This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Sydney • Adrian Gonzalez ripped line drives to all areas of the park, often scattering his Los Angeles Dodgers teammates in the outfield from the safety of the batting cage. It was just a few hours after arriving in Australia, with his body thinking it was about midnight.
Still, the first baseman who led the Dodgers in hits, home runs, RBIs and games played last season did a good job of making Sydney Cricket Ground, the home for two Major League Baseball season-opening games this weekend, sound and look like a real ballpark.
The Dodgers and their weekend opponents, the Arizona Diamondbacks, arrived early Tuesday on separate jumbos from the U.S. west coast. It was a 15-hour flight and took the teams across the International Date Line, missing Monday altogether, and putting them in a time zone 18 hours ahead of the one they left behind.
Hence Gonzalez in the batting cage was well past his usual bedtime, but looking pretty impressive.
"We're all very excited to be here," Gonzalez said before the Dodgers' workout. "We'll have a few hits, see how the ball carries, but it all looks like a real ballpark."
Vin Scully, the 86-year-old Dodgers' announcer, proclaimed after he got off the plane that "it's great to be here," and Dodgers manager Don Mattingly and his Diamondbacks counterpart Kirk Gibson later gave the ball field a similar thumbs-up.
"No question, everyone is saying that having a chance to start the season here in Sydney, to be able to get out of spring training a bit early, it's great," said Mattingly. "Let's get this thing started."
Gibson said he had fond memories of Australia because he spent his honeymoon here in 1985 "and that part worked out pretty good, so I hope this does."
"Of all the historic places we've played over the years, you walk in and you can see they've put a lot of work into the field," Gibson added. "And I've been told by (Diamondbacks' Australian relief pitcher) Ryan Rowland-Smith, it's fair dinkum."
Translated, that means he thinks it's a pretty good place to play baseball.
Arizona first baseman Paul Goldschmidt was in the best position to judge the change to Sydney Cricket Ground, having been part of a promotional visit here last year.
"When I was here it was set up for cricket matches, but you wouldn't know that walking out there today," he said. "Very impressed."
Goldschmidt said he was surprised by the distance in foul territory between the baselines and the stands. That's in keeping with the natural shape of a cricket ground, where the batting "wicket" is usually closer to the center of the ground and the entire field is in play.
"Foul territory, that's going to be the big difference," Goldschmidt said. "But baseball stadiums are different in the States, so it'll just take some adjusting. We'll work it out in the next few days."