Padres News: Bob Melvin Proud of Friars Following Series Win, Sees 'Vengeance' Within Them
One thing is very clear: When the stars are performing well in Gaslamp, everybody is happier! It definitely helps when Manny Machado and Xander Bogaerts are fully healthy and their lineup is maximized to its full potential. Gary Sanchez hitting homers every other at-bat definitely helps a lot as well.
But when you take a look at the Padres' most recent series against the Cleveland Guardians in which they were able to win two out of three games and come just within a couple runs short of sweeping them, their stars came to play. Manny Machado was the only player out of their Big 4 that batted under .300 and even he still garnered five hits with two homers in the series.
Juan Soto continues to use the entire field when he is swinging and Fernando Tatis Jr. literally put together a stat line on Wednesday that we had never seen before. When they are playing like this, it's hard to be upset at a Thursday loss that saw them down early and fight back to at least put pressure on Cleveland.
Team manager Bob Melvin echoed the same thoughts as the Friars now prepare for their new series against the Tampa Bay Rays.
“We kept fighting,” Machado said. “We came up short there a little bit, but good series win for us. We also came back with a vengeance and were in pretty good position there.”
(Via The San Diego-Union Tribune)
Vengeance is a great word to describe what we saw from the Padres on Thursday and what we've been seeing over the past two weeks. Whenever obstacles hit them during the remainder of the season, they have to remember all of the critics that were chirping during this early part of the year and know the talent they possess.
These next few weeks will be huge to see how they answer!
