San Diego Padres: Weekend of the future?

If you are a true San Diego Padres fan please stand up! Was that not one of the funnest weekend series we’ve seen downtown in years? With the “young and hungry” Padres taking three of four from the Boyz up north, perhaps this was the “weekend of the future”?

Watching the last game of that series gave me butterflies in my stomach for the first time in years. If this is what General Manager A.J. Preller and his staff have assembled for the start of the Padres rebuild. I’m all in. This team has and is getting better right before our eyes.

In most, if not all my earlier write ups on the Padres, I’ve talked about the future of the team. This weekend’s series could have been a glimpse of that future. This young Padre team out-pitched, out-hustled, and played with swag I haven’t seen downtown in some time.

Just like Padre manager Andy Green mentioned in his press conference after the game. “They’re resilient”. He’s right, they are. Looking at the first wave of what Preller and company have done is fun.

This team plays with some enthusiasm. That catch Carlos Asuaje made in the ninth inning with the game on the line was some finely skilled baseball. Green also signaled out players who have played with that enthusiasm. Jhoulys Chacin, Jose Pirela, and Hector Sánchez being mentioned specifically.

This team has bonded. It’s playing for the love of the game. And as a fan first, it’s very exciting baseball.

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If this team comes back next year anything close to resembling what it does now. It will be a .500 or better team. Yes that’s a very bold, if not unfounded statement (In a lot of people’s minds). That’s just what my instincts tell me.

The energy displayed, and the atmosphere in which the four games of this series with the Dodgers was of playoff caliber. Timely hitting, timely pitching, they played good fundamental baseball.

Even though they lost game one of the series to a potentially historic team, they beat them in every facet of the game. They were the better team. They set the tone in a loss.

Dinelson Lamet looked like an ace in the making, going toe to toe with the best pitcher in baseball. The whole series had a playoff feel.

Next: Another hitting coach bites the dust

And if this past “weekend of the future”? Is a sign of what’s to come Friar faithful. The future of the franchise has many blessings to look forward to.