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WASHINGTON -- For a guy who was originally supposed to have the weekend off, Bryce Harper was pretty productive on Saturday. Harper drove in three runs after talking his way into Washingtons lineup, Ryan Zimmerman knocked in the go-ahead run and the Nationals rallied for a 5-4 win over the San Diego Padres. Adam LaRoche homered, and Denard Span and Ian Desmond added two hits apiece as the Nationals won their third straight and moved three games over .500 (45-42) for the first time since mid-May. Harper, who was named to the NL All-Star Team on Saturday along with starting pitcher Jordan Zimmermann, texted Davey Johnson and lobbied for playing time earlier in the day after the Washington manager said Friday night that he was probably going to give the young slugger the weekend off. "In his text he said, Play me or trade me," Johnson said before the game. "And so since tradings out of the question I guess Im going to play him." Harper walked with the bases loaded in the third, hit an RBI single in the fifth and drove in the tying run in the seventh with a sacrifice fly. "Yeah, I mean I was pretty serious about what I said," Harper said of his text. "You know I want to play. I want to play every day and if he wants to put me in the lineup then I want to be in the lineup. And if he doesnt then Im going to try and make him put me in the lineup. "Its something that I want to do every day and Im going to grind through everything I do and play as hard as I can and good things happen." Since returning from the disabled list and homering in his first at-bat Monday night against Milwaukee, Harper had gone 0 for 19 before his RBI single. He was 0 for 4 with a sacrifice fly in Friday nights 8-5 win over San Diego. Jesus Guzman hit a three-run homer and doubled for San Diego, which has lost eight straight. The Padres went 1 for 14 with runners in scoring position Saturday. Ross Ohlendorf (2-0) got the win, Drew Storen pitched a scoreless eighth inning, and Rafael Soriano pitched the ninth for his 24th save. Soriano allowed a pair of singles with one out, but retired pinch hitter Mark Kotsay and Everth Cabrera -- on a diving stop by LaRoche at first -- to end it. The Nationals trailed 4-3 when they came up in the seventh. Span and Desmond singled off reliever Nick Vincent (2-1) with one out, and left-hander Joe Thatcher came on to face Harper. After a wild pitch advanced both runners, Harper lifted a fly ball to left and Span scored easily after the catch to tie it. Zimmerman followed with a RBI single off Luke Gregerson to score Desmond with the go-ahead run. "Weve been playing better lately and obviously scoring runs later in the game and getting hits like that, so (weve) got to keep doing that and take it one game at a time slowly just kind of creep up," Zimmerman said. Trailing 3-1 in the sixth, the Padres got one-out singles from Carlos Quentin and Chase Headley. Johnson lifted Jordan Zimmermann after he had thrown 101 pitches and brought in Ohlendorf to face Guzman, who deposited a 1-1 fastball in the Padres bullpen to give San Diego the lead. "I tell you, this game is weird," Guzman said. "Ive had three or four home runs to give us the lead, and weve lost. And we win the game (earlier in the season) at home when I get hit by pitch." Zimmermann, who was suffering from neck stiffness, allowed three runs and five hits in 5 1-3 innings, striking out four and walking one. "Its been going on for a little while, but Ill be fine," he said. "Today I was just deep in the counts and they were battling and made me work out there, and it was probably one of the hottest games Ive ever pitched in, so that definitely doesnt help." San Diego starter Jason Marquis went six innings, allowing three runs on eight hits. He struck out three, walked three and also contributed at the plate with a double and an RBI groundout. "Its not fun," Marquis said. "Especially after the hole we dug out of early. We put ourselves in a good position to stay in it." Washington took the lead in the third. Anthony Rendon led off with a single and Kurt Suzuki doubled him to third. Ryan Zimmermann struck out, but Span walked to load the bases. Desmond grounded into a fielders choice, with Rendon out at home, but Harper walked to make it 1-0. LaRoche made it 2-0 when he led off the fourth with his 13th homer of the season, a line drive into the Nationals bullpen. "That was a wild game," Johnson said. "We had chances to put Marquis out of his misery early and couldnt do it, but kept battling." San Diego got a run back in the fifth when Logan Forsythe walked and later scored on Marquis grounder to short. Washington got it right back when Span singled, stole second, went to third on a bloop single by Desmond and scored on Harpers single. NOTES: Padres C Yasmani Grandal was hurt on Rendons slide and left the game with a right knee sprain. Padres manager Bud Black said hell go on the disabled list. . Johnson said starting pitcher Ross Detwiler experienced discomfort in his back when he threw his bullpen session and headed for the disabled list. . Black said 2B Jedd Gyorko (groin) did some running before Saturdays game and hopes to play a minor league rehab game in the middle of next week. . San Diego LHP Robbie Erlin (1-1, 4.34 ERA) opposes Stephen Strasburg (4-6, 2.24) in Sundays series finale.Nick Foles Youth Jersey . Pence singled in the winning run with no outs in the ninth inning to give the Giants a 7-6 victory over the San Diego Padres on Sunday. Taven Bryan Youth Jersey . 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Traditional contenders Brazil, Greece and Turkey drew the other three spots to complete the 24-team field for this summers tournament in Spain, basketball governing body FIBA announced Saturday at its meeting in Barcelona.LONG BEFORE SHAQUILLE ONEAL was a first-ballot Hall of Famer, he was a lanky 20-year-old from LSU whose impact on the NBA game was so highly anticipated that each of the 11 teams at the 1992 draft lottery had a jersey printed with its logo -- and ONeals name -- stashed under the seat.It was, says Orlando Magic senior vice president Pat Williams, the Shaq draft.Then-Charlotte Hornets coach Allan Bristows team had won the lottery the season before (and selected Larry Johnson), so he laid out the same suit and tie and checked into the same hotel in advance of the 1992 lottery. He also brought along his trusty turkey caller.Then-Dallas Mavericks owner Donald Carter, for his part, opted for a 10-gallon hat with a brim dotted with coyote teeth. He obsessively caressed his lucky stone in advance of the lottery results, prompting Williams, who had not brought along any good-luck charms, to inquire about it.Williams rubbed the stone and noticed it was speckled with raised bumps. Carter explained they spelled out Shaquille in braille.Carters stone didnt bring him the good fortune he was seeking: The Mavericks wound up with the fourth pick (Jimmy Jackson). After the Timberwolves won the third pick, the final two selections came down to Charlotte and Orlando.As the lottery unfolded, and each team fell into their slotted place, you could hear the rustle of those (Shaq) jerseys going back into the paper bag, Williams says. It was the sound of, Its not going to happen for us.The Magic had just one chance in 11 of winning, but that was enough as they brought home the No. 1 pick. It should have been cause for wild celebration in Orlando, but Williams knew there was a problem.ONeals then-agent, Leonard Armato, while acknowledging it was nice that the Magic won the rights to No. 1, was noncommittal about his clients willingness to play for Orlando.He was very standoffish, Williams says of Armato. We couldnt get a visit with Shaq.Armato liked the idea of ONeal playing for the Lakers, but Williams made it clear he wasnt trading his potential franchise player.Two days before the draft, ONeal finally agreed to visit Orlando. The Magic hastily arranged for a private plane to fly ONeal, his father Philip Harrison and ONeals younger brother Jamal into town.Jamal is about 12 or 13 at the time, Williams says. We have a lot of activities planned for Shaq, so we take Jamal to my house. My children are there and weve got a swimming pool and a basketball court.Everything is going well until we get word Jamal isnt happy with his lunch. He insisted he needed some pickles. So we had to make an emergency run to the grocery store.Later that evening, the Magic arranged an elegant, exclusive dinner with members of the DeVos family, who still own the team, along with some key sponsors and then-coach Matt Guokas, who plopped down at the end of the table where Williams, Shaq and Jamal were seated.Here we are having this very important dinner, and Shaq and Jamal start stealing food off each others plate, Williams says. Theyre stabbing each other with their forks. Then theyre shooting pieces of rolls at each other. Safe to say it was a food fight.I asked Matty about it later. He said, I didnt know what to do. I felt like sending them to their room.Sophomoric table manners hardly deterred the Magic. On the night of the 1992 NBA draft, which was held in Portland because USA Basketball was wrapping up the Tournament of Americas there, more than 10,000 Magic fans crammed into Orlando Arena to witness live on the video screen the selection of Shaquille ONeal as their savior.Longtime commissioner David Stern kicked off the proceedings by taking the mic to declare, The Orlando Magic is on the clock. You have five minutes to make your pick.All Williams needed to do was call the Magic representative in Portland, who would relay the teams selection to the commissioner. It should have been a matter of seconds.Yet a technical malfunction prevented the call from going through. One minute, then two, then three minutes went by. Engineers on site frantically tried to identify the problem, but the Magic had virtually no way to convey their Shaq selection to league officials in Portland.Now theres a minute left to go and Im thinking, This is going to be the biggest faux pas in the hiistory of our sport, Williams says.dddddddddddd What if we cant make our pick?Alex Martins, who is now the CEO of the Magic but back then was an industrious young public relations director, stepped outside Orlandos arena into the corridor and dialed up his oversize, boxy mobile Nokia phone, a novelty in those days. He called directly to the NBAs New York office and relayed the choice of Shaquille ONeal. The selection was recorded with just seconds to spare.It was getting close, Martins recalls. I think it was down to about 20 seconds. I dont know what they would have done if we didnt get the pick in on time.Stern, reached by ESPN on Tuesday, says he has no recollection of the near snafu.Of course, we would have made sure nothing untoward happened, and we would have made every effort to make sure we were in contact with them one way or another, Stern says, but I dont remember it. That was (former deputy commissioner) Russ Graniks problem. It was a great division of responsibility on my part.Granik is also fuzzy on the details of that night, but holding the event in Portland created some unusual obstacles, he says. So what would have happened if the Magic hadnt been able to call Shaqs name in time?We would have allotted for it somehow, Granik says. Were not crazy.While those five minutes were harried and nerve-wracking for the Magic, they were excruciating for ONeal, a superstitious young man who, even though the Magic had made it clear they would take him, fretted over a possible last-second change of heart.I wasnt going to believe it til I heard it myself, Shaq says. They could have changed their mind and gone for (Alonzo) Mourning or (Christian) Laettner.Shaqs mother, Lucille Harrison, says the family was unaware of the technical difficulties surrounding his selection, in part because they were so nervous.We werent familiar with the business of it all, Lucille explains now. We were excited he was picked at all.What I remember most is the fact this dream Shaquille had was now happening. He was walking into the reality of it.While Stern remains hazy on Shaqs initial introduction to the league, he quickly became familiar with the big man because of incessant correspondences from Armato.Leonard became a regular at my desk, Stern says. Hed call me, send me letters, and come in and tell me how our refs werent used to calling fouls against players guarding someone as large as Shaq. He said they werent calling fouls that they would call if Shaq were a normal human being, because after all, Shaq was superhuman.We listened and we told Leonard, We feel your pain. Period. End of sentence. We understood what he was saying.Shaquille ONeal went on to play 20 seasons in the NBA -- though only four of them with the Magic. He led the Magic to the NBA Finals in 1995 (and fell short) but won championships with Los Angeles and Miami while maintaining his home in Orlando. Nineteen years after he bolted in a rancorous exit from the Magic to play for the Lakers, he returned in 2015 to be inducted into the Orlando Magic Hall of Fame. That evening, he admitted, I regret (leaving) sometimes. Is this where I started and should have stayed? I actually wish theyd make it a law that whoever drafts you, youve got to stay there your whole career.Granik says that about a month and a half before Shaquille ONeal embarked on his dominant NBA journey, he and his father -- nicknamed Sarge because of his stern visage -- requested an audience with the commissioner and his deputy.It was pretty rare when that happened, but the few times (players did that) we accommodated them, Granik says. Its mostly, What should I know about the league? What do I need to do?I made a joke to Shaq in our meeting about how much publicity he was getting. I told him, Weve been hearing a lot about you. I sure hope you can play. The look from his dad was unforgettable. I had to tell him, Im kidding, Im kidding!There was one other draft prospect who requested a similar audience before the draft in 1992: Christian Laettner, the star from Duke.Laettner told us, I know Im better than Mourning, but that guy Shaq is better than all of us, Granik says.He was right. ' ' '