The San Diego Padres lost some momentum over the past week, dropping a pair of series to the Baltimore Orioles and Cincinnati Reds after emerging victorious from their previous four series.
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Will Venable was a big part of the team's temporary resurgence after the All-Star break, slugging a team-leading four home runs while posting a .353/.405/.647 batting line over the past four weeks. Chase Headley (.300/.371/.450) began to turn it on during that time frame, as well, after a slow start to the season, while Yonder Alonso (.350/.417/.375) remains a solid on-base threat despite the conspicuous absence of his power.
Unfortunately for San Diego, it can't stay healthy and/or on the field, much like the problem plaguing the Colorado Rockies, who will host the Friars for a three-game set starting on Monday night at Coors Field.
Just as Troy Tulowitzki, Carlos Gonzalez, Michael Cuddyer, Jhoulys Chacin, Tyler Chatwood and others have missed significant time for the Rockies, Chase Headley, Carlos Quentin, Yasmani Grandal, Kyle Blanks, Everth Cabrera, Jason Marquis and a host of others have been out of action for long stretches.
Cabrera was suspended for his involvement with in the well-known Biogenesis case, while the others have spent copious amounts of time on the disabled list.
The absences of Headley, who missed the first two weeks of the season, and Quentin, who has been out since July 31 and served an eight-game suspension for injuring Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Zack Greinke in a bench-clearing brawl in April, have been the most damaging to the team, which says something considering Cabrera was an All-Star who boasted a 113 OPS+ at a key position before being disciplined by Major League Baseball.
The Padres have inserted Logan Forsythe (.215/.301/.347 in 164 plate appearances this season) at shortstop in Cabrera's absence and also acquired veteran Ronny Cedeno (.224/.261/.309) from the Houston Astros for depth at the position.
On the mound, the Padres have regressed a bit since hot starts by Marquis and Eric Stults injected life into the Padres' rotation in the early months of the season. Marquis is out for the year, while Stults' batted ball luck has regressed closer to the mean (though he does still sport a pretty good strikeout-to-walk ratio of 3.23).
Andrew Cashner and Tyson Ross have emerged as the Padres' best pitchers, which is a plus for the team considering both hurlers are just 26 years old. Cashner still has an unusually low strikeout rate (6.1 per nine innings) for a guy with his velocity, but he makes up for it with good walk numbers. Ross, on the other hand, is better at inducing strikeouts (7.8 per nine) and is the tops on the team at getting groundballs.
The Rockies won't see Ross this series, but will catch Stults, Cashner and Edinson Volquez, the latter of which is 0-3 with a 12.18 ERA in four starts against Colorado this season. Courtesy of Baseball-Reference, you can see just how unkind the Rox have been to Volquez:
| PA | AB | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | SH | SF | IBB | HBP | GDP | missG | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dexter Fowler | 9 | 9 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | .556 | .556 | 1.111 | 1.667 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Wilin Rosario | 8 | 8 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 1 | .500 | .500 | 1.000 | 1.500 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Todd Helton | 7 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 0 | .600 | .714 | 1.000 | 1.714 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Jonathan Herrera | 6 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | .600 | .600 | .600 | 1.200 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Nolan Arenado | 5 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .200 | .200 | .200 | .400 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| Jhoulys Chacin | 5 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .200 | .200 | .200 | .400 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Michael Cuddyer | 5 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .400 | .400 | .400 | .800 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| DJ LeMahieu | 5 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .000 | .200 | .000 | .200 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| Troy Tulowitzki | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | .667 | .750 | 1.000 | 1.750 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Corey Dickerson | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .500 | .667 | .500 | 1.167 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Jorge De La Rosa | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .500 | .500 | .500 | 1.000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Yorvit Torrealba | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .500 | .500 | .500 | 1.000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Total | 61 | 55 | 24 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 17 | 4 | 5 | .436 | .483 | .655 | 1.138 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
DJ Lemahieu really needs to get it together!
Colorado has taken 10 of the 13 meetings between the two teams this season, but San Diego earned a split in its last series at Coors Field, thanks in part to scoring 26 runs in four games. If the Padres can come away with two wins in Denver once again, they'll move into a third-place tie with the Rockies, though that isn't much to brag about considering the teams' records.
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Probable pitchers
Game 1: Monday, Aug. 12 at 6:40 p.m. MT (ROOT Sports)
Edinson Volquez (8-9, 5.44 ERA) vs. Jhoulys Chacin (10-6, 3.30 ERA)
Game 2: Tuesday, Aug. 13 at 6:40 p.m. MT (ROOT Sports)
Eric Stults (8-10, 3.50) vs. Jeff Manship (0-1, 3.60)
Game 3: Wednesday, Aug. 14 at 1:10 p.m. MT (MLB Network)
Andrew Cashner (8-6, 3.87) vs. Jorge De La Rosa (11-6, 3.26)
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