Padres know they need to 'just get back to playing our game'

SAN DIEGO -- The first series of the now-formalized Vedder Cup is in the books. Its namesake once wondered lyrically whether he was the boxer or the bag. There were no such doubts over the weekend -- the Mariners were the boxer; the Padres were the bag.

Goes that way sometimes. Heck, despite their struggles, the Padres didn’t lose any ground on the Dodgers, who were also swept at home -- by the last-place Angels.

Still, there’s no denying it was a rough weekend. The Padres scored only one run in each of the three games -- including a 6-1 loss in Sunday’s finale at Petco Park. They finished the weekend 0-for-21 with runners in scoring position.

“They were better, it’s just that simple,” said Fernando Tatis Jr., who hit a leadoff homer in the finale. “They had the upper hand in this one.”

Some takeaways from the weekend that was:

1. Still no answer in left
In three games, the Padres started three different left fielders -- and got a good look at the question marks surrounding each.

1. Brandon Lockridge started Friday. He’s elite defensively, but is probably best used in a platoon role and as a pinch-runner/defensive replacement.

2. Jason Heyward started Saturday. Ideally, he’d have seized hold of the starting job by now. But he’s slumped to a .177 batting average with a .505 OPS.

3. Gavin Sheets started Sunday, his second start in left this season as manager Mike Shildt got creative. The move backfired. Sheets is a first base/DH type, with a subpar glove in the outfield. He misplayed a deep drive off the bat of Rowdy Tellez on Sunday, losing his glove over the wall in the process. The Mariners scored twice afterward.

Still, despite Sunday’s mishap, there’s some merit to that Sheets plan.

“We have basically occupied the DH spot between Luis [Arraez] and Gavin,” Shildt said. “We like both of their bats and want them in the lineup.”

Now we know: When the Padres are looking to give one of their regulars a day in the DH spot, they’re comfortable using Sheets out of position. Particularly because they value Jose Iglesias as a fill-in infielder. He notched two hits, playing third, with Manny Machado at DH on Sunday.

2. Merrill in a (rare) funk
Jackson Merrill came off the IL as though he’d never left, mashing during his first week back from a right hamstring strain. He’s since cooled off. In the past five games, Merrill is 1-for-19 with only a seeing-eye single on Saturday night.

“That’s baseball, stuff like that’s going to happen,” Merrill said. “Obviously it’s frustrating. [Ticks] me off for sure. … There’s plenty of season left. I’ve just got to relax, take it one day at a time.”

Perhaps Merrill is held to a bit of an unfair standard, given what he’s done over his first season and a quarter in the big leagues. He virtually never falls into slumps like this one. His recent three-game hitless drought was tied for the second longest of his career.

When that streak reached three games on Friday, Shildt offered a bit of perspective on Merrill, who was batting .467 at the end of play Monday and has since seen that average drop by precisely 100 points.

“Well, I didn’t think he was going to hit .440,” Shildt said, tongue in cheek. “I can’t rule out .400 at this point.”

3. Moving on
Last week, the Padres passed the quarter mark of their season. They’re playing .600 ball.

As such, there was a sense of perspective in the home clubhouse, even after the weekend sweep. It was subdued. But not exactly worried.

“Two good teams went at each other,” Shildt said. “They just got us in areas we typically get other [teams] in.”

Shildt cited quality strikes from the Mariners’ pitching staff, along with their ability to execute on offense. It’d be hard to execute much worse than the Padres’ 0-fer with runners in scoring position, but, again, that wasn’t exactly cause for concern for a team that entered Sunday hitting .270 with RISP, the seventh best mark in the Majors.

“We got to the spots we needed to be in,” Merrill said. “We just didn’t capitalize.”

After an off-day Monday, the Padres begin a six-game trip through Toronto and Atlanta. They’ll hit the road with a bitter taste in their mouths, but …

“No concern on my part at all,” Shildt said. “Just get back to playing our game. We know what that looks like. We’ll be ready on Tuesday.”