AT&T Park

Florida Marlins @ San Francisco Giants
June 5, 2006

Giants 14, Marlins 2

W: Noah Lowry
L: Brian Moehler
HR: Josh Willingham (FLA), Barry Bonds (SF)
Attendance: 34,438
Time of Game: 2 hours, 39 minutes

Stadium Facts

Location: San Francisco, CA
First Game: April 11, 2000
Capacity: 41,503
Type: Open
Surface: Grass

After a ridiculously long hiatus, I am finally back to chronicling my trips to every MLB stadium. I should have enough free time coming up to get through the rest of these before the winter is over. Anyway, I left off following the first stop of my California trip. I went to a game in Oakland on a Sunday afternoon in early June of 2006. The following day, I crossed the bay and spent most of the day in the fun city of San Francisco. I walked all over downtown San Fran and even walked across the Golden Gate Bridge. Eventually, I found my way to AT&T Park, home of the San Francisco Giants.

I will start by saying that if I was forced to pick my favorite MLB stadium, I would probably go with AT&T Park. This park has it all. It is in a scenic location by the San Francisco Bay, on the edge of downtown San Francisco. The stadium runs right up against the bay, with just a narrow walkway separating it from the water. Pedestrians on that walkway can see into the park through the arches along the right field wall. During the summer, many people will take kayaks out on the water in hopes of having a home run ball come their way. That area, known as McCovey's Cove, was especially popular during the Barry Bonds era as he chased down the all-time home run record.

AT&T Park has had a variety of names in its decade history. Originally Pacific Bell Park, and later SBC Park, it received its current name in 2006, the season I visited. Opened in 2000, it was the first privately funded stadium to be built in 40 years. Like most of the stadiums built in this era, it has a classic ballpark look with all the modern amenities. The brick exterior and right field wall give the park a very classic feel. The lower level seats are right on top of the playing field. The upper deck seats provide a spectacular view of the bay as well as the rolling hills on the other side. A giant Coca-Cola bottle and glove are distinctive features beyond the left field seats.

In addition to the great scenery, location and amenities, I also love the layout of the field. There are a number of nooks and crannies along the right field wall. Although Barry Bonds often made the park look small, it is actually a tremendous pitchers park, particularly to right field. While Bonds used to hit balls into McCovey's Cove with regularity, not many other guys have done the same. The deep dimensions give outfielders a lot of ground to cover, but there are very few cheap home runs. This park rewards good pitching and defense. This is quite different than most other newer parks that reward marginal power hitters.

I wound up getting a ticket for the left field bleachers, which gave me a close up view of Barry Bonds patrolling left field. It was a pretty nice afternoon in San Francisco, but got very chilly when the sun went down. I was shivering in the late innings, even though I came prepared with a sweatshirt. I imagine cool summer evenings are fairly common in the Bay Area.

As expected, Bonds reception at AT&T Park was much different than I was accustomed to seeing elsewhere. They loved him in San Francisco, although it should be noted that this game was prior to the hard evidence of Bonds' alleged steroid use that has come out in recent years. Going into this game, Bonds was sitting on 715 career home runs. About a week prior to this game, he hit #715 to pass Babe Ruth for second on the all-time home run list. So, unfortunately, I just missed a chance to see a historic moment. However, Bonds didn't disappoint the fans in this game.

Noah Lowry got the start on the mound for the Giants. The lowly Marlins went with Brian Moehler, the first of two games I would see him pitch on this trip. It was a long evening for the visiting team. The Giants got things rolling in the bottom of the second. Following a pair of singles and a sacrifice, Randy Winn socked a triple to right field and scored on an errant throw to make it 3-0. Josh Willingham gave the Marlins a boost with a leadoff home run in the fourth, but it was all Giants after that.

In the bottom of the fifth, the Giants loaded the bases with three consecutive singles. Lance Niekro promptly unloaded them with a bases clearing triple to give the Giants a 6-1 lead and set the stage for Bonds. Bonds followed with a bomb to straight away center field, landing over the wall for career home run #716. I did not see Bonds play a ton of games in his career, but he seemed to hit a home run in most of them. This one chased Moehler from the game, with the Giants already ahead 8-1. The Giants added their sixth run of the inning on a single by Todd Greene.

With the game well in hand, the Giants relieved Lowry in the sixth. The Giants put together another huge inning in the bottom of the eighth. Six singles led to five more runs, including another RBI for Winn and Niekro. Niekro set a new career high with four RBIs in this game. By the time the inning was over, the Giants had two touchdowns on the board. The Marlins scratched out a run in the ninth to lose by a final of 14-2. It wasn't much of a game, but it was an exciting night.

The Marlins were really struggling at this time with a depleted roster. They dropped to 20-35 with this loss, but bounced back in the second half under rookie manager Joe Girardi. This wound up being Girardi's only season with the Marlins following a late season dispute with Marlins management. Meanwhile, the Giants improved to 30-27, but found themselves in third place. That is exactly where they finished the season, though they slumped to a sub .500 record.

AT&T Park is one of the "must see" parks in Major League Baseball. It has everything you could possibly want in a stadium. This park and game were probably the highlight of a very fun trip. San Francisco is a pretty cool city too. I would like to spend a little more time there sometime in the future. After a few days in the Bay Area, I started my trek to Southern California the following day.

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From San Francisco

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Next stadium: Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles

McAfee Coliseum (Oakland Coliseum)

Minnesota Twins @ Oakland Athletics
June 4, 2006

Athletics 5, Twins 1

W: Brad Halsey
L: Carlos Silva
Attendance: 25,247
Time of Game: 2 hours, 26 minutes

Stadium Facts

Location: Oakland, CA
First Game: April 17, 1968
Capacity: 48,219
Type: Open
Surface: Grass

2006 was one of the two years where I was able to hit all of the parks on a single trip (2003 was the other). It was also my first baseball stadium trip where I was not able to drive the entire way. I hopped on a plane and flew from DC to Oakland, through Phoenix. The trip got off to an exciting start as I happened to be on the same flight as former Notre Dame and Redskins quarterback Joe Theisman. I got a chance to chat with him for a couple minutes in the airport in Phoenix. Once I arrived in Oakland, I rented a car which I drove along the Pacific Coast before flying home from San Diego. Along the way, I went to games in all five of the Major League stadiums in California. Not only was this my first trip to these stadiums, but it was actually the first time I had ever been to the Pacific Coast.

The first stop on the California trip was McAfee Coliseum in Oakland. I definitely got the worst stadium out of the way early. McAfee Coliseum is the oldest remaining MLB stadium that is also used for football. It has gone the opposite way of most venues. While multi-sport stadiums used to be commonplace, most cities have built new single sport facilities for one or both of their teams. In Oakland, they remodeled the stadium in 1996 to make it more attractive for an NFL team as the Raiders moved back from Los Angeles. As a result, they built an enormous second level in the outfield, blocking any view of the distant hills. Not that it was a terribly impressive stadium before the remodeling either, but I suspect it felt a lot more like a baseball park back then.

On a positive note, the remodeling also included enhancements throughout the stadium, so it is actually in great shape for a 40 year old facility. The stadium is completely symmetrical with a circular exterior, except for the outfield. There are three levels of seats most of the way around the stadium. However, at the time I was there the upper level was completely covered up with tarps, drastically reducing the capacity I listed above. I think this might still be the case today. Needless to say, the A's don't usually draw enough fans for this to be an issue.

Another drawback of the stadium due to its football configuration is that a lot of the lower level seats are a long way from the playing field. McAfee Coliseum has the largest foul territory of any stadium, by far. There are very few seats that are in close proximity to the infield. I even question how great the lower level seats are for football games. It seems to me they would still be quite a distance from the playing field. I sat in the bleacher seats in right center field. They were GA seats, so first come, first serve. I was able to get a spot in the second row, which turned out to be a very nice place to see the game.

Although the A's teams of the mid to late 80's were known for their power, McAfee Coliseum is not a great hitters park. The huge foul territory obviously benefits the pichers, as do the relative deep dimensions to all fields. The upper deck outfield additions somewhat takes the wind out of play. Also, the ball does not carry particularly well on the cool evenings that Oakland is known for.

This game was on a nice, sunny Sunday afternoon in early June. Rich Harden got the start for the A's. It was his first start since being activated from the disabled list, a place he has seen regularly throughout his career. In fact, he wound up going right back to the DL following this game. Carlos Silva got the start for the Twins and had a rough outing, as usual.

It was a little bittersweet for me to see Frank Thomas play in a uniform other than the White Sox for the first time ever. Thomas joined the A's for the 2006 season. I decided to wear a Thomas White Sox t-shirt, which was noticed by a few people. He also happened to be on the cover of the game program. It was painful to watch him play, not only in another uniform, but as a player who was only a shadow of his former self. He came up to bat for the first (and only) time in the second inning. He lined a ball down the left field line and nearly got thrown out at second as he hobbled into the base without sliding. Bobby Crosby came up next and lined a base hit into left center. Again, Frank barely made it home, but did score the first run of the game. They pinch hit for him the next time up.

Prior to the Thomas run, the Twins scored first in the top of the first inning. Joe Mauer hit a home run into my section in right-centerfield to give the Twins a quick 1-0 lead. Thomas started a three run rally for the A's in the second. Marco Scutaro knocked in two with a single to give the A's a 3-1 lead after two innings.

Harden kept mowing down Twins hitters, but was pulled after four innings due to reaching a pitch limit. He struck out six, but did allow four hits and three walks. Dan Johnson hit a solo home run in the fourth inning to extend the Oakland lead to 4-1. Brad Halsey then relieved Harden in the top of the fifth. He wound up pitching five scoreless innings in relief to pick up the win. The A's added an insurance run in the eighth inning on their way to a 5-1 victory. Scutaro was the offensive star for the A's. The utility infielder notched three hits, including the two run single in the second.

Both teams came into this game a few games under .500. However, it turned out to be a great season for both. The Twins wound up winning the AL Central, a division that had three 90+ win teams. Meanwhile, the A's also won a division championship in the AL West. These teams met again in the ALDS, where the A's swept the Twins in three games. The A's proceeded to lose to the Tigers in the ALCS.

McAfee Coliseum is not a dump by any means, but it is probably one of the worst outdoor stadiums remaining. It is certainly overshadowed by the stadium on the other side of the bay, which I will review next. In many ways, the Bay Area stadiums are reflections of their cities. Oakland is not much of a city compared to San Francisco.

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Next stadium: AT&T Park, San Francisco

PNC Park

Chicago Cubs @ Pittsburgh Pirates
September 4, 2005

Cubs 2, Pirates 0

W: Jerome Williams
L: Kip Wells
S: Ryan Dempster
Attendance: 23,204
Time of Game: 2 hours, 32 minutes

Stadium Facts

Location: Pittsburgh, PA
First Game: April 9, 2001
Capacity: 38,496
Type: Open
Surface: Grass

Wow, it has been two months since my last entry! Since my last review, I have been to two more new stadiums (both of the new New York parks), so I can once again say I have been to every MLB stadium. I'll write about those much later though. In the mean time, where did I leave off...

Ah yes, the last new park of 2005. After going to an early season game at RFK and a mini three game trip to the Southeast in May, the last stop was not until September of that year. I was in Pittsburgh on Labor Day weekend for the first Notre Dame football game of the season against the Pitt Panthers. My friends and I enjoyed a full day of tailgating, football watching, and postgame celebrating of a big Irish victory. Incidentally, that was the first game of the Charlie Weis era.

I was able to talk some of my friends into going to a Pirates game the following afternoon. Unfortunately, we used up most of our energy the previous day and were totally drained by the end of the baseball game. The game itself didn't help the situation since it was a boring game between two teams who were completely out of the playoff chase. All of that is quite unfortunate because PNC Park is easily one of my favorite stadiums.

PNC Park is situated in an absolutely perfect location, creating quite possibly the most scenic surroundings in all of baseball. The stadium is right next to the Allegheny River, near the meeting point of the three rivers in downtown Pittsburgh. Most of the stadium has a great view of the downtown skyline on the other side of the river. The golden-colored Roberto Clemente bridge adds to the impressive backdrop. Many fans walk across the bridge from downtown to get to the park. From there, they get a great view into the park.

PNC is a very intimate park, a rare characteristic of a newer stadium. It is one of the few stadiums with just two seating levels. It has the second smallest seating capacity in the MLB. Without a middle deck, every seat in the park is relatively close to the playing field. There are not a lot of outfield seats, although there is a pretty good sized bleacher section in left field, which is where we sat for this game. Actually, after sweating in the hot sun for a couple hours, we watched the last few innings from an unoccupied, shady portion of the upper deck.

Besides being a scenic park with great seats throughout, it is also a great place to play. The river beyond the right field seats might be a temptation for left handed sluggers, but very few balls actually make it that far. The tall right field wall is difficult to clear. Overall, the dimensions are very fair for batters and pitchers.

As I mentioned, this was a late season game between two teams going nowhere. Therefore, it was a pretty small crowd for a nice Sunday afternoon. Many of the fans were probably leftovers like us from the football game the day before, as well as the usual large Cubs fan contingency.

Kip Wells got the start for the Pirates while Jerome Williams took the mound for the Cubs. Not a stellar pitching matchup, however they were both sharp on this afternoon. Nomar Garciaparra gave the Cubs an early lead with a solo home run in the top of the second. As usual, Garciaparra had missed most of the '05 season with an injury, but continued a hot streak by hitting his fourth home run in six games. This wound up being all Williams would need.

The Pirates mustered just four hits in the entire game, all singles. It was a rare quality start for Williams, which probably says more about the lineup the Pirates were running out there. A Jeromy Burnitz double in the sixth inning scored Neifi Perez to give the Cubs a two run cushion. Williams continued to dominate into the 8th inning when the Cubs bullpen took over. Ryan Dempster struck out the side in the bottom of the ninth to nail down the save and a 2-0 Cubs victory.

This was the Pirates eighth consecutive loss at PNC Park, a record at that time in that park. I have no idea if it has been broken since then, but my guess is it has. The Pirates haven't had a winning season since 1992. It is really unfortunate that this franchise has become a perennial loser, unwilling to hang onto their good players, because they have a gem of a ballpark.

I have been to PNC Park twice. I returned in 2007 to see the White Sox beat the Pirates. So I have seen the Pirates lose at home to both of the Chicago teams. I won't hesitate to visit again if the opportunity presents itself. My next entry will move on to my big California trip of 2006.

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From Pittsburgh

From Pittsburgh

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Next stadium: McAfee Coliseum, Oakland