Before his initial plate appearance in each game, before he settles into the right-handed box and awaits the first pitch, Manny Machado approaches the home-plate area and, with the knob of his bat, traces what resembles an “S” near the outer edge of the dirt. On his way to subsequent at-bats, he taps the symbol as if to remind himself. The movements are so languid, so brief, they can elude the attention of casual watchers. The meaning, to the outside world, remains unclear.

Advertisement

“Is it an ‘S’?” Machado said, coyly. “I can’t reveal all my secrets. Those are my little rituals I keep to myself. But those are just things that I’ve been doing for a long time. It just keeps me levelheaded and keeps me focused while we play this game every day.

“And it’s for our families and for people who really care for us,” added Machado, who as a tribute to his late grandfather has long written the initials FN in the dirt near third base. “Those are just little reminders every day, whenever you step on that field, that there’s more than just baseball.”

On Sunday at Petco Park, the task at hand still felt plenty significant, even against the backdrop of another unsatisfying season. The Padres had fallen to 10 games below .500 for the first time in 2019. They had won just two of their 13 series since the All-Star break. They already had conceded this one, against the Boston Red Sox, with only the finale left to play. The Los Angeles Dodgers, the other team to reach the 2018 World Series, were due up next.

In recent weeks, the word “development” has increasingly crept into the rhetoric of San Diego’s top officials. Hopes of a playoff berth have receded beyond the horizon. The Padres clearly have an immense amount of work to do in their quest to build a contender by next October. Where does that leave them for the rest of this season?

“Every game counts,” Machado said after Sunday’s 3-1 victory against Boston. “We’re playing great teams from here on out. We’re facing playoff teams. … We’re gonna continue to grow as a ballclub. We just gotta take it series by series, win some games and finish off the year how we started it.”

Machado had launched his first home run of August in the first inning. The two-run shot off Red Sox lefty Brian Johnson ended a 20-game homerless streak, Machado’s longest such drought since 2017. He had begun this month by hitting .203 with a pair of extra-base hits and little else.

Advertisement

Yet the overall production — 27 home runs alongside a .266/.336/.473 slash line — is not far from his career averages. His first season in a Padres uniform has been far steadier than spectacular. For the cost, that is not the worst thing.

“Coming out with a win is all that matters,” Machado said. “I don’t care what I do, honestly. It’s all about Ws, and at the end of the year, we’ll see what the stats are, whatever it is. I know what they’re gonna be.”

“I don’t even see it that way,” manager Andy Green said when asked about the star third baseman’s recent dry spell. “Manny’s completely fine.”

Around Machado, however, the picture remains decidedly unclear. Baseball’s youngest roster has lost rookie sensation Fernando Tatis Jr. to a season-ending back injury. In his stead, the Padres have slid another rookie, Luis Urías, from second to shortstop. Another first-year big-leaguer, Ty France, has returned from Triple A to play second, not his natural position at third. Urías and France habitually crush Pacific Coast League pitching. For both infielders, the jump against big-league arms has been steep.

Other question marks filled the field Sunday. Rookie catcher Francisco Mejía received his third career start in left field, partly because outfielder Wil Myers’ struggles continue to feel interminable. Mejía singled in the first to drive in the Padres’ other run, reinforcing the potential in his bat. But the jury on his ultimate defensive assignment is still out.

In right field, Hunter Renfroe went 0-for-3 with a strikeout. One of the Padres’ top first-half performers is in the midst of a weekslong malaise. Concerns about his plate discipline have not gone anywhere.

At first base, Eric Hosmer produced the same line. While his counting statistics look sturdy compared with the rest of the lineup, he has not separated himself from the majority of first basemen around the league. For the cost, the Padres could use a bit more.

Advertisement

On the mound, Joey Lucchesi did not allow a hit until the top of the fourth, when J.D. Martinez crushed a drive off the Western Metal building. Lucchesi wound up being lifted after five innings and 73 pitches. Green cited the matchup — Martinez was due up second — but the young lefty continues to be a questionable option beyond a couple of turns of the lineup.

The day’s most encouraging performance belonged to center fielder Manuel Margot, who walked, stole a base, made a running catch and stroked a pair of doubles. The third-year big leaguer has strung together a few solid months, but still, his OPS is well below .800. The Red Sox traded him nearly four years ago and have not seemed to miss him; Sunday, their center fielder, Jackie Bradley Jr., leaped at the center-field wall to rob Urías of a possible home run.

Bradley represents a weak link in this offense, but the Red Sox can afford to carry a lesser-hitting, defensively superior player. Their lineup, headlined by Martinez and Mookie Betts and Rafael Devers and Xander Bogaerts, is perhaps the best in the majors. There are no breaks for opposing pitchers. The contrast between the teams in this series was stark, especially during Friday’s 11-0 drubbing.

Even so, the reigning World Series champions have wilted in their title defense. Sunday’s loss pushed them to six games back in the American League wild-card standings. A lack of consistent pitching has stung them all year.

The Padres, of course, require upgrades on both sides of the ball. Some of it will come from their touted farm system, though there are no guarantees when it comes to young players seeking to adjust to an entirely different level of competition. Some of it must come from within the current major-league group.

From Sunday’s top of the eighth, the Padres could glean at least a few promising signs. Andres Muñoz stood on the mound, tasked with protecting a two-run lead. The first two batters reached, one on a flared single, the other when Machado uncharacteristically booted a routine grounder. Muñoz got Devers to ground into a double play turned by France and Urías. Machado pounded his glove in approval. Muñoz, who is 20 years old and still wears braces on his teeth, then walked Bogaerts before striking Martinez out on seven pitches.

It was the second time in two days the flamethrowing rookie had fanned the formidable veteran.

Advertisement

“I like those situations,” Muñoz said. “I like the pressure.”

The coming weeks will provide more tests. The Padres have development and internal progress as their primary objectives. It is not the ending they had hoped for in spring training, when Machado strode into his introductory news conference with “Sky’s the Limit” scribbled on his Air Jordans. The same phrase can be found on the third baseman’s back, as a tattoo that stretches from shoulder to shoulder.

After Sunday’s game, Machado was asked whether the “S” in the dirt bore any relation.

“Do I have a tattoo on my back?” he replied, coy again. “I don’t know. Maybe. Possibly.”

What the Padres make of the rest of this unsatisfying season remains to be seen. The pull of development continues to dictate much of their movements. Sunday supplied reason to keep working.

(Photo of Manny Machado: Sean M. Haffey / Getty Images)