player, competing at a Division III school.And while foc

SAN DIEGO -- Of all the ways to win a game, the San Diego Padres did it with a walk-off balk against the major league-leading San Francisco Giants.Adam Rosales singled in the tying run before Santiago Casilla balked home the winner, and the Padres rallied to beat the Giants 7-6 on Saturday night.I guess well take it any way we can, San Diegos Travis Jankowski said.Thats the first balk-off Ive been a part of, manager Andy Green said. We kept fighting all the way to the end. We did have some opportunities in the seventh we didnt capitalize on. ... It was a heck of a way to finish.The Padres started the decisive rally when Alex Dickerson and Derek Norris singled to open the 10th against Casilla (1-3). Norris stole second before Rosales bounced a single past shortstop Brandon Crawford to tie the game.With Alexei Ramirez at the plate, Casilla appeared to catch a cleat and stutter-stepped during his delivery. A balk was called, bringing in Norris with the winning run.He just stumbled, caught a spike when he put his foot down. Clearly a balk, Green said.It looked like he was a little discombobulated there on the balk, Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. He was going home and his cleat caught or something. Its got to be one continuous motion. He did the right thing by throwing the ball, but he stutter-stepped and thats why its a balk.Casilla just got behind, Bochy said. He got behind 2-0 on the first hitter and had to go at him there, and he just wasnt sharp with his command.Rosales said he thought Crawford was going to make a great play, being the great shortstop that he is.I couldnt believe it, Rosales said about the balk. Ive never seen that before. But any way we can do it, though, right? Especially after (Buster) Posey hit that home run.Kevin Quackenbush (6-3) won despite giving up Poseys go-ahead, opposite-field homer leading off the 10th, the Giants fourth home run of the night.Posey hit a 91 mph fastball to right field for his 12th homer this season.San Diego twice had three-run leads, both of which evaporated after Giants home runs.Angel Pagan hit a two-run shot off rookie starter Luis Perdomo in the third to pull San Francisco to 3-2.Pinch-hitter Mac Williamson and Ramiro Pena homered off Carlos Villanueva to tie the game at 5 in the sixth. It was Williamsons fourth and Penas first.San Diego had the bases loaded and one out in the seventh but failed to score.The Padres led 5-2 after three innings against Jeff Samardzija, thanks to home runs by rookie Ryan Schimpf and Matt Kemp, and two errors.Samardzija walked his first two batters. Jankowski stole third and Posey threw the ball into left field for an error that brought in a run. Yangervis Solarte singled with one out to make it 2-0.Samardzija allowed five runs, four earned, and five hits in five innings. He struck out four and walked four.Green pulled Perdomo with two outs in the fifth after he allowed Poseys RBI double to pull the Giants to 5-3. Buddy Baumann came on to make his big league debut and retired Crawford on one pitch.TRAINERS ROOMGiants: Bochy said Johnny Cueto, the All-Star Game starter and loser Tuesday at Petco Park, is still feeling a little under the weather but will be OK to pitch Sunday. Cueto said after the All-Star Game that he didnt feel well.Padres: Green said INF Cory Spangenberg likely wont return this season after re-tearing his left quadriceps.UP NEXTGiants: Cueto (13-1, 2.47 ERA) is scheduled to start Sundays series finale. He allowed three runs on two homers in 1 2/3 innings to take the loss in the All-Star Game.Padres: RHP Edwin Jackson, who hasnt started in two years, will be promoted from Triple-A El Paso to start Sunday. His last start was for the Chicago Cubs in 2014. Since then hes made 39 relief appearances for Chicago, Atlanta and Miami. Wholesale MLB Jerseys . -- Lou Brocks shoulder-to-shoulder collision with Bill Freehan during the 1968 World Series and Pete Roses bruising hit on Ray Fosse in the 1970 All-Star game could become relics of baseball history, like the dead-ball era. Cheap MLB Jerseys From China .S District Court against Major League Baseball, the Office of the Commissioner and his own union, the MLBPA. https://www.mlbjerseys2020.com/ . Louis Blues. Shane Hnidy joins Brian Munz for the broadcast on TSN 1290 Radio at 7pm ct. Cheap MLB Jerseys From China . Scott Kazmir allowed four hits in seven shutout innings, Michael Brantley hit a two-run homer in a three-run first inning and the Indians maintained their hold on an AL wild-card spot with a 4-1 win over the Houston Astros on Saturday night. Stitched Nike MLB Jerseys . -- Sergey Tolchinksy scored his second goal of the game 3:56 into overtime as the Sault Ste. So many of us have done the Saturday relay race: karate to soccer game to basketball practice. From softball to swim team. Baseball practice to a hockey tournament.When my kids were young, the world of sports and activities was their oyster. They played multiple sports, tried on things to see what fit while we drove from one side of town to the other, coordinating calendars, resolving scheduling conflicts and keeping all the local drive-thru fast-food joints in business with to-and-fro dining in the mini-van.A few seasons of soccer, overlapping with the start of CYO basketball, which overlapped with the start of Little League season. Mix in the odd volleyball camp, rec department tennis class and some middle school track and youve got a drawer full of old team pictures, a lot of participation trophies and a whole lot of days on the snack schedule.Then maybe that club coach asked for a larger commitment, or the select team came calling. Maybe the schedule just wasnt working anymore and it was too tough to squeeze in multiple practices and games each week around homework and band or group projects.As many kids got closer to high school, they begin to narrow the field of their sports participation, some by choice and the natural culling process. Others because someone else thinks its best.They begin to specialize. And certainly, there are things to gain from the focus on one sport -- a true offseason, better opportunities against higher levels of competition, perhaps even a shot at being a collegiate athlete. But kids lose by specializing, as well, because there are some very good reasons to stay a multi-sport athlete.1. Fewer overuse injuries. Growing bodies can become overstressed by repetition and that stress can lead to injuries. A lack of rest and recovery time in year-round sports exacerbates the problem. There are plenty of examples of serious, grown-up sports injuries happening to kids at younger and younger ages, from Tommy John surgery for 12-year-olds to high school girls with multiple ACL injuries before they graduate. Studies show that playing multiple sports leads to better muscle, motor and skill development. It promotes general athleticism, balance, speed and agility.2. Less opportunity for emotional burn-out. Kids who spend so much time focusing on one sport -- and whose families are similarly solely focused -- risk tiring of the sport all together. Specializing raises expectations, the costs for parents for travel and club teams and the pressure on young athletes. Having a variety of experiences keeps things interesting, the monotony of a single sport goes away, and so does that pressure.3. Exposure to different kids. Soccer friends will be different from swimming friends, who will be different from the kids in your Tai-Kwon-Do class. Exposing kids to different sports allows them to share teammate experiences and make memories with a diverse group of peers.dddddddddddd. It helps them expand their social circle and their opportunities for interaction.4. Exposure to different roles. Being a bench player on the basketball team is a different experience than being a starting pitcher on the baseball team. Its an opportunity to broaden their experiences, socially and developmentally. Its an opportunity to become a better competitor and all-around athlete, the kind that coaches value because they are flexible, multi-dimensional, exposed to many situations and coachable.5. Not putting all your eggs in one basket. Playing only one sport limits your options. An injury, a bad experience with a coach or a reduced role on a more competitive team can bring an abrupt end to an athletic career. Such a small number of high school athletes move on to play a sport in college; even fewer earn an athletic scholarship. If the goal is to play as long as possible, perhaps it makes the most sense to play as many sports as possible? Just ask Derek Jeter, who played basketball in high school, or Elena Delle Donne, who played volleyball at Delaware before returning to the basketball team on the way to the WNBA, or Robert Griffin III, who played baseball and ran track.My confession here is that my son ended up being a single-sport athlete by the time he got to high school. Baseball was his passion, and the other sports fell off the schedule and the radar. The skateboard that used to be his constant companion in middle school started to gather dust in the garage, and the old basketballs and soccer cleats got donated to charity. He is now a college baseball player, competing at a Division III school.And while focusing on one sport may have played a role in getting him there, I cant imagine, in retrospect, that it was the only path. Ive heard him say that he wished that boys volleyball season wasnt the same as baseball, because he would have played. Ive heard him boast that the 3-point stroke he had on the middle school basketball team magically returned while playing pick-up basketball with some of his buddies. One of his high school friends was the football teams starting quarterback and hes?playing club hockey in college now and loving every minute of it.You just never know how things are going to turn out.I retired the mini-van a few years ago, traded it in for a new car and watched with misty eyes as it was driven off into the depths of the used-car lot. But not before I cleared out some old soccer cones and a least one ball bouncing around in the way back.The old days of the Saturday relay are long gone. I didnt realize at the time how good those days were. They were fun. And isnt that the whole point? ' ' '