PetCo Park

Sunday, 5 August 2012 - Well, today my family was officially "baseballed out."  I have to hand it to them, though! Four games in a week and a half is a lot!  They both did very well, and did not complain one bit!

So I was on my own for the last stop on our tour - San Diego's beautiful PetCo Park.  The first thing that struck me was the convenience of the public transit system in San Diego! This is always a HUGE bonus when you don't have to worry about parking and everything else.  My wife and son decided that they would spend the afternoon shopping at the Fashion Valley Mall, and I simply got on a Special Red Line train that took me to within a block of the stadium.  Sure, the Day Pass cost me $5, but I'd pay at least double that to park! Beautiful start, San Diego!

The lady at the ticket office was very pleasant, and I tried my best to reciprocate this. I imagine this is hard to do for most Padres fans, though, as this is a pretty expensive place to see a game.  I sat at the top of Section 111 (not bad seats, about 40 rows up) and paid $53 for the single seat.  This made me slightly relieved that I was on a solo mission this afternoon!

Walking into PetCo is unique in many ways.  The plaza itself looks more like a street mall than a ball park.  There is also a "Kids Run The Bases" park for pre-game fun.  I had wanted to get a close look at the bronze statue of Tony Gwynn on Picnic Hill, but the boys from CBS Sports were filming there and the area was roped off to riff raff like me.

San Diego wears its heart on its sleeve when it comes to recognizing the various branches of the US military, and this was instantly apparent to me after entering the park.  My first stop was, of course, at the beer vendors.  After ordering, I was asked to move aside and, to my surprise, hundreds of members of the Marine Corps were marching beside me in formation.  Fans removed their hats and applauded until they had passed, and I considered myself lucky to have been in the right spot to see this local tradition in action!

This was also Coast Guard Day at PetCo, and featured a flyover by some massive helicopters and a pregame recognition of a brave group of Coast Guard members who had recently saved the lives of five people aboard a burning ship.  So far, PetCo was a very humbling place!

Once I took my seat, I was able to truly appreciate the beauty of this park.  The old Western Metal and Supply Co. building ingeniously built into the left field seats, adorned with balcony seating for fans willing to pay the price. There were many families enjoying the Park at the Park, and lots of kids were having a blast at the beach. For a city like San Diego, including features like this for hot afternoons is brilliant!  Though I have to admit that I was confused by a monolithic black wall to the right of the scoreboard.  It seemed like something that would be more at home in Oakland!

Unique features of the PetCo Park outfield

The game itself was a great one, as the Padres faced off against the New York Mets.  I did not have a dog in this fight, so I just wanted to watch a good ball game, and I certainly got that!  The Padres went up 4-1 early as the friars hit Matt Harvey early, giving a little support for their starter Jason Marquis.  David Wright and company applied the pressure late, however, making a 7th inning surge, but the home team pulled it out in the end.  Always nice to have happy people on the post-game train!

And now for the hot dog rating! Hope I did a good job without the expertise of my son!

Temperature:      7.5/10
Flavour:                8.5/10
Juiciness:              7.0/10
Bun Texture:        7.0/10
TOTAL:            30/40

AT&T Park

Wednesday, 1 August 2012 - San Francisco is an absolutely beautiful city, and was such a welcome change to the high-octane insanity of Los Angeles. The whole city has a very interesting vibe that oozes cool without coming off as unwelcoming.  Because of this, my wife, son, and I were all in a very good place when it came time for our visit to the beautiful AT&T Park.

Having spent the day touring the city on an open-top bus, we had planned to walk to the park after taking a bus to the Port of San Francisco.  We were told that it was a beautiful 30 minute walk, but we barely got started before a bike taxi approached us and offered to take us there. The ride cost us $20, but it was a fun way to get there, and we weren't sweaty from the walk.

We got to the stadium nice and early as a result, which was good, as I found it a little tricky to find our gate.  As well, this was "Jerry Garcia Night" at AT&T Park, and there was a pre-game concert by the surviving members of the Grateful Dead.

While listening to the great music, we had a chance to check out some of the interesting features of AT&T Park.  With elements like the golden glove, giant Coke bottle, the analog clock, and the scenic Levi's Landing, your first visit to this park will be half baseball and half "I Spy"!  I did find, however, that the seats were not nearly as staggered as they are in other sections, making the sightlines difficult for my son and a short guy like me.

(above) Statue of Orlando Cepeda,

(below) Statue of Willie Mays, Willie McCovey plaque

 

 

I was very excited about this game, as we had missed some amazing pitchers on this trip so far.  In fact, Jarrod Weaver, Zach Greinke, Clayton Kershaw, R.A. Dickey and Tim Lincecum had all pitched either one night before or after our visit! Brutal! Tonight, however, Giants ace Matt Cain was set to take the mound.  Little did anyone know that Mets fielder Ruben Tejada would take Cain yard on just the second pitch of the game.  Cain continued to struggle after that and was bailed out repeatedly by some incredible defensive play by teammates like Gregor Blanco.  He left the game after just four innings.  As it turned out, Mets starter Jon Niese looked like the ace this time around, fanning Giants sluggers all night long (including newly-acquired Hunter Pence, who was making his first start for the Giants). That's baseball for you.

My one suggestion to new visitors to AT&T Park is this - bring a blanket! We had been warned that it would be chilly, and thought we had come prepared, but we had no idea. I know your thinking, "It's summer! In California!" but I mean it.  We decided to tough through it in our light jackets, as the alternative was buying a fleece blanket from the Pro Shop for $55, but once the sun went down and the fog rolled in, it was COLD!  We ended up buying a blanket at Fisherman's Wharf the next morning for $8.

And now, the hot dog ratings:

Temperature: 7.5/10
Flavour:   7.0/10
Juiciness: 9.0/10 (Nigel: "I have to go with 9. I really like the juiciness!")
Bun Texture: 8.0/10
TOTAL: 30/40

P.S. - Try the garlic fries!