This story was excerpted from AJ Cassavell’s Padres Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
It’s a very distinct memory, the day I realized exactly what was building between these Padres and the city of San Diego.
Oct. 2, 2020.
The Padres had just beaten the Cardinals, 4-0, in a decisive Wild Card Series Game 3. Amid the pandemic, there were no fans in attendance. But for hours after that game, car horns blared and fans clanged pots and pans from their balconies. Just general downtown chaos -- all because of a baseball team.
I bring that day up because of the role Craig Stammen played in it. On Friday, Stammen, who pitched through numerous shoulder ailments last year, tore the capsule in his right shoulder, an injury that will almost certainly put an end to his stellar 13-year career.
Of all people, Stammen was the starting pitcher that day.
A quick refresher: In the days leading up to that series, San Diego lost both Dinelson Lamet and Mike Clevinger to injury. Their leftover starters were shelled in Games 1 and 2, and the Padres only managed to force Game 3 by rallying for an 11-9 victory in a Game 2 in which they used eight relievers.
In the aftermath, nobody had a clue who would start Game 3. Including Stammen, who was so drained after Game 2 that he left the stadium straightaway. With no ballpark traffic in 2020, he was home in an instant.
"I just remember being exhausted after that game, mentally," Stammen recalled this week. "Half an hour after that game, I was in bed, sleeping. I really didn't think they were going to choose me to be the starting pitcher, but I knew we needed somebody. ... I got the best night of sleep I had gotten in months that night. It was so good that I didn't see that text message until the next morning."
Indeed, about an hour after Game 2, the Padres settled on Stammen, who had broken into the big leagues as a starter in Washington but hadn't started a game in a decade.
Once that decision was made, then-manager Jayce Tingler sent Stammen a text message -- a text Stammen acknowledged would’ve likely caused a restless night.
"It would've been a whole different story," Stammen said. "But I slept so good that night. I just had such a good night's sleep. When I woke up, the heart starts racing, going a little faster, and you’re understanding: They’re going to give me the ball. Then I was fired up for the rest of the day."
What ensued, Stammen said, was his favorite on-field memory in his six seasons as a Padre. He pitched 1 2/3 scoreless innings, the first in a procession of nine Padres relievers to pitch in Game 3 -- the most pitchers to ever combine on a postseason shutout.
It was a monumental performance from a bullpen that was fried. Stammen set the tone. In fact, the way his teammates tell it, the very decision to start Stammen set the tone -- long before he took the mound.
"Obviously, none of us knew who was starting that game," said Jake Cronenworth, who had three hits, including a home run, that night. "But when everybody found out it was Craig, it was just like: 'This is the perfect guy.' … No matter what happened, we trusted him going out there, giving us his best inning he ever pitched.”
Stammen pitched six seasons with the Padres, posting a 3.36 ERA, with all manner of ups and downs. But that’s the Craig Stammen game I’ll think of first.