________________________________________________________________________One who criticizes or passes judgment from a position of hindsight.
But yesterday, even though the 49ers blew yet another game they should've won, and the Raiders getting run all over, the San Francisco Giants punched their ticket to the post-season for the first time since 2003 thanks to some timely hitting from two guys who have never sniffed the playoffs, Aubrey Huff and Freddy Sanchez, and the arm of a real left-handed pitcher, Jonathan Sanchez, the same man who threw a no-hitter against the same Padres a little over a year ago.
Game 1 of the playoffs is Thursday night against the Atlanta Braves. Tim Lincecum will start for San Francisco.
SOCCER
We'll start with soccer this week and the two games Saturday. The 8th grade just didn't have a chance. Being short-handed and with the team in its first year, it just wasn't going to happen. Not having Marissa on defense also hurt as she has one of the best legs on the team. They've played four games and hopefully they are a little more used to the game and can have a better showing in the second half of the season.
With that being said, there could be some changes on the horizon for this team. We'll touch on that later in the week with the first of four mid-season team reports.
5th/6th graders
This was a tough loss. This is a game that they should've, could've won, but in the end, there was no win. They had the scoring chances, outplayed the opponent, dominated the play. But soccer is just a brutal game where one mistake can change the outcome of a game. The defense was out of position and the right decisions weren't made and that was enough to hand the 5th and 6th graders a loss.
In the past, a lot of the soccer losses have been "blamed" or pinned on the defense for not being able to stop the other team. This game however, we should look at the offense, attacks/forwards who couldn't bang in the goal.
The game was on their feet and they just needed to come through. Scoring first would've won the game, and even despite the goal allowed, they could've tied it several times. The fault really lies in their inability to spread out and work together as a team. Too many times there were two people going for the ball, and there was always 4 or 5 jerseys in the same area.
Watch any good soccer game and you will not see that many people bunched together during play (free kicks, corners and set pieces excluded). The offense is spread out so there can be some cohesive passing going on. The forwards pretty much all wanted to do it for themselves and in the end, it was another game without a goal.
VOLLEYBALL
It was one of those days where you were outmatched. The 5th/6th graders had to play a team that could bump, set and spike, while the 8th graders played a team who had some over-hand servers and some girls who could hit. And again, playing without Marissa, the team doesn't have the same confidence. Later in the year, if these teams meet again, it could be a different story. But for now, the other team was the better team.
RAIDERS AND 49ERS
The 49ers lost because Nate Clements is that "Me First" type of player. He wanted to intercept that ball, run it back for a touchdown and be "The Man" to win it for the 49ers. He could've been "The Man" by simply just falling down or going out of bounds. Instead, he wanted to pad his stats and in the end, the only thing he padded was the loss column for a 49ers team on the fast track to nowhere.
San Francisco now sits at (0-4) and likely to sit (0-5) after their game next week against the Eagles.
As for the Raiders, and the few people who care, they couldn't stop the run game and continue to be terrible against teams with good running backs. That won't change.
A poor showing of only 32,000 plus at the Coliseum yesterday...Sadness.
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