Tripped

Wrong Citgo Sign

Another day, another new ballpark: last night it was the park formerly known as Enron Field, home of the Houston Astros. Now it's Minute Maid Ballpark, where the steam train above the left field wall now incongruously hauls a load of giant oranges that really look like pumpkins in its coal hopper, and the Citgo sign we've all grown used to seeing in the distance beyond the Green Monster at Fenway has been moved into a prominent spot inside the park above the train tracks. 'Stros lost to the Reds; the highlight of the night was when former Red Sox '04 hero Orlando Cabrera stole third off an inattentive young reliever named Sammy Gervacio, who was so rattled he promptly balked him home on the next pitch.

Hey Look, It's Nolan Ryan!

Slightly out-of-focus, but still a Hall of Famer. We spent the night adding a new ballpark to our list, watching the Tigers beat the Rangers 8-6 thanks to back-to-back home runs in the top of the 9th by Miguel Cabrera and Brandon Inge. Eileen found us great seats on the Internet under face value just three rows behind home plate, and only a few feet from where the owners sit, including Ryan.

Here's Bad Vlad Guerrero after he knocked in two to tie the game 6-6, before the Tigers' heroics in the 9th:

La Bombanera Rocks and Rolls

Our friend Marc is visiting from the States for the week, and last night the three of us went to see Boca Juniors defeat Guarani of Paraguay 3-1 in an early round match of the Copa Libertadores, the all South-American club tournament that's the equivalent of the UEFA Cup in Europe. It was a wild scene - this is looking toward the south grandstand general admission section. Standing room only, no seats (we had seats in our section at midfield.) The fans and bands up there sang and played the Boca fight songs and danced and jumped and waved their flags non-stop for the entire match, regardless of what was happening on the field.

Here's Marc wrapped in his brand new Boca scarf: