Rockies and Padres Get Ridiculous, Play 22 Inning Marathon

Extra inning games are weird. When they first get going, you want to see some sort of resolution so you can go to sleep. But as a game goes to 15, 16, 17 innings and so forth, the masochist in me always comes out and hopes that the game hits that magic threshold of 20 innings ... even though I have to get up early the next morning to go to work.

The Rockies and Padres have hit that magic threshold for me ... and then some. The teams played a 22 -inning extravaganza which finally ended after Troy Tulowitzki drove home Willy Taveras with an RBI double off of Glendon Rusch on an 0-2 count. Taveras had reached with two outs and nobody on when Khalil Greene's throw from short pulled Tony Clark off the bag. Taveras then went to third on a stolen base and an error in front of Tulo's double. Of course it would have to be an unearned run that would win the game ... which finally ended at 4:21 AM ET after six hours and 16 minutes when Kip Wells struck out opposing pitcher Rusch looking.

Amazingly, both catchers, Josh Bard and Yorvit Torrealba, caught the entire game. And both teams now have to travel for Friday night games ... the Rockies go to Houston, and the Padres go to Arizona. Hopefully, Rockies announcer George Frazier will make it to the next game with his sanity, as he spent his time between innings on pizza runs, scrounging for food in adjacent luxury boxes, and contemplated sending their on-field reporter out for food in the 21st inning.