Global Life Park, 2014

#29

This is an awesome ballpark. The exterior is fantastic. It has a lot of detail and great landscaping around the park. Jerry world is right next door and I think they might share the parking lot. 

So I have a nice Canon SR1 camera that I bring on these trips, and have spare batteries for it. It would help if I didn't leave the spares in the hotel room. Of course the time I don't bring a spare, the camera dies. At least I had the iPhone, but not as good as the real thing. 

The scoreboard

View from center field before the game. All the pics going forward were with the phone. 

A shot from our seats. 20 rows from the field. great seats and cheaper than Houston, thanks to the Rangers falling off badly this year. 

I like this park a lot, like the bleachers in right field that have that old school feel to them with the poles. I'm sure there are some obstructed views, but all the parks had them back in the day. 

I had to post this as well. While in Texas we had to get some Texas BBQ! It was everything we expected, and then some. 

The game was a blowout with the Rays winning 7-0. The Rangers only managed 3 hits the whole night. There were no HR and the Rays just scored pretty much at will. 

Minute Maid Park, 2014

#28

The outside of the park is pretty basic. Not bad looking but nothing special. Also it is pretty tight around there so its tough to get a pic of the outside. 

This is the Plaza outside the park that is set up like a mini park. It has plaques of a lot of former players and the statues of Biggio and Bagwell. I don't have a lot of room to talk being a Cubs fan, but they don't even have enough history to fill up the flags on the little bleacher section. 

Once inside, this is a beautiful ballpark. Great site lines, easy to move around, and a good atmosphere. There wasn't a huge crowd, but if there was a bigger one I bet it would have been even better. 

I really like the out of town scoreboard. There have been a few parks that use this type now, and they have a classic look to them. They should put one like this in the new Braves stadium when they build it. 

I was hoping to see a HR by the Astros so the train would do its thing. The only HR's were by Rangers in this game, both Choo and Beltre hit one each. 

I thought this was cool. It looked like just a Bud sign, but it has the state of Texas in the middle of the logo. 

These were the Bud Bleachers just to the right of the batters eye. I like them better that the Bud Pavillion in Atlanta because it is tiered, but you have to have certain tix to sit in there. 

One of the local brewers (I believe). Terry had an IPA from there. 

On to the game. Houston scored the first couple rund and was leading 2-0 in the 4th. Then the Rangers bats came alive. they scored 6 runs in the next 4 innings, including the 2 HR by Choo and Beltre. It was kind of a boring game with the exception of the bombs.