Andy Addresses Lauer vs. the Dodgers, France, Urías, Mejía, homer record

Left-hander Eric Lauer faces the Dodgers Monday night in the opener of a three-game series at Petco Park. In his seven career starts against the Dodgers, Lauer is 4–0 with a 1.72 ERA — the best marks by any active Major League pitcher with six or more career starts against the Dodgers.

Padres manager Andy Green opened his pre-game media session Monday with a discussion of Lauer.

“It’s no secret that he’s done really well against the Dodgers,” Green began. “I’m sure they are very well aware of that. It’s probably at the point right now where they feel enough is enough. He’s always matched up nicely with the Dodgers and attacked them really well.

“The last time out, Eric threw 86 pitches through four innings. For him it is throw the fastball with convictions to spots you want to and mix in secondary pitches. We’ve seen an uptick in his fastball velocity the last three or four times out where he’s throwing it with a lot of conviction, a lot of confidence.

“When the secondary is in play with extra life on the fastball, he’s been a very effective pitcher for us. Those are the encouragements we continue to give him . . . cut it loose and trust it, you’re going to command it well enough.

“We did a nice thing organization wise after Lauer was drafted. He didn’t really have a slider. You don’t come by that pitch without hitting some bumps in the road. As he tried to throw that in minor league games, he walked more guys and struggled more than he should have. While he was in the minor leagues, he could have thrown fastballs all day long and had a lot of success. But his slider was essential to his success here.”

Monday afternoon, the Triple-A Pacific Coast League announced Padres infielder Ty France had made the PCL post-season All-Star team. France batted .399 with 27 homers, a triple, 27 doubles and had 87 RBIs in 79 games with El Paso. He also had a 1.247 OPS.

Green discussed his role with the Padres over the final five weeks of the season:

“For the most part, we’re going to give Ty a number of righties,” said Green, who was asked if second could become a platoon with France and the left-handed Greg Garcia.

“It’s picking the right one for Greg Garcia to be out there. We’re still going to keep Ty out there against right-handed pitching. There’s not an easy matchup for a righty in this series. I want to put Garcia out there in some situation for him to succeed as well and keep Ty fresh. And eventually give Luis (Urías) a day off at shortstop and have Garcia and France out there on the same day.”

Green then discussed Urías:

“I don’t think shortstop is an extra toll for him, it’s what he did in the minor leagues,” said Green of Urías, who moved to short when fellow rookie Fernando Tatis was lost for the remainder of the season.

“When Urías came up he expected to be at second base every single day rather than shortstop. But he’s fine over there.”

Green discussed Urías’ improving offense: “Whatever leads to getting on base is all we care about. Going out and grinding every single at-bat. He does that well. He fouls pitches off to get deeper counts.”

Green spoke briefly about rookie catcher connecting with Padres pitchers: “Every pitcher is different. The essence of catching is every catcher being comfortable with all pitchers.”

And Green on the single-season record of 190 homers reached by the Padres on Sunday: “The home run record is not anything we think at all about in the clubhouse. It’s the wins record. Home run records, any time you do something good offensively, you are happy about it.”