WBC notes

Mariners superstar Robinson Cano steps in

during Dominican Republic's 6-3 loss to

Team USA Sat., March 18.

(Photo Ed Piper, Jr.)

By Ed Piper, Jr.

I attended World Baseball Classic games at Petco Park Friday and Saturday evenings, March 17-18. Here are some notes:

--One thing I noticed in the two games is that people who buy tickets in the nosebleed seats (like me) often are not in those seats--instead, they are walking on the main level and standing at the handy stand-up counters eating and drinking.

Most of the other seats were filled: Friday's attendance, when Puerto Rico edged the U.S., 6-5, was announced as 32,000 and change. (The stadium holds 43,000.)

I never did go to my seats either night. They're high and distant, too far to venture to. I walked, chatted with other baseball fans, bought food, wandered some more, sometimes settling at one spot.

--Petco Park won't see this many people again soon, other than for Opening Day, which is a big, festive occasion that baseball fans go to even if the home product is lousy (the Padres are rated to be the worst team in the majors, considering the minor league/prospect lineup they're sending out there). 

Sorry to Padres fans, but your franchise has done so many things to you, I feel for you. I arrived in 
San Diego in 1993, when the "Fire Sale" was going on, the Padres jettisoning all their stars under the Gang of Four new ownership (Tom Werner et al). That was only a sign of things past and future.

--At the risk of sounding like a broken record, if you've read my blog, the WBC games were a slice of heaven for me. There was a combination of exciting baseball, loud Latin energy with the Puerto Rican (Friday night) and Dominican (Saturday night) fans pounding drums, blowing whistles, raising the roof. From my background of living and teaching in Mexico City, I really enjoy this aspect of Latin culture.

Also, local fans chanting "U-S-A" didn't sit back quietly. They were vociferous at multiple points during the games, in which, though the Gringos lost Friday to the hot Puerto Ricans, the norteamericanos qualified for the semifinals tomorrow night (Tues., March 21) by defeating the Dominican Republic Saturday night, 6-3.