New Park, if Not Pirates, Is Special

Build it and they will come.

Or in the case of the struggling Pittsburgh Pirates, build it and give them a reason to come.

PNC Park has been a bright spot in another dismal season for the National League Central’s last-place team, providing frustrated fans with a pleasant distraction during games.

The new $262-million, baseball-only facility opened to good reviews and is still pleasing audiences despite the team’s problems.

The Pirates are on pace to set a franchise attendance record at 2.5 million. The previous mark of 2.065 million was established during the 1991 season, when the Pirates won the East Division title.

The Pirates--43-68 after a 2-1 loss Tuesday night to the Dodgers--acknowledge the ballpark is the reason fans keep coming.

“We understand we’ve had a tough season and have not played the way we wanted, but the fans have been terrific and the ballpark is a big part of that,” said Kevin McClatchy, Pirate managing general partner. “They just love coming to this place.”

Almost anything would have been an improvement over charmless Three Rivers Stadium, which the Pirates shared with the NFL’s Pittsburgh Steelers, who move into new Heinz Field this month.

But fortunately for the Pirates, PNC Park is considered one of baseball’s best-designed new ballparks.

PNC Park is the majors’ first two-deck ballpark since County Stadium, the Milwaukee Brewers’ former home, which opened in 1953.

The city skyline, including the Roberto Clemente Bridge, serves as an outfield backdrop.

At about 38,300 seats, PNC Park is the game’s smallest ballpark to be constructed recently.

It is slightly bigger than Boston’s Fenway Park, which has baseball’s smallest capacity at 33,871.

Of course, PNC Park includes typical new ballpark amenities, such as 65 revenue-generating luxury suites, a private club and four restaurants.

The dimensions of the field are favorable for left-handed batting batters--only 320 feet down the right-field line.

It is 399 feet to straightaway center, 325 down the left-field line and 410 to the deepest part of the ballpark in left-center.

McClatchy, whose family runs a newspaper empire, instructed HOK Sport Inc. of Kansas City, Mo., to incorporate the best of Pittsburgh’s old Forbes Field, Chicago’s Wrigley Field and Fenway Park.

Mission accomplished, McClatchy said.

“I couldn’t be happier than I am with this ballpark,” he said. “We spent a couple of years designing it, we took a few different ballparks and tried to combine it into one.

“You never know, when you’re designing these things, exactly how they’re going to turn out. We’re very happy with how this turned out.”

Closer Mike Fetters is adjusting to life with the lowly Pirates.

The former Dodger reliever expressed frustration about last Tuesday’s three-player trade that brought him and minor league left-hander Adrian Burnside to Pittsburgh for veteran lefty Terry Mulholland, but the right-hander said Tuesday he’s making the best of a disappointing situation.

“I made the adjustment went I first put the Pirate uniform on,” said Fetters, in the first year of a two-year, $4.25-million contract.

“When they first told me of the trade it hurt, I was upset. No one wants to go from a first-place team to a last-place team, but I’m committed to the Pittsburgh Pirates now and I’m going to do the best I can for them.”

Kevin Brown still hopes to pitch again this season despite a torn muscle in his pitching elbow.

The right-hander said recently he hoped to return before the first week of September, but Brown has not started a throwing program.

Manager Jim Tracy said Brown, undergoing physical therapy, might begin a program during the next homestand.

TONIGHT

DODGERS’

LUKE PROKOPEC

(6-6, 4.55 ERA)

vs.

PIRATES’

JIMMY ANDERSON

(6-11, 5.51 ERA)

PNC Park, 4 p.m. PDT

Radio--KXTA (1150), KWKW (1330)

Update--Prokopec, winless since May 26, is 0-2 with a 5.92 earned-run average in his last four starts. The rookie right-hander has given up 24 hits--including eight home runs--in his last 24 1/3 innings. Anderson is 2-1 with a 1.57 ERA in four starts against the Dodgers.