Updated: October 22, 2012, 9:22 PM ET

SAN DIEGO -- 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).

The changes are good news to sluggers like Chase Headley, and even pitcher Tim Stauffer said he's OK with them.

Originally posted here:

Padres will move in portion of Petco's fences

(MoneyWatch) If you have trouble finding files because you use your Windows desktop as a sort of free-form filing cabinet, then there's hope on the horizon. In the past, I've recommended what might well be my favorite Windows utility of all time: Fences. Fences lets you quickly and easily rope off sections of the desktop to organize files in groups that look sort of like open folder windows. You can hide all of these "fences" with a double click, and double click to bring them back again. Fences might not sound like much, but trust me: It's utterly transformational. Almost without exception, when people see my desktop they ask me about Fences, and often they try it and fall in love as well.

Well, Stardock has released a new version of Fences, and it's amazing how much they've overhauled the app without "breaking" what I love about it: Its simplicity.

Perhaps more than anything, Fences 2.0 feels like it's built into Windows itself rather than an add-on from some other company. Settings and preferences for Fences are now baked into the Windows Control Panel, for example. And like an ordinary folder, you can now sort and arrange the contents of a Fences group using all the usual criteria, and even show files in list format as opposed to icons.

That's not all. Fences now supports "pages" of Fences; you can swipe your desktop to change the Fences that appear. Not unlike the way you can browse through pages of apps on your phone or tablet. Have a folder full of files that you need persistent access to on the desktop? Rather than copying the folder to the desktop, you can turn that folder into a Fences group.

Fences 2.0 is an awesome upgrade to what was already one of the few absolutely indispensable Windows utilities. I guarantee that you'll be more organized and walk with a spring in your step after trying Fences. The only downside: Unlike the original Fences, there's no free version of Fences 2.0. After the 30-day trial, you'll need to pay a very reasonable $10 to keep the program. Give it a try, though, and I think you'll see that it's well worth the equivalent of a couple of cups of coffee.

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Clean up your desktop with Fences

A new version of Fences was released earlier this month, adding a couple of new tricks to the Windows desktop organizer.

Fences 2.0 doesn't mess with what worked in the first version, which we loved when we looked at it three years ago. You get the same easy functionality of creating shaded areas (aka fences) on your desktop for organizing your files and folders. It lets you create rules, as you could with the old Fences Pro version, which automatically direct certain types of files to particular fences. Fences 2.0 introduces two new and useful features -- Folder Portals and Desktop Pages -- but before we get to them, let's quickly go over how the app works.

When you launch Fences 2.0, you can either start with a default layout or start from scratch and create your own fences. Choose the former, and the app will organize all the icons on your desktop, save the Recycle Bin, into fences. In my case, it created three fences: Programs, Folder, and Files & Documents.

To create a new fence, draw a rectangle on your desktop and choose "Create Fence here." You can then name and resize the fence. You can also drag the fence to reposition it, and there are a number of views and ways to sort a fence, which are accessible from a pull-down menu located in the upper-left corner of a fence.

Click the X in the upper-right corner to close a fence. When closing a fence, you can choose to delete all of the files contained therein, or you can close the fence while leaving its files on your desktop.

Lastly, you can double-click to hide all of the fences on your desktop, and you can exclude certain folders from this quick-hide feature (from the View menu accessible from the upper-left corner). Double-click again and your hidden fences reappear.

Now, to the two new features: Folder Portals and Desktop Pages.

A Folder Portal does not take you to another dimension, but it does offer a live view from your desktop to any folder. There are three ways to create a Folder Portal. You can hold down the Alt key while dragging and dropping a folder to your desktop, draw a rectangle on your desktop and choose the "Create Folder Portal here" option, or you can right-click on a folder and choose "Show this folder on the desktop." Not only does a Folder Portal give you quick access to the contents of a commonly accessed folder, but it also lets you open the folder by double-clicking the header or any blank space of a Folder Portal.

Desktop Pages lets you create multiple desktop screens (aka pages). Much like swiping through screens on a smartphone, you can swipe through these Desktop Pages. To swipe, move your cursor to the side edge of your display and drag while holding down the left-mouse button. Or you can hold down both mouse buttons and drag from anywhere on the screen. You can also use the Alt key and the arrow keys on your keyboard to swipe through your pages. To move a folder from one page to another, simply drag it to the edge of your screen.

Pricing has changed. There is no longer a limited free version and a pro version. Instead, there is one version, but you can try before you buy with a 30-day free trial. Fences 2.0 costs $9.99 (or $6.99 upgrade for Fences Pro users).

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Fences 2.0 helps manage your desktop chaos

SAN DIEGO - Construction will begin this week to move in the outfield fences at pitcher-friendly Petco Park, the baseball stadium where home runs go to die, the Padres announced Monday.

The park's dimensions will shrink by up to a dozen feet in the power alleys, according to the Padres.

"Our goal is to move Petco Park away from being the most extreme run suppressing ballpark in Major League Baseball," said Ron Fowler, who leads the Padres' ownership group. "After an extensive study, it became clear to all of us that some change was needed."

The outfield wall in left-centerfield will be moved in, from 402 feet from home plate to 390 feet, while the right-center dimension will be reduced 11 feet to 391 feet. Other dimensions will remain the same, according to the Padres.

"Petco will still be a pitcher's park, however, it will no longer be the outlier," Fowler said.

Distant fences, combined with cool and damp nighttime air, has made it a challenge for sluggers to knock the ball over the fence since the park opened in 2004. The situation has made it difficult for the small-market team to sign big-hitting free agents.

With the extra room, the Padres will move the visitor's bullpen behind the outfield wall to address a player safety issue, and relocate the out-of- town scoreboard.

Copyright 2012 by City News Service. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Fences at Petco Park to be moved in