The Los Angeles Dodgers may have taken two out of three from the San Diego Padres at Petco Park this week to close out a successful road trip, but the latter also showed why they are a young team with a bright future ahead.
In Wednesday’s series finale, the Dodgers almost blew a five-run lead, requiring a perfect throw from Chris Taylor in left field to nail Trent Grisham at the plate to end the game and preserve a 7-6 victory.
The Padres were competitive all series long, and while the Dodgers won two of three, San Diego caught the attention of manager Dave Roberts. “They’re certainly more competitive and we’ve always had respect for the Padres, they’ve always played us tough,” he said.
“I think more outside of the division they haven’t fared as well. But I think the biggest difference is they’ve got deeper starting pitching, the bullpen has always been good and the young players, the talented players are coming of age and I think adding Pham is a big deal. So just kind of adding him and taking a flyer on the right fielder, he’s a nice little player as well.”
Taylor was also excited to get the win Wednesday night knowing that the Padres are right on their tails. “That was an exciting series. To get a series win against that team, it was kind of back and forth and hard-fought. They’ve got a lot of talented players,” Taylor said.
“Young players, that I think they’re trying to make a statement. It was just a big win for us. To be able to do it in that fashion was nice.”
The Dodgers now sit at 9-4, tied for first place in the National League West, while the Padres are a couple of games back in the standings at 7-6.
With an extended postseason in 2020, Taylor believes this Padres team is one they might see in October.
“They fought back. You’ve got to give them credit. It seemed like every time we stretched the lead, they had a big inning and answered. All the way down to the last out it was hard fought. It almost felt like a playoff game,” he said. “I expect that’s the type of team we’ll see come postseason.”
Pollock noticed more intensity during series at Petco Park
In addition to Taylor, AJ Pollock also had a big series for the Dodgers against the Padres, homering twice and coming up with the game-winning RBI in Tuesday night’s victory.
Like his manager and teammate, Pollock noticed a different type of intensity from the Padres this week than previous years. “We’ve seen the Padres building for a couple years now. They’ve got a good squad over there,” Pollock noted.
“They’ve had a pretty solid lineup, they’ve added some pieces to that and it makes a lot of sense who’s in their lineup now. They have tough outs throughout the whole order and they added a couple good pieces to their rotation and bullpen. I think they’ve done a really good job. I think we’ll have some pretty tight battles with them moving forward.
“They’re always scrappy and going to grind. We haven’t seen the Rockies yet but they seem like they’re playing some good baseball too.”
With young players like Grisham, Fernando Tatis Jr. and Chris Paddack to go along with veterans such as Manny Machado, as well as more prospects on the way, the Padres will likely be the Dodgers’ biggest competition in the NL West for years to come.
If this week was any indication though, the Dodgers aren’t ready to give up their throne quite yet.
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