Game 71 at Petco Park

Well that is the view of Petco out of my hotel room window!

If only that pesky CF scoreboard / giant video screen wasn't there, I wouldn't have to fork out for any tickets this week - particularly as the sound system is so good, I can't believe that I wouldn't be able to hear the whole thing from my room.

Petco jumps toward the top of the (as yet) unpublished list of my favorite ballparks in America - uniquely, in relation the new "breed" of ballparks, Petco uses a sandstone coloring and white steel beams (as opposed to the red brick, green steel beams combo) and looks fantastic.

The game was a good opportunity to watch D-Lowe in his new uniform - but it was pretty much same old, same old from Derek. He did not pitch as well as his 6IP, 2ER outing would suggest - he walked 4 and needed 114 pitches to get through those 6 innings. He worked his way into, and out of, a couple of bases loaded jams, but the Padres line up helped him out quite a bit. Two other ex-Sox were on display - Dave "Greatest Stolen Base in Baseball History" Roberts and Damian "Johnny Damon Still Has Nightmares About Me" Jackson - Roberts had a nice triple, while Jackson had a nice defensive play.

Highlight of the night was Hoffman's entry in the top of the 9th - the bells tolling have a suitably dramatic effect, and while it wasn't Hoffman's most effective outing ever, he got the job done, striking out Choi to finish the game. Given Monday's game finished 1-0, tonight's 2-1, I am looking forward to a 4-3 win for the Padres on Thursday afternoon.