Did you miss me yesterday? Well, with practice you may improve your aim.

Anyway, I was recovering from Thursday's epic 22-inning battle between the Padres and Rockies. No, I wasn't down at Petco Park, but I did watch the entire game on TV, which doesn't seem as manly but what can you do...

I've recapped the game in excruciating detail over at Ducksnorts for those interested. Here I'd like to focus on one aspect that baffled me: curfew rules in the National League. As in, why aren't there any?

You could point to a number of different problems with playing a game till 1:30 a.m., but what stood out for me was the fact that both team's catchers were in there for the entire 22 games. And now that I think of it, so was the home plate umpire. Josh Bard, Yorvit Torrealba, and Victor Marquez spent the better part of 6 hours and change squatting in full gear. Between them, they saw 659 pitches.

Physically this has got to be demanding, but beyond that, how do you maintain your focus? (One could argue that Marquez didn't maintain his focus in the 14th inning on a couple of poor ball-strike calls, but I digress.) Acknowledging that I'm no expert on labor laws, it seems to me that those aren't necessarily the safest working conditions.

I guess that's why they get paid the big bucks, but still... And then we wonder why so many players have become dependent on PEDs over the years?