Padres plan to move in portions of Petco's fences

The Padres plan for Petco Park to still be a pitcher's park, but just not as extreme as its current dimensions.

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SAN DIEGO (AP) -- The vast outfield at Petco Park will no longer be a place where long fly balls go to die.

The San Diego Padres said Monday that work will begin this week to bring in the fences in right field and left-center, and to move the visitor's bullpen from right-field foul territory to behind the home bullpen beyond the fence in left-center.

After years of angst by their sluggers, the Padres said it was time to change the extreme nature of the downtown ballpark - which some people derisively called Petco National Park - to one that plays more fairly.

"We want the park to play the right away for players and for the fans," Padres president and CEO Tom Garfinkel said. "That was driven first by baseball operations in terms of the right way to construct the dimensions to make it more fair for players. Players know what's fair and what's not. When they crush a ball that would be out in 29 other parks, and it's not out here, they know that it's not fair. We wanted to make it more fair from that standpoint."

For the fans, the changes might result in fewer boring games.

From the right-field porch to the right-center gap, the fence will be moved in from 402 feet to 391 feet and lowered to match the rest of the outfield wall. The out-of-town scoreboard on the right-field wall will be relocated to a new spot above right field as part of seating modifications.

In left-center, the fence will be moved in from 402 feet to 390 feet to allow for the visiting team's bullpen to be relocated, mostly for safety issues.

The dimensions will remain the same down the left-field line (336 feet), right-field line (322) and straightaway center (396).

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Padres plan to move in portions of Petco's fences