Sep 20, 2023; San Diego, California, USA; San Diego Padres relief pitcher Josh Hader (71) throws a pitch against the Colorado Rockies during the ninth inning at Petco Park. Mandatory Credit: Orlando Ramirez-USA TODAY Sports
MLB: Colorado Rockies at San Diego Padres
(San Diego, CA) – Josh Hader stood at the back of the Padres’ bullpen last night watching Robert Suarez throw more pitches than he had all season and subsequently blow a one-run lead in the eighth inning on Monday night.
That’s the 2023 San Diego Padres.
“It’s what we’re doing right now,” was manager Bob Melvin’s answer to why Hader was not used in the eighth.
Pressed on his response, Melvin followed up by saying, “Because it’s the way we’ve handled it here.”
It’s starting to make sense why this team has underachieved.
Hader said his pitching last night was not discussed. He also said the “situation that we were at” relative to the postseason played into his not being available.
“Are we in a playoff race?” he responded when asked to clarify.
Even after last night’s loss, which left them 5½ games out of the National League’s final wild-card spot with five games remaining, the Padres were technically still not eliminated.
Hader has been pretty adamant on when he pitches, involving how many days in a row, how many outs and what inning he works.
He also not pitched more than one inning this season.
“It has nothing to do with the offseason,” he said. “It’s health. It’s making it through a whole entire season; 162 games is not an easy task to do. And when you see guys that work overloads, they get injured.”
It all makes no sense.
The Padres will go down as one of the greatest disasters in MLB history.
Despite so much going right – Juan Soto has stayed healthy the whole year, Fernando Tatís has been a Gold Glove-caliber right fielder, annd Blake Snell’s about to win the Cy Young, but yet this team is destined to finish below .500.
The 2023 San Diego Padres.
