OCTOBER 3: There’s seemingly cause for optimism regarding Clevinger. ESPN’s Pedro Gomez hears (Twitter link) that he could be in line to return to the mound for next week’s NLDS against the Dodgers.
OCTOBER 2: Tonight could prove to be the end of the line for the 2020 Padres, who are gearing up to face the Cardinals in a do-or-die Game 3 of their first-round series. The Padres have gone the series without their two best starting pitchers, right-handers Dinelson Lamet and Mike Clevinger, and they’ll turn to reliever Craig Stammen as an opener Friday. If Stammen & Co. manage to lead San Diego past St. Louis, though, the Padres could see Lamet and Clevinger return in the second round.
Both Lamet and Clevinger played catch Friday, per the San Diego Union Tribune’s Kevin Acee, and manager Jayce Tingler said it’s a “possibility” they’d be around for the NLDS. Lamet has been dealing with biceps discomfort, while Clevinger has been out with an elbow strain. Fortunately, Clevinger came out of his throwing session “feeling great,” Robert Murray reports.
Lamet and Clevinger are undoubtedly two of the main reasons the Padres reached the playoffs for the first time since 2006. Lamet turned in a Cy Young-caliber season with a 2.09 ERA/2.48 FIP and 12.13 K/9 against 2.61 BB/9 in 69 innings. Clevinger, whom the Padres acquired from the Indians at the Aug. 31 trade deadline, pitched to a 3.02 ERA/4.15 FIP and notched 8.64 K/9 against 3.02 BB/9 over 41 2/3 frames between the teams. Healthy versions of the two hurlers would have played prominent roles versus the Cardinals, but perhaps they’ll still have a chance to help the Padres this postseason.
we are going to need these guys if we want to win a title
Don’t sound confident as you did a week ago.
Dude, seriously?
What’s the point of winning the World Series, if people instantly forget? If you want to win a memorable title, you need crazy stuff like this.
Should have never let Alexi Amarista walk
lol. Or PMac
Oh man
What’s next Chris Nelson’s nacho ball?
You are absolutely going to need them. I’m a Cardinals fan and we were very flawed this year and were on the cusp of winning because of the injuries. You’ll need Clevinger to beat the Dodgers. They won’t be able to mash their way to victory against a guy like Buehler.
Bad for the Padres. When you “bullpen” a game, you are hoping that 7-9 guys have good days on the mound.
On the other hand…
A) The Padres have the offense to bail out bad pitching, and
B) In the first two games, the Padres’ starters gave up 10 runs in 4.3333 innings.
Still, the Padres’ bullpen has got to the tired.
Why start stammen? I personally would start Patino. The cards have never seen him and it always goes in the pitchers favor when pitching against someone new. Richards has looked better out of the bullpen lately especially since the giants lit him up. Could’ve started him till he gave up 1 run. All of our pitchers today will be on a short leash. We definitely need lamet and clevinger back in the next round.
He’s a vet, has great control and can go two maybe even three if he’s cruising. Not saying he’s amazing, but he’ll make the Cards beat him and won’t give up free bases. You start Patino and his nerves get to him and he walks the first two batters, what then?
Well, 9 guys had good days on the mound for the Padres after all. A few batters had good days as well. Now let’s see if they can upset the Dodgers.
They will need Lamet AND Clevenger to have any chance.
This post didn’t age well
5 days in a row will be tricky with limited starting staff but the break between the rounds is enough rest for every pitcher in the pen to be fresh for NLDS. If I ran the Padres Id be bold and start Gore somewhere in the series and consider Morejon, Patino over Paddack.
Win or lose i respect the padres…great team and bright future…if the pads do win I’ll be watching them throughout the playoffs…but hopefully Flaherty is Flaherty tonight and the cards take home the win…good luck
It will be impressive if they manage to win this series while missing their two aces and one of the leagues best relievers. If Clevinger and Lamet come back, they can easily steal games against a good team like the Dodgers.
How can they steal games?
why would it be stealing when they have the talent to hang with them.
Why would you think the cardinals are anything like LAD Will be like?
If you think that helped you. Ok. You’re just lucky you didn’t lose in 2 games to a barely 500 team
The good news for the Padres is they are playing a Central team. 2-13 record from the AL and NL Central. What a joke of divisions. Bauer and his “maths” wouldnt had a playoff team other than the Division winner if they didnt just beat up on themselves.
The Central divisions overall have been horrible. Cleveland 0-2. Minnesota 0-2. White Sox 1-1. Cubs 0-2. Brewers 0-2. Cards 1-1.
If the Padres somehow pull it out today they will need Lament and Clevinger to have any chance against the Dodgers.
I get sick of hearing about how the Padres miss those 2 starters. Hey the Cards have lost Mikalos Martinez and Hudson. Not once have I heard about their losses. Why is that?
Padres are a lot more interesting. Thats why.
because Clev is a top handfull starter in the game and Lamet was up there this year as well. Hudson hurts, but Mikolas isnt much more then a good 3-4 and Martinez is generally injured and the Cards have gotten by. the Padres SP model focuses more on their top hanfull of guys, where STL has a more balanced rotation top to bottom.
They also lost 1 of the top 2 closers in the game and one of their top setup relievers. But you have forgotten about them. Just like everyone has forgotten about Mikolas, Martinez and Hudson.
Nikolas is average and Martinez has been trash. Hudson is the only game changer.
Cards lost Aaron Hicks
*Jordan Hicks
ESPN only wanted to talk Padres since before the series. Lol
Because Lamet and Clevinger are aces and Mikolas and Hudson are 3/4 starters
Boo Hoo Those guys we’re number one starters also. Hudson the best pitcher in the NL. Check the stats!
hi have you heard of Trevor Bauer, Max Fried, Yu Darvish, Jacob DeGrom, Corbin Burnes…need I go on? Look, i think Hudson has ace upside, but he’s probably on par with Lamet right now, and Clev is a mile better then Mikolas, so the statement that SD’s lost more as far as good starting is still valid.
Dakota Hudson: 2.77-ERA, 39-IP, 31-K, 1.00-WHIP. Dinelson Lamet: 2.09-ERA, 69-IP, 93-K, 0.86-WHIP
@themed-These stats?
@-DarkSide830-Hudson isn’t even close to “on par” with Lamet at this point.
take a seat themed
What will be interesting about this if they can make it to the NLDS is that could theoretically be 5 games in 5 days and they only rostered 2 SP on their wild card roster. They will have to add some SP to the mix somehow, whether it’s by these guys recovering or by calling up prospects.
If neither Clev or Lamet can go for the NLDS, that leaves Perdomo, Gore, Weathers, Baez, Castillo and Williams as guys they can bring in from the Taxi Squad and of that group only the first three are really “starters” in the traditional sense, but if you’re starting Luis Perdomo against the Dodgers you’re probably going to have a bad day.
Unless one or both can be ready for the NLDS, I don’t see how SD can avoid rostering Gore or Weathers just by virtue of the fact that they need at least 3 or 4 SP in that round.
Marlins vs Padres in the NLCS lets do it!!
Richards has been a starter his whole career. Morejon and Patino have both been used as starters this year and throughout their minor league careers. That makes 5 starters for the playoffs. Gore and Weathers as emergency #6 and #7.
exactly. why not start Richards?
Only Tingler knows for sure DarkSide830.
I wonder if Richards throwing in the previous two games had something to do with it. I know he only threw an inning in game one and 1/3 in game two, but Richards has been a starter the majority of his career, when was the last time he threw three days in a row?
The question is why wasn’t he held back from relief work to enable him to be available for starting? Again, only Tingler know for sure.
If these two pitch in the division series, San Diego beats LA.
Dodgers are the best team in the NL, but they didn’t look great against a Milwaukee team (who didn’t even throw their top rotation arm) that was arguably the worst playoff team in the majors this year. Just not a good matchup for Los Angeles, imo.
Lamet started twice vs LAD this year and each team won once. Even if both make the roster having just sat out neither will go too deep into games. SD absolutely can beat the Dodgers but it’s a stretch to think that just having these two is going to put the Padres over the top.
It’s baseball. Anything can happen. To or for either team.
Brewers scored their only runs of the series on one missed location pitch by Buehler. The second game may have been 3-0, but it felt like 12-0 the way Kershaw was pitching.
The only nerves I had was for Kershaw to have a good game. Game 1 was by far the least stressful playoff game I’ve ever watched as a Dodger fan.
I have a feeling that if Lamet and Clevinger do pitch, they’ll not last long. And it won’t be because of low pitch counts, but the Dodgers are going to hammer them.
Lamet beat Kershaw the last time they met. The only way the Dodgers light him up is if he can’t locate his slider that day. Lamet is pretty much a two pitch guy, so if they can sit on the fastball, it won’t be pretty.
As for Clevinger, most of the Dodgers (with the exception of Mookie Betts) haven’t really faced him much.
Dodger numbers vs Lamet, plus we seen him now 3x.. it’ll make it a better series but worried is a stretch
Now that the Sox are out, I’m rooting for two things: Marlins win games they shouldn’t, and Padres get to full strength by Monday. I don’t have a rooting interest, but it could be the best series of October if Lamet and Clevinger are good to go.
Lamet and Clevinger will be back. With Davjes 3rd, and our bullpen, we have a chance.
Low chance but it’s still a chance I guess
Your bullpen and back end of the rotation got blasted by the freakin cardinals. Mighty confident lol
Clevinger’s pitching MO is not ideal for the MO of Dodger hitting style. At best for SD, pitch count would be crazy high.
Predicting the future? Yawn. Sounds more like you are worried
@vegassdfan man bro all you do is troll these pages like you have nothing going on. I guess living in a hell like Vegas I might do the same. You were silent on your almost exit to a barely above .500 team. 2 ws appearance in 60 years speaks for itself the odds aren’t on your side.
Nothing better to do???
@imindless-All VegasSDfan does is troll these pages? Seriously? Every single thing on MLBTR that has anything to do with the Padres you are there to disparage! At least he is a Padre fan. What’s your excuse?
@javia the disparage is done mainly by troll padres fans like yourself claiming they are winning a World Series. Then are quick to attack the dodgers fans and kershaw for their various failures in the recent postseasons.
Lol you guys are soooooo salty and angry at being a cellar dweller. We don’t see you as a threat ever! I have been to padres stadium and it’s was like a dodger home game half full and most filled with loyal dodger fans who make the short journey.
You guys are bandwagon fair weather fans and you make the postseason 1 time in a shorten season and are quick to claim yourselves ws champs ha!
I come to this page for updates not troll comments from fans. You guys wish you had our success show some respect!
i love it when people call padre fans bandwagoners. It is as if the dodger fans are the gatekeepers of the mlb! Like there are no dodger bandwagoners!
Dodgers already have plenty of respect lmao. But these dodgers fans need their guns ready with retorts of “sd is bandwagoners”
Did you experience 1996 when padre fans stormed dodger stadium and outnumbered dodger fans and won the nl west title?
KEEP THAT NARRATIVE GOING…
SD played only 60 games they suck… waaahh waahhh
Trent Grisham pimped a home run off Kershaw… wahhh wahh
Max Muncy pimped a home run off Madbum … what a god
Petco Park is Dodger Stadium South…. wahhh wahhh
We lost to two cheaters … wahhh wahhh
JUST GO WIN A CHAMPIONSHIP AND SHUT UP MY GOD
@imindless
“Javia the disparage here is done mainly by troll Padre fans like yourself…”
Wikipedia:
Troll-In internet slang, a troll is a person who starts flame wars or intentionally upsets people on the Internet by posting inflammatory and digressive, extraneous or off topic messages in an online community with the intent of provoking readers into emotional responses.
Now here you are, a Dodger fan in the comments of an article written about Padre pitchers, leaving comments like:
-“Don’t sound as confident as you did a week ago”
-“Low chance but it’s still a chance I guess”
-“I guess living in a hell like Vegas I might do the same. You were silent on your almost exit to a barely above .500 team. 2 was appearances in 60 years speaks for itself the odds aren’t on your side”
So who, exactly, is the troll here?
@javia He’s been trolling for a while. But hey if he wants to make dodger fans look bad then so be it.
Padre fans are coming out of their caves… wahhh wahhh
Padre fans acted like they won the World Series… wahhh wahhh
We’ve been to the playoffs 8 straight years and own SD …. wah wahhh
Padres are cellar dwellars …. wahhh wahhh
Weve waited for 32 years and know pain more than anyone else and deserve a title … wahhh wahhh
And you wonder why dodger fans think most padre fans are trolls
Thanks for giving us multiple posts to point to!
My favorite is when you took A SINGLE EVENT nearly 25 years ago and acted like you owned someone today. Ahh classic. Most of your “fans” couldn’t name 1/2 a dozen 96 padre players lmfao
I’m glad Lamet and Clev may pitch. One less excuse for you when this is done. I just pray we don’t have to listen to Sutcliffe make every story about how great the Padres are for 5 games. Like when Cronenwerth nearly ran you guys out of a series, but Sut proclaimed Cronenwerth had never made that type of error in his life and never would again
Then he does it again the next day and is saved only by horrible defense. Oops
You’re not getting those breaks vs LA
@Commonsenselapsyou Oh I am just responding to you and Imindless who always come on padre articles and troll. And Sutcliffe was drooling all over the Cardinals give me a break. I think we can agree that Sutcliffe sucks at announcing. Even Cardinal fans agreed.
There will be no damn excuses. Us Padre fans are just excited to be in the playoffs. Should be a fun series and the winner will probably go the whole way
Its not like us padre fans are new to getting crap thrown at us by dodger fans haha. I will let the games do the talking. For what its worth, the comments that I made above are what dodger fans have been saying, not me. That is my point that some dodger fans are trolls too. Have a nice day and good luck this week. .
I’m a Dodgers fan, and I hope Lamet and Clevinger are ready to go. In the case of Clevinger, he’s just cool. I like him. Lamet is just super talented, and it’s great to see him pitching the way he has, through the injuries. If they can keep him on the field, he’ll be great. The Dodgers are at full strength, and I want the Padres to be too. In my opinion, the Padres are the biggest threat to a Dodgers title. This should be one helluva series.
@derall76 I agree it will be a fun series. Thanks for not being a troll dodger fan.