Atlanta will travel to San Diego on Friday night for a three game series against the Friars. On the first series back from the all star break, the Padres look for their push to start off well in the second half of the season. The Padres are five games out of a Wild Card spot, with 5 teams either tied or better than them in these standings. It is well defined at this point that San Diego cannot catch up to the Dodgers in the division, so that wild card spot is currently what the Friar faithful have on their minds.
Atlanta leads their division by 6 games, and is hoping for a solid enough push to guarantee an NLDS berth. The Braves are also an impressive 26-18 on the road this year, which is tops in the NL for road winning percentage. They also sport some solid rotation men to start this second half off. Keuchel is one player to watch. The former Astro wasn’t signed to a team until 2 months into the season, and is still early on in his own pitching campaign. He will start this series off against Dinelson Lamet on Friday.
For San Diego fans, this is a really important series. The Padres are coming off of a big series in Los Angeles, and they’ll be thrust right back into another matchup with a division leader this weekend. While trying to make a push for that playoff spot, every series is important. In theory, however, this home series ending in a loss would be one of the less painful home losses if they can just get one game. This, of course, is considering how good Atlanta has been on the road. Staying afloat with the “big dogs” in the league, and taking care of business when playing the lower level teams are usually enough for teams to make the playoffs.
San Diego’s big disadvantage at the moment is how crowded the National League wild card race has become. There are seven teams in the Wild card hunt alone that are within one half game or better than the Padres in these standings competing for those coveted two spots. With this being said, there is absolutely no time to waste for the eager San Diego Padres. This Atlanta series, as with every series from here on out, feels like a must win.
Friday, July 12th, 7:10 PM
LHP Dallas Keuchel (2-2, 3.60) vs Dinelson Lamet (0-1, 5.40)
Dallas Keuchel’s season did not start this year until June 21st, as he was signed mid-season. Friday night will mark his fifth start of the year. His first two home starts, which were his third and fourth of the year ended up going down as quality starts. His big strength as of late has been going deep into games. He will try to keep the bullpen out of this series by extending that quality start streak to 3. The Padres will want to get him out of the game early and get that bullpen out as quickly as possible.
Dinelson Lamet will suit up for his second start of the year after making his comeback start last weekend in LA. After undergoing Tommy John surgery in 2018, he went 5 innings giving up 3 earned runs on 80 pitches. It is clear at this point that Dinelson’s pitch count will be closely monitored this early back, but he wants to make up for his losing performance with a big win over Atlanta.
Saturday, July 13th, 5:40 PM
Julio Teheran (5-6, 3.75) vs TBD
Julio Teheran has had a very solid start to his year so far this season owning a 1.6 WAR as of the All Star break for the Braves. Julio is also coming off one of his best starts of the year, throwing 6 scoreless innings against Miami last Friday. Before that, Teheran had three consecutive outings where he did not record an out in the fifth inning, so he will definitely be trying to establish his consistency.
Sunday, July 14th, 1:10 PM
Mike Soroka (9-1, 2.42) vs TBD
Mike Soroka has been nothing short of ridiculous for Atlanta so far this year. If there have been any disappointments individually for the Atlanta pitching staff, Soroka has cleaned up for them and then some. He has a 2.8 WAR through 4th of July weekend including as filthy 9-1 record. All of these things plus he is a 21 year old rookie. Padres fans will have a nice treat on Sunday watching Soroka and Tatis go head to head as they are both prime Rookie of the Year candidates.
Players To Watch
The players to watch for the Padres include Fernando Tatis Jr. and Kirby Yates. Tatis will be trying to shine again with a huge series matchup vs a division leader. He will also want to expand his case for Rookie of the Year when he gets a chance to face up with Mike Soroka. Kirby Yates, the lone Padres all star, is a player to watch because of his wizardry on the mound closing out games. Kirby will be hoping to be called upon for 3 saves this weekend, and has a very high confidence level in slamming the door against teams in the 9th inning.
For the Braves, the players to watch include Ozzie Albies and Dansby Swanson. Both of these guys have been ridiculous in their last seven games. Albies is hitting .435 with a home run, doing a great job of putting the ball in play. Keeping an eye out to see whether he keeps the singles coming will be worth it. Dansby, the former first overall pick of 2015, is hitting .393 with 2 home runs, and a steal. Swanson is considered an all around player, and has had that on display big time as of late.
