Opening Day: In Photos

There’s nothing quite like Opening Day at a Major League Baseball stadium. The air has the dewy-sweet smell that only the alchemy of new uniforms, hope and ice cream sandwiches that are clearly left over from last season can provide. It smells like the beginning.

Opening Day at Petco is special, just like every other Opening Day. Here are some photos I took that illustrate the event.


The first thing you see when you walk into Petco from the 7th Ave. entrance is this big banner of the Little League World Series Champions from Chula Vista. Hey, why not showcase the region's best baseball team, amirite?




Here's where we were sitting, just to orient you. They were really good seats, the iPhone camera doesn't due them justice. My friend Lora somehow got them free from her friend Eric. I'm sure it was totally on the up and up and Lora's honor remains intact. It took us forever to find parking, so we missed all the intro hullabaloo (National Anthem, Navy jets, player intros, etc.) but we also missed the rain, so it wasn't all bad. Padre fans booed Jason Heyward in his first at bat, I liked that. Take the kid down a peg.



Just once I wish they'd have a girl's size option in the free t-shirts. ::Sigh:: I suppose that's a first world problem.



Awww, little Adrian Gonzalez graced the cover of the Opening Day program. To think this kid would someday grow up to be the constant subject of trade rumors.


New food item alert! This is a Diego Dog. Its bigger than a normal Friar Frank, comes in a sort of French roll, and is slathered with cabbage, salsa and mustard. It was pretty good. Not $6.50 good, but good.

I can’t believe what I paid for this.

Nothing says Opening Day like bunting!


“The Best Seat in the House” is no longer a Lazy Boy, but a white sectional. Also, some new guy does all the little in-game contests. I guess John Weisbarth got too big.

That's Adrian Gonzalez on second base (trust me), after hitting what would have been a home run in any other ballpark. Like say ... Fenway, for example.

It’s hard to tell due to the shadows, but this is KUSI consumer reporter Michael Turko. That ain’t right! He kept walking around our section and people kept yelling to him. He was eating it up. We also saw former Padres pitcher Randy Jones on the street outside the park on the way in, but I must admit, I didn’t know who he was. I’m a Red Sox fan, deal with it!

I had to get a photo of this baby with industrial strength headphones. 'Cause I mean, what?!

At one point during the game, they had a contest where this guy had to guess which replica of Jack’s hat a bunch of free Jack in the Box taco vouchers were hidden under. If he guessed right, the whole stadium got vouchers for free tacos. And … he guessed right!!! Pandemonium ensued, obvs.

Best parts of Opening Day not pictured:

- At 4:38 P.M. Pacific Standard Time, we got our first Chicken sighting. He pretended to eat a kid’s head, and make out with a female fan. Top form as usual. Unfortunately, too far away for my sad little iPhone camera.

- Will Venable was a double short of hitting for the cycle. I really thought he was going to do it, but no dice. I still think he’s my new favorite Padre.

- Everth Cabrera is also one of my new favorite Padres because his at-bat music was a Cure song.

- I get Chase Headley and Nick Hundley confused. I’m not sure how to remedy this.

- Padre fans didn’t take their hats off for "God Bless America." Is that not a thing out here?

- Oh, and in case you missed it, Padres won 17-2. Happy Opening Day!