Sometimes, a baseball team needs do something wacky or weird to change the atmosphere, particularly to stop a slide.
Meet the San Diego Padres and their conundrum: They went on a skid after their super-busy trade deadline, and they’ve lost four of their last six. How do you get out of that?
But in the middle of their struggles, they’ve tried to change their fortunes by putting a black panther in their dugout.
(Not a real one. What did you expect? Really?)
Although they lost on Thursday to the Washington Nationals, maybe they’re on to something, and fans are starting to dig it, too.
Check out the dugout panther:
Check it out
black panther sighting in the @padres dugout pic.twitter.com/eM5EeTT8t7
— Cut4 (@Cut4) August 17, 2022
Crone visits the CroneZone for a grand slam to Put Pads up 4-0 and Black Panther makes it into the polaroid moment afterwards. pic.twitter.com/zDINCWcyMI
— Bob Scanlan (@heyscan) August 17, 2022
The #padres new good luck charm. Confirmed. swag panther. pic.twitter.com/Da1ziOxmGW
— Allison Edmonds (@aedmondstv) August 17, 2022
Soto petting the panther 🤣 he fits right in with this #padres team pic.twitter.com/B4VItlFAAr
— Allison Edmonds (@aedmondstv) August 17, 2022
What's the story here?
From MLB.com:
“We were trying to bring a new spark in the clubhouse, and Feisty Tom seemed to have a little bit of that in him,” said starting pitcher Mike Clevinger, who allowed three runs on six hits and four walks over 4 1/3 innings.
Yeah, that’s right: FEISTY TOM!
It was Sean Manaea who dubbed the panther Feisty Tom, and it was likely Manaea (according to Cronenworth) who was responsible for Tom being in the dugout for Wednesday’s matinee.
Manaea denied that he had anything to do with Tom’s appearance.
“No no, not me,” he said. “He just showed up [in the dugout] honestly. I walked out there [today] and he was out there, I was like, ‘Feisty Tom, what’s up?’ That’s his name, at least that’s what I keep calling him.
Amazing.
