SAN DIEGO -- The Padres batting cage was bustling, three hours before the first pitch. Well before Saturday's game against Arizona, San Diego was trying to resurrect its challenged offense.
Manager Andy Green was speeding up Wil Myers' swing with a diet of close-range fastballs.
Position players were absorbing an extra session or two of bunting drills.
And was that a likely Hall of Famer reaching time and again into the ball bag? Trevor Hoffman was throwing batting practice, but it's Green who's seeking a changeup.
Something has to give with his lineup, blanked five times in its first 11 games. So Green is pulling this level and yanking that string in hopes of rattling his team from its slump. That meant preaching to Myers about being aggressive when attacking the fastball. That had first-base coach Tarrik Brock plugging countless balls into the pitching machine as the Padres bunted, bunted and bunted some more.
Among the reasons the Padres lost their fourth straight game on Friday was a failed ninth-inning bunt by Alexi Amarista. Green stressed Saturday's bunting work was already planned. Still, if the Padres are to flip, they need to focus on the little picture.
"We got to be better in the fine details of the game,'' Green said. "We have a talented club, but we're not going to show up on the field and out-talent anybody. We have to do things right. That is what we're going to have to do to win ballgames.''