planet houston

well, the world series was won a week ago in houston, by a braves team that peaked at the right time. i am happy for captain canuck and dayf and most other brave fans, but i have to say i was kind of hoping dusty baker would get a ring as a manager, even if it meant the astros would have to win for that to happen.

it seems like a long time ago that i went to a game at minute maid park, and i guess it was. 

as you can see by the ticket, it was in 2014, before trash cans were banged upon, before that quirky hill in centerfield was removed, but after the park was renamed following the enron scandal. greed will get you every time - at least that's what i tell myself.

i was in town visiting some family and took the opportunity to head to a game between the astros and the a's. it had the feel of a minor league game to me, in that i wasn't really invested in it and i didn't have any idea about most of the players on the field. i knew josh donaldson and jose altuve, but i don't think i knew who any of the other starters were - george springer was one, but he was only a week or so in to his career, so i didn't know to boo him at that point. old friend nick punto made an appearance later in the game which was nice, i guess.

the roof was open, but while we were walking in i took this photo

because i was suprised at how normal the playing field looked. up until this time, the only other stadium i had been in with retractable roofs were in milwaukee and seattle. this stadium was definitely more like safeco in seattle than miller park in milwaukee - it felt "normal" if you know what i mean.

here's a photo looking out towards right-center, with the roof in full retraction mode

the hill is visible just at the left edge of the photo. and, other either side of the "minute maid" sign are the franchise's retired numbers. here's a closer look:

it's hard to read the names, but those are the numbers for jim umbricht, don wilson, jose cruz, mike scott, nolan ryan, jackie robinson, larry dierker, jimmy wynn, jeff bagwell, and craig biggio. i was a little surprised to not see number 50 up there for j.r. richard.

looking out to left field, 

you can see the home run choo-choo and the various pennants that they had to their name up to that point in time. the 1980 western division pennant hurt the most in 2014, but when i return it will be the 2017 world championship pennant that i take the most umbrage with.  and, of course halliburton was a "community leader" for the astros.  one more item i took note of - the white circle under the "champion" ad and above the bullpen has the initials "dk" in it - a standing memorial to the late darryl kile.

i took one photo of game action (i missed the first pitch i guess)

that's brandon moss at the plate in the top of the first. josh donaldson is on first base. there was a runner (jed lowrie) on second, but with the lefty up, jose altuve was positioned at a deep second base. the a's won the game 12-5 after scoring seven runs in the top of the ninth inning.

minute maid park was the 18th different stadium i have seen a regular season big league game in, and i have this 2018 topps opening day ballparks card

in my collection to represent my visit.  

i had tentative plans to go to the world series in houston had the dodgers advanced, but i guess my next trip to see a game there will have to wait.

stare off!

matt at once the cub and the 2018 opening day blog sent me a complete dodger team set from 2018 topps opening day which included the 'before opening day' inserts seen below

i thought it was an interesting pairing, as bellinger and puig seem to be locked in as stare down.  or, they could both be wondering who the funky muncy is and where did he come from?

thanks matt!

dodger stadium is missing from what i had hoped would be a dodger stadium card

i was looking forward to seeing the dodgers' card in the opening day insert set from 2018 topps opening day. i had pulled the cards of the astros and cardinals, both of which featured nice photos of their respective stadiums on opening day 2017 (you can see the astros' card over at once a cubs' blog dedicated to this year's opening day release).  i hoped there would be a similar wide shot of chavez ravine with the pavilion roofs on display, and maybe even the san gabriel mountains in the background with tommy lasorda and wally moon throwing out the first pitches.

but no. that was not the case.

that is a pretty generic image - it really could be just about any stadium with the standard infield and enormously sized flag (whose display happens to be in violation of the flag code, and may well be a case of 'paid patriotism' to boot).  perhaps the only saving grace is that the color guard gets center billing on the card.

old friend eric stephen used a very similar looking image (if not the same one shot by sean m. haffey/getty images) in his post from last fall previewing the dodgers' 2018 schedule at truebluela.  had topps cropped things a bit differently, there could have at least been a sliver of the left field wall in the upper left. or, topps could have used a photo that haffey took moments later that was much more like what i was hoping for.

not all of the cards in this 20-card insert set (why some teams were left out is a head-scratcher, as all 30 teams have an opening day at home) depict panoramic stadium scenes, but of the 13 or so that do feature a scene similar to the one used on the card above, only the dodger card fails to feature any of the stadium architecture.

i guess i'll just have to get back to the stadium in person to see up close what i was hoping to see on cardboard.

ps - night owl, you'll be pleased to know that the brewers' card features the batting cage still in place and people just milling about!