I’m not a weather geek, buy my old man worked for the National Weather Service for 40 years, so I can speak their language. And I’ve only been to San Diego a couple of times, but my brother lives there, so I can speak that language a little bit too. So, of course, when there is a story that combines baseball, weather and San Diego, I’m gonna link it. It’s all about that “marine layer” those people out there go on about and how it impacts offense at Petco Park.
The afternoon/evening differences are something I’ve seen first hand. The last time I went to Petco there was a minor league game there -- Lake Elsinore vs. I have no idea -- and the ball was flying out of that place. A couple hours later the darkness fell, the marine layer rolled in and the Padres and Blue Jays couldn’t get anything to carry at all. And it wasn’t for a lack of square contact. Stuff just got knocked the hell down.
It’s a neat place to watch a baseball game for a lot of reasons, but the weather dynamics, such as they are, are one of the cooler reasons. At least if you’re a faux-weather/baseball/San Diego geek.
