Boston gets their Sox cleaned behind yet another Verlander Gem
Despite being shrouded in controversy since the sign-stealing scandal, the Astros have been perennial contenders for the playoffs. Coming off the heels of a World Series win last November, expectations remained high for the team’s success. However, the AL West, a seemingly easy division in the past few years, became much more challenging, as the combination of a recent spending spree by the Rangers and young, developing talent of the Mariners has made the race for the division title a tight, three-team race. The Astros completed a few moves at the trade deadline to stay as competitive as possible, most notably with the return of Justin Verlander to the ‘Stros. I lucked out and was able to see him start on the bump against the Red Sox.
Verlander is so exciting to watch because of how long he has been able to keep up his impressive pedigree of pitching. He is 41 years old and he’s still absolutely dealing, with a 3.36 ERA coming into this start—a respectable feat for a pitcher of any age, let alone for a guy who’s been doing it for 20 years!
Before the game began, I did a full lap of the stadium to check out what it had to offer. Immediately upon entrance, I was greeted by the Crawford boxes, a series of balconies above the left field wall that showcases sweeping views of the stadium and the warning track below it. It was quite a great viewing spot, and any fan in the stadium could stand and watch the game from there; no special ticket needed.
There were some other fun features in the same area—like a cool walkway behind the boxes that displayed some of the famous memorabilia and players from Astros history.
In addition, there is a Phillips 66 “Home Run Pump”, which logs the number of home runs hit as Minute Maid since the pump’s installation on Opening Day 2000: 2315 (2316 after this game, but more on that later).
There’s also a painted mural done after the most recent championship, and outside are statues of Craig Biggio and Jeff Bagwell, two of the most famous Astros.
Minute Maid Park opened in 2000. It was originally named Enron Field but when Enron famously went bankrupt in 2002, Minute Maid took their place. Last season marked the fourth time that a World Series trophy was hosted at the park, but the first where the Astros won on their home field. The ballpark replaced the famous Houston Astrodome, dubbed the eighth wonder of the world, which was the first indoor stadium when it opened in 1965.
I really enjoyed the vibe and amenities of the stadium—while there was nothing super wild like the marina views at the Oracle or Ivy wall at Wrigley, the combination of the Crawford box viewpoints from left field, the giant steam train sitting above the seats, the and glass paneled left field wall above the train tracks all made for an enjoyable ambiance throughout the game. The only thing missing was the hill that used to be on the center field warning track but was removed in 2015 citing necessary renovation and underlying safety reasons. The hill always seemed to be a cool feature to me, as players would have to account for that if they were going back to the wall to catch a ball. Weirdly enough though, they even had a tall pole on the hill that was in play, which was an odd choice and surely caused more problems.
Before settling into my seat, I grabbed some food. And I sure lucked out—instead of having to pay $15-20 for a little bit of food, I was able to grab a few hot dogs for a buck each, as Tuesday nights at Minute Maid is dollar dog night.
When I reached my seats, I took a look around, observing the balconies in left, the center field grass Astros sign, as well as the aforementioned famous train, that drives across the top of the left field wall after every home run.
The game started quite well for the Astros—Verlander was dealing out of the gate, racking up 5 K’s in the first 3 innings, and run support coming early in the form of a Kyle Tucker (or “King Tuck”, as the fans affectionately call him) bomb. He is having quite an excellent season, and while it wasn’t totally unexpected, he certainly is excelling more than projected, with nearly 100 RBIs already and an average near .300 and almost 30 HRs—quite the well-rounded stat line.
Verlander was in quite the groove, and it was a pleasure to watch. It all looks so effortless out there for him, hardly ever throwing a mistake of a pitch, hitting all his spots, and able to easily settle into and remain in a rhythm. After 6 shutout innings of work, he finished his night, and took a well-deserved rest. The only hiccup was when he and his former coach, Alex Cora (now the Red Sox manager) got into a tiff about a pitch clock violation call.
Meanwhile, Houck and the Red Sox did not play impressive baseball, and the Astros took advantage. Houck served up several fastballs down the middle that the Astros capitalized on, and quickly after Tucker’s 2-run shot, they added on to make it 7-0 by the later innings. Even Jon Singleton, a new, struggling prospect, was hitting well, tallying 2 doubles, with one of them driving in two runs. And even after Verlander was taken out, the Red Sox missed a lot of opportunities—leaving a total of 10 men on base and despite notching 11 hits, only finishing with 3 men coming across to score.
The Astros were able to close it out, despite giving up a few runs in the ninth. I decided to watch the last inning or so from the Crawford boxes, and it was an awesome view. A Red Sox player even hit a double that hit off the wall just to the right of the balcony I was watching from, which was a cool sight to see.
It was a perfect spot to watch the end of the game, and as the Astros turned a double play to finish the ninth, I was able to easily look around the field and take in one last view. Peering up overhead, I could picture some of the famous moments in recent history here—Albert Pujols hitting a moonshot to the train tracks in the NLCS, and most recently, Jorge Soler clearing the entire stadium with his World Series-clinching home run. Just a couple of the iconic moments (ironically enough, both of those not in the Astros’ favor), but iconic nonetheless, and ones that could only happen at Minute Maid Park.
coryattheballpark 