Bob Melvin calls out Padres amid underwhelming start to season

“We gotta perform better is what we have to do,” Melvin told reporters. “Yeah, we hit some balls hard today, but we put way too much pressure on our pitching late in the game. We have guys that can perform better, and we’re going to, but it’s time to quit just talking about it. It’s time to go out there and do it. Another frustrating game for us. Underperforming.

“I don’t think there’s enough tenacity throughout the course of the game. We show signs of it, we show spurts of it, we come out like we should, and then we don’t sustain it for the entire game. That’s the problem.”

When a manager is willing to be this blunt to the media, it’s a pretty clear message to players. For Melvin, it’s certainly a justified one. The Padres spent big in the offseason and expected to be World Series contenders. To be 19-19 at this point is, as Melvin said, major underperformance.

One could argue that some things might still be hanging over the team from last season, whether they want to admit it or not.