Originally written June 8, 2008

Prior to this west coast trip, I had scoured the internets seeking some help with things to do while I was in each city of this particular west coast swing. So before I go any further, I must give major props to Gaslamp Ball, whose members went above and beyond when it came to answering my questions, and giving me great suggestions of what to do in San Diego prior to the game, and the day afterwards.

I'd never been to San Diego before, and I can genuinely say that the city by itself makes me reconsider thinking that California is such an inferior place, because San Diego by itself is that awesome. It's a beautiful city, and I enjoyed myself immensely walking around and taking in the local sights, sounds, and food of the place.

PETCO Park is clearly one of the newer parks, and it shows with all the modern design aspects. The face of the entire venue is modern looking, and the way they incorporated the Western Metal Supply Co. building into additional seating, the suites section, and essentially the left foul pole is one of my favorite things.

I have many good memories of great Braves games in this park in the past, such as Adam LaRoche hitting the longest home run in PETCO history, only to have it broken the next day by teammate Andruw Jones. On the night Jake Peavy struck out 16 Braves batters, the Braves still managed to get the win, on a Ryan Langerhans home run as well as a Chipper Jones dinger in later innings. Some of the most memorable games I've watched on tv were at this park.

One of my favorite things about my visit to PETCO was getting to see the Trevor Hoffman Experience, live. I've got a soft spot for closers, and I respect what Hoffman has done with his career, becoming the all-time saves leader in MLB history. I've seen Hoffman a few times on television, like when he closed out games against the Braves, or other teams that I've stumbled across involving the Padres. But all of those instances have been while the Padres were playing in Atlanta, or on the road, so there was no fanfare, there was no build-up, and most importantly, there were no Hell's Bells. Television broadcasts don't bother to keep the cameras rolling for a bullpen emergence, whether it's Joakim Soria, Mariano Rivera, or Trevor Hoffman. So I've heard all about the experience, but this was my own grand opportunity to see it with my own eyes.

It was awesome. Anyone paying attention to the scoreboard knew that the 2-run was most certainly a save situation, and the entire park kinda went quiet, and there was a stirring murmur about the place. And then the first low-pitched gong sound went off, and everyone started cheering. The bullpen door swung open, and Trevor Hoffman jogged his way to the mound for his eight warm-up tosses, while AC/DC wailed away. I had goosebumps. I suppose witnessing live greatness can do that to a person.

I took my sweet time and walked all over the entire place, looking at the field from almost every possible angle I could get to. I have absolutely no gripes about the park itself, because there was absolutely nothing that I found to be problematic. It was easy to maneuver, everything was clearly marked, and the seats were not uncomfortable. The ever-popular San Diego-native food fish tacos were available at a Rubio's in the park, and were quite tasty.

Watching the game was comfortable, and enjoyable. The weather on this particular evening was a little on the cool side, but definitely not unbearable. Both teams at the time were suffering losing seasons, so the attendance was relatively paltry for the evening.

For a park that is notororious for having a massive outfield, it certainly didn't play like it this evening. Three home runs being hit was a refreshing, albeit kind of ironic twist to the previous days' baseball games, since I saw zero dingers in two more hitter-friendly parks.

After the game, I stuck around the general area, and took in the evening sights of the Gaslamp Quarter, to which the park is just on the east end of. With lots of interesting stores, bars and dining, as well as good people watching, it made for a pleasant evening.

Noteable performance(s):   Cristian Guzman hits two doubles and Aaron Boone homers for the Nationals. But Adrian Gonzalez and Kevin Kouzmanoff go deep back-to-back in the seventh inning to get the lead. The two combined for all four of San Diego's run output for the evening.

Game Result:   San Diego 4, Washington 2. A sadistic part of me was hoping that this game would go to at least 13-innings, since I had done 10 two nights prior, and 12 the night before. Apparently, the home fans would've have appreciated that, considering that just nights prior, they had endured an 18-inning extra innings affair.

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