Some of you already know that I grew up primarily in the San Diego area. I moved to Auburn in 1978 and built a new life here in the foothills.

When I was a kid my father would occasionally take me to see the San Diego Padres play. Although it was fun going to the ballpark the Padres never won a game when I was in attendance. That's pretty tough for a little kid and I definitely felt the sting of disappointment. But worse than that the Padres never won anything meaningful when I was still a resident of SD County.

So, when I moved to Northern California I decided to take the San Francisco Giants as the baseball team I would root for. I've never regretted my choice.

However, that choice has led to some serious differences between me and members of my family who still live in San Diego, including my father.

The week before last my dad called me one evening to taunt me about the fact that my Giants were trailing the Padres in the NL West win/loss standings by seven games with only a month left to play. As many of you know, it's very difficult to catch up with a team when they are that many games ahead.

But, my response to his ribbing was to remind him that his Padres, although they lead the division, and have played well throughout the season, had not yet endured anything approaching a "slump". Every baseball team goes through a little slump during a normal season, but the Padres seem immune to that plight. At least, they did until these last two weeks of play.

Since the night I spoke to my dad, his San Diego Padres have lost ten games in a row. Not only that, but my San Francisco Giants have won enough games to climb in the standings to within one game of the first place Pads.

If ever there were a better way to illustrate the frustrations and disappointment of a young fan when his team loses their way, this San Diego team is going out of their way to prove they know how!

No one knows how this season will end. Maybe the Padres will come back and win the whole thing in October. Maybe the Colorado Rockies will over-take both the Giants and the Padres and win the West.

Whatever happens, and whichever team wins the N.L. West, I think many San Diego Padre fans are now able to understand how easily I shed the Padres as my team now that they're on their way to chocking when it truly matters most.