Forum allgemein » Padres are considering a huge splash

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Brian Dozier swung bananas from a rope over the dugout railing.How appropriate. The longest game in World Series history was bananas.Twenty-three players on each team http://www.redsoxproshops.com/authentic-craig-kimbrel-jersey , including nine pitchers.Eighteen innings — four more than any of the previous 662 World Series games.Seven hours, 20 minutes — 1:39 longer than any Series game played before and 15 minutes more than all four games of the 1939 World Series combined.Walker Buehler threw the first pitch in autumn twilight at 5:10 p.m. Max Muncy homered on the 561st and last at 12:30 a.m., when most of America was asleep and even fans in Alaska and in Hawaii were struggling to stay up.Ernie Banks would have been happy — the Los Angeles Dodgers and Boston Red Sox filled his oft-said desire: Let’s play two! “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” was played twice, during the seventh-inning stretch and the 14th inning elongation.“It was an amazing game,” Dodgers outfielder Yasiel Puig said. “I’m a little tired. But we’re ready to come back tomorrow.”Then he looked at his watch and corrected himself.“In a couple of hours,” Puig said.Live from Hollywood: the Late Late Late Show: The Dodgers’ dramatic, draining, dizzying 3-2 victory Friday night cut their World Series deficit to 2-1.“I think my beard got about 3 inches longer,” said Dodgers third baseman Justin Turner, whose red whiskers already were Santa length.Soccer ends after 120 minutes and is decided by penalty kicks.Even Wimbledon is instituting fifth-set tiebreakers next year when tied 12-12 after John Isner’s 70-68 first-round triumph over Nicolas Mahut in 2010 and Isner’s 26-24 semifinal defeat to Kevin Anderson this year.No U.S. major team sport DOUBLED the length of a game in its championship. Notably, a Boston team has been involved in the longest title match in all four of the major sports.Only once has the Super Bowl gone to overtime, with only an extra 11:02 needed for New England’s win over Atlanta in 2017 .There have been only two NBA Finals games needing the extra 15 minutes of three overtimes, Boston’s victory over Phoenix in 1976 and the Suns’ win over Chicago in 1993 . The longest Stanley Cup final matchup was Edmonton’s win over Boston in the 1990 opener, a three-overtime affair requiring an extra 55:13.“You look up and see the 18th inning, and you’re like, holy cow David Price Jersey , where did the game go?” Muncy said. “Those last nine innings or so just kind of blended together.”The Dodgers munched on peanut butter and banana sandwiches provided by a team employee, and hung the bananas to produce fruitful luck — harkening back to the rally banana credited by Enrique Hernandez for helping end a 35-inning scoreless streak three years ago.“You want to have fun with it,” said Rich Hill, the Dodgers scheduled Game 4 starter against Eduardo Rodriguez, who became the first pitcher to start a Series game on no days’ rest since Washington’s Firpo Marberry in 1924.Clayton Kershaw, a three-time NL Cy Young Award winner with a .163 career batting average, pinch hit in the 17th inning and lined out.“Starting pitchers are used to getting their spikes on, but nothing usually comes to fruition,” Kershaw said.Muncy nearly won the game in the 15th inning, pulling a long drive off Nathan Eovaldi that hooked just to the foul side of the right-field pole . Eovaldi, Boston’s scheduled Game 4 starter, was starting his seventh inning of relief when Muncy hit an opposite-field drive to left-center for the Dodgers’ fourth World Series walkoff hit. He joined Cookie Lavagetto, whose double in 1947’s fourth game ended a no-hit bid by the Yankees’ Bill Bevens ; Jackie Robinson, whose 10th-inning single in 1956’s sixth game scored Jim Gilliam ; and Kirk Gibson, whose two-out, two-run pinch homer off Oakland’s Dennis Eckersley won the 1988 opener .“All I know is we’re feeling pretty good about ourselves right now http://www.redsoxproshops.com/authentic-mookie-betts-jersey ,” Los Angeles manager Dave Roberts said.Rookie right-hander Walker Buehler allowed two hits over seven shutout innings and left with a one-run lead provided by Joc Pederson’s third-inning homer off Rick Porcello. Jackie Bradley Jr.’s eighth-inning homer against Kenley Jansen tied the score, Dodgers center fielder Cody Bellinger threw out Ian Kinsler at the plate in the 10th to keep the game going, the Red Sox went ahead on pitcher Scott Alexander’s throwing error in the 13th and the Dodgers tied it 2-2 on Kinsler’s two-out throwing error from second base in the bottom half .After hitting .297 in winning the first two games at cozy, chilly Fenway Park, Boston was 5 for 57 at the plate in the warmth of Dodger Stadium— including 0 for 28 in the top four slots of the batting order.“This was a gut-wrenching game for both sides,” Muncy said. “Their guys are banged up, our guys are banged up.” Syndergaard, deGrom, Archer and Fulmer have six All-Star appearances between them. And to some degree or another, the talent that made those possible is still alive within each of them.To boot, each boasts plenty of team control. The Mets control deGrom through 2020 and Syndergaard through 2021. Archer is signed to a team-friendly contract with options through 2021. Fulmer, meanwhile, isn't slated for free agency until after 2022.Pitchers like these aren't going to be moved for anything less than a massive package of young talent. Think the Jose Quintana trade or the Chris Sale trade, each of which was headlined bytwo name-brand prospects.Not many teams can do a deal like that. But of the few that can, the Padres would be nigh impossible to beat in a bidding war.Once Francisco Mejia, a top catching prospect Brock Holt Jersey , came over in the trade that sent Brad Hand and Adam Cimber to the Cleveland Indians, San Diego's list of prospects in MLB.com's top 100 suddenly included an MLB-high 10 names:MLB Pipeline MLBPipeline#Padres already had an MLB-best 9 Top 馃挴 prospects. This gives them 10: TuTZgd5PTS3. Fernando Tatis Jr13. MacKenzie Gore15. Francisco Mejia29. Luis Urias32. Cal Quantrill33. Michel Baez42. Adrian Morejon75. Anderson Espinoza95. Chris Paddack97. Logan AllenThe normal protocol for a rebuilder is to hold on to prospect depth until it gradually becomes major league depth. Then, one thing will hopefully lead to another, and a World Series championship will materialize.However, the Padres are in a unique position.They already have Eric Hosmer and Wil Myers locked up for the long haul, as well as potential franchise cornerstones at catcher (Austin Hedges), second base (Jose Pirela), third base (Christian Villanueva), center field (Manuel Margot) and right field (Hunter Renfroe). In left-hander Joey Lucchesi, they also have at least one such player in their starting rotation.The Padres thus have license to wonder if they have more prospects than they truly need. If nothing else, they almost certainly have more prospects than they can protect from the Rule 5 draft this winter."The question we have moving forward is, when do we cash in on our [prospect] depth and add to our major league team?" general manager A.J. Preller told Sherman. "We have multiple prospects in different spots. We have to figure the right guy to bite down on."Since deGrom, Syndergaard, Archer or Fulmer would immediately shoot to the top of San Diego's rotation, everyone on the Padres' radar fits the bill of "the right guy."Eric HosmerJim McIsaac/Getty ImagesThe cautionary tale that can't be ignored is the Padres' 2014-15 offseason in which Preller tried to build a contender overnightby adding Justin Upton, Matt Kemp http://www.redsoxproshops.com/authentic-rusney-castillo-jersey , James Shields and Craig Kimbrel. It didn't work. The Padres crashed and burned in 2015 and steadily broke up their newly formed band.But the idea this time around wouldn't seem to involve building a contender overnight. The Padres have to know that 2018 is long gone and that contending in 2019 is probably a long shot.Instead, the real target is 2020.If nothing else, the NL West could be vulnerable for the taking by then. The Colorado Rockies (Nolan Arenado), Arizona Diamondbacks (Paul Goldschmidt) and San Francisco Giants (Madison Bumgarner) stand to lose key superstars to free agency after 2019. The Los Angeles Dodgers will still be there, but Clayton Kershaw, Kenley Jansen and Justin Turner could be past their primes by then.Due to their sheer prospect depth, the Padres are all but assured to get better between now and then no matter what. But if they can bring aboardan ace next week, they'll have an easier time completing the ensemble with free agents after 2018 and 2019. Maybe they won't be able to offer the most money, but they'll be able to extend a chance to join a rising power built on a foundation of youthful and veteran talent.It's either this or the Padres can wait on their prospects. But while that's hardly a bad Plan B, it means signing up for: (a) a longer timeline until contention and (b) the risk of having their best prospects lose value or flame out entirely.In all, the question here isn't why the lowly Padres are considering a huge splash at the trade deadline.It's whyshouldn't they?