(UN)Official Road Trip Stop #4: AT&T Park, San Francisco, CA

August 12, 2009
Dodgers 2 @ Giants 4 (10 innings)

Honestly, if it weren't for the fact that the Giants and their fans call it home, Pacific Bell SBC AT&T Park would probably be my favorite Non-Dodger stadium in the league.

However, they do, so it isn't. But for the non-biased, the place is pretty amazing.

Set almost perfectly on the San Francisco Bay, an afternoon game taken in from the upper deck offers views of the water, the Bay Bridge as it collapses, and the drug deals and homicides that are no doubt taking place in Oakland. I only wish that they could have figured out a way to make the ballpark face northeast so that a view of the San Francisco skyline could be included as well, but the view it does have is already more than enough, and those wind experts at Berkeley who helped with the design are probably smarter than I am.

Pacific Bell Park, as it was known, opened in 2000 after years of masochism at Candlestick Park. I never was able to get to Candlestick myself, but I've always heard nothing but bad things, especially when compared to the nice new park on the bay.

Getting to AT&T Park is kind of tricky. There seems to be a pretty modest amount of parking beyond right field and McCovey Cove, and traffic around the ballpark around gametime looks like kind of a nightmare. The past few times I've gone, I've relied on the MUNI train that stops just outside the park. Public transportation in San Francisco is pretty good, but not as amazing as some people would have you think it is. For this particular game, I didn't get to my seat until about the bottom of the 2nd inning due to delays on the MUNI, though I probably wouldn't have fared much better by any other option. Basically, to get from point A to point B in the Bay Area, give yourself 3 hours. I'm only half-kidding.

Oh, and you can ride a boat from the east bay if you're coming from over there.

Once inside, everyone raves about the food. AT&T is famous for its garlic fries and burgers and chicken sandwiches that are served on sourdough bread. They even have crab sandwiches here. You can taste many of San Francisco's famous foods without ever leaving the ballpark. A far, far cry from a Dodger Dog.

There are some cool things to see, like watching players aim for the water in batting practice and the cable car that sits in center field. There's also a kid's play area in left field and that giant Coca-Cola bottle is actually a couple of slides. Because apparently nobody in this generation is interested in teaching kids about, y'know, baseball.

Don't bother sitting anywhere other than the Upper Deck, preferably down the first base/right field line. The view from up there is amazing, and probably better than the more expensive seats down below.

The game I attended this year was a classic Dodger-Giant match up. One that reminds fans of both teams why there is rivalry and why the game is so great. Due an injury to their ace Chad Billingsley, the Dodgers were forced to start Jeff Weaver, a long man from the bullpen who has seen better days. Weaver was faced with the daunting task of keeping the Dodgers within striking distance of Giants ace Tim Lincecum, who was in his Cy Young form on this day.

In the 5th inning, tempers flared, and it was awesome. Fatass Pablo Sandoval took exception to a James McDonald pitch that was juuuuust a bit inside after Eugenio Velez had needlessly taken out Dodger catcher Russell Martin on a slide at home.

Cooler heads unfortunately eventually prevailed, and the game moved on to the top of the 9th. Lincecum had been dominating the Dodgers all day, giving up just 1 run while Jeff Weaver and the Dodger bullpen had only given up 2.

Amongst the chant of "Beat L.A.," Lincecum came out to a standing ovation in the top of the ninth looking for a complete game win to send the home crowd home happy. Rafael Furcal came up with one out and hit a slow bouncer to shortstop. Furcal and the throw arrived at first base at the same time, and Furcal was ruled safe. The home crowd, already upset by the earlier confrontation and a few other close calls (he was safe) that had gone against them, was livid.

Lincecum was able to compose himself to get Martin to fly out, and Furcal tagged up to second on the play. With two outs in the top of the ninth, Lincecum worked the count to Andre Ethier to two balls and two strikes. And then this happened. New ballgame! Free baseball! There's not a whole lot of better feelings than being in the middle of 40,000 some-odd totally deflated Giants fans.

My joy was short lived, however, as Juan Uribe of the Giants would eventually win the game with a walk-off home run in the bottom of the 10th. I was oddly OK with the result, knowing fully that this particular game was one that the Dodgers had no business winning, they had already taken 2 wins of the 3 game series, and that I had just watched an amazing game of baseball.

Some of the drunk asshole Giant fans I encountered outside of the ballpark, however, weren't. A good amount of them wanted to whine about how the umpires were in the tank for the Dodgers and how Barry Bonds probably cheated, but is better than Manny because he never got caught or admitted to it, so its OK to cheer for him. (Uh, he did, and he did).

My favorite was the guy who tried to convince everyone on the MUNI train that Giant fans are just so much better and loyal than Dodger fans, despite the fact that nobody showed up to Giant games before 2000, and that the team almost moved to St. Petersburg, FL in 1992 due to low fan turnout. OH, and did I mention how many more Dodger hats and shirts I saw walking around the city before the game? Calm down spazzes, you won one game of a three game series in August.

Anyway, AT&T Park is a fantastic venue with a great backdrop for baseball. The fans are, well, stupid enthusiastic, but are easily dealt with when presented with facts. I highly recommend taking in a game at AT&T Park if you are in the Bay Area, especially if its a Dodger/Giant one.

You can view all of my photos from AT&T Park over the years here.