Padres Daily: Joe will try to push his team forward; manage enclosures; Grisham stays locked up

Hello from New York,

The kid from San Diego may be one of today’s heroes.

Or maybe he and all the other longtime Padres fans will have to wait until next year.

It’s exciting, and I sort of identify with the fans when it comes to those big games of being a fan in the stands or being upset and being disappointed and the team didn’t make it as far as we’ve come this year, Grossmont High alumnus Joe Musgrove said yesterday afternoon. I realize all of these things, but at the end of the day, you can’t play with emotions and whatever is going on in the back of your mind. I have a job to do, and I’m going to do what I have to do to get out there and do it.

When he spoke, Musgrove wasn’t sure if he would pitch today. He hoped he wouldn’t, that the Padres would sweep the Mets in the wildcard series and that his next start would be Game 1 of the National League Division Series on Tuesday at Dodger Stadium.

The Padres lost 7-3 to the Mets last night, setting up today’s winner-or-go-home contest. You can read in my game story (here) how they couldn’t capitalize on their slim chances against Jacob deGrom and how Blake Snell struggled to find the strike zone and how Adrian Morejn didn’t save a out in the seventh inning for the Mets.

Still, Musgrove will take the mound tonight for his first playoff start. He made seven relief appearances as a rookie in the 2017 playoffs during the Astros’ run to a World Series title.

Musgrove was to live his Saturday like there was no way he would be drenched in champagne by the end of the night.

I can’t sit here and have the expectations of going there and winning tonight and not having to worry about tomorrow, he said before the game. I have to focus on what’s right in front of me, and that’s the Mets right now.

In his only start against the Mets in 2022, here on July 24, Musgrove allowed four runs in 5 1/3 innings.

It was in the middle of his work on all sorts of things, including ongoing contract negotiations, a bit of fatigue, the usual ups and downs of a season, and the occasional struggle to feel good about his six different pitches. .

Musgrove finished the season with a 2.93 ERA and 1.08 WHIP, tied for eighth and 11^e, respectively, in the National League. He was the first Padres pitcher to make 30 starts, win 10 games and have a MAT below 3.00 since Tyson Ross in 2014 and only the 13^e The Padres pitcher has never accomplished those feats in the same season.

He has allowed a run in 22 innings in his last four starts.

He’s our All-Star, Manny Machado said. He has been our workhorse all year.

Keep the best for last

Bob Melvin was asked before yesterday’s game if even leading 1-0 in the series, he would manage as if down 1-0. Essentially, would he treat it like a game of elimination?

Yes, it’s the same, he said. Each of these games you play as if it were the last game of the season.

Except it’s not literally true when a manager whose team is not in danger of elimination says that he will handle this game as if his team is in danger of elimination.

And it was played yesterday in the seventh round.

The Padres trailed 3-2 when left-hander Adrian Morejn came in to start the bottom of the seventh and charged on a Francisco Lindor single and two walks. By then, with Morejn facing the required minimum of three batters, Melvin would have replaced Morejn if a loss ended the Padres’ season.

Instead, he let him face left-handed hitter Jeff McNeil, the National League batting champion.

We were comfortable with him,” Melvin said of the decision to use Morejn in the seventh. You’re not going to have your match with Lindor hitting the switch and then we were going to run it through McNeil and try to turn (Eduardo) Escobar around.

Right-hander Pierce Johnson arrived with runners in second and third after McNeil had a two-run brace. Johnson gave up an RBI single to the Escobar that hit the switch and allowed the other runner he inherited to score on a sacrificial fly that made it 7-2.

Morejn threw 25 fastballs among his 29 pitches. Only 16 of his throws were strikes.

I was put in this situation to control the game and unfortunately I didn’t, said Morejn. I didn’t have the best control, and I think the game sped up a bit on me.

By the time Melvin could get him out, the chances a reliever had of preventing the Mets from adding to their lead were slim enough that Melvin decided it was a better idea to save his highly leveraged relievers.

We feel good,” Melvin said afterwards. Joe has pitched well for us all year. Were also in pretty good shape with our bullpen.

Still need another

Mets manager Buck Showalter was facing elimination, and he used his top two relievers as if he didn’t also need two wins to advance.

It wasn’t such a big surprise that Showalter closed in on Edwin Diaz to start the seventh inning of a game the Mets were leading 3-2.

They had (Trent) Grisham there, (who) harmed us and on top of their order, who harmed us, Showalter said. I’ll take my best pitcher and face their command, hope they don’t come back.

Grisham, who led the seventh, had hit his second home run of the series in the third inning and walked and scored in the fifth. The third batter expected was point guard Jurickson Profar, who was at that time 3 for 5 with two walks in the series. Showalter planned to use Diaz for two innings to move into the lead in command.

Diaz got a groundout from Grisham, allowed a single to Austin Nola and retired Profar and Juan Soto on groundouts.

Then the Mets scored five runs in the bottom of the inning, which took half an hour. Showalter said he considered removing Diaz at that time, but decided Diaz was the best option to help secure the win.

It crossed my mind, he said to change at that time. We (had to) have this one under our belt.

Diaz ended up walking Josh Bell in the eighth and eventually threw 28 pitches. Showalter then went with Adam Ottavino, who got the final of the eighth and the first two outs of the ninth before leaving after throwing 35 pitches.

Well, said Showalter. Who knows what tomorrow might bring?

Showalter later admitted that he may have burned his top two relievers.

While it’s likely that with what’s at stake, both would be available tomorrow, Diaz has thrown more than 28 pitches once this season and has only thrown 28 two other times, and he’s never pitched the day after throwing that many pitches. Ottavinos 35 shots was more than he had thrown in any game since 2018.

We got some really good batsmen together to put some pitches on some of their guys,” Melvin said. Look, it’s the winner who takes it all tomorrow, and I think they’ll probably extend their guys even though they threw a few today.

The Mets will start Chris Bassitt, who in June in San Diego allowed the Padres seven runs in 3 1/3 innings before limiting them to two runs (on a Machado homer) in seven innings here in July. They also have starter Taijuan Walker in their bullpen.

New Grish on the dish

Grisham, who hasn’t hit any type of pitch with consistency this season and was at his worst against pitches thrown at 95mph or more, hit a 100mph fastball from deGrom the other way to the seats above- beyond left center field to tie last night’s game 1-1 in the third inning.

If the Padres can find a way to extend the season, it looks like Grisham has found the rhythm he was hinting at for almost a small portion of the regular season. Not only was the pitch he threw 402 feet to the opposite court blazing, but he was even lower and farther and even further when he hit it.

Yeah, Grisham said, I think any time you get those kind of pitches that are pitching pitches, you’re in a good position.

Grisham finished the season batting .184, the lowest in the majors among 130 qualified hitters, while striking out once for every 3.49 plate appearances, more often than all but four qualified hitters. On Friday, he homered on a 94 mph fastball from Max Scherzer. Grisham is the first player with such a low regular-season batting average to homer in his first two playoff games in the same year.

Of the 109 major league hitters who had at least 91 at-bats on a pitch at 95 mph or faster in 2022, Grisham ranked 109th with a .135 batting average on those pitches. He’s swung on seven of 15 pitches he’s seen at 100 mph or more this season, fouling five, running aground once and hitting a double.

Nola is the receiver

Rookie Luis Campusano has made four of Musgroves’ last seven starts this season, but Austin Nola will make up for it today. And it looks like he’ll be the starting catcher as long as the Padres play.

Nola will catch, Melvin said. He worked very well with (the pitchers). It has been a long job this year. Campy did a great job with Joe, but Nola will catch up.

Teams led by Melvin have been the most successful (by far) in the major leagues in overtime games for the past three seasons.

It was in this period that the runner starting from second base at the start of extra innings was used.

Melvins Oakland As went 14-4 from 2020 to 21, and the Padres were 12-5 this season. That’s a winning percentage of .743 over the three years.

But the second runner is not used in the playoffs this year, as it was not in 2021.

I could have gone either way, Melvin said. More than anything, it’s your bullpen that worries you (if) you go into a 13 inning match. In the playoffs, you want to have your best guys available.

Playoffs, times two

The Steins are a two-playoff family.

Padres vice president and assistant general manager Josh Stein is married to Laura Wolf Stein, vice president of marketing and communications for The Wave.

The Wave, in its first season, opens the National Womens Soccer League playoffs on October 16 with a game against the Chicago Red Stars at Snapdragon Stadium.

I’m excited for her and what they’ve done in such a short time,” said Josh. It is really impressive.

Laura is in New York with the couple’s daughters, Emma and Jessie.

Small bites

• The Padres pitchers walked nine batters last night, tied for third most in franchise playoff history. It also tied their regular season high.

• Machado was 0-for-4 with a walk and three strikeouts and is 1-for-8 in the series. In 31 career playoff games (135 plate appearances), he’s batting .195/.248/.390.

• Profar was 1 for 4 with a walk. His fifth-inning single tied the game 2-2 and gave him four RBIs in the series. He’s 10-for-27 (.370) with two walks in 10 career playoff games.

• Bell was 1 for 4 with a walk and has at least one hit in his last eight games at Citi Field.

• Robinson Cano has played 33 major league games this season – 12 for the Mets, 12 for the Padres and nine for the Braves. So

Alright, that’s it for me. Speak to you tomorrow.