Yet Another Series Win

This homestand has become exactly what the Padres needed.  Few predicted the team would win 2 of 3 from the powerful St Louis Cardinals, but they did.  Some hoped they'd win 2 of 3 from the resurgent Washington Nationals, but they have.  A quick series recap, in case you've been buried in barbeque this weekend:

• Friday, Clayton Richard gives up a 3-run HR to Josh Willingham which the Padres can't quite overcome.  In the ninth, San Diego scores a run and loads the bases with no one out (down by two), but the rally fizzles.
• Saturday, Nationals second baseman Adam Kennedy can't quite pick up a ground ball in the hole off Adrian Gonzalez's bat.  Chase Headley singles, and Nick Hundley homers to give the Padres an early 3-0 lead.  They win 4-2.
• Sunday, the Padres survived two solo homers by budding Nationals star Ryan Zimmerman to take the game in extra innings.  There another Kennedy error (again with two out, no less) let the Padres get the winning run to second, where rookie Lance Zawadzki singled him home.

So the Padres have taken 4 of 6 on the homestand, and remain in first place two ahead of Los Angeles.  Courtesy of a Cincinnati loss Sunday, they've reclaimed the best record in the league at 30-20.

Two other items for your perusal after the jump.

I'm finishing my next Padres post at Baseball Digest today, and it should be up today or tomorrow.

My youngest accompanied me to Saturday night's game.  After his older brother went on Thursday, he talked about the baseball game for 2 straight days, so off we went.  Expecting traffic to be horrendous for Chase Headley Bobblehead night, we got to the park at 4pm.  For a 5:35 game.  Ok, possible problem.  Then, I discovered, to my chagrin, he didn't want to play baseball at the park at the park, AND he didn't want to watch batting practice (then again, what small child wants to watch BP?).  What to do, what to do...

I'd like to publicly commend the Padres for putting that little playground in, way out beyond the CF wall and the park at the park, just for those kids (like mine) who aren't really interested in baseball yet.  My son spent 30 minutes there before the game, then, after the first inning was over, we spent another hour out there screwing around.  And kudos for the big screen TV on the back of the batter's eye.  It's not just for those sitting at the park at the park - even parents at the far playground can monitor what's going on in the game.

Taken during the hour my son was willing to sit in our seats.  45 minutes of that were prior to first pitch.

Taken by my son. He's an ar-teest.