[2011 Baseball Tour] Petco Park, San Diego (Philadelphia Phillies at San Diego Padres)
Another long day, and another great game. Let's recap it all.
Before the Game:
-Had a HUGE breakfast to make up for my lack of eating (and much walking) last night. STILL am down 5 pounds even after all I ate.
-After calling up my cousin, I went down to Carlsbad to meet up with her. She took me to In-N-Out (which I miss, as I hadn't had it since last year's tour), then we went straight down to San Diego.
-We stopped at the seaport for a little while since I spotted a cruise ship and wanted to take a picture of it. Took pictures of that, a pirate ship, and an aircraft carrier. XD
-After scrambling around a bit for parking, I finally found a spot, right by a sushi place called Dragon's Den. (OF COURSE I took a picture of it.)
-The park opened super-early (3 PM, 2.5 hours before the game), but just the Park at the Park section was open. There's a TON of space just to hang out as the seating areas weren't open yet. But we both wanted to go in early to get today's giveaway prize: a Padres 6-pack can coozy. Not quite Lawn Gnome tier, but still good.
-Took several pictures of batting practice and around the park once seating opened. I was in the 2nd deck off to right field; MUCH better than yesterday.
-Honestly, not a whole lot happened pregame, so let's jump right in to the game recap. Tonight's matchup: San Diego's Tim Stauffer vs. Philly's Joe Blanton. As I mentioned yesterday, he's the one non-elite pitcher for Philly.
4/23/11 Game Recap - Phillies 4, Padres 2, F/11
Top 1st: Stauffer makes quick work of the Phillies' first three batters.
Bottom 1st: Cameron Maybin takes Blanton's first pitch of the day in to left for a single. Right after, former Twin Jason Bartlett hits one to the right-center gap! And because Petco Park's dimensions are HUGE, he got a triple out of it! Another former Twin, Orlando Hudson, would walk, but Nick Hundley grounded to the pitcher, which allowed them to get Bartlett between 3rd and home in a run-down. That's all the Padres would get here. 1-0 Padres
Top 2nd: Ryan Howard took 3 pitches, all of them strikes. Remember this.
Top 4th: Time for the Phillies to make use of the big gaps. Jimmy Rollins, who is on my fantasy team (who is getting their ass handed to them this week), got on base by way of walk, and after Ryan Howard struck out AGAIN, Ben Francisco used that right-center gap for a triple of his own, scoring Rollins! That's all the Phillies would get there. 1-1 Tie
End 4th: It's time for a fan to race to steal another base! Except in SD, this is a head-to-head game with two bases to steal. Except the two guys grabbed the same base at the same time. XD; The winner of that tug-of-war would end up winning.
Bottom 5th: Maybin leads off yet another inning with a single, and then Nick Hundley ripped one down the line for a 1-out double to score Maybin! That's all the Padres would get, but it's enough for the lead. 2-1 Padres
Top 6th: And now, some controversy--sort of. With 1 out, Pete Orr ripped one down the first base line, which I could see being a fair ball. The only problem was, the 1st base ump started to make a foul call, and then changed his mind to fair! Obviously, the Padres manager wasn't happy about it, but it definitely looked fair from my spot. Anywho, with Orr on 2nd, Rollins would hit him home! That would be it, though, as Ryan Howard struck out AGAIN.
End 8th: Yeah, we're skipping all the way here because the game was only about 2 hours old at this point. XD; but anyway, the attendance for the game was 40,038; definitely looked a lot more full than Anaheim last night.
Top 9th: Hell's Bells! Oops, forgot it's not Trevor Hoffman anymore. Padres closer Heath Bell was called in for the 9th, and he shut the Phillies down, including yet another strikeout of Ryan Howard.
Bottom 9th: And now, it's time for my 2nd-favorite name in all of baseball to come in: Antonio Bastardo. (2nd only to YOU DIE KAWAI(I)) And he too got everyone out in order. We're going to extras despite this game only being about 2 hours 10 minutes old!
Top 10th: 2 things of note here: Kyle Kendrick, who once got a prank played on him in which he was told he was traded to Yomiuri for "Iwamura Kobayashi", pitched a 1-2-3 10th, and also DUELING CHANTS! Usually you only see this in pro wrestling, but there was a good "LET'S GO PADRES! LET'S GO PHILLIES!" dueling chant going.
Top 11th: Placido Polanco started the inning out with a single, then got moved to 3rd on two ground ball outs. Jimmy Rollins? He was intentionally walked because they wanted to pitch to Ryan Howard, who struck out in every plate appearance today. So what did Ryan do? BLAST one to left field, right in front of the wall, with Ryan Ludwick unable to make the catch! That scored 2, and the Phillies would take a 2-run lead to the bottom half! 4-2 Phillies
Bottom 11th: Last hope for the Padres; with 2 out Ryan Ludwick got a hit to bring the tying run to the plate, but Brad Hawpe, who was hitting .106, flew out to left to end the game. FINAL SCORE: Phillies 4, Padres 2
After the game (and it took FOREVER to get out of downtown traffic), I went with my cousin to some pizza place (food wasn't that great even though it was voted best pizza in SD), then took her home and drove back to Anaheim.
And here are 151 photos from San Diego. In it you'll find some good action shots (I especially like that pickoff one), some rooftop apartments and viewing areas (including place with a rooftop pool), some guy in a kilt (it's Tilted Kilt; essentially a Celtic-themed Hooters), and BASTARDO.
Before the Game:
-Had a HUGE breakfast to make up for my lack of eating (and much walking) last night. STILL am down 5 pounds even after all I ate.
-After calling up my cousin, I went down to Carlsbad to meet up with her. She took me to In-N-Out (which I miss, as I hadn't had it since last year's tour), then we went straight down to San Diego.
-We stopped at the seaport for a little while since I spotted a cruise ship and wanted to take a picture of it. Took pictures of that, a pirate ship, and an aircraft carrier. XD
-After scrambling around a bit for parking, I finally found a spot, right by a sushi place called Dragon's Den. (OF COURSE I took a picture of it.)
-The park opened super-early (3 PM, 2.5 hours before the game), but just the Park at the Park section was open. There's a TON of space just to hang out as the seating areas weren't open yet. But we both wanted to go in early to get today's giveaway prize: a Padres 6-pack can coozy. Not quite Lawn Gnome tier, but still good.
-Took several pictures of batting practice and around the park once seating opened. I was in the 2nd deck off to right field; MUCH better than yesterday.
-Honestly, not a whole lot happened pregame, so let's jump right in to the game recap. Tonight's matchup: San Diego's Tim Stauffer vs. Philly's Joe Blanton. As I mentioned yesterday, he's the one non-elite pitcher for Philly.
4/23/11 Game Recap - Phillies 4, Padres 2, F/11
Top 1st: Stauffer makes quick work of the Phillies' first three batters.
Bottom 1st: Cameron Maybin takes Blanton's first pitch of the day in to left for a single. Right after, former Twin Jason Bartlett hits one to the right-center gap! And because Petco Park's dimensions are HUGE, he got a triple out of it! Another former Twin, Orlando Hudson, would walk, but Nick Hundley grounded to the pitcher, which allowed them to get Bartlett between 3rd and home in a run-down. That's all the Padres would get here. 1-0 Padres
Top 2nd: Ryan Howard took 3 pitches, all of them strikes. Remember this.
Top 4th: Time for the Phillies to make use of the big gaps. Jimmy Rollins, who is on my fantasy team (who is getting their ass handed to them this week), got on base by way of walk, and after Ryan Howard struck out AGAIN, Ben Francisco used that right-center gap for a triple of his own, scoring Rollins! That's all the Phillies would get there. 1-1 Tie
End 4th: It's time for a fan to race to steal another base! Except in SD, this is a head-to-head game with two bases to steal. Except the two guys grabbed the same base at the same time. XD; The winner of that tug-of-war would end up winning.
Bottom 5th: Maybin leads off yet another inning with a single, and then Nick Hundley ripped one down the line for a 1-out double to score Maybin! That's all the Padres would get, but it's enough for the lead. 2-1 Padres
Top 6th: And now, some controversy--sort of. With 1 out, Pete Orr ripped one down the first base line, which I could see being a fair ball. The only problem was, the 1st base ump started to make a foul call, and then changed his mind to fair! Obviously, the Padres manager wasn't happy about it, but it definitely looked fair from my spot. Anywho, with Orr on 2nd, Rollins would hit him home! That would be it, though, as Ryan Howard struck out AGAIN.
End 8th: Yeah, we're skipping all the way here because the game was only about 2 hours old at this point. XD; but anyway, the attendance for the game was 40,038; definitely looked a lot more full than Anaheim last night.
Top 9th: Hell's Bells! Oops, forgot it's not Trevor Hoffman anymore. Padres closer Heath Bell was called in for the 9th, and he shut the Phillies down, including yet another strikeout of Ryan Howard.
Bottom 9th: And now, it's time for my 2nd-favorite name in all of baseball to come in: Antonio Bastardo. (2nd only to YOU DIE KAWAI(I)) And he too got everyone out in order. We're going to extras despite this game only being about 2 hours 10 minutes old!
Top 10th: 2 things of note here: Kyle Kendrick, who once got a prank played on him in which he was told he was traded to Yomiuri for "Iwamura Kobayashi", pitched a 1-2-3 10th, and also DUELING CHANTS! Usually you only see this in pro wrestling, but there was a good "LET'S GO PADRES! LET'S GO PHILLIES!" dueling chant going.
Top 11th: Placido Polanco started the inning out with a single, then got moved to 3rd on two ground ball outs. Jimmy Rollins? He was intentionally walked because they wanted to pitch to Ryan Howard, who struck out in every plate appearance today. So what did Ryan do? BLAST one to left field, right in front of the wall, with Ryan Ludwick unable to make the catch! That scored 2, and the Phillies would take a 2-run lead to the bottom half! 4-2 Phillies
Bottom 11th: Last hope for the Padres; with 2 out Ryan Ludwick got a hit to bring the tying run to the plate, but Brad Hawpe, who was hitting .106, flew out to left to end the game. FINAL SCORE: Phillies 4, Padres 2
After the game (and it took FOREVER to get out of downtown traffic), I went with my cousin to some pizza place (food wasn't that great even though it was voted best pizza in SD), then took her home and drove back to Anaheim.
And here are 151 photos from San Diego. In it you'll find some good action shots (I especially like that pickoff one), some rooftop apartments and viewing areas (including place with a rooftop pool), some guy in a kilt (it's Tilted Kilt; essentially a Celtic-themed Hooters), and BASTARDO.