Bill Center, longtime sportswriter for U-T San Diego, is an employee of the Padres.
The problem with a game like Sunday's 17-inning marathon at Petco Park is that they have lingering consequences.
And when you play back-to-back, extra-inning games like the Padres have, the problems mount. Bullpens are overworked. Rosters need to be bolstered. Padres manager Andy Green admitted after Sunday's 9-5 loss that the Padres would need to bring up a relief pitcher, maybe two.
"You carry a little baggage forward from a game like today," said Green.
There is a theory of baseball that argues the longer a game goes in terms of innings and time, the wider the margin between the reward of winning and the cost of losing.
The three-game series against the Dodgers was actually the equivalent of four games plus an inning. And the starting pitchers worked only 15 1/3 of those 37 innings.
"Our bullpen has been stretched," said Green. "It's safe to say we're going to need help."
No question. Every reliever in the Padres' bullpen worked at least two innings in the Dodgers series. Two worked five.
The leading relief candidates to join the Padres on Monday in San Francisco are left-handers Keith Hessler and Frank Garces from Triple-A El Paso -- largely because right-handers Leonel Campos and Tayron Guerrero recently were with the Padres and aren't eligible to return Until Thursday and next Sunday, respectively.
Notes from the scorebook
• Matt Kemp's May swoon this season is worse than last year, when he hit .186 with no homers and 10 RBIs. Kemp was 0-for-7 with three strikeouts Sunday. He has one hit -- a homer Tuesday off Madison Bumgarner -- in his last 28 at-bats with 12 strikeouts. This May he is hitting .155 (13-for-84) with three homers and 11 RBIs.
• Left-handed reliever Ryan Buchter's scoreless innings streak came to an end at 18 2/3 innings Sunday, when he gave up a game-tying homer to Dodgers pinch-hitter Justin Turner with one out in the seventh inning. Buchter had struck out six of the seven Dodgers he faced going into Sunday's outing, which marked the first time this season that Buchter had worked in three straight games. Still, Buchter's ERA is 0.82 after 23 appearances. He has 31 strikeouts in 22 innings while allowing nine hits and 11 walks. Buchter's streak had been the longest active streak in the National League.
• Melvin Upton Jr. was 3-for-7 Sunday and drove home the tying run with an eighth-inning triple. Upton also hit a walk-off homer in Friday's win over the Dodgers and came within a foot of duplicating the feat Saturday night. Upton is hitting .297 (19-for-64) in his last 17 games and is hitting .327 (18-for-55) in the seventh or later this season with two doubles, a triple and four homers.
• Center fielder Jon Jay was 5-for-19 with two doubles in the four games since returning to the lineup after missing four starts with a sore shoulder.