It was a disappointing loss for the Padres. Maybe having track and field day at school and the warm weather wasn’t a good combination for our kids. But overall the kids have shown through the whole season that we were one of the teams to beat.

The Giants really hit the ball well and the our team had holes in defense. The Padres bats just really couldn’t string together the hits to score runs.

Christian who had been solid all season struggled at the plate. He just couldn’t find the ball and tried to bunt out of frustration. What he needs to learn is that you don’t bunt on a 2 out situation. He struck out at all off his at-bats. He made a couple great plays at defense, but it wasn’t enough as the Giants kept hitting them into the gaps.

Coach Kevin has plans for next year as we go to the next level and try to keep the team together. I will reveal those plans after the team party.

I want to thank all the parents and kids for such a great season! Speaking for the coaching staff, this was an awesome team to coach and couldn’t ask for a better group. It was our privilege to work with them.

Final Score: Padres 10 – Giants 15

Whew! That was a close one…the Padres live to play another day. I don’t know if its the intensity of the playoffs or if its just the other teams getting better. But this game went back and forth with who was in the lead and was a nail-biter for both teams. Our boys stopped the ball in the field, but didn’t throw well to their targets and it nearly cost us the game.

This was Coach Kevin’s last game to manage the team as he goes on a pre-paid vacation for the rest of the playoffs. I take over as manager and Coach Ed takes over 1st Base Coach duties as well as being the hitting coach. We have some big shoes to fill as the kids really respond to Coach Kevin and hopefully we’ll bring home the championship trophy for him.

Christian has been solid in the playoffs since the first game and today was no different. He was our lead off first run as Zach W drove him in from 2nd base at the top of the 2nd with a double. The 2 kids from the championship team from a couple years ago have really lead the team in hitting and defense. Both have had several key outs and key hits during the tournament. Christian closed out the game with a 1-3 combo with Zach W.

Reece got the game ball for stepping up at plate to drive in runs and got a really big out catching a huge hit to left field in the 6th inning. Lets hope the other kids will settle in and start to play as well as they did in regular season for the rest of the playoffs.

Our next game is this Thursday at 5:00 pm against the Giants. The last time we met this team, we kept them to 1 run. But they have a couple kids that can really hit, but their defense is suspect and we need to capitalize on it. See you there! Go Padres!

Final Score: Padres 16 – Devil Rays 15

PS I should have video highlights up Wednesday evening.

It was a heart breaker of a game for the Padres. 2 innings of cold offense did them in. The boys also didn’t play good defense and routine plays got bobbled. Almost everyone had defensive errors including our starters, who have always won the 1st inning.

In the regular season our starting in-field has kept the other team from scoring on us and our top of the batting order has always scored runs. That wasn’t so today. We let the White Sox score 5 runs and the Padres were only able to get one out.  Thank goodness for the 5 run rule.

I think the 2 weeks of not having any games made the team rusty or the team was not fired up to play the White Sox. I give credit to the Sox for making good plays and scoring runs.

Christian flied out in the 1st inning, but drove in the 5th run in the 3rd and had a single to begin the 6th inning. Defensively he was responsible for 2 outs, but bobbled 3 plays as well. But he wasn’t the only one, our super stars Jordan, Brock, Zach P, Zach W, Sam and Kameron all missed opportunities to get the out.

Christian also celebrated his 9th birthday today.  The team sang Happy Birthday before the game started and we gave cupcakes to all the kids after the game.  

Since we lost our first playoff game, we will be on the long track to the championship. We will play the Marlins on Saturday the 7th at 9:00 AM. If we win, we play on Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and 2 games on Saturday for the championship. The team has the ability to be the champion and has proved that they are ones to beat during the regular season. Lets hope they put it together on Saturday.

Final Score: White Sox 13 – Padres 11