Over the past few weeks, the Los Angeles Dodgers have played poor baseball (relative to their standards). Over the past two weeks, they've gone 6-7 — paving the way for the San Diego Padres to potentially overtake them for the NL West lead. But somehow, the Padres have been worse than the Dodgers during that span (5-8) — with their 4-2 loss to the Cincinnati Reds on Tuesday night being an epitome of how much they've failed to take advantage of the Dodgers' slump.
If there's anything the Padres can boast, it's their loaded bullpen. The past decade or so of playoff baseball has shown that having an elite bullpen can be a team's win condition all the way to a World Series title. Alas, even the best fall down sometimes, or so does that one pop song say, and the Padres weren't able to take care of business against the Reds during the top of the ninth inning — with closer Robert Suarez allowing two runs during the inning, handing San Diego the loss in the process.
It was Tyler Stephenson, robbed of a home run earlier in the game by Fernando Tatis Jr., who hit a dinger off the Padres closer, giving the Reds a win and sending the Padres reeling even further into their misery, especially now that they're three games back of the Dodgers in the standings yet again.
Tyler Stephenson takes Robert Suarez deep for a two-run shot and the Reds have the lead in the ninth! pic.twitter.com/NS3BE7MVMI
— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) September 10, 2025
This caused a bit of an uproar among Padres fans whose patience with the team has been wearing more and more thin with each passing defeat.
Padres fans lose their cool on social media
Padres fans have tried to be patient with their team, but this latest defeat appears to be sending some over the edge.
“Onto the next bad loss you’re right! Choking against horses**t teams is so the Padres way! Should have won division but of course the biggest choke a** organization in the history of MLB does it again in 2025!” X user @Teddymac44 wrote.
“Why is this so hard to get. Wandy was pitching well, miller was pitching well, why pull em early? Just for Suarez to give up the game? He isn’t the problem, shildt is,” @jackiller_069 added.
“My @Padres CANNOT trust Robert Suarez, especially in a non-save situation. He’s not inconsistent. He’s consistently bad,” @realalexmontoya opined.
(Suarez has a 3.16 ERA in 63 appearances this season, so calling him “consistently bad” may not be the most fair take.)
“We all see things different. It shows me no fire, no desire to win. Manny beat the crap out of the water cooler tonight, that's what i like to see from my guys. Shows me how big their motor is inside their chest. Feels like Robert doesn't care. Agreed, Mason is my closer,” @CJ_Greek expressed.
