In the final days before the All-Star break, the San Diego Padres host the New York Mets this week.
It’s safe to say that both teams are ready to put the first half behind them.
The Padres and Mets are two of baseball’s biggest disappointments to date, trading under .500 despite high-priced, star-studded rosters. The fact that both teams are currently 38-46 seems like appropriate symmetry.
The outlook for San Diego looks a little rosier than that for New York. The Padres actually have a plus-23 running difference. They were finished off by a 5-15 record in one-run games and a 0-7 mark in extra innings. If the tight games turn for them, the Padres could certainly make a breakthrough, and unlike the Mets, their star closer (Josh Hader) is healthy.
But San Diego has lost seven of its last eight games in a section of the game that included Washington, Pittsburgh and Cincinnati. A rival team shouldn’t have too many problems against this trio.
The Mets, on the other hand, got two of San Francisco’s three wins last weekend, but that was their only straight win of the last nine. New York’s bullpen was a problem after Edwin Diaz was out with a preseason knee injury, and owner Steve Cohen acknowledged his team could be a seller by the close if things don’t improve soon.
LIGHT SPOT
In a terrible season for the Oakland Athletics, they have the major league leader in stolen bases in Esteury Ruiz. At 42, he’s already surpassed last year’s leader — Baltimore’s Jorge Mateo had 35.
Ruiz has 84 hits and 14 walks this season, so he’s trying to steal about half the time he gets to base with 50 steal attempts. Brent Rooker is Oakland’s representative at the All-Star Game, but it would have been interesting to see Ruiz play as a late-inning pinch-running option for the American League.
TRIVIA TIME
The A’s have had one player since Rickey Henderson led the American League in steals, and that player clinched the title in 2011 at 49. Who was that?
RISING
The Philadelphia Phillies ended the week on a bitter note, losing two of their three losses to Washington – suffering two losses in one run to clinch a 19-4 win. But before that, Philadelphia won a three-game series at Wrigley Field against the Cubs.
The Phillies have recovered from their slow start, and after winning 19 of their last 26 games, they are just 1 1/2 games away from the final wild card in the National League. And after last year, if they can just sneak into the postseason, they know what’s possible.
FALL
The Los Angeles Angels drew in four games against the Chicago White Sox before losing two of three games to Arizona. So they had a losing record on a home side where Shohei Ohtani netted six in seven games and netted ten in his only start.
The Angels have lost a total of eight out of twelve games.
LINE OF THE WEEK
New York Yankees’ Domingo Germán scored the 24th perfect game in Major League history with an 11-0 win over Oakland on Wednesday night. He was the first pitcher from the Dominican Republic to complete a perfect game.
Germán counted three balls to just two batsmen.
COMEBACK OF THE WEEK
The Pittsburgh Pirates trailed 4-0 in game four and 7-3 in game seven before beating the Milwaukee Brewers 8-7 on Friday night. Pittsburgh scored three runs at the bottom of the ninth game and won it by hitting a two-run home run by Carlos Santana.
According to Baseball Savant, Milwaukee had a 95.5% chance of winning by the end of the seventh field.
TRIVIA ANSWER
Coco Crisp, who tied with Brett Gardner of the New York Yankees that year.
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