Minute Maid Park Review

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M I N U T E   M A I D   P A R K

July 3, 2011

Boston Red Sox v. Houston Astros

1:05pm

Boston 2, Houston 1

WP:  Beckett (7-3, 2.12 ERA)

LP:  Melancon (5-2, 3.23 ERA)

S:  Papelbon (17, 3.58)

Attendance:  38,035

Time:  3:05

73 degrees, roof closed

 

Minute Maid Park is different from the newer parks in several ways.  It's not a typical retro park.  It's got a roof and boasts the world's largest sliding glass door.  It's got one heck of an air conditioner, too.  The field itself is different from any other.  The Crawford Boxes in left field can be reached with a cheap 315 foot routine fly out.  There is a pole in middle of centerfield.  There's also a hill there.

The roof and sliding glass door opening after the game.

The Crawford Boxes.

The pole on Tall’s Hill in centerfield

I got to the park about 2-1/2 hours prior to game time.  Folks were already starting to line up because of the bobblehead giveaway.  There was not a whole lot to look at around the park.  The most interesting thing were the 2 statues outside the left field entrance.  One of Jeff Bagwell and the other of Craig Biggio.  I looked around for Nolan Ryan but someone said he has a statue in Alvin.  The gates did not open until 1-1/2 hours prior to game time, which is routine for Houston, except on Saturdays when they give you 2 hours.  For someone making a one time visit, this is not enough time to leisurely look around the stadium.  Also, if you ever want to see the Astros take batting practice at home...well, you can't.

Craig Biggio...

...Throwing to Bagwell.

The Atmosphere and The Crowd:  It was okay here in Houston.  I suspect the only reason 38,000 people showed up was because they were playing the Sox.  It's got to be hard to get up to go see a team that has won only half as many games as they've lost.  They pretty much were all there on time and hung around until the end of the game.  There were a ton of Red Sox fans.  There were a lot more "Let's Go Red Sox" chants than vice versa.  It was a close game and pretty well played.  The crowd seemed into it to an extent, but I think that was more the Red Sox fans than the Astro fans.  They had to be told to "Get Loud" on the scoreboard, and the moment it was taken off the board, they got quiet.  You were allowed to get down closer to the field during the pregame without a field box ticket, but only if you went to a certain section or two.  Ushers are good about not letting people go back down to there seats during the middle of the inning.

The Scorecard:  Almost perfect.  It's $1 and comes with the rosters.  The scoring itself all takes place on one page so there's no flipping back and forth.  Room to right in all the pitchers.  Can squeeze in 11 innings.  Easy to right on with a pencil.

The Hot Dog:  There's a lot to choose from.  You can get a basic dog, a jumbo dog, a footlong.  Or, you can go to the cart and get a dog done a variety of ways.  There were probably five or six specialty dogs at the cart, all consisting of a basic jumbo dog and then topped with a variety of toppings (Coney, Chicago style, etc).  I went with the Texas Most Wanted, which came topped with beef brisket, BBQ sauce, and onions (it was suppose to come with pickles but I left those off).  All the specialty dogs were $6.25--the same price as a Kosher dog with onions at Busch.  My Kosher dog still wins out, because the dogs here just didn't have a lot of spice.  They were good, though.  Hot and grilled.  Plus, the lady taking the cash was nice enough to give me a clean hot dog wrapper to keep as a souvenir.  I don't know what you would get if you just went to the regular concession stand in terms of whether it was grilled or not.  You could actually get a regular dog and a small drink for $5, which is somewhat of a bargain.

The Broadcasters:  I listened to most of the game.  They broadcast on 740AM and you can hear it pretty well even with the roof closed.  There is a constant static about every second--like listening to a clock tick--but you get used to it after awhile.  I wouldn't say they had classic radio voices but they called a good game.  I can't say they are anywhere near as entertaining as Shannon and Rooney.  Shannon can get off on tangents and, before you know it, there are 3 outs and you didn’t even know the inning had started.  They advertise the broadcast as starting 25 minutes before and ending 25 minutes after the game.  Seems short but they may have other shows that talk Astros baseball before the actual broadcast starts.

Entertainment:  They did do a couple of things different.  Instead of hiding the ball under ball caps, they hide it under cans of beans.  They also had the Taco Bell Sauce Race, which is the same concept as the sausage race in Milwaukee, but it's packets of taco sauce...yes, this is not a misprint.  Taco Bell sauce packets running around the field.  They shoot t-shirts into the stands with the slingshot.  They do have the kiss cam.  They sing "Deep in the Heart of Texas" after singing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame".  They have a huge scoreboard in right field, which is new this year.

The Scorecard.

The Dog.

Agree.

The rightfield scoreboard.  All the information is there and it’s easy to read.

They don't advertise an authentics store like they do in St. Louis.  This is a place where you can get game used items (bases, bats, balls, etc).  But, they do have one!  It's not anywhere near as extensive, but you can get game used balls from that very days game.  Kind of a cool souvenir to take home.  They even tell you which at-bat they came from.

Views from Around the Park:

View from the Crawford Boxes.

Just interesting...from the hat to the mustache.

Scouts.  The guy in the visor was from the Marlins.  They do everything from tracking the pitch speed with their radar guns to timing how long the pitcher takes between pitches.  I could handle that job.

Ball four to Youkilis, as Melancon walks in the winning run for Boston in the top of the ninth.

They opened up the roof after the game.  The view is a lot better with it open, but I’d rather not sweat.

Game used ball from today’s game and the Brett Myers’ bobblehead they gave away.  I’m still not sure who he is but he must yell a lot.

Other words:  There seemed to be plenty of parking around the stadium.  You could park a couple blocks away for $10 or a couple more away for $5.  I somehow managed to park for free the entire 24 hours I was there.  The Inn at the Ballpark is probably "the place to stay".  It's directly across the street, but I'm sure you pay for that.  I stayed at Club Quarters.  A short 5 minute walk away.  Best of all, it was only $65 for the night.  You wouldn't think it to look at it, though.  They could easily get away charging double and you'd still feel that was reasonable.

Gripes:  Every park is going to have its issues.  I’m not looking to be negative but its all part of giving my honest review.  In preparing to go to the park, I glanced through some of the fan information so I'd know what to expect.  The first thing that jumped out is no fans may bring in food or even water.  That's a luxury we have at Busch.  I don't bring in food, but I do bring in a couple bottles of water (they go for $4 a piece at Busch and here in Houston).  That's a knock in the fan-friendliness sector.  They do allow you to bring in baby formula since they don't sell it at the concessions.  The bathrooms seem huge but obviously there is not enough.  There was always a line during the game.

Overall, I'd say the Houston experience was a good one.  I am glad they played the Red Sox instead of the Pirates.  The roof is a plus in the heat of the summer!  The Cardinals should take some advice on Houston’s scorecard prices.  I like being able to get a game used ball from that day’s game, but I don’t like having to wait in line for it during the game.  A lot of hot dog choices.

I can’t start my ranking until after several parks, so that will come probably closer to the middle of August.

S T A T I S T I C S   U P D A T E

MLB Games Seen

1 of 31

Days

2 of 85

Driving Miles

719.5 of an estimated 18,735

Estimated Gallons of Gas

37.2 of an estimated 1,102

Hot Dogs Eaten

1 of 30

  

Nights Under the Stars

0 of 14

States

2 of 35

Border Crossings

0 of 2

P R E D I C T I O N S   U P D A T E

(AFTER 1 OF 30 GAMES)

Runs

3 of 249

Hits

12 of 512

Errors

1 of 36

Home Runs

0 of 65

Doubles

2 of 101

Triples

0 of 10

Sacrifices (Hits & Flies)

1 of 31

Strikeouts

19 of 415

Walks

10 of 189

Home Team Wins

0 of 17

Complete Games

0 of 1

Shutouts

0 of 2

Saves

1 of 15

Blown Saves

0 of 7

Balks

0 of 2

Wild Pitches

0 of 19

Hit Batters

1 of 18

Walk-offs

0 of 2

Stolen Bases

3 of 40

Caught Stealing

0 of 15

Ejections

0 of 4

Smallest Crowd

38,035

Minute Maid Park, Houston

July 3rd, Boston v. Houston

Largest Crowd

38,035

Minute Maid Park, Houston

July 3rd, Boston v. Houston

B A L L P A R K   R A N K I N G S

(coming mid-August)

Atmosphere/Crowd (Overall)

The Scorecard

The Hot Dog

Entertainment

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H O U S T O N ,  T E X A S

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