What can I say?

Back during the cold March nights, D.G. and I would discuss the trials and tribulations of being first year little league coaches.

One night, while thoughts of warm breezes, sunflower seeds and the smell of grass ran through our heads, D.G. fingered the end of his moustache, leaned in across the table covered with empty beer bottles and proclaimed that we were going to get into the playoffs, by god.

He was right.

Turns out, every team makes the playoffs in this league, even the D-Boys who finished the season with a 5-7 record.

On Monday, we faced the Giants and beat them 20-6 in our first playoff game. Although I may not agree with the "everybody gets a trophy" mentality that allows losing teams to contend for a championship, it was hard not to be overjoyed for some of the Dodgers, who, it turned out, needed this one game--this extra game that the playoffs gave them--to finally coordinate their spastic bodies and hit a baseball.

Marquis, who once missed a game because he lost a battle of wits with a mechanical pencil (beware the leads of May, especially if it's in your pants pocket) got a hit! He smiled the entire time he was running, wind whistling through the space in his grin from his chipped tooth.

Levi, who has swung the bat like he was warding off harm with a light saber like a Jedi, (alright, maybe more like Dark Helmet than a Jedi) finally started swinging through the ball and got a hit.

And here's where the one extra game, the playoff game, was good for me. All season long, I worked with Levi on his swing with advice such as "drive through the ball." and "Open your hips." and "Coil. Pivot. Pop" These words meant absolutely nothing to him. I finally realized that and simply told him that he swings the bat like a light saber and that's not good. I told him "No star wars swings." This, he understood. It worked. He hit the ball.

Tonight, we face the Pirates, who as you remember are like Somali pirates, not fun-loving parrot -owning pirates, who plunder runs and then zip away into the night. It'll be a tough game.

I hope we win, but not for a chance to win a trophy because really I don't think we deserve it, but for the chance to have one more game in which the kids play, improve, and have fun.

Because that, they do deserve...and after a season of pulling kids off fences and cringing whenever they threw a bat towards an umpire, so do I.