The Padres hit a rough patch

Everything seems to go be going bad for the San Diego Padres right now. What can the team do to get themselves out of the skid?

The San Diego Padres have lost their last 5 games, and they’ve lost 7 of their last 9 games. Over that stretch, their starting pitching has remained pretty great, but the bullpen has been inconsistent and the offense has been almost nonexistent.

I’m not going to sit here and pretend that I know whether or not this year’s team is different than the team that collapsed at the end of last season, because I don’t. But I am going to tell you something that I’ve been saying since the beginning of the season:

The Padres are going to face a rough patch at some point this season. Probably multiple times during the season. Even the best teams in the history of baseball faced a rough week or two where absolutely everything seems to be going wrong, or at least something goes wrong each game, and how they find their way out of those slumps goes a long way towards determining what type of season they’re going to have.

So far, I like the steady hand of Bob Melvin. I like the veteran leadership this team has in the dugout, in the bullpen, and in the starting rotation. Nobody seems rattled by what’s happening, they’ve all seen in many times before, and they know that they’ll eventually come out of it.

Last night, it was Taylor Rogers’ turn. In a game where Sean Manaea pitched great and the offense did enough, all Rogers had to do is what he has done all season: close out the game. Unfortunately, he lost all control of his pitches and ended up blowing the save in spectacular fashion for another Padres loss.

As I wrote yesterday, I’m not sure there’s anything the Padres can do to get out of this that they’re not already doing. Now they just have to take their lumps, keep grinding, and wait for things to turn themselves around.