Game # 15......Petco Park and the San Diego Padres

Petco Park is located in downtown San Diego as part of a comprehensive plan to revitalize the East Village of San Diego's aging downtown. The cost was $450 million to complete in 2004.

Ground broke for the stadium on May 3, 2000 and was complete in early 2004. The stadium was scheduled to open in 2002 but due to due to legal and political reasons and for the Western Metal Supply, Co. building that was originally supposed to be demolished. The Western Metal Supply, Co. building is a historic landmark so it had to stay and was refurbished and included in the Stadium design. Due to the delays, the Padres had to continue to play at Qualcomm Stadium for an additional 2 years.

The design of the stadium has the park facing north so that the skyline of San Diego and the Bay. Most stadiums are situated so that the fields are facing northeast. The official address of Petco Park is 19 Tony Gwynn Way in honor of him. Tony Gwynn played his entire career with the Padres and is the face of the team. A 10 foot statue of Gwynn was unveiled on July 21, 2007.

Features of the stadium.

- Past centerfield is the "Park at the Park", a grassy berm above the outfield fence. This is open during games allowing fans to sit and watch the game for $10. When there are no games, this area is open to the local residents.

- There is a small ballfield beyond centerfield that is used for the kids during the games. They can take turns hitting and playing in the field. They use whiffle ball equipment.

- The visiting teams bullpen used to be situated on the field in foul territory. After the 2012 season and some modifications to the stadium, the visiting team's bullpen was relocated to above the Padres bullpen in centerfield.

- The Western Metal Supply, Co. building that was originally supposed to be demolished but due to it's historical landmark status was unable to be. The building sits in left field and contains the team store, private suites, a restaurant, and rooftop seating. The front corner of the building serves as the foul pole in left field. This is the only stadium that only has 1 foul pole as the corner of the building in left is covered with a strip of bright yellow angle iron.

There is a lot of parking around the stadium, either at the convention center across the rail road tracks, local hotels, or on the downtown streets. Pricing is not outrageous. We parked at the hotel next to the convention center. The parking garage attached to the hotel has a walkway bridge over the road and railroad tracks right to the stadium.

We got there before the gates opened, 90 minutes prior to game time. When the time came to open the gates they ran a bell and announced "It's that time....Game Day" and the gates opened. It was really easy for the entry in to the stadium. They checked our signs to ensure that they did have anything offensive on them. Did the usual metal detector and bag check. When we were at the Dodgers game, we had purchased a clear bag that all the stadiums are requiring now. We used this bag and they told us that we could not bring it into the stadium. No reason for why, just it wasn't allowed. While in the stadium there were people carrying non clear grocery bags full of stuff. Not sure how this was allowed and the clear bag that we had was not. One thing that we have learned is to check with every stadium to see what is allowed and what is not allowed in bags. We thought this was an allowed bag.

The concourse area is pretty wide open. Plenty of room to walk through with people in line at the concessions and the back wall. We were only on the field level concourse, so the upper levels may have been different. Beyond the outfield area there is a stage erected out there for concerts but they were using it for the pre and post game shows. In addition to that there is a small baseball field for the kids to take some swings with a whiffle ball bat and they can also be in the field to catch some hits. There were a few more kids activities set up there for them.

The food for Petco Park is a lot of the baseball basics. They do not have a signature dish or concession that is of San Diego. A couple of the highlights of the food are the Gaglione Bros. concession which serves American Cheese and Cheez Whiz Cheesesteaks, plus they have Garlic Cheez and Cheez Steak Fries. Seaside Market has a Tri-Tip Sandwich and Tri-Tip Nachos. Randy Jones Grill with Kielbasa, Bratwurst, Italian Sausage, as well as hot dogs. They have concessions with BBQ, Italian, Asian, Sushi. Not everything is available on every level of the stadium. Asian only on the field level, Sushi is available on the Field and Terrace levels, on the upper level only is San Diego's Finest Hot Chicken which includes Sandwiches and Chicken Tenders. The food offered at Petco Park is very underwhelming and not like some of the other parks. They need to step up their game.

First Pitch....

The game didn't have a very good outcome for the San Diego Padres. We attended on June 6th with the Padres vs. the New York Mets. Blake Snell was the starting pitcher for the Padres. Not a great outing for Snell as he got into trouble early. Snell was able to get a groundout, then giving up a single, followed by a strikeout. Just one out to getting out of the inning and Snell proceeds to walk the next 3 batters with the last one being with the bases loaded and giving the Mets a 1-0 lead. After a mound visit, Snell gives up a 2-run single to Eduardo Escobar on a 1-1 pitch. Snell was able to get out of the inning with a groundout.

Snell made quick work in the 2nd and 3rd innings with only giving up a single in the 3rd. After giving up a lead off double to Escobar to lead off the 4th, the Padres did get 2 quick outs after that. Then the Mets got back to back singles from Nimmo and Marte producing another run before another ground out to close out the inning. The Mets were able to score another run in the 5th. Snell lasted only 2 batters in the 5th after a throwing error by Machado at third allowing Alonso to reach and then giving up a double to Canha. Snell was relieved by Steven Wilson who promptly got a double play with a fly to center and then a tag out at third base but a run did score on the play.

This is the 2nd time that we have seen Carlos Carrasco pitching for the Mets this year. He didn't disappoint in this outing either. With a few hiccups through the game, Carrasco was able to pitch 7 innings giving up 5 hits, 2 runs, no walks, and striking out 10. The Padres where able to score a single run off Carrasco in the 3rd and 7th innings. In the third they were able to score a run after Alfaro doubled to lead off the inning and then 2 batters later Profar singled to left to knock in Alfaro, but then wandered too far away from first and was tagged out from a through from the catcher. In the 7th after 2 quick outs, Ha-Seong Kim singled and then was followed by a double by Nomar Mazara to right allowing Kim to score from 1st.

Through 7 innings, the Mets were leading the Padres 5-2. The last 2 innings accounted for an additional 9 runs. In the 8th, Eduardo Escobar with a 2-run homer to right with J.D. Davis on base increasing the Mets lead to 7-2. In the bottom of the 8th, the Padres were able to put 3 runs up on the board with a Umpire Review of a hit by Luke Voit, that was ruled a base hit (double) to an overturned call to a 3-run home run cutting the lead to 7-5.

In the 9th inning the Mets put the game away with an additional 4 runs lead by Eduardo Escobar hitting for the cycle with a single in the 1st, a double in the 4th, a triple in the 9th, and a home run in the 8th. Escobar ended the night with 4 hits in 5 at bats, 3 runs scored, and 6 RBI's. The Padres didn't put up anything in the ninth. The game ended with Carrasco getting the win and Snell taking the loss.

Overall a very nice stadium. Set up very well and has a lot of activities for the kids in centerfield. Would probably give this stadium a good B to B+ rating. The food variety was lacking and the bag policy here was not enforced every where within the stadium. The stadium is wide open on the concourse and had great accessibility through out. Easy of parking and getting to the game was very good.

PS...we had 2 visitors with us at this game as our oldest daughter and oldest grandson flew out to meet us from the east coast. This was our Grandson's first MLB game.