Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Petco Park: It's 'baseball proof'


As much as we all didn’t like Barry Bonds, perhaps the most unpopular baseball player of all time, he did get one thing right.

“Baseball proof” is how Bonds described San Diego’s Petco Park after his first appearance in the spacious stadium.

For proof, just ask Jody Gerut of the Padres.

He hit a fly ball 399 feet against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Tuesday night that would have been a grand slam anywhere else in baseball.

Instead, Alex Romero made a terrific over-the-shoulder basket catch at the fence to rob Gerut and preserve Arizona’s 3-0 win.

If the game had been in Arizona, the ball would have landed in the pool beyond right-center for a grand slam. In other parks, it would also have been well beyond the wall.

In San Diego, it reopened the controversy about whether they should move the 400-foot fence in right-center closer to home plate.

The answer, without argument, is “yes.”

Just think of Arizona reliever Jon Rauch, who only faced Gerut in the game. He could walk off the mound with a smile and say “well, I got my man.”

But only in San Diego!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Gerut was robbed!!!

Anonymous said...

Jody Gerut may not have liked what happened when he hit the ball to right-center the other night but I know last night he went to right field and hit a leadoff home run against the Diamondbacks. Is it the park or just where the hitter hit the ball? No, it is the park that is a difficult place to hit a long ball. It is not referred to as a pitcher's park for nothing.