The Padres Can’t Seem to Catch a Break

If you haven’t been paying any attention to the Padres for the past couple of weeks, you are missing out.

The San Diego Padres have been in the baseball news quite often recently due to unfortunate mishaps and, in some instances, things beyond the Padres’ control. You wouldn’t think the Padres would be the talk of the MLB community for multiple weeks, but nevertheless, they are.

It all started on June 19 when Anthony Rizzo barreled over Padres’ catcher Austin Hedges at home plate. This led to a debate all over the nation as to if the slide was dirty and if the Padres should throw at Rizzo the next game. Ultimately the Padres elected not to intentionally hit Rizzo, instead they allowed him to hit a home run to lead off the game.

This incident was probably the one that got the most publicity, probably because it involved the defending World Series Champion Chicago Cubs. The decision not to intentionally hit Rizzo, in some minds, proved Padres manager Andy Green to be soft because he doesn’t stick up for his players. While I don’t agree with this in the slightest, this is what some baseball fans think of coach Green.

The next occurrence happened on June 27 against the Atlanta Braves. In the bottom of the first inning Wil Myers stepped up to the plate and mashed a deep fly ball to right field. It landed on the top of the wall and bounced back onto the field. The initial call on the field was a double and that made both Wil Myers and Andy Green furious. The umpires reviewed the play and dubbed it a double. Later that night it came out that the Petco Park ground rules stated that Wil Myers’ hit should have been called a home run. That home run would have changed the whole aspect of the game. The umpires, and especially New York botched that call.

The third incident happened later in that series on June 29. In the top of the sixth inning Brian Snitker and the Atlanta Braves were suspicious of Dinelson Lamet after having thrown five shutout innings against them. Snitker ordered the umpires to check Lamet for any kind of foreign or illegal substance. Subsequently nothing was found and the game went on without any further actions.

I find it funny that Brian Snitker thinks that cheating is the only way that the Padres could be shutting out his Braves. This incident was by far the least popular and least important. It is still noteworthy because it seems as though everything that has happened to the Padres in the past few weeks has been negative.

The most recent incident was the Padres and Dodgers brawl that took place on June 30. I’m sure everyone knows what happened, but it all started in the very first inning.

Alex Wood took exception with Jose Pirela, who he claimed was stealing signs and giving location to the batter. This led to both benches being warned and neither managers were pleased with that. At the end of the inning, the umpires called both managers in to explain to them why the warnings were issued out. After Andy Green found out that pitcher Alex Wood threatened to hit Jose Pirela in his next at bat, he voiced his concern with fellow manager Dave Roberts. Roberts did not like that one bit as he pushed away from home plate umpire Greg Gibson and slammed into Andy Green.

This led to both benches and bullpens clearing and storming the field. The managers got into a screaming match and Dave Roberts was seen yelling obscenities and inappropriate language at Andy Green. Both managers were ejected and the game went on without any further incident.

The next day, July 1, the MLB issued fines to Andy Green and Alex Wood. They also handed out a one game suspension to Dave Roberts.

I guess that shows you who they think was in the wrong, doesn’t it?

All of these occurrences happened in just the past week. That begs the question, why can nothing go right for the San Diego Padres? Like I said before, all of these incidents seem to be negative towards the Padres. Why does it seem like the MLB is against the Padres?

No discipline was given out to Anthony Rizzo after he hurt Austin Hedges. They obviously didn’t know the Petco Park ground rules, and disallowed a Padres’ home run. All they did was say sorry and that the ground rules were not clear enough. The only instance that the MLB handled somewhat correctly was the most recent one. They handed out correct suspensions and fines except for one. Andy Green was unjustly given an undisclosed fine for his “behavior” during the series opener.

The moral of this story is that the MLB still has many flaws and could easily treat teams more fairly.

Campbell Doyon

Campbell is a senior in High School. He has been a San Diego sports fan all his life and forever will be. Fan of the Padres, Chargers (undecided), Aztecs, Lightning, Bayern Munich, USMNT, and the future San Diego MLS club. He hopes to spread his knowledge and love for San Diego sports to as many people he can.