Carlos' Corner: My new hometown
Downtown Walnut Creek appeals to Peña
By Carlos Peña / Special to MLB.com

Carlos Peña, a 23-year-old rookie heralded as one of the top
prospects in the game, was acquired by Oakland during the offseason
in a six-player trade with Texas. He's replacing Jason Giambi as the
A's first baseman and is providing for MLB.com an exclusive daily
diary for the 2002 season.

Peña recently settled in for the season, and before Wednesday's game
against the Mariners he spent some time talking about his new adopted
hometown.

OAKLAND, Calif. -- I live in Walnut Creek now, and it's a nice little
town. The weather, with the exception of yesterday, has been
excellent, and the people I've spoken to who know the town say that
it only gets better. I'm looking forward to making this my home away
from home.

The reason I like it is that I'll be hanging out there a lot, and
there's a lot of nice quiet places to go. The mall, for example, is
very nice. And it's outdoors, which I like. It looks a little bit
older than some of the new malls you see these days, and that gives
it a certain character.

I'll probably be near the mall quite a bit during the day when we
have night games. There are all kinds of nice shops and restaurants,
and there's a great Barnes & Noble with a nice little terrace. I know
that I'll be there a lot.

Walnut Creek has a lot of restaurants, and I like the variety. There
are the big ones, the chains, like Outback and Chili's and Bennigan's
and P.F. Chang's, but there's also some pretty cool little ones. I
like the family-style, independently owned places. The holes in the
wall always seem to have a great feel to them.

I've been recognized downtown a couple of times already, and it's
funny because I have to remind myself why I'm being recognized. It's
nice, though, because when someone recognizes me, that tells me that
they're a fan of the Oakland A's. I want to establish a relationship
with these people.

That gives me the opportunity to say, "Hey, are you coming out to the
game tonight?" And who knows? If there weren't going to come, maybe
because I asked them, they will. You know, "Let's go watch Carlos
play tonight," because they know me. I think just making contact with
people will help them feel connected to the team in some way, and
maybe they'll come to more games. And if they don't, that's OK. I'm
happy to just to meet new people.

Walnut Creek is one of those kinds of towns -- at least downtown --
where you can just park your car and walk anywhere you want to go.
It's nice that way, very relaxing, lots of trees, fresh air. Over the
course of the season, I can see myself hanging out there a lot.

Carlos Peña's diary appears as told to Mychael Urban, who covers the
Oakland A's for MLB.com.