San Diego Padres

The San Diego Padres' dreams faded rather quickly this summer.

The offseason was an incredibly aggressive one for first-year general manager A.J. Preller, who brought in no fewer than seven new players to upgrade a team that had not finished higher than third place in the previous four seasons.

San Diego Padres shortstop Alexi Amarista sparked a double play Wednesday that will make you do a double take. But be careful—you might experience some mild whiplash.

San Diego Padres right fielder Matt Kemp became the first player in franchise history to hit for the cycle Friday night. 

First, let's get this out of the way: The San Diego Padres aren't sunk.

Yes, they enter the second half of the season at 41-49, 10 games back in the National League West and 7.5 games off the wild-card pace.

But if this parity-filled 2015 campaign has taught us anything, it's that every club is a decent hot streak away from contention.

Still, this isn't how the script was supposed to play out in San Diego.

The hype machine is out of service.

Disappointment has surpassed hope as the overwhelming emotion. 

A scapegoat has already been unfairly blamed because it was the easiest, most predictable target.

The San Diego Padres, losers of six of their last eight games, begin a three-game series against the San Francisco Giants at AT&T Park in the worst possible way—by facing reigning World Series MVP Madison Bumgarner.

The game is tied 0-0 through three innings, and Bumgarner has been dominant so far.

The San Diego Padres wasted little time replacing Bud Black after firing him Monday, naming Pat Murphy as the interim manager for the remainder of the season, according to a release posted on the team's Twitter account.   

San Diego Padres outfielder and occasional first baseman Wil Myers is returning to the disabled list with a nagging left wrist injury just days after returning to the lineup.

Continue for updates.    

Myers Placed on DL with Left Wrist Tendinitis

Monday, June 15

Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune passed along the latest discouraging news about Myers:

Derek Norris probably had his head down for most of the game against the Pittsburgh Pirates on Friday night. The San Diego Padres catcher struck out four times leading up to the bottom of the ninth inning. 

Norris stepped up to the plate with the score tied 2-2, bases loaded and two outs. What happened next was truly unexpected.

This past offseason saw the San Diego Padres take all their chips and put them on offense. That's where they rolled the dice for 2015, and certainly where they needed to be better than they were in 2014.

Here's guessing that Padres general manager A.J. Preller is out there somewhere pumping his fist in triumph. It's early yet, but his gamble really couldn't be going any better.