00:00A lot of the Padres, including Jackson Merrill, seem to be having a much better second half than they did
00:05in the first half.
00:06And a lot of credit seems to be going to their hitting coach, Steven Souza Jr., who, of course, just
00:11a short time ago used to play in the big leagues.
00:13In fact, with the Diamondbacks not that long ago.
00:15But Merrill and Machado and Tatis and Sheets, you know, and the Padres are playing much better now, Tom, in
00:23the second half than they did in the first half.
00:25For a while, they had the most home runs of any team in baseball out of the All-Star break.
00:29But Merrill, you know, I don't know.
00:32Is he that Caglione-type guy next year where we would put him in that same category?
00:36I think he's just overall a really solid player and having a nice season for the Padres.
00:41Look out for them here next couple of months.
00:44Right.
00:44And this is just another example of things don't happen overnight in baseball.
00:50Tatis went, what, the first 400-some-odd games, it seems like, without hitting a home run the past year.
00:57You know, 400-played appearances, whatever it was.
00:59It just takes some time to get rolling.
01:01And, you know, Jax Merrill is a player that I always wanted to believe in, especially when he got called
01:05up.
01:05He had a deal with the injury a couple years ago.
01:08But the Padres have the pieces to give teams trouble, especially when it comes to longer series.
01:14They have enough pitching.
01:15They have the great back end of the bullpen.
01:17To me, it's always about their hitters.
01:18Because if their hitters go on a cold streak, it looks really bad.
01:21But when they have a hot streak, as they have been over the past few weeks, they look like one
01:25of the most dangerous teams in baseball.
01:27And no opposing pitching staff would possibly want to face them in a short series.
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