The San Diego Padres shocked the baseball world when it hired former MLB reliever Craig Stammen to manage the club, but the move has San Diego looking like geniuses.
The San Diego Padres were shut out its series opener against the Philadelphia Phillies 3-0 on Memorial Day and have dropped two consecutive contests heading into Game 2 of this three-game series.
Despite outhitting the Phillies 5-to-3, the Padres were blanked by Philadelphia and couldn’t capitalize on any of its early scoring chances. Right-hander Randy Vasquez was listed as the probable starter for the Padres, but righty Griffin Canning made the start instead to give Vasquez an extra day of rest and to regulate the starting rotation.
Canning pitched well but earned the loss after pitching 6.2 innings and allowing three runs on three hits and three walks while striking out five. Phillies designated hitter Kyle Schwarber drilled his 21st home run of the season off Canning in the first inning and left fielder Brandon marsh continued his great season with a two-run shot in the seventh.
Lefty Jesus Luzardo didn’t allow a run in six innings of work, allowing just four hits and two walks while fanning six Padres hitters to earn his fourth win of the season.
Game 2 of the series will feature Vasquez against Phillies right-hander Aaron Nola. Vasquez has been great for the Padres and the extra day of rest will likely pay dividends for a guy that has worked extra hard this season to keep San Diego in position to play playoff baseball in October.
Vasquez is 5-2 with a 2.96 ERA, 1.19 WHIP and 45 strikeouts through 10 starts (54.2 innings) this season. He took the loss his last time out against the Los Angeles Dodgers, but he pitched well and gave up just three runs on six hits and three walks through 4.1 innings.
Nola is 2-4 with a 6.04 ERA, 1.56 WHIP and 51 strikeouts through 10 starts (50.2 innings). The former ace hasn’t been dominant in a while, and he allowed four runs on eight hits with five strikeouts in five innings against the Cincinnati Reds his last time out.
San Diego’s season has gone quite well with all things considered, and that’s a testament to manager Craig Stammen, who was a surprising hire by the Padres (that has worked out wonderfully). He was named the front-runner for National League Manager of the Year by ESPN’s Bradford Doolittle.
“It's a tight grouping so far, but the markers really like Stammen, the former (and recent) MLB reliever who was a surprising offseason pick to lead the Padres,” Doolittle wrote Tuesday.
“San Diego was expected to be a playoff contender, so Stammen gets credit for meeting that expectation, but not as much as [Oliver] Marmol, whose [St. Louis] Cardinals have overachieved. However, San Diego is 15-6 in games decided by one or two runs, and no NL team is on track to outperform its run differential by a larger margin.”
Stammen, a 13-year Major League Baseball reliever, has done a great job at managing a team with a thin starting rotation and a star player that has yet to hit a homer this year as well as other stars not playing nearly as well as they should.
Stammen is just ahead of Marmol, Terry Francona (Reds), Blake Butera (Washington Nationals) and Pat Murphy (Milwaukee Brewers).
