Padres play intrasquad game on Day 1

SAN DIEGO -- Squint closely enough, and Friday evening had the trappings of just another July night at Petco Park. The Padres took batting practice around 4, then they retreated from the field while the grounds crew watered the infield dirt and laid foul lines. Shortly thereafter, two teams emerged for a game of baseball -- Joey Lucchesi vs. Luis Patiño on the mound.

The obvious caveat is that nothing is normal in 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic shut down baseball entirely for 3 1/2 months. Friday marked Day 1 of Summer Camp -- the three-week period with which teams will ready themselves for a 60-game season.

On Friday, the Padres also got some sobering news, with the announcement that left fielder Tommy Pham has tested positive for the coronavirus. General manager A.J. Preller said that Pham, who gave the club permission to reveal his positive test, is asymptomatic. But it's unclear -- and unfair to speculate -- when he might return.

Pham was the Padres' lone positive test, according to Preller, so the rest of the team met formally for the first time on Friday. They sat in section 119 at Petco Park, near the right-field foul pole, with each player stationed several seats apart from his teammates. After manager Jayce Tingler had addressed the team, players walked through the concourse and trickled onto the field for a series of team defensive drills, then a round of batting practice.

"Understanding the new normalcy, we've got to get used to those things," Tingler said. "As far as ramping up, I've been very proud of our players and their ability to stay ready without a start date. They've been very impressive over the last couple months.

"Now it's a matter of: We've got 21 days left until Opening Day, and we've got to get the guys back on the field finding their rhythm and timing."

That's the clear impetus behind the Padres' Summer Camp schedule. They’ve wasted no time making things resemble the regular season. They expect to play intrasquad games nearly every night, and they'll prepare for those games the same way they would prepare for any game.

Even the game action is meant to closely resemble a regular-season game. The Padres announced players as they came to bat, and they played music during some innings and piped in crowd noise during others.

"There's a difference between being in the gym and in running shape ... and the challenges of baseball," Tingler said. "We've got to get into that type of feel and shape. The only way to do that is to rep some games out and get some game action."

Of course, "game action" is defined somewhat loosely right now. Innings end when the coaching staff says so. Pitching coach Larry Rothschild calls balls and strikes from behind a screen. When a team is at-bat, hitters sit in the seats surrounding the dugout. And the length of the game depends largely on the status of the pitchers available.

"Some days it's a four inning game, and some days we'll do nine," Tingler said.

On Friday it was five, with Lucchesi and Patiño throwing three innings and relievers Pierce Johnson and Javy Guerra following with two apiece, according to sources. The game was closed to media and stats not publicly kept.

Both Tingler and Rothschild indicated that Padres pitchers are on track to essentially pick up where they left off in Spring Training. Many of them have built up to three or four innings in simulated games or extended bullpens.

"They've gotten on a pretty good schedule,” Rothschild said. “A lot of the starting pitchers have been built up."

The Padres have split their camp between Petco Park and the University of San Diego. Generally speaking, pitchers who aren't slated to throw bullpens or pitch in game action will go through their daily throwing and running routines at USD, where they'll join a group of prospects who are unlikely to crack the roster at any point this year.

That should leave about 30 players at Petco Park on a given day, to be split into two teams for baseball behind closed doors. It's certainly different from a five-week Spring Training slate with a deep Padres roster facing 14 other teams from around the Phoenix area.

"In a way it's good," Tingler said. "Manny [Machado] has probably never had an opportunity to face [Chris] Paddack or Kirby Yates. ... We've got a chance to face some good pitchers. Some good pitchers have a chance to face some good hitters.

"More importantly, they get an opportunity to share what they're thinking, what they're seeing and how they're competing against one another. Some of that feedback from hitter to pitcher -- it works both ways."

That’s the “new normalcy” Tingler spoke of: A recurring nightly baseball game in which the two teams get together and share secrets afterward. It’s definitely an unusual concept. But it’s an unusual setting, and the Padres are doing their best to make the most out of it.