At the outset of play on July 4, the San Diego Padres were coming off a 2-4 trip through Cincinnati and Philadelphia and trailed the Los Angeles Dodgers by nine games in the National League West. On Friday night,

Randy Vasquez appears to be the bulk reliever as the Padres make do without Michael King for the opener against the Dodgers

Six weeks ago, the Padres were reeling. They returned to San Diego having dropped both series on a road trip through Cincinnati and Philadelphia. On the ensuing off-day, the Dodgers beat the White Sox to move nine games clear in the National League West.

Manny Machado believes his teammates acquired at the trade deadline deserve credit for contributing to the San Diego Padres' climb up the NL West standings.

The Padres enter the series finale against the Red Sox a season-high 13 games over .500. They are looking to win a fourth straight series in Sunday’s 1:10 p.m. start on Padres.TV. They will do it with a new clean-up hitter.

The San Diego Padres have a chance to end the season strong, but Mike Shildt needs to make small adjustments to make it happen.

The Giants came into the week with a prime opportunity to try to claw back into the National League Wild Card race and gain some ground on one of the teams they were trying to chase down in the standings.