"The day off is huge," said Padres pitching coach Darren Balsley, who has watched his staff work two 13-inning games since the 22-inning game. That's the equivalent of two added games.

The endurance leaders during the stretch are left-handers Will Ledezma (seven hits allowed over 11 2/3 scoreless innings in three appearances with 178 pitches) and Glendon Rusch (five appearances, 10 innings, 3.00 runs allowed, two earned, on eight hits and 159 pitches).

"The timing for the day off couldn't have been better," Rusch said yesterday. "With Wil and I, it's like we've used seven starters over the past week or so. I treated today like I did start Saturday. Monday is a big day... just to get a complete break."

At the end of spring training, the Padres made a decision to keep two long relievers. That now looks like one of their sharpest moves of the young season.

"Wil was the true long man," said manager Bud Black. "But Rusch gave us both dimensions. You need length in the bullpen. You can't have six or seven short guys. When you build a bullpen, you want durability, resiliency and length. You are not used to that many extra innings. I've never seen that many extra innings in that short a time."

DIAMONDBACKS 2, PADRES 1: Brandon Webb (2006) came out on top of a head-to-head match against the National League's two most recent Cy Young Award winners when Chris Snyder hit a two-run homer off Jake Peavy (2007) in the bottom of the second Sunday afternoon. The Padres' pathetic offense got five hits and was 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position, including an 0-for-3 with the bases loaded.