SAN DIEGO – The Padres are one victory away from killing that dragon on the highway – and they might not even need to take a backup trip of Highway 5 to do so.
Petco Park’s first playoff game before fans brought in the merchandise 16 years ago. San Diego packed the place well before the start of the stadium, golden towels waving and a cacophony of noise from the start.
Badris responded with Victory over the edge of your seat 2-1 In the Friday 3 game against the Dodgers. They now lead the NL Series with the same total and could earn their first trip to the NL Championship Series since 1998 with a win in Game 4 on Saturday night.
“We’re coming tomorrow” Juan Soto He said. “We’re not going to take it easy because we have the lead. We have to get it done. A lot of people at this club, they’re hungry to go out there and beat these guys.”
“One win away,” said the third key man, Padres. Mane Machado. “But they are a good football club out there. They are all going to have it tomorrow. We just have to go in there and take care of our business. We have a great game Joe on the hill.”
If Friday night is any indication, they will also have a huge advantage on their land. The 45,137 attendees represented the largest crowd at Petco Park for a post-season game.
Padres won two playoffs in East Village amid the 2020 season that has been cut short by the pandemic. But they never won a playoff before the fans at Petco Park. Those fans were suitably panicked on Friday.
“Probably the best crowd I’ve ever seen,” said the Game 3 writer. Blake Snell. “The power was electric the whole time.”
Snell was making his first post-season start against the Dodgers since his infamous fast hook in Game 6 of the 2020 World Championships. He was mostly sharp, allowing only one run over 5 1/3 innings. Snell hit a six and made his way around a lot of traffic.
When Max Muncie doubled with one at six, Snell’s night ended, and he walked out with a standing ovation. Unlike that start in Game 6 of the World Series, his office finished the job. The San Diego relief team continued their dominant run with 3 2/3 point-free frames and did not allow the Dodgers to run in 12 2/3 innings of the series.
“All these guys were amazing,” Soto said. “I think this is one of the greatest bull barns I have ever seen. …they are showing it off.”
With a game like this, the Padres feel very confident when they get an early lead. On Friday night, they jumped right in. Jake KronworthThe RBI single gave San Diego 1-0 in the first half. Trent GreshamA single shot – his third home run after the season – doubled that lead in the fourth inning. It has proven to be crucial.
Gresham, who finished the regular season with the lowest hitter among all the playoffs, is in the midst of one of the best seasons in Padres history. His three home competitions are already one shy of the franchise playoff record of Jim Laeritz.
“I really feel like myself again,” Grisham said.
After half a run, the Dodgers scored their only run on the Mookie Betts sacrifice fly. They then threatened but did not score, and finished the night 0 to 9 with men in the scoring position. With each escape, Petco Park has grown a little more.
And when Josh Hader The place exploded at 99 mph after Trayce Thompson to finish it.
“This crowd was incredible,” Machado said. “It was fun – years in waiting.”
Amazingly, the Padres find themselves in control of the NLDS. In the best-of-five post-season series history, teams leading 2-1 went on to win the series 67 of 93 times (72%). In the Division Series in the current 2-2-1 format, teams are up 2-1 and play Game 4 on their home courts 21 of the 26 times (81%). In 15 of those cases, the series ended in Game 4.
If the Padres can finish it, they will have succeeded in executing one of the sport’s colossal upheavals. The Dodgers won 22 more games than the Padres during the regular season. No team has won a post-season series against a team as many games that have topped them in the standings since the 1906 White Sox.
“It’s been a very good regular season, but as we’ve said before, none of that matters,” said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts. “We are in a five-game streak against a very good football club that we know very well, and the team that plays the best baseball game will win the streak.
“So far, they’ve played better than we have.”
It’s a stark reversal of the regular season – and, in fact, the last decade. The Dodgers have won all six previous series this year. They have finished ahead of San Diego in the standings in every season since 2010. At the trade deadline, the Padres overhauled their roster with this series in mind; They needed to beat their rivals at some point.
It was then that Chairman Peter Seidler declared the Dodgers to be “the dragon on the highway we are trying to slay.”
And here they are, one victory away from killing her.
“Infuriatingly humble internet trailblazer. Twitter buff. Beer nerd. Bacon scholar. Coffee practitioner.”
