Athletics usher in new era at West Sacramento's Sutter Health Park

WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Mark Kotsay regularly walks around the field before games to add some steps to his daily count. For the Athletics manager on Monday, that meant also surveying the field conditions at his new home ballpark.

The left-field corner had become swampy after a morning rainstorm in Northern California, but Kotsay just smiled and remained confident it would be playable by first pitch. Beyond the left-field stands, construction projects were still being completed at Sutter Health Park, all as red, white and blue banners commemorating the A's home opener hung from the railings of the minor league stadium.

“We've embraced being here in every way,” Kotsay said, noting his team has already gone through opening day last week in Seattle.

“From a playing standpoint, we're settled, right, so the nerves and anxieties, excitement of the game is now settled," he said. "In terms of tonight and the energy that we're going to feel from this crowd, obviously we haven't been in this environment so it's going to be a new experience, which is exciting.”

Even with all of the change that comes with relocation, fans still lined up at entrances well before the gates opened on a blustery, cool evening. Once inside the gates and at their seats, some began chants of “Let’s Go Oakland!” as an ode to their old city.

With the A's trailing 16-3, fans began hollering, “Sell The Team!” as they had all of last season as a rallying cry directed at owner John Fisher.

Shortly after, in the bottom of the seventh with Seth Brown batting, a drone hovering above left field briefly delayed the game. Longtime visiting clubhouse manager Mikey Thalblum’s son Stewart, a bat boy, corralled the drone and it was removed by security.

All of the A’s players wore No. 24 jerseys to honor late Hall of Famer Rickey Henderson, who died Dec. 20 five days before his 66th birthday. A 24-second moment of silence was held following player introductions. Henderson's three daughters threw out ceremonial first pitches.

The Chicago Cubs, who already have been to Japan and Arizona before this trip, were out on the right-field grass hours ahead of game time and just happened to be the team helping usher in a new A's era.

“It’s a normal road trip, it just feels a little different,” Cubs first baseman Justin Turner said. “Obviously opening up here, being the first ever major league game in Sacramento is something, I guess, I don't know if it's a good thing or a bad thing but we're here. Looking forward to going out and playing some good baseball.”

Outside the venue, alternating light poles feature signage for the Athletics and River Cats — the San Francisco Giants' Triple-A affiliate who will also play here.

Attendance was a sellout of 12,119. The stadium can hold up to 13,146 when including seating on a right-field grass berm. This is expected to be the team's home in California's capital region for at least the next three years before the A's aim to move into a new ballpark in Las Vegas.

That soggy spot in left field had been dealt with by game time. Sutter Health Park has natural grass with a complex cooling and draining system that will be especially important during the hot summer months.

“I think they did a great job, actually. As we all know all fields are not created equal,” Fisher told reporters pregame. “People have always thought that the A’s grounds keepers did an amazing job and that our field in Oakland and frankly our fields in spring training were kind of works of art. This certainly looks great. It’s got to be one of the most sophisticated fields ever created. ... And then it came together in such a short period of time. As we all know things don’t always move as quickly as you want them to. This would definitely be an exception.”

In order to have priority and eventually secure second-row season tickets — the front row is reserved for owners and VIPs — business partners Dan Niccum and Ken McGuire purchased season tickets in Oakland last year even though they only made it to a handful of games in the A's final season at the Coliseum they called home since 1968.

“We are really thrilled,” Niccum said. “Of course we want them to stay in Sacramento. They may, because it's a pipe dream what they're doing in Vegas right now.”

Longtime A's coach Eric Martins experienced some nostalgia as he took the field for early work. He played in the opening game of this ballpark 25 years ago with what was then Oakland's Triple-A club.

“Sacramento River Cats, first year, first 40 games on the road, opening of the season and then we didn't get to open here because there was rain before we got here so it kind of delayed a couple things that weren't done,” Martins said. “So we played our first two games in Oakland before we finally got to open up here. This is a complete full circle for me. ... Crazy.”

It wasn't quite that for Cubs manager Craig Counsell, but having Chicago's clubhouse in center field brought back memories of the similarities at San Francisco's old Candlestick Park.

“I was telling the players the last park that I remember where the clubhouses weren't attached to the dugout was Candlestick,” Counsell said. “And they just kind of looked at me with a blank stare, but I tried to share a story that it did exist in the major leagues that there were parks during the season where you also didn't have access to the clubhouse during the game. This is a spring-training setup in terms of we don't have access to the clubhouse during spring training. Very similar from that perspective.”

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