A visit to Dodger Stadium and Petco Park

A few weeks ago, Lynne and Matt finally, finally got to visit their very good friends Alex and Ann, who live in Irvine, Calif. Although that entire state appears to be nuts - how can anyone drive so fast? - it was so wonderful to see friends. Not to mention the weather was perfect every day, you could drive to the ocean and you can eat fresh seafood for breakfast, lunch and dinner if you wanted. Still, they're nuts out there.
But going to California was also a great opportunity to add to Lynne and Matt's (OK, Matt's) baseball stadium quest. On July 18 and July 20, everybody went to Dodgers Stadium and Petco Park (home of the Padres), respectively.
And, without further ado, the evaluations.

STADIUM ONE - Dodger Stadium
Although it was built in 1962, Dodger Stadium is the third oldest ballpark in the majors. But unlike some other 60s stadiums (ahem, Metrodome, ahem), Dodger Stadium doesn't feel old. Basically, it's held up well.
Matt went to a game against the Astros, which the Dodgers won 5-3. Manny was back from suspension and it happened to be Joe Torre's 69th birthday. One of the highlights of the game was when Astros pitcher Mike Hampton - annoyed about giving up a double - angrily whipped the ball into his glove...and missed. A run scored on the play. Never saw that happen before.
The best thing about Dodger Stadium is the beauty. All of California is beautiful, but Dodger Stadium is scenic. From the parking lot in Chavez Ravine, you get a perfect view of downtown Los Angeles - from there it really does look like the City of Angels.
Inside the park is equally magnificent. The Dodger logo has weight and the team uses that well. The logo at the top of the fifth level behind home plate, 'Dodgertown' in block letters outside the stadium and the retired numbers placed perfectly in the outfield. The view was good from nearly any part of the park and Matt would have liked to try the seats in Mannywood, just for fun.
The park was exceptionally clean and the food was good and reasonably priced, considering it was Los Angeles. Plus, as shallow as this may be, it was neat to see celebrities in the stands. Fred Willard, Calista Flockhart were there and one of the ladies from Desperate Housewives almost bumped into Matt on the way out. Even if it wasn't Marlon Brando, it added a bit of Hollywood feel to the game.
From the top of the upper deck on a clean, fresh night, it was quite a sight.
The downsides? Really, there were two and a half.
Now, maybe Matt just was there on the wrong day...but one problem was the fans. It was strange. Even though it was a Saturday night game, most of crowd showed up late. Like the fourth inning. And most of them left early. Like the seventh. It was odd. Alex said it happens all the time.
Second, Matt was surprised that for a team with as much history as Dodgers have, very little is on display. There were pictures of the great Dodgers (Fernando, Garvey, Duke, Koufax, Pee Wee) on some of the beams, but nothing like the statues at Comerica Park. Jackie Robinson played for this team and there's hardly a mention of him! Matt has the same complaint about Wrigley Field. Fans would spend hours looking poring over these connections to the legends - even pay separate admission to a museum - but there's not a statistic, not a statue, not a pair of spikes. There wasn't even a cool tribute to the World Championship teams. It seems like a missed opportunity. To be fair, the Tigers are one of the few teams that actually do celebrate their past.
Finally, there was the little things: Dodger Stadium does not sell scorecards. Oh sure, you can buy a program and there's a scorecard in the middle, but it's virtually impossible to write in the book. Yes, Matt does counts that against the park because it seemed to fit in with the game-as-a-secondary-event feel that Dodger Stadium had. Everyone was rooting for LA, but if they lost, hey, we're in California and it's beautiful. The vendor even sold Matt the wrong month's program which wouldn't have been a big deal except the correct month had a big feature on longtime broadcaster Vin Scully, which would have been cool to read.
Finally, Dodger Dogs? Overrated. But Matt ate two of them.
Overall, it was a nice stadium in a lovely setting. Nothing spectacular and none of the bells and whistles of the newer parks. Although the above doesn't seem like a ringing endorsement, going to Dodger Stadium was a treat and Matt would happily go to another game there. He'd even stay for all nine innings.

STADIUM TWO - Petco Park
Heading to Petco Park, home of the Padres, Lynne and Matt had no expectations. Matt's Dad had said it looked nice when he visited in the winter. Otherwise, Matt didn't know much about the park, which opened in 2004. By the time Matt left, he had fallen in love.
The Pads lost to the Florida Marlins 3-2, and the highlights on the field were a moon shot by Hanley Ramirez and a back-to-back homers by Adrian Gonzalez (so good) and Kevin Kouzmanoff.
As for the park: amazing. Fantastic. One of the best.
Where to start?
Let's start in the city of San Diego itself, which is delightful. If you don't know - and Matt didn't - San Diego is a huge Navy town. Giant air craft carriers line the shore and there are salutes to the military everywhere. The back of the park (behind home plate) faces the ocean, which provides a beautiful view of the Pacific Ocean sunset on most days. Stupendous.
In the outfield, there is a just-right Tony Gwynn statue: arms extended, pushing a double towards left center. There is also a miniature stadium where all game long, Padres staff pitches whiffle ball to kids. And if the kiddies get tired of that, they can go play in the giant sandbox in right field, where seats are $10. Great.
Petco Park, as a structure, is impressive. There are no bad views. An old warehouse is built in to left field, with decks to watch the game. It gives the park a very unique feel. There's plenty of Padres history inside the park, even though there really isn't much Padres history to celebrate. Two National league pennants only go so far. But that's supplemented by a history of the grounds the park was built on (what was found during the dig) and a general history of the area. Classy, San Diego.
Finally, the prices. You could buy a nice Padres shirt and hat for $15. Then you could get the five-for-five deal: hot dog, peanuts, popcorn, cookie and a drink for $5. And not some tiny drink or wimpy hot dog - quality food. (They also had something called "All you Can Eat Seats", but Matt never did figure out how true that was.) So, a family of four could get tickets, a hat and shirt, as well as dogs, cookies and drinks for ... are you ready... $120. Cut the souvenirs out and it's $60 for a family of four to eat and see the Padres. Two Sox tickets or one Cubs ticket run you that much. $120 is still a lot of money, but compared to every other park, that's good value.
Of course, you have to watch the Padres. And that was one of the only sad parts of game. Yes, it was a Tuesday. And, yes, the Padres are terrible and the Marlins weren't much better. And, sure, the Tim Stauffer-Rick VandenHurk pitching matchup wasn't super sexy. But there was no one at that game. Announced attendance was 17,184, but thousands of fans were disguised as empty seats. It was sad.
The only other strike against Petco was that they didn't have a Penny Smasher, which is absolutely one of Matt's favorite souvenirs. Clearly, that's not much of a complaint.
So, Petco was one of the best parks Matt's visited, behind only the parks (or maybe teams) with more history to show off. Still, it's a must see if you get the chance.

Here's Matt's updated ratings of the fields he's visited:
First tier: Fenway Park (Boston Red Sox), Camden Yards (Baltimore Orioles), Petco Park (San Diego Padres) and PNC Park (Pittsburgh Pirates)
Second tier, and close behind: Busch Stadium (St. Louis Cardinals), Comerica Park (Detroit Tigers), Wrigley Field (Chicago Cubs)
Third tier, still close behind: Coors Field (Colorado Rockies), Miller Park (Milwaukee Brewers), Citi Field (Mets) and Dodger Stadium (Los Angeles Dodgers)
Fourth tier and further back: Shea Stadium (New York Mets), U.S. Cellular Field (Chicago White Sox), Yankee Stadium (New York Stinkees)
Fifth and this is a bad stadium: Metrodome (Minnesota Twins).
You can read ESPN Page 2's review of all these stadiums right here, although it's getting a bit dated!