The Padres took the series from the Red Sox with a 1:2 victory in the regular season, closing out a two-game set in Boston. And here's the thing — it was only the second time these sides met this month, yet the pattern was already clear. The visitors did not travel to make up the numbers, and they showed it.
Red Sox form has been restless of late. They won 10:8 against the Cubs on August 28th, then lost 5:17 the next day. By then they had started to find something, beating the Giants 10:9 on the 26th, but the Padres ended a barren spell with yesterday's 5:0 shutout and followed it up. To be fair, the Red Sox are still in the hunt, but consistency is what they are missing.
The Padres are a different story entirely. They dropped games against the Rays on the 28th, 29th and 30th, but since then they have won two in a row against Boston. The old head settled them down when it mattered — you could see it in how they managed the final innings.
What this means is straightforward. The Padres now hold the tie in their own hands for any playoff implications, while the Red Sox have hit a wall at the wrong time. Three runs in two games is not much, but it is enough when the opposition cannot string together runs of their own.
The Red Sox will look to regroup before the next stretch of fixtures. They have shown they can score — 10 runs on two occasions this month — but the Padres saw the game out against them twice. That is the difference between potential and results.