The Padres still have a lot of work to do on their offense during the All-Star break, but for now it seems their pitching is back to where we all expected it to be (well, aside from Ian Kennedy).
Tyson Ross continued a string of strong performances from the Friars staff, throwing 6.2 scoreless innings with six whiffs to pace a 2-1 Padres win on Sunday afternoon in Texas. San Diego hits the annual midseason break on a 2-game winning streak.
Despite his great effort Ross was almost saddled with a no-decision. Craig Kimbrel was brought in for a rare 4-out save and, although he made things a little more exciting than Padres fans would have liked, allowing a run in the 9th and letting the tying run reach 2nd base, Kimbrel punched out Leonys Martin to secure the win and his 23rd save of the season.
The Padres took two of three from the Rangers, giving them their first series win on the road since June 5-7 in Cincinnati.
The staff had to be good because the Padres only scored twice again. One run came on pure hustle, when Will Middlebrooks hit a grounder to second and Will Venable beat out a throw to the plate. Jedd Gyorko brought in the other run with an RBI single. It was a better result, but still a nasty trend for the San Diego hitters.
On their 10-game road trip they scored 5, 2, 1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 3, 6 and 2 runs. It's amazing they won four of those games and a waste of an opportunity when their pitching staff gave up 3, 1, 2, 3, 2, 3, 5, 4, 5 and 1 run.
Just like it's been all year, the Padres just can't seem to get everything working at once for a prolonged period. If they pitch well, they can't hit. If they hit well, they can't pitch. They're 41-49 at the season's traditional mid-way point. When they hit the field on Friday against the Rockies at Petco Park, they'll start a stretch of winnable games.
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In fact, of their next 32 games the Padres only play six against teams with a winning record (three at home against the Giants and three on the road against the Mets). For a team that's played one of the most difficult schedules in the Majors, it will be a stretch where they either get themselves back in to the playoff hunt ... or start selling off pieces and looking to next year (again).
