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10/01 05:00 CDT The Padres streak into October playing their best ball. They're
even ready for the mighty Brewers
The Padres streak into October playing their best ball. They're even ready for
the mighty Brewers
By GREG BEACHAM
AP Sports Writer
SAN DIEGO (AP) --- After a slow and stuttering start to the season, the San
Diego Padres tore through September with passion and poise. Every impressive
thing they've done during their current 20-3 surge suggested they were
determined to reach October as the most dangerous team in baseball.
October is finally here --- and so is the best version of the Padres, as they
demonstrated in their two-game destruction of the Chicago Cubs in the NL Wild
Card Series.
The Padres are hitting, pitching and executing at a level rarely seen in a city
that has never celebrated a World Series title, and this streaking group is
eager to keep chasing San Diego's impossible dream.
"We feel great right now, but we're not done," Manny Machado said Wednesday
night after the Padres finished off the Cubs with a 4-1 victory in Game 2.
"Winning games like these, it just makes you hungrier to win more."
The MLB-leading Milwaukee Brewers are up next in the NL division series
starting Saturday, but the Padres' clubhouse is full of players who clearly
can't wait to test themselves against the best.
"It's going to be (some) of the highest-level baseball games ever played, so
we're looking forward to it," Fernando Tatis Jr. said between cigar puffs in
the Padres' booze-soaked clubhouse.
The Padres beat the Cubs by a combined 12-1 in a thorough two-game domination
of their 89-win opponent. San Diego's vaunted pitching staff held the majors'
highest-scoring offense to eight low-impact hits while the Padres racked up 21
hits of their own, including four homers.
But this is similar to what the Padres have been doing to the majority of their
opponents ever since they turned around their season in the second half.
Despite a roster laden with tested veterans and young talent coming off four
playoff appearances in the previous six years, the Padres needed four months to
find their best form. They scuffled around .500 into the All-Star break and had
a losing record on July 25.
And then San Diego got an enormous confidence boost from a three-game sweep of
the Brewers at Petco in early August. The Padres eventually won their final
seven series and finished with 91 victories, surging past the Cubs and the
Phillies to claim the first wild-card berth and homefield advantage in the
opening round.
That's a big deal to the Padres, who won 51 games at Petco Park during the
regular season in front of the fans who turn this downtown stadium into a
lively party each night during the summer.
"At the beginning, it was tough --- it was rough," said Tatis, who finished
with 25 homers despite inexplicably not hitting his first until June 1. "We
were looking really ugly. I was looking really ugly. We decided to turn it
around, and with this group, nothing is impossible."
Even the improbable happens with regularity for the Padres these days.
For instance, Gavin Sheets stepped up to the plate on a plantar plate tear in
his left foot in Game 2 and blasted a pinch-hit homer on his only swing of the
Wild Card Series.
Sheets was determined not to miss the playoffs, and he fought his way back onto
the Padres' roster on the last weekend of the regular season even though he
probably isn't healthy enough to play defense in October. He got just one
chance to contribute against the Cubs, and he set off a celebration.
Sheets said the Padres are glad they didn't have an opening-round bye. They
wanted to keep their roll going --- and this demolition of the Cubs only
boosted San Diego's confidence in its ability to beat the best.
"I think you gain a lot of momentum from series like this," Sheets said.
"Obviously the Brewers are a 1 seed for a reason. They're a great team. They've
got great arms. We've played them strong all year, and we know what they offer.
... We're going to start in Milwaukee, and it's going to be just like here.
It's going to be rocking. But I think there's some momentum that gets built
when you play these two games."
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See AP's full MLB coverage here
