Padres And Cardinals Offenses Should Rebound After Disappointing Series

Padres vs. Cardinals, 7:45 ET

I went 1-1 yesterday which was an improvement from going 0-2 the past two days. When you write about baseball everyday for somewhere around seven or eight months out of the year, there are bound to be bad stretches. Hopefully the bad stretch is behind us and we can focus on winning. Each day brings a new opportunity and I'm here to seize it! Today's opportunity is between the Padres and the Cardinals, let's get a win here.

The Padres are still in second place in their division, and looking at the standings, I'm a little surprised about it. They are just 4.5 games behind the Dodgers which at least provides the illusion of a bad Dodgers week and a good Padres week allowing them to potentially take the divisional lead. I'd be surprised, but it is possible. The Padres need to find a way to get on a sustained winning streak. They are eight games over .500 at the moment, but I haven't seen them really go on a tear like they are capable of. There is a lot of roster fluctuation with the team due to injuries and rotation pitchers going down for stretches, so that is a contributing factor. One guy who is back with the team, and is now making his fourth start of the year, is Yu Darvish. We all know Darvish has the stuff to compete with anyone, but he hasn't quite found a groove yet, allowing nine earned runs in the 13.1 innings he has thrown. He is going deeper into each game, so that's a positive sign. He is facing a Cardinals team today that has hit him pretty well in the past, batting .303 overall against him. 

May 29, 2024; San Diego, California, USA; San Diego Padres pitcher Yu Darvish (11) pitches during the first inning against the Miami Marlins at Petco Park. Mandatory Credit: Denis Poroy-USA TODAY Sports

The Cardinals are probably out of the divisional race. It isn't impossible for them to win it - as in it is mathematically possible, but they are currently almost 10 games back and it seems to be a two-horse race. They could set their sights on the Wild Card, and it wouldn't surprise me if they did that. The team has been pretty good overall when you look at their statistics. The pitching is the biggest area of concern as they currently have a 4.21 ERA and a 1.29 WHIP. The ERA is 22nd in the League, but the aforementioned Dodgers is actually worse. The team just dropped a series to the Rockies so they aren't playing great at the moment either. The bright side is they get Sonny Gray on the mound for them tonight and he usually provides them with an opportunity to win. For the year, Gray is 9-4 with a 4.04 ERA and a 1.15 WHIP. He has been significantly better at home, throwing to a 2.84 ERA in 12 outings. He has had some stinker games this year, but always followed them up with rebound performances. His last outing was a bad one, allowing eight earned in 3.1 innings to the Diamondbacks. The Padres have hit him pretty well in the past, batting .276 overall in almost 100 at-bats. 

This is a game that probably goes over the total, but the caution is that the offenses don't look great at the moment. The Padres scored seven runs total in the series against the Marlins, and the Cardinals scored 10 against the Rockies. However, both of these starters are likely to give up a couple of runs and the rest bullpens should handle the rest. I do lean toward the Padres winning and think we get some decent value here. 

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