"Manny Machado, Jackson Merrill, Fernando Tatis Jr. was not good" - Padres insider blames sluggers for team's elimination by Dodgers
The San Diego Padres had a disappointing end to an otherwise strong campaign as their season ended after losing Game 5 of the National League Division Series against the LA Dodgers. Their batting lineup was blanked in the last two games.
San Diego was up 2-1 in the series due to some poor starting pitching and weak offense in Games 2 and 3 by Dodgers' Jack Flaherty and Walker Buehler. However, a Dave Roberts masterclass followed as he employed different sets of relievers to avoid having to start anyone from his rotation.
In Game 5, Yoshinobu Yamamoto had a strong outing and the Padres couldn't bounce back as they only managed nine hits in the final two games and went scoreless in the last 24 innings of the NLDS.
On Monday's episode of the "Ben and Woods" podcast, Steven Woods discussed why they failed to advance. He said that the offense was not good enough against a resilient Dodgers pitching staff who did not back down.
"[8:05] Nobody finished well, there's nobody, there's not one person that finished well that they can hang their hat on in the last two games and say 'Well at least I did my job,'" Woods said.
"Crony [Jake Cronenworth] was not good, [Jurickson] Profar was not good, [Luis] Arraez was not good, Xander [Bogaerts] was not good, Manny [Machado] was not good, [Jackson] Merrill was not good and you know [Fernando] Tatis was not good."
Padres manager Mike Shildt expresses disappointment, lauds team effort
After Game 5, San Diego skipper Mike Shildt talked about the emotions that the team went through and also shared his admiration for the efforts each player put in.
“There's a lot of emotion,” Shildt said on Saturday. “Mixture, obviously. A ton of disappointment in the end result. But nothing but absolute respect and admiration for our entire club. It's a club that from day one poured everything they had into this – every single guy.”
Despite the early postseason exit, the Padres can ride the momentum from this campaign and push for another title run next year.