Manny Machado Calls Out Padres Amid Brutal Losing Streak

The San Diego Padres have lost nine of their last 10 games, dropping to third place in the National League West after holding the top spot just a few weeks ago.

The Padres offense has been arguably the worst in all of Major League Baseball, as they enter Friday's series opener against the New York Mets with a team OPS of .651 that ranks 30th in MLB.

The Padres' collective batting average of .216 also ranks last in MLB, and is the worst in franchise history through the team's first 61 games of a season.

The Padres offense has been historically bad at this point in the year.

After Thursday's loss, which completed the Philadelphia Phillies' second sweep of the Padres in 11 days, Manny Machado looked for the silver lining.

“I don’t think it can get worse,” Machado said. “I mean, there’s only one way: Up.”

Machado has been at the center of the Padres' problems, as his .174 batting average is the worst in the National League among qualified players. His .262 on-base percentage is only better than two NL players thus far this season.

It's not for a lack of effort, though.

“People are frustrated,” Machado said. “The fans want us to win games. So do we. We’re more frustrated than anybody. We want to turn things around, and I think everybody on this ballclub is trying to do that. So we’re gonna keep working and just know that we’re still in a good position, even though we’re playing like dog [expletive].

"Things will turn around. It’s a long season. There’s still a lot of baseball to be played, and this group in here knows it. All we can do is keep working, and things will change.”

Just a few weeks ago the Padres were defying the odds and somehow winning games on the backs of timely hitting and a strong bullpen.

The timely hitting has now disappeared, and their winning record feels as if it might follow.

“I don’t know how many times I’ve got to talk about it: We want to win, we’ve got to [expletive] hit,” Machado said. “It needs to come from us, the people who aren’t doing anything. We keep putting at-bats like that off of good pitchers, eventually things will start going our way.”

The Padres have dropped out of playoff position, now sitting a half game back of the third and final NL Wild Card spot. They're seven games back of the Dodgers in the NL West, and now looking up at the second place Arizona Diamondbacks.

They've also been passed by the Phillies after going 0-6 against them over the last two weeks.

“Not our best baseball, but it’s not who we are as a team,” Padres manager Craig Stammen said. “A little bit of frustration, a little bit of us pressing. But that’s the nature of a long season. And it is a long season, and we’ve got a lot of baseball left to play. I know those guys are looking forward to it, and they’re going to fight till the end.”

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