Padres News: Bob Melvin Feels Friars Are In Their Own Heads

San Diego Padres manager Bob Melvin thinks his team is putting too much pressure on themselves. It isn’t working, and the Padres may go down along with the New York Mets as one of the most disappointing teams in baseball history.

Here's what Melvin has to say earlier this week about the team feeling the pressure, making it difficult for them to win close games.

"When you get on a roll on those games, like the Marlins, you just feel like those are your games," Melvin said. "And that’s the way we were last year. We talked about that. 'These are our games. We are winning these games.' And when you lose a bunch of them, you don’t want that to creep into your head, but sometimes, because of the fact that you’ve lost so many of them, maybe you get a little tight in those situations."

This season, the Padres haven’t had a 4-game winning streak yet. After an offseason when their front office spent wildly, the players understand they haven’t lived up to lofty expectations. Their high-paid veterans haven’t performed like everyone thought they would.

At the beginning of the season, most pundits picked the Padres to win the National League West. Now they are in fourth place in the division, 17 games behind the Dodgers. They also remain 5 games back of the final NL Wild Card spot.

Melvin must find a way to have his team relax and enjoy playing baseball. If he can, the Padres may have one final run in them to make September interesting.