Good morning,

The Padres are a .500 team in playoff position with half a season to play.

They might get one of their top starting pitchers back tomorrow, but it seems there is a good chance they won’t.

They had one of their star players ready to hit yesterday, but he could still go on the injured list today.

The second half of the season began with a 6-2 loss to the Brewers, and that is the least of the Padres’ concerns. (As if they would be concerned anyway. More on that later.)

Starting pitcher Yu Darvish remains scheduled to make his return from the injured list tomorrow night against the Nationals. Officially. But he did not throw his scheduled pre-start bullpen session, and his status is up in the air.

A source said the reason Darvish did not throw was a different issue than the groin strain that has kept him out since departing his May 29 start after three innings. But no one would confirm what the new issue is.

All manager Mike Shildt would say yesterday when questioned about Darvish’s availability was, “We’re going to see what it looks like and have something for you (today).”

Two other club officials offered the following identical answer when asked if Darvish would start tomorrow: “Don’t know.”

And then there is the in-flux status of right fielder Fernando Tatis Jr.

He had a helmet on and a bat in his hands while standing at the ready twice during yesterday’s game, and Shildt said he would have hit had the Padres gotten closer. That was after the team came close to putting him on the injured list before the game.

You can read in Jeff Sanders’ notebook (here) from yesterday about Tatis’ status, including the fact Triple-A outfielder Bryce Johnson was at Petco Park yesterday morning and what Shildt said in the afternoon about the team “still evaluating” Tatis.

Tatis, who left Friday’s game and hasn’t played since, wants to continue playing. He has hit extremely well while nursing a strained right quad. But it has also become increasingly evident he is hobbled running, and the determination must be made how much he would benefit from a rest and whether his continuing to play is merely postponing the inevitable.

Tatis last played Friday, and the maximum number of days an IL move can be backdated is three. So he could go on the IL as late as tomorrow and still have the move be retroactive to Saturday.  (That would make him eligible to be activated July 2.)

Whatever happens with Darvish and Tatis, the Padres seem to be feeling good about themselves after 82 games.

“I think we’re a really good team, and we’re going to continue playing like we’ve been playing and continue to get better,” Manny Machado said. “This game is about growing, and this team is about that. We’ve been tested early on with injuries. … We’ve dealt with some stuff this year. And we’re gonna continue to deal with it. That’s what makes things special in the end. Nothing comes easy in this world.”

Machado, who is batting .322 with an .811 OPS in 32 games since May 19, talks a lot about how “it’s going to take everyone.” He did so again yesterday.

And there is reason to believe the Padres can survive a time without Tatis, who is batting .354 with a 1.003 OPS in 26 games since May 25.

Jackson Merrill, who was 1-for-4 with a double yesterday, is batting .370 with a 1.247 OPS in 15 games since June 8.

Jake Cronenworth is batting .311 with a .940 OPS in 16 games since June 6.

Kyle Higashioka has five home runs in 11 starts in June.

Jurickson Profar, who doubled in a third consecutive game yesterday, is second in the major leagues with a .319 average and third with a .413 on-base percentage.

“We have players,” Profar said. “We just have to keep playing the game. We’re trending in the right way.”

Now, it sure would help if the rest of the starting pitchers joined Matt Waldron in chipping in with some quality starts.

You can read my game story (here) about Michael King’s bad inning and surprisingly not-all-that-bad game yesterday.

Home sweet home (run)

Yesterday stopped a streak of four consecutive games in which the Padres had at least 10 hits.

Still, they hit .309 during the four-game series against the Brewers and are batting .302 with a .739 OPS over their past 11 home games.

They were batting .227 with a .670 OPS in their first 31 games at Petco Park this season.

“It’s just baseball,” Profar said. “The same thing, people were saying that we played good on the road and we lost five in a row.”

The Padres were 19-15 and had the major leagues’ best road batting average and were scoring the most runs per game on the road before going 1-5 on their most recent trip.

And before winning 11 of their past 15 at Petco Park, they had a 10-17 record at their home ballpark. (These totals are different from their official “home” and “road” splits, because the Padres opened the season against the Dodgers in South Korea, where one game for each team was a “home” game.)

“You reporters love writing headlines and writing things and putting things out there,” Machado said. “You guys put that out there, and now we’re playing well at home and we suck on the road.”

Padres players had actually talked the past couple weeks about the dimensions at Petco Park — in particular, the relatively shallow gaps — making what would be doubles in most road venues outs at home. (I was set to write about that, and then they went on the road and stunk and came home and started hitting.)

What the Padres have done recently is hit home runs at Petco Park. They did not have any yesterday for the first time in their past 14 home games.

The 60 home runs they have hit at Petco Park this season has them on pace to shatter the record 101 homers they hit there in 2019. They have already hit more home runs there in 2024 than their total in seven other full seasons.

Tidbits

• Luis Arraez was 2-for-4 yesterday. It was his MLB-leading 32nd multi-hit game. He has not gone more than four games games this season without getting multiple hits.
• Cronenworth was 1-for-4 yesterday and finished the series 9-for-18 with two homers and a double.
• Merrill has 12 extra-base hits (seven homers, five doubles) in 17 games since June 6, tied for most in the majors with four other players. One of those players is former Padres shortstop CJ Abrams, who is in town the next three days with the Nationals.
• After walking once Saturday, the Padres did not have a walk yesterday. It was the first time in 34 games they did not walk.

All right, that’s it for me.

Talk to you tomorrow.