I went to my first baseball game of the year last week – a Padres loss, if you can believe it, but that doesn’t matter. I typically enjoy a night out at Petco Park with the local nine and whomever they’re playing. Besides baseball, there are hotdogs, peanuts, goofy games on the scoreboard and unparalleled people watching. This time, though, I wanted to take stock of another atmosphere at Petco, one I hadn’t thought much about in any previous visit to the park.

How safe is it?

This has been on my mind since what happened earlier this month at Dodger Stadium: a San Francisco Giants fan was beaten into a coma by some as-yet-unidentified L.A. partisans. In the aftermath of this attack, ballpark security has been under renewed scrutiny not only at Dodger Stadium but all over the country.

I don’t know what heightened steps, if any, have been taken at Petco, but I feel encouraged by my first trip there of the 2011 season. The Padres weren’t playing the rival Dodgers, but the presence of the Philadelphia Phillies had drawn hordes of Phillies fans in red caps, shirts and sweaters. I was sitting near the right-field foul pole among a dozen or more of them. The entire row in front of me, in fact, was occupied by ardent Phillies fans, and, as you may know, Philadelphia sports fans, even transplanted ones, aren’t shy.

But through nine innings of a contest lengthened by pitchers’ walks and numerous men-on-base situations (in the Padres’ case, men stranded on base), I witnessed not one unpleasantry from San Diego or Philadelphia fans. Two Phillies home runs were loudly cheered by the folks in red, while Padres loyalists just shrugged and shook their heads with that benign, it’s-only-a-game acceptance that being a Padres loyalist demands.

I won’t pretend that the civil and convivial behavior of opposing fans in one small section of Petco Park prevailed everywhere at or around the facility. There are always a few loudmouths, and those who’ve consumed a few too many beers, at a sporting event. But as I do at most baseball games I attend, I walked around the concourses and promenades during the evening, and I was encouraged by the sights and sounds of good behavior.

I hope that’s the way it always is at Petco Park.

If the Padres’ season continues on its woeful path, one has to wonder if fans will keep coming at all, regardless of how family-friendly the atmosphere is at the ballpark. But that’s not of paramount importance. Those who will come to Petco Park this summer deserve to enjoy the experience, whatever the performance of the Friars might be. Attending any large event, whether it’s a baseball game, a football game or a rock concert, should be about enjoyment, but also about respecting each other. That didn’t happen that one tragic night in Chavez Ravine. It should never happen here.

I might think twice about wearing a Padres cap at a Dodger game in L.A., but I don’t want Dodgers fans, or fans of any other teams that come to town, to worry about wearing the caps of their beloved ballclub when they come to a game at Petco Park. It’s been said before, but … can’t we all just get along?