The San Diego Padres have a rotation featuring three guys who've been the ace of rotations- Yu Darvish, Sean Manaea and Blake Snell. This rotation also features MacKenzie Gore, who the Padres are assuming will be the ace of their own rotation in a couple years, and Mike Clevinger, who was a year away from becoming a full ace in Cleveland. And the guy who's pitching the best out of everyone in the rotation is the guy who was a mid-to-high rotation guy in Pittsburgh.
I mean, you kind of love to see it.
I think the tip-off that Joe Musgrove was gonna be huge in San Diego was the fact that his second start as a Padre was a no-hitter. Ya know, no learning curve, just one start in yellow and brown and then BOOM, no-hitting the Rangers. And remember, this was the first no-no of The Year of the No-Hitter, before Manfred screwed up the balls and all the pitchers started using craftier approaches. Musgrove had a strong first season in San Diego, and so far this season he's 6-0 with a 1.64 ERA and 64 Ks. That is...pretty awesome.
And it's not like some of the other guys are bad or anything. Gore has a 1.50 ERA and is an early favorite for Rookie of the Year. Darvish and Manaea just used great starts to get their ERAs down some more. And plus, with Clevinger back and in decent shape, the Padres seem to be using an extended six-man rotation, with Nick Martinez staying in the fold and, I'm assuming, Blake Snell being used as a long reliever. I am perfectly fine with this move if it yields results, and with all six of these guys throwing decent stuff right now, and a large probability that you'll get Musgrove, Gore and Manaea being on, I trust Bob Melvin.
The Padres are now only two games behind the Dodgers, and with the Dodgers being a bit more human than usual right now, the Friars could definitely lap them in the next week or so. This team has never been so touchable, and the Padres seem to have figured a ton out, even without Tatis. I hope the pitching momentum keeps going for them.
Coming Tonight: The longest-tenured Tampa Bay Ray, which actually isn't an oxymoron right now.
Another solid night by Musgrove. Hope he keeps it up and helps the Padres to the World Series. It's a long season and taking down the Dodgers will be a long shot, but you never know. It's a shame that Snell is struggling so much. Hope he figures things out, because he was such a dominating lefty at one point of his career.
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