[caption id="attachment_63" align="alignnone" width="512" caption="Edinson Volquez is off to a rocky start, posting a 10.00 earned run average (AP Photo/Kathy Kmonicek)"]
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The San Diego Padres opened the season the same way that they started last season: losing.
The Padres lost two games to the lowly New York Mets, and were swept by the Colorado Rockies as the team heads home for Tuesday’s home opener against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
What is to blame for the Padres abysmal 1-5 start to the season?
San Diego’s bats have started off cold, only averaging 2.3 runs per game. On top of the lack of run production the Padres are batting only .191 as a team; which is third worst average in the entire MLB.
The bats are only a part of the Padres’ woes, as their pitching has been lackluster to start the year. They have a team ERA of 5.71, also putting them in the bottom three of the MLB ranks.
When you take a team that can’t pitch and can’t hit then you get a 1-5 record heading into the second week of what is starting to feel like it is going to be a long season for the San Diego Padres.
Now, how can they improve?
The batting order needs to be shaken up drastically, and to manager Bud Black’s credit, he tried to do that Sunday afternoon against the Rockies. It’s truly difficult for the new lineup to be seen in action when Carlos Quentin and Nick Hundley were given the day off.
Current Unsuccessful Lineup:
Evereth Cabrera
Will Venable
Carlos Quentin
Yonder Alonso
Jedd Gyorko
Alexi Amarista
Cameron Maybin
Nick Hundley
Pitcher’s Spot
Potential Successful Lineup:
Evereth Cabrera
Cameron Maybin
Yonder Alonso
Carlos Quentin
Will Venable
Jedd Gyorko
Nick Hundley
Alexi Amarista
Pitcher’s Spot
Now what does the order have to do with anything? Is this really something that can help them?
The difference between the two lineups is that the “Potential Lineup” makes the overall lineup better from top to bottom. In moving Cameron Maybin from the bottom half of the lineup to the top half ensures that at least one of the first two batters will get on for the power hitters in the middle of the lineup.
[caption id="attachment_54" align="alignright" width="205" caption="The Padres desperately miss Chase Headley (Getty Images)"]
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Will Venable is more of a power hitter than a high on-base percentage type player, so having him bat second only hurts Yonder Alonso and Carlos Quentin’s total productivity. Putting two players who can get on and steal in front of Quentin and Alonso will raise the number of runs the Padres score, and hopefully the number of wins.
San Diego is feeling the wrath of not having Chase Headley in the lineup, and maybe this will put more pressure on the front office to resign him for the long term; the beginning to the Padres’ season is only a grim glimpse of life without their perennial third baseman.
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