SAN DIEGO-- Whereas the Padres clubhouse on Monday night held a somber, emotional tone following the loss of reliever Jason Adam for the season, the mood on Tuesday was decidedly upbeat and optimistic.
Baseball, after all, is one game at a time.
A smiling Adam, who suffered a ruptured quad in the seventh inning on Monday evening, walked into the clubhouse on crutches on Tuesday afternoon, and embraced Jackson Merrill, who returned to the Padres lineup for the first time since August 17.
Just as importantly for the Padres playoff hopes, Fernando Tatis was back in the lineup in his customary leadoff role, after he was a last minute scratch on Monday with what the team described as lower half soreness.
Padres manager Mike Shildt reiterated that Tatis, who was not available to pinch hit in the ninth inning of a one-run game on Monday, was just dealing with general soreness.
"He's back in the lineup, texted him after the game and he's ready to go," said Shildt. "He was just sore yesterday and it was really more of an abundance of caution than anything else with the travel and travel day and the fact how much he's played this year."
The Padres offense, already without Xander Bogaerts for likely the regular season, cannot afford to be without any more of their best players during an important September stretch. Just as pivotal as a healthy Tatis is, so is the return of Merrill, who pinch-ran in the ninth inning on Monday on the day he was activated from the injured list with a left ankle sprain.
"It's great, really excited for Jackson to be back. He's clearly a big part of the club and you know brings a lot of different things, and excited to have Jackson back in there...it's at the expense of you know we've got a lot of really talented left-handed hitters. Makes the bench a little stronger and we'll use the lineup and move guys around and get some guys off their feet."
The bigger question for the Padres continues to be the pitching, whether it's the lack of innings from the starting pitchers and how they replace Jason Adam in an already stretched bullpen. No Padres starter has pitched into the sixth inning since Nick Pivetta threw six innings on August 24th. Adam had already thrown a team-high 65.1 innings out of the bullpen, appearing in 65 games and boasted a 1.93 ERA with 29 holds, tied for second most in the Majors.
Mason Miller was acquired from the Sacramento A's, or whatever they're calling themselves, for depth at the deadline. Now he's become a necessity.
"Injuries are never, never ideal no matter how much depth you have but a lot of times you see an injury really expose a lack of depth," said Miller. "I think in this case it's going to show our depth, kind of advocate for that. Obviously he's a huge part of the success this team's had the entire year so it's not going to be an easy void to fill but I think guys are going to step up to that challenge."
"There's still a ton of belief and the expectations don't change. Bogey and Jason would be the first to say that. The expectations remain the same and they're going to do everything they can from the position they're in to help us. But ultimately this was never going to be one person that was going to carry us to where we wanted to be. It's just about filling those shoes to the best that we can."
Notable
Mike Shildt provided an update on Michael King following his side session at Petco Park on Monday afternoon.
"He felt good today, which was a big indicator. Yesterday was a good day for him. He was able to throw a side, take a break from his side and do some aerobic activity and then finish with some pitches in the bullpen. He's going to get another side and then, I won't put it in pen but there's a good chance he comes through that side he'll have an opportunity to pitch for us."
Jason Adam says he expects to have surgery on his ruptured quad on Wednesday and expects a 6-9 month recovery.
"It should put me in a good spot for next year, hopefully ready on time but if not it shouldn't be too late...the bright side is this team is plenty deep that they don't need me. Selfishly it's a bummer because I want to be a part of the playoff run but I'll do whatever I can to play a part in the clubhouse and cheer those guys on. It's going to be a fun couple of months to watch."
Jason Adam is irreplaceable on the mound but his presence in that clubhouse will be big.