{"id":658058,"date":"2026-04-02T04:12:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T04:12:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/658058\/"},"modified":"2026-04-02T04:12:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T04:12:10","slug":"padres-avoid-sweep-as-rookie-manager-craig-stammen-continues-learning-on-the-job","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/658058\/","title":{"rendered":"Padres avoid sweep as rookie manager Craig Stammen continues learning on the job"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAN DIEGO \u2014 The Petco Park press box sprang a leak Tuesday night. Water began dripping from a portion of the ceiling, temporarily displacing a handful of media members in the front row. A tiny stream trickled down a glass panel and the wall of the walkway below.<\/p>\n

By the next morning, there were still a couple of signs of the unintended seepage. A folding caution sign leaned against the panel. A wet spot remained in the carpet nearby. A few hours later, on the field, the San Diego Padres embarked on a salvage mission.<\/p>\n

For the second time in two series finales, they avoided a sweep, this time with a 7-1 win against the San Francisco Giants. A season-opening homestand saw the Padres go 2-4, exposing the holes in the ship steered by rookie manager Craig Stammen.<\/p>\n

March is barely over, of course. Some of those holes might turn out to be cracks, nothing that time and a little caulk can\u2019t solve. \u201cIt\u2019s one-thirtieth of the season. We\u2019ve got twenty-nine-thirtieths to go. I\u2019m excited for those twenty-nine-thirtieths,\u201d Stammen said late Tuesday after the Padres\u2019 fourth loss. Still, as the team packed for a cross-country flight the next afternoon, it had been an educational week.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, in search of a missing offense, Stammen debuted another lineup. The Padres had yet to score more than three runs in a single contest. They hadn\u2019t begun a season with six such games since 1969, the franchise\u2019s inaugural year. So, Stammen went with a novel look, deploying right-handed hitters Fernando Tatis Jr. and Xander Bogaerts at the top against Giants right-hander Adrian Houser.<\/p>\n

It was also a configuration largely devised by someone else \u2014 in this case, bench coach and baseball lifer Randy Knorr.<\/p>\n

\u201cI said, \u2018I\u2019m tired. I\u2019m not working very well on this,\u2019\u201d Stammen recalled. \u201cHe goes, \u2018Craigger, that\u2019s good, because I had one already written up for you.\u2019 So, we\u2019re riding with Randy right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

The strategy did not pay immediate dividends. Batting in the first, Tatis lined out. Bogaerts struck out. But then, Jackson Merrill singled. Manny Machado followed with an infield single as Merrill raced around the bases, alertly scoring all the way from first thanks to a San Francisco fielding error.<\/p>\n

That gave Nick Pivetta an early lead amid a rebound performance. On Opening Day, the right-hander failed to harness his adrenaline in his worst outing as a Padre, increasing the pressure on a top-heavy rotation. Six days later, Pivetta was back in command, striking out eight batters over five scoreless innings.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the Nick we all know,\u201d Stammen said.<\/p>\n

Yessir \ud83d\ude42\u200d\u2195\ufe0f pic.twitter.com\/2JOzVsVdcB<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 San Diego Padres (@Padres) April 1, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

The Padres, for their part, are still getting to know their new boss. Stammen, 42, is not far removed from his own playing career in San Diego. But the former reliever had never managed or coached at any level<\/a> before president of baseball operations A.J. Preller persuaded him to interview for the job in October.<\/p>\n

Natural skepticism has ensued, and Tuesday brought the most scrutiny yet. With the Padres trailing by a run, Stammen left southpaw reliever Kyle Hart in the game for a third inning. Four right-handed plate appearances later, the Giants were beginning to pull away. Meanwhile, San Diego was headed for another series loss.<\/p>\n

Stammen later nodded to the wisdom of hindsight. He also pointed out that an alternate route would not have guaranteed a better result.<\/p>\n

Either way, the Padres are a flawed vessel. Starting pitcher Joe Musgrove\u2019s postponed return from Tommy John surgery, combined with brief debuts by Walker Buehler and Germ\u00e1n M\u00e1rquez, has clouded the outlook for a vulnerable rotation. A deep bullpen is already shouldering a significant workload. (Even if Stammen had pulled Hart earlier, M\u00e1rquez\u2019s abbreviated start still would have made navigating the rest of the game a challenge.)<\/p>\n

An offensive awakening, then, was essential. San Diego faced frontline pitching in its opening series against the Detroit Tigers. The Giants brought more resistance to town, throwing the underrated Landen Roupp and the established Logan Webb in the first two games. Left fielder Ram\u00f3n Laureano, so far the most consistent threat in the Padres lineup, noted each of those starters wields a nasty repertoire.<\/p>\n

He added something else.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, we can do better, and we will do better,\u201d Laureano said after Wednesday\u2019s game. \u201cEverybody is just getting acclimated to the season, and that\u2019s totally understandable for 162 games. We\u2019ve got plenty more games, and we\u2019ve got good competition coming up.\u201d<\/p>\n

The next opponent, the 1-5 Boston Red Sox, is another example of how it can get late early. Stammen demonstrated urgency Wednesday, summoning star closer Mason Miller with two outs in the top of the eighth. It had been days earlier that the manager opted against using Miller for more than an inning.<\/p>\n

Soon, Laureano and the Padres erupted for four runs in the bottom of the eighth, surpassing their total in any of their first five games. With the score lopsided, Stammen chose to keep Miller in for the save in the ninth.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think having a day off (Thursday), and then also \u2014 you know, we kind of need a win,\u201d Stammen said, explaining the timing of Miller\u2019s entrance.<\/p>\n

After the game, Stammen spoke with the confidence that helped him land his role. \u201cI think today was an example of what we could be, the type of team that we expected and have,\u201d he said. He also spoke, at times, in uncertain terms.<\/p>\n

Laureano, Stammen acknowledged, could earn his way out of the bottom of the lineup. There will \u201cprobably be a lot\u201d more experimentation with that lineup. A reporter asked the rookie manager what he had learned about himself after six games.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the biggest thing is just \u2018be yourself,\u2019\u201d Stammen said. \u201cRandy keeps telling me, \u2018Don\u2019t do it. Don\u2019t second-guess yourself.\u2019 \u2026 I found some things that helped me move on from certain decisions that maybe could have went a different way. You can always play the second-guessing game. You know, I\u2019m second-guessing myself probably more than anybody, but I think that\u2019s healthy and it helps me learn and then helps us make us better as we go.\u201d<\/p>\n

Friday in Boston, Stammen could debut another lineup. This was not necessarily a job he pursued, and this was not a roster he constructed, but as he is experiencing in real time, the manager wears the brunt of the result, good or bad.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t really think he cares what the lineup looks like,\u201d Merrill said, \u201cas long as we come out with a \u2018W.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n