Lots of Free Baseball in San Diego

For a true baseball fan, like myself, there is nothing better than free baseball, otherwise known as extra innings. It’s why we stock up on a couple extra beers when they stop selling in the middle of the 7th. There’s always that chance that it’ll go 10 and you’ll have an excuse to linger around the ballpark for an extra half-hour.

But this is just ridiculous: 13 innings of free baseball.

Because I think of most things only in terms of beer, that’s approximately six trips to the beer man, buying the maximum allotment of two cold ones at a time, during the seventh inning just to have enough to keep your buzz going through the extras. And trust me; this stockpile of beer would be necessary. Without it, you’d already have a hangover by the 15th inning.

Here are just some of the mindblowers from the Padres-Rockies epic battle:

• They played 22 innings. It’s worth repeating.
• It was the longest game in 15 years.
• The sprinklers came on sometime after midnight, during the 18th.
• They recognized both the 14th and 21st inning stretches.
• There were a total of 37 strikeouts.
• No one even scored until the 14th.
• The Padres didn’t have a baserunner from the 2nd though the 10th.
• Brian Giles, who loves to tan (notes section), went 1-for-9.
• Both Brad Hawpe and Tony Clark pulled off the Golden Sombrero.
• There were 15 total pitchers used, who threw 659 pitches.
• The game ended at 1:21 AM local time, 4:21 on the east.

Two and a half games for the price of one: now that is getting your money’s worth. Oh, the Rockies won 2-1. Minor detail.

This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.