People Showed Up to Game 2; I Wasn’t One of Them

Thank goodness for the day off on Tuesday. The season is a grind, and sometimes you just need a break. I don’t know about you, but after a week’s worth of games on the road and one grueling home date, I was ready to get my mind off baseball… if only for a little while. Thank you, oh wise schedulers, for accommodating all of us.

We got bored and restless without a game. Some of us rambled on about process, others picked apart articles of questionable merit, while still others pondered the state of the Padres blogosphere.

Hey, is that lint in my belly button?

Meanwhile, in all the excitement, I missed Wednesday night’s 6-1 loss to the Braves. Well, I wouldn’t say I missed it, Bob. But I did forget to DVR it, and then life happened.

I can’t comment on the game itself, but one thing I’m keeping an eye on this season is attendance. I’m curious to see how fans respond to new ownership’s words and actions. Opening Day doesn’t really count because everyone goes to that whether they like baseball or not:

“Did you see me on TV? I had lint in my belly button. Woo-hoo, I was on TV!”

Game 2 is what separates the fans from the woo-hoos. Very well, then, here is Game 2 in the Petco Park era:

Year Day Opp    Att
2004 Sat  SF 41,625
2005 Fri Pit 39,791
2006 Wed  SF 23,721
2007 Sat Col 40,504
2008 Tue Hou 20,825
2009 Tue  LA 20,035
2010 Wed Atl 24,969

Not much to go on, but that’s got to be encouraging. I can’t believe the attendance against the Dodgers in Game 2 last year. What, folks from LA had better things to do than drive down and take over our ballpark?

Anyway, we’ll keep watching.

* * *

On a completely unrelated note, thanks to the magic of the Internet, I did catch most of the Dayton/Fort Wayne game on radio. Brings back fond memories of the time I listened to Jake Peavy and Mark Prior battle in the Southern League.

I took only mental notes this time. Heard Everett Williams notch his first hit in full-season ball, a first-inning double down the left-field line. The announcers praised Rymer Liriano, who took the collar on Wednesday but who has made a favorable impression.

They also had kind words for starter Jerry Sullivan, who pitched a mostly beautiful game and who apparently featured a nasty, sharp-breaking slider. Sullivan’s final line (6 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 1 HR, 0 BB, 7 K) doesn’t look great, but neither does it tell the whole story.

Sullivan allowed a leadoff double to Didi Gregorius (another name I want to see in the big leagues) before retiring the next 18 batters he faced. Then came the seventh inning (which Peter recounts in his daily rundown of the Padres farm system that you should be reading): single, single, single, slam. You’d like to see a guy finish strong (hello, Adam Eaton), but I’ll take six innings of dominance.

* * *

Back in the big leagues, the Padres and Braves wrap up their three-game series on Thursday. Mat Latos faces Tim Hudson. The game starts at 3:35 p.m. PT, which is when “day” games now start at Petco Park. I’d better go set my DVR.

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2 Responses »

  1. Whenever a game is missed, and a write-up is required, it should be standard operating procedure to reference Peter Gibbons and “the Bobs” (note to self).

    I guess it is encouraging to see a spike in attendance compared to ’09 and ’08 but that place looked like a graveyard last night. No way there was 24,000.

  2. Ha! I totally missed the Office Space reference, and, yes, I really did miss it.