At times, the Padres have fielded baseball’s worst offense. As recently as last month, they’ve boasted one of the game’s best.

They’ve cycled through as many starting pitchers as anyone in the game. They’ve limped on without key contributors in the lineup. They’ve seen their prized first baseman develop into an All-Star before their very eyes, their so-called sunk cost jump-start his career and their aging veteran again pull himself out of second-month swoon.

Yet even in a mixed bag of a campaign, the truth at the season’s midpoint is this: The Padres are sellers as the trade market picks up and they’re on pace for 70 wins – their lowest in eight years – even after Melvin Upton Jr.’s franchise-record third walk-off homer sent the Padres to a 2-1 win over the Yankees on Saturday night in the 81st game of the season.

“Obviously, we’d like to be more in the hunt than we are,” Padres rookie skipper Andy Green said hours before Upton ambushed Andrew Miller’s ninth-inning, first-pitch fastball to sink the Yankees for a second night in a row in front of sellout crowd of 42,315 at Petco Park. “That’s the frustrating part. I think everybody wants to be competing for the NL West title and not saying goodbye to your closer who has been lights out. That said, we’ve endured a lot.


“We kind of knew going into the season that we couldn’t sustain injuries very well from a depth perspective and from this point in time that’s what we’re building in the organization.”

1 / 21 The Padres celebrate after Melvin Upton Jr. hit the winning home run against the Yankees Saturday night at Petco Park. (Misael Virgen) 2 / 21 Melvin Upton Jr. makes his way to home plate after hitting the winning home run against the Yankees. (Misael Virgen) 3 / 21 Padres pitcher Drew Pomeranz delivers against the New York Yankees. (Misael Virgen) 4 / 21 Padres pitcher Drew Pomeranz delivers against the New York Yankees. (Misael Virgen) 5 / 21 Padres pitcher Drew Pomeranz delivers against the New York Yankees. (Misael Virgen) 6 / 21 Padres Travis Jankowski runs to first base after a bund against the Yankees. (Misael Virgen) 7 / 21 Padres third base coach Glenn Hoffman advises Melvin Upton Jr. against the Yankees. (Misael Virgen) 8 / 21 Padres Travis Jankowski waits for the pitch against the Yankees. (Misael Virgen) 9 / 21 Padres Wil Myers looks on from the dugout. (Misael Virgen) 10 / 21 Padres Wil Myers celebrates as he makes his way to home plate tying the game against the Yankees at Petco Park at the bottom of the 6th inning. (Misael Virgen) 11 / 21 Yankees pitcher Ivan Nova delivers against the Padres. (Misael Virgen) 12 / 21 Padres Travis Jankowski is picked out at first base. (Misael Virgen) 13 / 21 Padres Travis Jankowski is picked out at second base. (Misael Virgen) 14 / 21 Padres Matt Kemp is picked out at home plate against the Yankees at the bottom of the 6th inning. (Misael Virgen) 15 / 21 Padres Matt Kemp is picked out at home plate against the Yankees at the bottom of the 6th inning. (Misael Virgen) 16 / 21 Padres Melvin Upton Jr. hits the winning home run against the Yankees at Petco Park Saturday. (Misael Virgen) 17 / 21 Fans watch as Melvin Upton Jr. hits one out of the park helping the Padres beat the Yankees 2-1 at Petco Park. (Misael Virgen) 18 / 21 Padres Melvin Upton Jr. celebrates with his teammates after hitting the winning home run. (Misael Virgen) 19 / 21 Matt Kemp congratulates Melvin Upton Jr. after hitting the winning home run against the Yankees Saturday. (Misael Virgen) 20 / 21 Matt Kemp congratulates Melvin Upton Jr. after hitting the winning home run against the Yankees Saturday. (Misael Virgen) 21 / 21 George Ayup, a security guard at Petco Park stands guard during the post game laser show. The Padres beat the Yankees 2-1 Saturday. (Misael Virgen)

The Padres (35-46) will get some of that depth back Sunday when right-hander Andrew Cashner returns from his second trip to the disabled list. They’ve been without 2014 All-Star Tyson Ross since his Opening Day assignment, have had two injury replacements – Robbie Erlin and Cesar Vargas – succumb to their own injuries and have depended on a number of newcomers to fill out the rotation.

Drew Pomeranz is has been the best of that bunch.


He entered Saturday’s start with opponents hitting .190 against him – third-lowest among qualifying NL-starters – and continued a dark-horse All-Star bid by upping his latest scoreless inning streak to 13 before the Yankees broke through in the sixth.

Jacoby Ellsbury doubled over Matt Kemp’s head in right-center, Brett Gardner dropped a bunt single in front of third baseman Yangervis Solarte and Starlin Castro gave Yankees right-hander Ivan Nova (5 1/3 IP, 1 ER) a 1-0 lead on a run-scoring groundout to second base.

“He was great again,” Green said. “Absolutely outstanding, borderline dominant. The way he gave up a run is the way an ace gives up a run.”

Yet Pomeranz would have been in line for his eighth loss despite a 2.65 ERA if the Padres hadn’t immediately answered with Wil Myers’ walk, his 13th steal and Kemp’s run-scoring double off right-hander Dellin Betances.


The game again tied at 1-1, Pomeranz turned in one more scoreless frame, struck out seven over seven strong innings (1 ER, 5 H, 0 BBs) and was watching from massage table when Upton stepped into the box two innings later.

There, Pomeranz nearly called Upton’s 440-foot homer to left.

“I was telling our massage guy, ‘Oh, he’s got him,’” said Pomeranz, who remained 7-7 on the season with the no-decision. “Right as I said that it cut to his swing. He’d hit it out. It was pretty awesome. It was pretty jacked in here.

“That’s kind of his thing now. He’s going to finish it.”


Added Upton: “Walk-offs are always cool, I don’t care who you are.”

Pomeranz’s thing is quality starts: He’s turned in three in a row and has 10 in 16 starts this season in emerging as the Padres’ de facto ace.

Maybe even an All-Star.

“I think so,” Green said. “There’s an unbelievable crop of starting pitchers in the National League, but you look at his hard-hit rate and his punch rate, his ERA, strikeouts. Everything lines up with a top-of-the-rotation guy.


“He’s pitched like an ace.”

Of course, the upstart left-hander might have a few more wins on his All-Star resume with a bit more run support over the course of a season in which the Padres have been blanked 11 times in 81 games, most in the majors.

The 27-year-old Pomeranz started a handful of those against the likes of Clayton Kershaw, Johnny Cueto and Vincent Velasquez.

Of course, shutout losses have been few and far between since the calendar flipped to June, the Padres’ offense surging on the back of Myers’ fulfilled potential, a resurgent Upton and a Kemp who is again putting a dismal May into his rear-view mirror.


That added up to a 13-13 record in June even as General Manager A.J. Preller essentially slapped a for-sale sign on his roster via the trades that sent James Shields and All-Star shoo-in Fernando Rodney out the door.

The first deal forced the Padres to eat some $31 million of the money owed to Shields, a swap completed just days after the franchise’s richest free agent signee was the focal point of a tirade that saw Executive Chairman Ron Fowler call his team as “miserable failures” on the flagship radio station.

That was June 1. The Padres were 13 games under .500 that morning.

After 81 games – and a few more injuries (Cashner’s neck, Jon Jay’s fractured forearm and now newcomer Erik Johnson’ sprained flexor tendon) – they are 11 games under heading into the final home game before Petco Park’s turn as an All-Star venue.


“Our record doesn’t reflect how good of a ballclub we have,” Upton said hours before his walk-off homer left him a triple shy of the cycle. “We started off on a rough stretch. We didn’t really start off healthy, but we’ve just been playing, man.

“Things haven’t gone the way we want, but we’re not gonna quit. We’re going to keep playing.”