Left-Field Wall photos, Friday, Feb. 3

by Aaron G Stock on Feb 10, 2006 12:22 AM EST Comment 5 comments

I took a day off last Friday to tour the ballpark. I had a great time, was at first confused to see a large number of people walking from the direction of the Wachovia Center at 10am, but then realized Wing Bowl had just taken place (no links to protect the squeamish; it's a hyped-up chicken-wing-eating contest).

Anyway, the real reason I was there was to run reconnaisance on the left field wall. I have seen no photos yet, either on the official Phillies site, or elsewhere, except for a couple on Flickr.com, to which I belong. So, I plunked down the cash ($10 or $11) and did the dirty work myself.

Here are week-old photos of the work on the wall:

Compare my above photo with this one, taken by "Fen Branklin" during the 2005 season:
[editor's note, by Aaron G Stock] Left fielders will now be contending with a tiny new angle in the corner beyond the foul pole (I'd wondered how the foul pole would be accommodated).
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Here is a full-on view of the work:

Compare that with this one, taken by "ryser2k":
[editor's note, by Aaron G Stock] You can see how that ballpark quirk, where the slanted wall at the Southwest Airlines sign extends beyond fair territory into foul, will nearly disappear.

Oh, and Ryan Howard's bat is heavier than Jimmy Rollins's or Chase Utley's.

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nice comparisons

I especially like the last two. Good job on that, and thanks for adding them.

by Alex Falzone on Feb 10, 2006 9:36 AM EST reply actions

You're welcome!

I actually didn't take the 2nd and 4th photos from the top.

by Aaron G Stock on Feb 10, 2006 10:02 AM EST reply actions

Good stuff

Thanks for sharing the pics, Aaron. It'll be interesting to see if this has any meaningful effect, or if it's meant as a psychological salve to the pitchers.

by WholeCamels on Feb 10, 2006 12:06 PM EST reply actions

thanks Aaron

Great shots.

To Bake's point, I wonder if anyone has gone back through game logs/tapes to see if the Phils or the opposition had more cheapie homers to left. Either way, I'm hoping the field will play less homer-happy--if only to shut up the announcer types who've already seized on CBP as "Coors Lite."

by dajafi on Feb 10, 2006 2:39 PM EST reply actions

What I'd love to see....

...is CBP give up fewer HRs but see an increase in hits/doubles/triples which result in higher offensive output (and thus be a stronger hitter's park). And then for the media to ignore runs, focus on HRs and say that the walk change "helped" the offense "problems".

Doubt it would play out that way, but it would be funny.

by Laaaaazzz on Feb 10, 2006 11:51 PM EST reply actions