It’s a whole new ballgame…or is it?

Credit to: USA Today Sports

The 2013 baseball season is off to a lackluster start for the Padres.  After hoping to ride the momentum of a 42-33 record to end last season, the Padres began this season by losing two of three games to the Mets.  The first two games weren’t competitive as the Mets won 11-2 on Monday and 8-4 on Wednesday.  The third game was played as a pitchers dual with Padres starter Eric Stults taking home the 2-1 victory and Huston Street recording his first save of the season.  Unfortunately for the Padres and their fans, it appears that nothing has changed with the offense.  Throughout the series, the offense looked mediocre at best.  Without two of the team’s best-run producers in Chase Headley and Yasmani Grandal, the pressure is once again on the pitching staff to keep the team in games.  Unlike teams such as the Yankees, Tigers and Dodgers, the Padres cannot win ballgames by outhitting opponents.  Instead, the team must rely on getting quality pitching from the starters and the bullpen in order to get and hold onto leads.

A slight alarm bell might have gone off in New York since Edinson Volquez and Clayton Richard, the number one and two pitchers of the rotation, didn’t pitch well in the pitcher friendly confines of Citi Field.  However, it is just the start of the season and it may take a few games for everyone to get into a rhythm.  With a three game series in Colorado starting today, the offense has a chance to heat up in the hitter friendly confines of Coors Field.  If the Padres offense can start clicking before the return of Headley and Grandal, then the team could cause some trouble in the NL West. It will be interesting to see how the shorter fences in Petco Park this year affect the offense and the pitching staff, but it should lead to more high scoring games than Padres fans have become accustomed to in recent years.  Despite the lackluster start to the season, the Padres will have a chance to gain ground in the NL West over the next two series against the Rockies and Dodgers.   If the Padres perform well in these series, the future could be bright for the team and its fans, but if not it could be yet another long year of baseball in San Diego.