LOS ANGELES -- Some days, Manny Machado¡¯s right elbow barks worse than others. The Padres¡¯ star third baseman did not play on Sunday afternoon in Houston. On Monday night at Dodger Stadium, he launched two homers as San Diego came from behind to beat Los Angeles, 11-8.

What¡¯s the difference between the two?

¡°Just flip a coin,¡± Machado said. ¡°Honestly, at this point of the year, it¡¯s just flip a coin. You just don¡¯t know.¡±

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Said Padres manager Bob Melvin: ¡°It¡¯s more how he feels. When he has a bad day, we don¡¯t [play him]. When he has a good day, we do.¡±

That, of course, is not a tenable way to go about things. Machado has been hampered by tennis elbow for parts of the past two seasons. It has gotten significantly worse over the past month, as Machado has been relegated to duty as the designated hitter.

Could surgery be awaiting Machado in the offseason? He was asked that question directly following Monday¡¯s game, and responded thusly:

¡°Probably. It's a consideration. We're looking at all avenues and seeing what we can do to try to get this fixed and get it better.¡±

Machado didn¡¯t get into specifics about a potential operation. It¡¯s too early to say, and his focus is presently on the remainder of the 2023 season. But tennis elbow -- or lateral epicondylitis -- is an injury unrelated to the ulnar collateral ligament. Any procedure would likely come with a significantly quicker recovery time than Tommy John surgery.

That much seems to be evident in the Padres¡¯ plight and Machado¡¯s decision-making. San Diego sits well outside the playoff picture, alive only mathematically. If Machado feared that surgery would linger into 2024, there would be little reason to delay it.

Instead, Machado stubbornly insists on playing, despite a season in which the Padres appear destined to fall well short of their lofty goals.

¡°We¡¯re professionals,¡± Machado said. ¡°... I¡¯m an athlete. We train for this all year, and whenever you¡¯re in this position, you just go out there and compete, no matter what it is.¡±

Machado¡¯s Monday heroics aside, his performance this season hasn¡¯t been up to his usual high standards. After signing an 11-year contract in February to remain in San Diego, Machado has posted a .775 OPS -- well below his .855 mark from his first four years with the Padres.

Then again, Machado has been hit hard by injuries. He dealt with some minor back trouble in April. In May, he was hit by a pitch that fractured a bone in his hand, forcing him to the injured list for the first time in nine years.

And now, a recurrence of the tennis elbow that also bothered Machado in the middle of the 2022 season. He played through it then, missing only a couple games. When it flared up a year later, he and the Padres hoped the injury would be manageable.

It has proven trickier this time around.

Now, the Padres sit eight games back in the NL Wild Card race with 17 games to play -- not to mention four teams ahead of them that they¡¯d need to jump to reach the playoffs. There seems to be little to gain by playing Machado, though he has been insistent that while even a faint mathematical hope remains, he wants to be in the lineup.

So that¡¯s his plan for now.

¡°We¡¯ll see what happens,¡± Machado said. ¡°But as of now, I¡¯m playing. Got to go out there and try to win some games.¡±

The Padres did precisely that on Monday night, the type of thrilling game that was decided in the late innings that they haven¡¯t won very often this season. They trailed by five runs after three, when Machado opened the fourth inning with a laser of a home run into the left-field pavilion.

It sparked a comeback win that proved to be the Padres¡¯ biggest of the season. They had once overcome a four-run deficit, and that came in the Mexico City altitude against the Giants.

But after Machado¡¯s two-run blast in the sixth inning cut the deficit to one, Matthew Batten tied the game with a single. Then, in the ninth, Juan Soto capped the comeback with a moonshot of a go-ahead three-run homer (and a similarly towering bat flip). It proved decisive.

¡°Just huge,¡± Machado said. ¡°Being down by that many runs, and then we keep fighting the whole game, even to the end. It was a good one, for sure.¡±