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Padres Closing Day

By jbox
Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports

Dex, Jonny Dub and I went to the last Padres home game of the season.  We'd planned it last week.  I think I've been to Padres Closing Day for probably the last 5 years, but who knows.  I'm beginning to like it more than Opening Day.  The park is empty, the fans are depressed, the employees are strung out, it's the best.  The Padres should hang black bunting around the ballpark to really set the mood.

As we entered the park through the main entrance and there were no security lines for a change.  Dex mentioned that it was his first Padres game of the year.  We laughed.  Upon entering we spotted Bob Scanlan talking to another fan, we hurried over to him and shooed the fan away so that we could talk to Scan alone.  As you know Padres leadership in all their wisdom replaced Scan in the radio broadcast booth.  Scan greeted us with a smile and a handshake.  I pulled him in for a hug to comfort him, but it turned out he comforted us.  Scan was as you would expect, he took the whole decision in stride and remained upbeat about his future and the Padres.  This is why we love him!

Next we circled the park toward Bud Selig Hall of Fame Plaza where we ran into Annie Heilbrunn from the Mighty 1090 interviewing fans.  We just wanted to say hi, but she wanted to take things to the next level.  Our collective shyness got the better of us and we dodged the interview.  What was there to say about the Padres that wouldn't be horribly negative?

We did Annie a favor, even if she doesn't know it.

Next we went the Padres Store where we ran into our employee crush Josh Ishoo.  You should have seen how his eyes lit up when Dex appeared from behind a rack of overpriced jerseys.  Jon and I were jealous of the attention.  We took pictures, talked about families and such and said our goodbyes.  Ishoo had to rush up to the Press Box to share in the moment of silence for Red.

Into the Park at the Park we went where we waited about 50 minutes for Brie and her girl posse to come down from Fox Sports San Diego.  In that time we had the park to ourselves and took in the sights of closing day.

After the National Anthem the Blue Angels did a flyby as we marveled at their skill.  Dex snarked that Mike Dee was really pushing blue and yellow on the franchise with the colors on the F-18s.

Still waiting we bought raffle tickets to win the player's jerseys after the game, but we lost.  I'm not sure I'd even want anybody's filthy laundry if I had won. Next year they should raffle their pants too.  If anything I'd want the complete set and to see the boys on the field in their underwears.

Finally Brie and her FSSD posse arrived and they were worth the wait.  We had a deep conversation about the season, Fox Sports San Diego, the Padres and our lasting friendship.  Dex mentioned that he missed the giant FSSD stage out near the Tony Gwynn Statue, which wrapped up the conversation quickly.  We didn't take any pictures with Brie, but if we had they would have looked identical to this one.

Finally we made it to our seats in section 115 row 8.  We had decided to treat ourselves with these nice seats by buying them on Stub Hub.  Oh the delights!  We ate, goofed around, watched a guy get kicked out of the ballpark for flipping off an ump and talking back to one of those employees with the straw hats.  It was good times.  Then finally the game was over.  It was the best time I had had at the ballpark all season.

We stuck around a bit at the end of the game.  We wondered why the players couldn't wave to fans or something instead of rushing off to the clubhouse.  Only Cody Decker stayed out to sign autographs.  "If only more players were like Decker", we lamented.

If only more games were like Closing Day...

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