Game 1 -- July 24, 2008

Padres vs. Pirates
PNC Park, Pittsburgh

Pirates 9, Padres 1
Home runs: Jason Bay, Xavier Nady (back to back), Nate McLouth

Beer: $7.50

Photos

PNC Park has always looked beautiful on television, with the Pittsburgh skyline visible in centerfield, and it looks even better in person. It was a great night for baseball – a few clouds but mostly sun, blue skies and puffs of white overhead.

We arrived plenty early. Heinz Field, home of the Steelers, is very near PNC and we drove around it on our way to the ballpark. The bus driver showed us “The Point” where the Allegheny, Monongahela and Ohio Rivers meet – the three rivers of old Three Rivers Stadium, which was next to where PNC Park is. Once the other bus arrived and we met the rest of our tour group, we wandered around a bit before going in. It’s a beautiful riverfront area, with boats out on the water and several bridges in the area. At the main entrance there’s a statue of Honus Wagner. Seems like most ballparks have one or more statues honoring their greats. Though we didn’t see them, there are statues of Roberto Clemente and Willie Stargell outside PNC Park as well.

Inside, we decided to explore the food options instead of watching the Padres take batting practice. There was an outdoor patio area that overlooked the rivers, so we sat there to eat. They had more than just typical ballpark food – I had fish and chips – plus Pittsburgh-brewed beers in addition to the usual. There probably were pierogies available somewhere, since there is a Pierogy Race at PNC. It’s not quite as exciting as the Sausage Race in Milwaukee. For one thing, animated pierogies start the race on the big screen. Then the “real” costumed ones come out, but only race a short distance.

That big screen gets a lot of use – animation is very big. There was a long cartoon of a Pirates ship sinking a Padres ship before the game. Between innings, there were other cartoons on screen.

Our seats were great, just past first base and maybe 12 rows up. Our whole group was seated together but as the game went on (and the rest of the ballpark didn’t fill up) some moved off elsewhere.

PNC Park is deceptively large looking. The seating capacity is under 39,000 but it looks much bigger. The attendance was just under 18,000 and they were very quiet. It wasn’t until there were two outs in the top of the ninth inning that the crowd really cheered at all. A few scattered people stood up and cheered, or danced, after homers. There also were fireworks after Pirate homers, and those definitely looked better when it was darker. The first two homers – Jason Bay and Xavier Nady hit them back-to-back – were when it was still light out. Nate McLouth’s came later and thus looked more vibrant. Something we weren’t able to know at the time: the homer by Nady was his last as a Pirate, since he was traded to the Yankees the next day.

As soon as the games started in the Midwest, we were keeping track of how the Cardinals and the Cubs were doing. The scoreboard with that info was fairly detailed, which we appreciated.

There were two mascots running around, a pirate (of course) and a parrot.

All in all, great stadium and good game!

The next morning, on our way out of Pittsburgh, our buses stopped on the University of Pittsburgh campus to see where Forbes Field (the Pirates home before Three Rivers Stadium) was located. Home plate is still there, though now inside a building. There’s also a row of brick in the sidewalk in front of the building to signify where the outfield was, with a portion of the actual wall still there. There are plaques commemorating the spot where Bill Mazeroski’s home run that won the 1960 World Series went over the wall. Very interesting to see all of this and learn more baseball history. Then it was on to Baltimore …