When Last I Saw The Padres In Frisco

It's no secret that, after Petco and PNC, Pac Bell is my favorite ballpark in baseball. The location downtown is choice, the views of the water are epic and the food and beverage options are plenty.

San Francisco is a fantastic town in general and I've had the luck to visit it often in the past few years, most recently in July 2009 when I took in a Buccos-Pirates game in between days of the California Bar Examination. Matt Cain and Zach Duke dueled in a 0-0 tie through 9 (Boch let Cain pitch the full 9 innings, 111 pitches) before the Gints won it on a Randy Winn single in the 10th. The stadium was packed and it was a gorgeous, sunny day.

Rewind about 22 months earlier when I was in town on a Monday night and my visit coincided with a Drinos roadtrip. If you'll recall September 2007, the Padres were in the midst of a pennant race and fielded an excellent team, but had just been swept by the Rockies at home (a haunting preview in retrospect), including, the day before, a loss in the infamous "Milton Bradley Game," where Bud Black accidentally tore up Milton's knee while trying to prevent him from murdering an umpire. Milton had homered in that game, his 11th in 169 plate appearances as a Padre, but would never bat again that season.

It was under that gloomy cloud that the Padres took the field at Pac Bell on Monday, September 24, 2007. My specific memories of the game aren't many, but I do recall a few details:

- Before the game I had a few beers at a sports bar near the park - I think it was O'Neil's, but it may have been Kate O'Brien's or even the Brickhouse - and watched the MNF pregame show. It was a Saints game and I remember thinking that Brees likely wouldn't lead the Saints any further than he had the previous season when the Saints lost to the Bears in the NFC Championship game. I remember having that exact thought. So much for predictions.

- Right before game time, I scalped three seats in the 200-level club section just to the right of home plate. The tickets cost surprisingly little and my two friends - both students at Berkeley at the time - were pleased with the price. We housed many gourmet food items throughout the game.

- The game itself is murky, likely because the Padres got rolled. I do remember seeing Klesko in closeup on the jumbotron, and, looking at the boxscore now, he did have a solid game (2-5, 2 runs scored, a ribeye). For the Padres, of course Adrian doubled and had 3 hits, and Brady Clark, taking over for Milton Bradley, had 2 hits, one of them a double. I was probably hopeful at that point that Brady was the answer for the stretch run. So sad.

- CY got rocked in this game, which was not a good sign. I also see the Padres ran out Cla Meredith in relief. It's a nice feeling to know that, as marginally good as Cla was in his seasons with the Padres, he would be the worst relief pitcher on this year's squad. That thought gives me comfort the Padres can pull this thing out this season.

That's all I remember at the moment. I won't be in Frisco for the series this weekend, but I'm more or less certain the Drinos can get it dun without me. Tonight Clay Richard leads the charge against Jonathan Sanchez and crew.

It's safe to say that Sanchez will be eating his words by night's end.