series.
Players To Watch
Yasmany Tomas has been one of the better players for the Diamondbacks this season. He has had a great season with a .269 BA with 25 homers and 57 RBI. Tomas would have one of the best games of his career in his last game against the Mets he would go 3-4 with two home runs and six RBI. In addition to this Tomas has done quite well against the Padres in this 2016 season. In seven games Yasmany has managed to get eight hits including two home runs and two doubles versus the Friars. The two home runs would actually come at Petco Park so definitely keep an eye on Tomas in this series.
Jake Lamb was probably the biggest all-star snub of this 2016 season. Lamb has been killing it in this 2016 season with a .268 BA and 24 home runs. He is also leading the Diamondbacks with 75 RBI on the year. Lamb has also killed it in the OPS department at .896 for the season. The Snakes third baseman is easily one of the more underrated players in all of baseball. He has also been very solid against the Friars this season with a .333 BA and two home runs. Lamb is yet to hit a dinger at Petco Park this season, but I feel that may change this weekend. Make sure to keep an eye on not the goat but the Lamb in this series.
So yup you guys know there routine by now. Were back at Petco Park and you know what that means? It’s time for Will Myers to start hitting again. Myers is coming off one of his worst series of the entire 2016 campaign. He would go just 1-12 in his return to Tropicana Field against the Rays. Myers added to his already depressing road struggles as he is now hitting just .201 away from Petco Park. Myers will definitely be looking forward to the start of this series as he has hit .344 at home with 15 home runs. There is a massive split in Wil’s Home and away stats in just about every stat you can think of. Myers definitely needed to be back home after struggling severely in St.Pete. Hopefully he and the Padres will be able to perform this weekend to give us some exciting baseball. Go Padres!
Francisco, 26, Chula Vista/Tijuana. I have been a Padres fan all my life, did most of the series previews and recaps in the Padres’ 2016 season for EVT. Now I focus more on the local soccer scene. Tijuana Xolos, San Diego Loyal, San Diego Wave.