There are many reasons for optimism this year when it comes to our San Diego Padres baseball team. The potential is there for a very successful 2022 season.
And Opening Day is only a couple weeks away!
I walked around Petco Park this morning and in the early evening, just to see what preparations might be underway.
From Gallagher Square I noticed the bright green field looks immaculate. Walking around the ballpark, I saw that many new signs and graphics are coming.
What I also discovered was the Padres plan to shine!
Because it’s now TIME TO SHINE!
UPDATE!
I saw a huge, very cool Time to Shine mural on Petco Park after the season had begun.
As I finally get around to posting this newer photo in mid-June, the Padres are in first place, half a game ahead of the Dodgers!
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
Last weekend I was able to enjoy some amazing views of downtown San Diego. I took photographs from the 9th Floor of San Diego’s Central Library, looking west.
It isn’t often the library’s outdoor Woods Family Sunset View Terrace can be accessed. But a program was scheduled to begin at the Shiley Special Events Suite when I happened to be walking around, and the terrace was open to the public.
Wow! Nice view, huh?
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
You can easily explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on my blog’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There are thousands upon thousands of photos for you to enjoy!
Very strangely, football goal posts rise in Petco Park near first base. (So reaching first must now mean three points!)
As I walked through Gallagher Square this morning, I saw this peculiar remnant from a football game that was never played. When UCLA backed out of the 2021 Holiday Bowl a few hours before the game, many were shocked and extremely disappointed.
I suppose we’ll soon see Petco Park back in its usual configuration.
An interesting experiment–playing a football game in this baseball ballpark–will now most likely never occur. SnapDragon Stadium in Mission Valley should be completed and ready for football by next holiday season.
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
This morning, as I walked along Tony Gwynn Drive between Petco Park and downtown’s Omni San Diego Hotel, I observed Padres superstars in several windows!
Brand new promotional graphics for 2021 celebrate five great players on what is widely regarded the most exciting baseball team in America!
Four large graphics behind glass at the Omni Hotel across from Petco Park depict superstars Fernando Tatís Jr., Manny Machado, Yu Darvish and Blake Snell.
Another new graphic at the Padres Team Store in the Western Metal Supply Co. building celebrates Joe Musgrove’s no-hit game earlier this season–the first ever no-hitter in San Diego history!
Will the San Diego Padres finally return to the Major League Baseball World Series after so many years? We shall see!
Go Pads!
Fernando Tatís Jr.Manny MachadoYu DarvishBlake SnellOn April 9, 2021, pitcher Joe Musgrove, who grew up in San Diego and rooted for the Padres as a kid, throws the first ever no-hitter in Padres history!
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
You can easily explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on my blog’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There are thousands upon thousands of photos for you to enjoy!
Padres street lamp banners have been hung around the ballpark. Bunting decorates the stands. The playing field is immaculate. Tomorrow the home team starts a new baseball season undefeated.
Many baseball experts say 2021 might be the beginning of a Golden Age for the San Diego Padres. All of the pieces are in place. Finally.
I walked around Petco Park this evening and felt the quiet anticipation.
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
Yankees fans hang out near Petco Park during Game One of the American League Division Series between New York and Tampa Bay.
I walked around Petco Park early this evening as the big playoff series between the New York Yankees and Tampa Bay Rays was getting underway. This highly-anticipated match-up of two great American League Division Series teams is taking place in San Diego due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the necessity for players to stay in a safe bubble.
I noticed fans of both the Yankees and Rays had gathered near the ballpark. Some of the fans were trying to peer into Petco Park to watch a little of the action–either live on the field or via the huge video boards. Others were watching the televised game at nearby bars and restaurants. I must say the majority of fans I noticed were rooting for New York. I did see a few Tampa Bay fans, but they were all inside one eatery beyond the reach of my camera…
I noticed these guys with video equipment trying to capture some of the mood outside Petco Park. From here all you can see of the game is one large video board.
As you can see, some New York Yankees fans walking about would give me a thumbs up!
That crack in the fence beside Gallagher Square is the one place I know of where you can actually see action on the field. You can barely glimpse the tops of heads in the bullpen, part of the pitching mound area, and part of the home team’s dugout!
If you walk around Petco Park on its east side, you can see part of the main video board. When I snapped this photo, Tampa Bay was up to bat!
Another New York thumbs up!
Padres and Yankees fans watch Monday’s televised postseason game at tables out on an East Village sidewalk.
Can you believe it? These guys had just read a Cool San Diego Sights blog post on their phone moments before I spoke to them! Looks to me like they’re having a good time!
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
The Padres faithful have converged around Petco Park for the second game of the playoffs–a Wild Card game versus the St. Louis Cardinals!
I watched part of the game late this afternoon from a spot beside Gallagher Square. When I walked home through East Village and the Gaslamp, I saw many people at bars and restaurants watching the game.
As I write this, the Pads have come back by scoring 5 runs, making it 7-6, giving us the lead! Fernando Tatís Jr. contributed with a huge 3 run homer. Will we win?
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
It’s been an unusual year in Major League Baseball. A shortened season and unusual rules because of the COVID-19 pandemic . . . and the San Diego Padres are in the playoffs! For the first time since 2006! And the Friars are widely considered one of the favorite, most exciting teams, too!
Restaurants, bars and shops in downtown San Diego have begun to put out signs, banners and merchandise in anticipation of the first playoff series against the St. Louis Cardinals, which begins at Petco Park with Game 1 tomorrow afternoon. And I noticed Padres employees and team players are getting ready at the ballpark, too!
I walked around Petco Park and the Gaslamp Quarter this afternoon to see what I might see. Check it out!
Big video screens have been erected in the Lexus Premier Lot next to Petco Park. Fans who’ve purchased special Padres Postseason Watch Party tickets will be able to enjoy playoff games together from the safety of their cars.
I noticed a couple of buses were parked next to Petco Park where visiting teams arrive.
Padres employees round a corner of Petco Park in San Diego’s East Village getting everything ready for the start of the MLB postseason.
Fans were enjoying a nice afternoon at Gallagher Square, watching Padres batting practice from a distance.
National League Wild Card graphic splashed on the video screen that faces Gallagher Square.
A photographer captures images of the Padres during batting practice.
My small camera caught a pitch on the way, with the batter ready to swing!
Banner on high balcony overlooking Petco Park’s outfield proclaims: Let’s Go Padres.
Bub’s At The Ballpark has several banners out. Go Padres!
UNION Kitchen & Tap Gaslamp has a SLAMDIEGO Special: The Padre Burger with a pint of Ballast Point Friar Ale!
Several shops in the Gaslamp have Padres apparel out on display.
Another example!
Okay, here’s something really cool. I’d left the Gaslamp and was walking up Sixth Avenue toward home when I noticed the door of Centre City Sports Collectibles was open. So I stepped inside.
Wow! My eyes almost popped out of my head! If you’re a sports collector or enthusiast and you haven’t checked this place out, you need to pay a visit! The place is jammed floor to ceiling with so many collectibles that I don’t know how Henry, the proprietor, keeps track of it all. And by the way, he’s a really nice guy!
He called the stacks and stacks of stuff in every direction a mess, but I’m not sure why. The place is like sports fan heaven!
He let me take a few photos…
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
You can easily explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on my blog’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There are thousands upon thousands of photos for you to enjoy!
The sun was newly risen this morning as I walked through downtown. I meandered through East Village and the Gaslamp Quarter, and eventually ended up at the Convention Center trolley station.
Slanting rays of early sunlight reflected from the windows of surrounding buildings. Warm light slipped down sleepy streets and alleys, painting a golden morning.
Early morning light illuminates face inside a window of the Sparks Gallery.
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
You can easily explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on my blog’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There are thousands upon thousands of photos for you to enjoy!
During this shortened coronavirus pandemic baseball season, is it possible to actually watch a Padres game at Petco Park? Assuming you aren’t positioned in one of the nearby high-rise buildings? Well, sort of…
Today after work I headed to Petco Park, knowing a Padres afternoon game would be in progress. I was curious to see whether anything interesting was going on at the ballpark–if there was anything to see at all. The Padres and other Major League Baseball teams have taken many steps to protect the public and their staff from the highly contagious COVID-19 virus.
I did see the Arizona Diamondbacks buses parked outside. I did hear the distant announcer vaguely calling plays, music playing between at-bats and innings, and recorded cheering.
When I walked around to Social Tap and the nearby entrance of Gallagher Square (which used to be called Park at the Park), I noticed some fans were hanging out behind the fence bordering the kids’ small ball field.
I joined them.
We could see the video screen that faces Gallagher Square, and one of Petco Park’s faraway scoreboards. We could clearly hear the game–as one would hear it on television, without the play-by-play or commentary. Through a teeny tiny gap in the fence it was possible to see the tops of the heads of visiting bullpen pitchers, the pitcher’s mound and a little tiny bit of the home dugout. But you really couldn’t tell what was going on.
What was fun was the idea that I was actually at the ballpark, with a few other devoted fans!
I happened to walk up as the Padres were trailing the Diamondbacks 1-2. Right after I arrived, a huge rally began and the Padres were soon leading 6-2. Everyone cheered.
Even though nobody heard the few of us.
The Pads won!
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
Cool San Diego Sights! 