Dodgers rolling as Padres’ meltdown continues with Jurickson Profar’s antics

Since the Aug. 2 trade deadline, during which they hardly made any moves, the Los Angeles Dodgers are 11-1, with their only blemish coming Sunday against the Kansas City Royals. A win there would have helped them record their fourth straight sweep. Can’t have it all.

Meanwhile the San Diego Padres, after moving mountains prior to 6 p.m. on Aug. 2 with the acquisitions of Juan Soto, Josh Bell, Brandon Drury and Josh Hader, are just 5-7 during that same span. That includes getting swept by LA in a three-game set, blowing a late lead against the Washington Nationals, and getting blanked by the Miami Marlins on Monday.

Think the roster might be reeling a bit after the Fernando Tatis Jr. PED suspension news? A number of players on the Pads called him out after he was banned for 80 games, essentially ruining the positive momentum general manager AJ Preller created at the deadline.

Tatis was supposed to return, act as another blockbuster addition, and help the Padres plow ahead for the final seven weeks of the year and into October. Instead, guys like Manny Machado and Mike Clevinger are calling out the supposed face of the franchise and now Jurickson Profar is … taunting opponents by daring them to take an extra base on him?

This team is a lot worse off than Dodgers fans could’ve imagined. This is embarrassing behavior that resulted in a brief dugout incident with Machado.

Jurickson Profar is the latest Padre to give Dodgers fans a reason to point and laugh

After the game, Profar claimed he wasn’t taunting Marlins veteran Miguel Rojas, but it appears his teammates felt differently after they approached him when the inning was over.

If he wasn’t taunting Rojas, then he was bizarrely taking his sweet old time fielding a deep live drive off the left field wall for … what reason?

Machado trying to keep these guys in line is just hilarious. Remember last year when he was screaming at Tatis Jr. in the dugout because the young star got ejected for arguing balls and strikes, which hurt the team in a killer contest during the NL Wild Card race?

Musgrove offered some support for Profar, but he simply couldn’t have been happy that the outfielder’s boneheaded decision directly cost the team a run on the next at-bat.

At 65-53 with a supposed All-Star roster from top to bottom, the Pads only have a two-game cushion in the NL Wild Card race, with the Brewers not too far behind. They could’ve capitalized on Monday after the Dodgers took down Milwaukee, but Sandy Alcantara buzzsawed San Diego’s offense and Profar decided to have some fun in the field knowing his team was facing arguably the best pitcher in MLB at the moment.

Seems like good team chemistry that will prevent another late September collapse, right?

Dodgers Twitter has a field day over Fernando Tatis Jr.’s PED suspension

San Diego Padres star Fernando Tatis Jr. has been hit with a PED suspension and Los Angeles Dodgers fans had a field day on Twitter.