A Slugfest of a Series: The Padres Take on the Dodgers in the NLCS
A Slugfest of a Series: The Padres Take on the Dodgers in the NLCS
The San Diego Padres’ followers, with tears in their eyes and their voices quivering, stood off their seats Saturday evening, took out their cell phones, and snapped footage and video for posterity.
It actually occurred.
The Padres, after 54 years of existence, lastly slayed the mighty Los Angeles Dodgers, their hated rivals 90 miles north on the I-5 Freeway.
The Padres, in one of many best moments in San Diego sports activities’ historical past, knocked off the Dodgers, 5-3, in entrance of a wild sellout crowd at Petco Park, advancing to the Nationwide League Championship Sequence towards the Philadelphia Phillies.
The Dodgers, who gained 111 regular-season video games, tied for the fourth-most in baseball’s historical past, are going dwelling.
It’s going to go down as one of many best upsets in baseball’s historical past with the Padres ending 22 games behind the Dodgers within the NL West standings, solely to stand up and win the one games that can be remembered.
It was the primary time since 1906 when the Chicago White Sox gained the World Sequence over the Cubs, that a crew completed with 22 fewer victories than their opponent and gained their postseason sequence.
The Padres’ crowd, which wildly waved their brown and yellow towels and chanted “Beat LA!’’ all evening, stood in disbelief when the ultimate out was made, making an attempt to fathom what transpired.
Music blared all through the ballpark, with the stadium scoreboard lighting up, and the followers tried to cheer as loud as their lungs would enable. It proved to be fairly problematic.
You see, it’s a bit powerful to cheer when tears are streaming down your face, witnessing an occasion you by no means dreamed potential.
The Padres, for the primary time since 1998, are going to the Nationwide League Championship Sequence.
They’ll play the Phillies, and have home-field benefits, too, enjoying Sport 1 Tuesday evening at Petco Park. It might take a total of 72 hours for the occasion to finish, for followers to sober up, and for everybody in San Diego to completely digest what occurred.
“How the Mighty Have Fallen!’’ the scoreboard flashed with a fan exhibiting off his signal, adopted by the mantra that reverberated all through Southern California: “Beat LA!”
It was a loopy day from the beginning, with the sport delayed 31 minutes by rain, with the Padres exploding for her largest inning in postseason historical past with a five-run seventh, just for the skies to open once more with rain pouring down.
Not a single fan left.
They weren’t about to overlook this second, with former Padres star Jake Peavy letting everybody know he was going to go occasion within the Gaslamp Quarter, and everybody was free to hitch him. “I’m going to be partying till the wee hours,’’ Peavy stated, “I’m going to stumble onto a Delta flight.
“I believe it is about time that we begin speaking about San Diego as a sports city. We have misplaced the Chargers. That is the one sport in the town. The Padre followers are completely exhibiting out, from Del Mar on down. I have been in every single place since I have been right here a previous couple of days. It feels good. It feels electrical.
“These individuals are prepared.’’
Whereas the Padres have been partying, the Dodgers have been in mourning, nonetheless making an attempt to grasp how their dream season turned right into a residing nightmare. They couldn’t purchase a clutch hit, going 2-for-28 since Sport 1 with runners in scoring place. They couldn’t provide you with a key pitch and had no clue the right way to assault the Padres’ vaunted bullpen.
“Baseball,’’ Dodgers All-Star first baseman Freddie Freeman stated, “typically issues occur.’’
