The Cox Channel 4 broadcast trailer. Bottled water only, got it?!

Thanks to Cox Channel 4 Padres video switcher and editor Craig Chatfield, I had the opportunity to visit the Cox production trailer, tucked away off Tony Gwynn drive on the south side of Petco Park.

Cox Channel 4 Padres video editing computer, producer Ed Barnes looks on at left.

Inside the trailer is a long, dark, narrow corridor with friendly employees and more video screens than your average dance club. It’s divided into two main rooms, the first of which is seen in the two photos below.

Besides Craig, producer Ed Barnes (left), and Chyron Bob Wehrsdorfer took time from their schedules to explain the details about what goes into a TV broadcast. Unfortunately the room was dark, so I was busy using my girlfriend’s shoulder as a tripod while taking photos to soak in everything they were telling us.

Video screens in Cox Channel 4 Padres trailer, Craig Chatfield on left

One challenge they mentioned was working with the multitude of cameras and operators at one time, on many screens, while live on TV. Under normal circumstances the crew has the process down well, but it’s the crazy plays on the field that throws them off from time to time. One challenge was the play where David Eckstein lost a pop fly in the lights, then held the runner close by pretending to field it, letting it drop, and throwing the base runner out at second.

Believe me, I'm familiar with the outlaying technical specification regarding these instruments. However I'm unable to explain them for reasons I don't care to share.

There are a ton of video clips at their disposal. The photo above and to the left shows a technician looking through Channel 4′s archive. Right after producer Ed Barnes said it would be difficult to describe exactly what his role in the broadcast, the technician pulled up and played video of Barnes describing what he does for the broadcast. Pretty funny.

Our tour then headed towards the back, to Chyron Bob’s lair. Somehow there were even more video monitors and complicated looking gadgets. Let me tell you, when someone who is paid to design websites thinks computer equipment is complicated, he isn’t messing around. Check the last photo for proof.

I’d like to thank the Cox Channel 4 Padres crew, especially Craig, for opening your doors to us.

These are construction photos of the Minnesota Twins’ new ballpark, aka “Petco Park North.” Can you believe this exterior design? Look familiar?

PadreHomer informs me it was Antoine Predock who designed the exterior of Petco Park.

But check it out: HOK Sport (now Populus) is attached to both the Minnesota and San Diego ballpark projects, as well as being involved in just about every new park design the past two decades.

And HOK is also known for re-using the same ideas. Don’t get me wrong–red brick and green accents looked great. But that was just the first time or three.

Luckily there aren’t too many new ballparks left that need building, so we may only have one Petco clone.

Thanks to dwallick and resedabear for the photos.

Melvin Update 7/20: Twins fans, don’t take this post so seriously. I don’t know anything about Target Field except that one part of the facade looks just like one part of the PETCO facade. I’m sure the rest of the park is different. In fact, us Padre fans think it’s pretty cool that you’ll actually be able to tell what team plays home games at Target Field, while you’d never know who plays in PETCO because there are no signs whatsoever.

And no, I don’t care that one material is “limestone” from 100 miles north of Minnesota, while the other is “sandstone”. That’s all marketing. They look exactly alike. Don’t tell me this doesn’t look just like this. But really, I’m faulting HOK here more than anyone, they have a history of building ballparks that look just like each other.

We sat in the upper reserved section for the 1984 reunion game. We were promptly met at our seats by one of those guys you see at theme parks entrances forcing you to pose for a picture. They’re paid by number of photos they take, so of course they made us pose. Pretty sure they’re going to be trolling all season long. I’m the kind of guy who will just find the photo on the website and post it on Facebook for free. Actually friend of The Sac Bunt Archi Cianfrocco is the kind of guy who does that.

MC Ted Leitner asked how many were in attendance for the Cubs series in 1984, my parents (Pops donned his Cubs Busters shirt for the game) cheered loudly. Afterwards my dad reminded me I too should have been cheering, since I was there as well. Though at the time I was more concerned with spitting up on myself than watching baseball.

Lots of emotional video montages played before the event, and throughout the night in between innings. Apparently Cubs fans were upset the Padres chose to celebrate the 1984 season, which culminated in a playoff series comeback win against against them. Seems kind of strange to me since the game technically was a Padres home game, why should the consider what Cubs fans might think?

After the 84 team was introduced, a blast of yellow, brown, and orange streamers shot from just behind us along the roof of the stadium. A few streamers got stuck on the support wire for the net behind home plate. That photo shows both the stuck streamers, and just how many Cubs fans invaded that series.

Steve Garvey, Kurt Bevacqua, Dave Dravecky, Greg Harris, Terry Kennedy, Craig Lefferts, Tim Lollar, Kevin McReynolds, Mark Thurmond, Harry Dunlop (the bullpen coach), Norm Sherry (pitching coach) and Ozzie Virgil (third-base coach) were in attendance.

I got down around 12:30, and found surprisingly less parking than I expected. Rocking comfy basketball shorts and a t-shirt,  the warm sunny day had me feeling excited for summer.

I wandered in the entrance at 10th and Park, and meandered semi aim-fully to the Padres garage sale, pretty much the only reason I was there. While waiting in the long ass line to get in, I saw a couple dudes walk by, one with a Gaslamp Ball shirt on, but didn’t know who they were. Turns out it was jbox and Jon, I should spend more time at GLB so that never happens again.

My highlight of the day, besides Jbox and Jon, was finding an authentic game used Melvin Nieves jersey.

The lowlight was it nowhere near fitting me, so I dropped $65 this gorgeous Eric Nolte away jersey the team sported from ’85 to ’90.

Most of what they had for sale were newer style jerseys of random players no longer with the organization, and they were all the same $65. That’s a good deal for buying a jersey from the official shop. But if you look hard enough you can grab new, authentic jerseys on eBay for less than $50. Though the eBay ones are blank on the black, names that aren’t Justin Leone or Freddy Guzman can be sewn on for a reasonable price.

I picked up a ridiculously tall Adrian Gonzalez “experience it!” banner for $10. It’s going next to my “Lets go Padres, let’s have some baseball fun!” CD.

Plus I scored a fitted Padres away hat, the newish kind with the black bill and polyester blend. Most of what was there were the old models that magically shrunk and became gross and worthless after about a year. I flipped over entire rows at a time looking for the good stuff.

I was reminded of summer again on my way home as the 8 west was packed with beach traffic. “Get out of my way, I just want to go home!” I yelled, pompously.

An astute poster on the Sign On San Diego Padres forums has posted photos from an event in which fans play on the Petco Park field. Sections of the right field alley are marked off with rope on the ground, presumably to aid a decision on a new outfield fence. I took the liberty of drawing an overhead view of the possible changes based on my interpretation of the photos. Anything for your viewing pleasure from your old pal Melvin.

The yellow line is the original fence. The blue, green, and sand lines represent a possible change. The most interesting proposed fence line looks to be the sand colored mark. It would create a new nook from the left of the Cox sign, jutting straight in towards home plate, then changing direction and moving across to cut out the rear porch recess.

To me, the green proposed choice looks the best. It cuts off the most field in the deepest part of the park, without going crazy in wierdness. I’m not a fan of those intentional nooks that have become popular in new ballparks. The “quirkyness” in them just seems so contrived. To me you can’t plan and execute that kind of charm, it has to come about for an actual reason.

Either way, it’s good to improve the absurd pitcher’s advantage of the ballpark. As Ray showed us, Petco isn’t just a normal run of the mill pitcher’s park, it’s one helluva pitcher’s park. It’s time things get a little more fair.

Room for a new Padres bullpen?

Introduction: Padres 101
Part 1: Rebuilding Through the Draft

A proper discussion on the misconceptions surrounding the San Diego Padres has to begin with their hitting. At the end of the 2008 season, the Padres ranked dead last in the league in runs. Since moving into Petco, the team has been consistently at the bottom of the league in this category.

From this information alone, it would be safe to assume any number of things, from the players on the team are poor to the management has no idea of how to put together a team to compete in this ballpark. What needs to be considered is that the Padres are not the only team that plays in Petco.

What are park factors?

Simply, park factors indicate the difference between runs scored in a team’s home and road games. As the same hitters and the same pitchers are doing the playing, the difference in runs scored is dependent on the park the game is played in.

Park factors do tend to vary some from year to year. That’s why I have compiled the combined park factors for every stadium from 2004 through 2007, save the two Nationals and Cardinals parks. I used a basic version of the park factor equation: (home runs for + home runs against) / (road runs for + road runs against). And the numbers are:

(And, as you should’ve assumed, Petco Park this year was again last in the league at 0.796. First in the league for 2008 was Rangers Ballpark, at 1.142.)

What does this mean? In layman’s terms, Petco is the hardest stadium in baseball to hit in. Not just by a little, but a lot.

The Padres don’t just play in a pitcher’s park, they play in an extreme pitcher’s park.

This is the lens under which the Padres low run totals should be viewed. Nineteen percent less runs scored in Petco than in the average park. The next toughest stadium, Safeco Field, is more than half that distance away at 8% less. The only gap greater than the 11% between Petco and Safeco is the 15% between Coors Field and Chase Field. You may know Coors Field as the place that kept baseballs in a humidor to try to even the odds between sides.

From 04-07, the two most productive Padres were Adrian Gonzalez and Brian Giles. In their most productive seasons, their home and away OPS splits were:

And then this season:

(More of the same from Gonzalez, although Giles’ numbers aren’t so bad. Another good reason to resign him, but that’s a discussion for another day.)

When the stadium built, it was said to be Bonds-proof. Barry’s response:

“It’s not Bonds-proof. It’s baseball-proof.”

While it’s not quite baseball-proof, it’s close. The home stadium puts hitters at a ridiculous disadvantage, and there’s no easy solution.

The fences are too far and the air’s too thick and it’s just too drat hard. On the plus side, the fences were brought  in before the 06 season, albeit barely (thanks wrveres), and the front office likes to drop little teases that they could be moved in farther (thank you, Jody Gerut). On the less plus side, Sean Connery from The Avengers hasn’t been called to do something about the thick marine air.

Until (read: if) something is done to neutralize Petco Park, the 25 Padres taking the field are going to have to make due with what they’ve got. And so will all of us sitting in the stands.

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I mean, as much as I love endless complaining, the reality is life is what you make of it.  I’ve learned that when I focus my energy on something positive, or at least something else, I’m a happier person.

Yes, drinking counts.  By all means, focus on booze.

Anyway, this is a Melvin Nieves Original Photo © 200Abillion. It’s HDR, so the real photographers out there will probably thumb their noses.  I’m used to it, the real baseball bloggers do the same thing.

I hope you like the photo.

Opportunity cost is of course is the value of time doing one thing (say watching a baseball game) that is forgone in order to do something else (say stand in line at concession stands, or point out dudes in jeans shorts [or both!]).

Now suppose the dollar value of a college educated blogger’s time is worth roughly $30 an hour.  I submit for your review an opportunity cost computation of the Padres dollar days promotion from Friday, July 11th, 2008.

• $0 – They ran out of soda, but provided free Raspberry Iced tea.  Though I wouldn’t bank on that, I’m a sweet talker.
• $3 – Three hot dogs, limit four items per blogger.
• $15 – Opportunity cost of waiting in line for 30 minutes.

Total expenses: $18

The final three home games for the promotion are Monday the 28th though Wednesday.  Concessions lines move much slower than usual.  Don’t believe everything you read.

More Recenter Edit: After pulling the article I received confirmation that the contents of the speech were not to be published.  Sorry to all involved.  This sucks.

EDIT: Crap, I’m really nervous.  It sounds like something was said before we arrived about not reporting the contents of Paul’s speech.

On one hand, I don’t particularly understand this since the event was announced to the public and anyone who wanted could buy a ticket.  On the other hand, this isn’t a press conference.  Paul would enjoy way less freedom to speak freely and honestly if he knew the entire interwebtubes were disseminating his every word.

I for one appreciate when a public figure has the desire and opportunity to speak openly.  Because of this, the report may disappear soon.

Of course it has to happen for our one opportunity to pretend to be a real media outlet.

Baseball Prospectus hosted a fun little evening at PETCO on Friday, beach towel night.  It featured a talk with San Diego Padres special assistant for baseball operations Paul DePodesta.  Paul is famous as a central character in Michael Lewis’ renowned book “Moneyball”, in my opinion the Most Influencial Sports Book of all Time™.  Paul is also the former GM of the Dodgers, run out of town by the myopic LA media, who (surprise!) aren’t as smart as they think they are.

The Sacrifice Bunt flagged him down after the event (may or may not involving a scared, girlish scream of “ahhh Paul!!” as he walked away) for a quick chat and photo.  During the chat and speech, Paul came across as down to earth, pleasant, and spoke with the care and accuracy one would expect from a Harvard graduate.

Ray commented that Paul’s demeanor seemed opposite of Sandy Alderson’s guarded, defensive, and some might say arrogant attitude during appearances with Billy and Daren on the radio.  I responded that if knuckleheads did no research and attacked me under the guise of balanced “journalism”, I’d probably act the same way Alderson does.

Snip

If we weren’t already doing it this way, is this the way we would start?

Following Trevor Hoffman’s departure from last night’s 3-1 loss to the Twins, boos rained down from the bleachers. Boos, it would seem, intended for the future Hall of Famer after surrendering back-to-back home runs, including the game winner. This didn’t sit well with the Padres clubhouse.

“I didn’t like it,” said manager Bud Black. “This city should be very proud of a player like that for everything he’s done on the field and in the community. I don’t like it. I don’t think it’s fair.”

—–

“It’s disheartening, knowing what Trevor has meant not only to the organization but the city, and his level of accomplishment is unmatched in our game,” (Tony) Clark said.

—–

Jake Peavy, who started the game, said he heard the boos in the clubhouse. “I could not believe that,” he said. “That is as disheartening as it gets. I don’t understand it. When you look at all of his achievements, what he has meant, it’s ridiculous.”

—–

Said teammate Shawn Estes: “How soon they forget.”

—–

(Heath) Bell didn’t hear the boos that came after Hoffman gave up two home runs in an inning for the eighth time in his career. “If the fans were booing him, shame on them,” he said.

Hoffman hears boos in Twin killing

While we here at The Sacrifice Bunt don’t condone booing, we don’t condemn it either. There is a time and place to boo, although we couldn’t say if that time was following Hoffman’s poor performance. While there are shades of grey when discussing the merits of booing, the merit of the Padres post game conversation seems a bit more black and white.

The Padres lost last night 3-1. They again squandered a great performance by Peavy. In the bottom of the eighth, they had runners on first and second with no out and neither runner made it to third. In the seventh, they had runners on first and third with no out and two ground balls ended the inning with only one run scoring. Jody Gerut was caught stealing on what appeared to be a botched hit-and-run attempt when Edgar Gonzalez flailed futilely at what would’ve been ball four. In back-to-back at-bats, Gerut and Craig Stansberry were unable to get down sacrifice bunts. Oh, and the team’s increasingly unreliable closer came in and jumped his ERA up half a run.

It was an ugly game.

The fact that the Padres find it shocking that the fans could boo their performance seems naive or arrogant, or maybe a little bit of both. The team has fallen back into last place, setting themselves up for a potential rematch of the worsts this weekend when the pitiful Mariners come to town. The offense and pitching are below average. They let Milton Bradley slip through their fingers in the off-season and now he’s leading the A.L. They signed Jim Edmonds to man centerfield, then dumped him after a month and now he’s caught fire with the Cubs.

Now, it should be said that this season is an aberration. The current Padres management has put together the best run in the team’s almost 40 years and we haven’t even begun to reap the benefits of the new farm system. But that doesn’t affect the team that is currently taking the field right now. And the responses of the players from last night suggests they are more concerned with something other than their performance.

Again, we want to be fair. We’re sure that the players are as concerned about their performance as we are. But when the topic on the tips of their tongues is the reaction they got from the crowd, red flags go up. Maybe the fans aren’t what the players should be concerned about. The boos from the stands are a reaction to what is taking place on the field.

More disconcerting is the reaction of manger Buddy Black. For starters, he’s called out the entire city, which seems disrespectful given everything this city has done for the team. At what point does protecting become coddling? A good manager should stand behind his players, but at what point do these players take responsibility? If they continually fail to put down a bunt, a skill practiced by children, does he simply give them a pat on the back? And this doesn’t even get into the idea that Black is asking players ill-equipped to handle a task attempt to perform it anyway.

It’s not like this kind of whining is anything new. Be sure that if the Padres decide to trade a player sometime between now and July 31st that the Union-Tribune will be filled with quotes from players, decrying the actions of the management. We’ll leave you with some past highlights.

“Incomprehensible,” was Trevor Hoffman’s reaction. “Four other teams in the National League West are awfully excited. I probably need to take a day before I say something about this because I’m going to say something stupid.”

—–

“You have to trust your front office when you are in the middle of a playoff run,” Jake Peavy said. “But, man, to trade away your setup man . . . what kind of a message are we sending here?”

Padres trade Linebrink