Padres Don’t Mind the Road When Their Fans Tag Along

As San Diego Padre closer Trevor Hoffman strolled in from the bullpen Tuesday afternoon at Edison Field, he was greeted by a standing ovation from the screaming fans along the right field line.

As he closed the door on the Angels for a third consecutive day, Hoffman was given a thunderous cheer. As he walked off the field with his 25th save, hugs and high-fives were breaking out behind the first-base dugout in celebration of the Padres’ 2-1 victory and series sweep.

The only way Hoffman could have felt more at home was if he had been serenaded by his trademark song--”Hells Bells”--on the way in from the bullpen. But Hoffman, who grew up in Anaheim and went to Savanna High, wasn’t about to apologize for the Padres’ fans and their enthusiasm.

“Our fans in San Diego are really making their presence felt,” said Hoffman, who has lowered his ERA from 4.87 to 2.76 in the last two months. “It’s only 115 miles north to Anaheim and they are coming out in full-force.”

Hoffman is used to coming to Edison Field and wearing the opposing team’s cap. His brother, Glenn, played for the Red Sox and he became a rabid Boston fan.

“I’d come to the games here with my dad,” he said. “I was more of an Angels observer. I wasn’t really a fan of theirs.”

Hoffman tried not to knock Angel fans, who were drowned out by Padre fans for much of the three-game series.

“I don’t want to say anything bad about them,” he said. “I’d prefer to look at how loud our fans were.”

Tony Gwynn, in his 18th year with the Padres, said he has never seen his fans take over a visiting park like they did in Edison Field the past three days.

“This is a new experience for me,” he said. “I know how I felt when we played the Dodgers and they would load up our ballpark with their fans. It’s not a good feeling. This just shows how far we’ve come, that enough baseball people want to come out here and support us.”

Gwynn said he didn’t just feel the support in Edison Field, but also as he left the stadium.

“Padres fans were everywhere on the road last night,” he said. “As I was driving home [to Long Beach], people were blaring horns and waving Padres hats out the window. It was crazy.”

Gwynn figures it will only get crazier the longer the Padres stay in the pennant race. The defending National League champions are two games behind West Division leader San Francisco.

“You have to do it first to get them to believe,” Gwynn said. “Now, I guess they believe. They’ve been with us from the start this year, even when we weren’t playing well. I’m sure they’ll be with us when we go up to San Francisco and on to Houston.”