Game 7: September 7, 2013 Rockies at Padres

On Saturday, I trekked down the 5 Freeway, stopping briefly in scenic Oceanside for lunch. I was a little early for the game. So I stopped in the Gaslamp Quarter for a beer.

I haven't mentioned this before, but I like it when a stadium is in a fun part of town. Of course most teams don't have control over this. Real estate isn't usually available in fun parts of town. I remember that Coors Field was in the LoDo and that was a lot of fun. Some might argue Wrigleyville is fun, but there all the bars I tried to go to before the game were overcrowded. The Gaslamp Quarter has a lot more going on.

We went in the 7th and K entrance, passing this little gem, where a Padre official was playing with the kids. It gave the stadium such a homey feel. We grabbed some barbecue and my friend Bill suggested we eat on the lawn behind the field that's beyond right field.

There aren't many stadiums where you can make yourself a picnic, so that was a new experience. Maybe it was because there wasn't a big crowd, but it was easy to find a good spot. Of course, the view of the game wasn't great. So we did go to find our seats.

I should explain how I got these seats. I've purchased most of the seats on Stubhub.com and I love buying from them. You can find affordable tickets, with all fees included, and download them immediately. These I bought directly from the team. Why? Well, I gave blood in July. In Los Angeles. The Red Cross likes to give stuff to people who give blood as a thank you. One of those thank you gifts was discounted tickets to a Padres game. Petco Park is 135 miles from the church I gave blood at. You drive past the Dodgers and Angels on your way.

I wanted to go to Petco, however, so it was perfect for me. The seat selection was limited by the Padres, however. So I had to choose Field level in the outfield. The sight line wasn't terrible, although I prefer infield. Still, these were the least expensive seats, by far, of any I'd purchased and they were priced higher than some.

I liked the scoreboard, reminiscent of Great American and Progressive, and those seats added on to the Western Metal Supply Building. Cool. They grill here too and, liked the two stadiums noted above also have local microbrews.

They make you wait for the end of a batter before going back to your seat. Not to worry. It's easy to follow what's going on.

Tyson Ross was very impressive. It must be his presence in San Diego, but I'd never heard of him before. He's 5th in the NL in ERA, among pitchers with at least 100 IP. The Rockies tied the game at 1 in the 8th, but Jedd Gyorko hit the ball off the top of the right field fence, just out of the reach of Michael Cuddyer. The game ended bizarrely when Cuddyer took off from first on a sinking liner to right that looked like it'd be caught. It was and Cuddyer was doubled off.