San Diego

On Pleasantries

PETCO Park, 2008

Sunday, June 29th, 2008
Seattle Mariners vs. San Diego Padres
PETCO Park
Major League Baseball, Interleague
San Diego, CA
1:05 PM


Outside the Game:
I was only a half hour or so outside of San Diego at my hotel, but it was an afternoon game that day, so I had to leave relatively early the next day after another not-quite-full night's sleep. I had an uneventful ride into the city and found a parking lot that was both near the stadium and my exit route out of the city. Getting into the parking early is always useful to talk up the staff to learn the scoop on where to park when you need to skedaddle with greatest speed.

I walked a little around the stadium before the game (finding a restaurant that appeared to be a Scottish Hooters), but I did most of my wandering after the game. I had some time to muck about in the Gaslight District and saunter over to the Convention Center (marking the closest I'll ever be to ComicCon) and the Bay. In all, I took in the sites for a couple of hours before heading off into the desert for my next stop on the way to Phoenix.


At the Game with Oogie:
This was one of the only games that good seats were even available for me to buy. I had seats about five or so rows behind home plate, and this marks perhaps the closest I've ever sat at a major league game.

I was surrounded by Padres fans whose enthusiasm was not consistent with the Padres' current record. They were talkative, baseball literate, and more than happy to discuss the many particular failings of their team this year.


The Stadium & Fans:
PETCO Park was build into the manufacturing buildings it was superseding, giving it a distinctive landscaping. The park and its environs were all a well-done example of a new-generation park. The area behind right-center field was a picnic hill where you could sit down and still watch the game, proximate to a statue of Tony Gwynn and a mini-version of PETCO for the kids.

All of this charming ambiance was slightly undercut by the fact that the old manufacturing buildings sculpted into the park were all gutted out and being turned into high-priced boutique space and apartments. That said, I would without hesitation buy an apartment in a ballpark.

The Padres have always had a close association with the military, given their proximity to military bases, but with it being Independence Week, the military presence was particularly high, with several call outs for service personnel and the presence of what would seem to be a company of Marine aviators at the game. The Padres were wearing their alternate "camouflage" uniforms for the game, as well.


The Hot Dog:
The Padre Dog was a brat-sized hotdog in a sesame bun.


The Game:
The match was a competition of the best pitchers on the worst teams in their respective leagues, the Padres and Seattle. In this case, the Padres proved the biggest loser, as Seattle crawled out to an early lead, and then broke it open with a huge 7th, going on to win easily, 9-2.

Noteworthy in this game was that Seattle's Japanese hitting machine Ichiro Suzuki went 5-for-5 (the first time I had even seen that in person) before being inexplicably pulled for a pinch runner after his fifth hit. And after his first hit, he got caught in a 3-6-1-6-5 rundown, eventually called out for running out of the basepaths.


The Scorecard:

Mariners vs. Padres, 06/29/08. Mariners win, 9-2.

The scorecard was a $1 cardstock fold-out, sold separately from the $5 program. The card was spacious, if a little anal about keeping the running score total at the top of each inning.


Oogie's East Coast Connection of the Day:
I ran into a couple dressed in Mets attire at the game who were visiting the stadium much as myself -- and then continued to run into them throughout the day, in a way that compels one to make up more and more lame quips about running into one another with each meeting.


The Accommodations:

Howard Johnson's, El Centro, CA

I stopped off for the night at El Centro, CA, roughly halfway between San Diego and Phoenix. The drive out was without stress (except for a stop at a border patrol checkpoint) and through some of the most desolately beautiful areas I've driven through. There was even a huge wind farm.

When I got out of my car at El Centro, I thought that I had accidentally parked under a heater or air conditioning back exhaust. I was quickly disabused of this faulty perception by the manager at my hotel, who informed me that it was just 110 degrees out. 1-1-fucking-0. Degrees. This news was compounded by the fact that it was actually hotter in my room, where the stagnant heat had been somehow gaining momentum in the stillness.

I turned on the air conditioner, ceiling fan, and any other object that I thought might reduce the temperature, and then ran across the street to an air-conditioned restaurant until the temperature in my room lowered to a livable level. In contrast to the hotel manager's opinion that the heat was fine if you grew up there, my waitress was of the opinion El Centro was the armpit of the state and country.

I eventually returned to a reduced-temperature room at around 9 PM, when my lack of proper sleep since the trip started caught up with me, and "lying down to watch some TV" turned quietly into "12 hours of sleep."

Click here to see all the pictures from this trip.

2008 West Coast