The San Diego Padres started their current road trip versus the Washington Nationals, Miami Marlins and St. Louis Cardinals with a lead over the San Francisco Giants and Cardinals in the Wild Card race. In fact, on July 21 they were 3.5 games up on the Giants, Cardinals and Cincinnati Reds.

After taking two of three from the Nationals, the Padres lost two of three to the Marlins and also lost the first two games of the Cardinals series. They have not lost the last Wild Card spot but they have relinquished their significant lead. Both the Giants and Cardinals have had losing records over the past ten games, which has aided the Padres in staying ahead. The Reds have been winning but still sit a game behind the Friars in the Wild Card standings.

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Out of sync

The irony of their situation is that the offense has been improved. They have been unable to coincide the better offense with good pitching and/or good defense. As a result, scoring seven runs on the first game of the Cardinals series did not result in a win. Yu Darvish had a rare truly bad start, allowing 8 hits and 8 runs in 3.1 innings. Since his return from elbow issues that sidelined him for the first three months of the season, Darvish has allowed 17 runs in 16.2 innings and the team has lost all three of his starts.

Stephen Kolek gets a start

Opting to start Stephen Kolek in a game against the Marlins, the Padres got a quality performance with three runs allowed in 5.1 innings but only scored three runs while the bullpen surrendered the winning run.

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The organization replaced long man Bryan Hoeing by calling up Kyle Hart from Triple-A and he piggybacked with Dylan Cease to provide seven innings with the three runs allowed charged to Cease. But the offense could only generate two runs against Sandy Alcantara and the bullpen of the Marlins.

Machado and Tatis Jr. carrying the water

The Padres have two hitters with an OPS over .800. Both Manny Machado (.840) and Fernando Tatis Jr (.817) are contributing regularly and with slug. Over the past week there have been home runs hit by Machado, Tatis Jr., Xander Bogaerts and Elias Diaz. Bogaerts and Merrill have four RBI over the past week and Luis Arraez has increased his average by hitting .357 over the last seven days.

Unfortunately, Gavin Sheets has fallen into a slump. His .107 average over the past seven games is the worst on the team and his inability to extend the lineup past the top five hitters is part of the issue for this offense. With the lack of consistent production from the last two spots, the Padres need Sheets to hit consistently.

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The trade deadline is July 31. The rumors have been flying about who the Padres are interested in as well as who they are willing to trade. The next five days could determine whether the Friars will be a playoff team this season or not.

Injury updates and roster moves

Michael King threw an up and down bullpen on July 23 and will face hitters in a simulated game on July 28.

Alek Jacob and Bryan Hoeing were optioned to Triple-A on July 22 while Stephen Kolek and Kyle Hart were brought up from Triple-A.

Ron Marinaccio was called up from El Paso and Kyle Hart was optioned back to El Paso on July 25.

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