These new renderings show that they took away more than just the hill... guess the feasibility studies for construction showed they couldn't do as much as planned with just the hill space. This will change the park factor... no way it cannot. All angles from LCF to dead CF now affected. Also, a brand new batters eye which will affect everybody regardless of the dimensions. But....3 more money-making bars... yay?
Yeah, I think you're right. The angle confused me a bit, the edge of the glass panels is pretty much dead CF. I still hate this idea. Then again I've hated the fowl poles, the "community leaders" signage crap (in both forms), the move the the AL, wild-card banners, excessive retired numbers and other things, so I imagine I'll get over this as well.
Unfortunately it is the inning by inning score. That's the way the scoreboard is currently configured.
Doesn't look like they took much out besides Tal's Hill. Foot of Tal's Hill is 409 feet from home. Warning track looks unaffected, but odd angle from around 3B makes it look weird. I thought the angle in RCF was close to 90, but looks more like the current 120 looking at the warning track.
Foot is actually 416. That was their original plan, but they soon realized they'd need more space. 409 is not a bad CF... but that also happens to be the deepest dimension, which would be below average for most parks (for instance, the LCF in Target field is 411... when CF is only 404. MMP is significantly constrained in the alleys. Bringing in the CF makes that worse.
Looks like we're getting new hi-low TV camera view a la Busch & Fenway. See cameras platform atop Batter's Eye bar.
Agreed... Although dimension tinkering is on a different level than all those other cosmetic ones. Once they started tinkering with dimensions at the dome, they could never seem to stop. To off-set this change, I expect them to remove the Crawford Boxes in about 10 years and replace it with a...hill.
Random question, that area in CF right now with the tables etc. Is that general access? Or is that a special ticket area?
Its open to the public... Unless they have it rented out to a group. I remember when it was Ruggles when it first opened. Tables were booked up for awhile... Until people realized it was not that great food and wasn't a great place to watch a game. It is the only non suite-club level place to get hard liquor, so that helps deflect the badness of the seats.
The tables on the Budweiser Patio are still ticketed seats. The tickets for that area say "Table" and they come as a power ticket with value to use toward food. The bar area is open to the public and there are bar chairs.
They must not always be sold out then... Seems like I've been able to sit at a table for nearly every game I wanted to (granted, haven't tried much this year... so if its a new policy, makes sense). It does seem like the field level patio seating for next year will be "premium" (i.e. - not open to public). Again, not sure how great a seat that really is, or how much you're not going to see. For reference sake, those same sorts of cut-out views are the port-holes that are FREE at AT&T for anybody walking on the boardwalk behind RCF.
Not true. This team (and any team that hopes to contend) needs to have solid pitching. This team led the league in ERA last year. And was awesome at home. When MMP first opened, they had to eventually raise the HR line because of how big a joke it was. Let's hope they don't have to make a similar adjustment here. Ball still flies out of there pretty easily, and now they've shortened the only legit part that helped balance things.
Sure but you have to consider how cheap some of the left and right field home runs are. It takes away some and gives you others. Balanced. Like Nick says, our team has relied on really good pitching, I'm not interested in seeing MMP turn into Colorado south. We'll just have to see what he finished product looks like.
I always thought MMP was the closest ballpark to Fenway... in terms of dimensions. But even then, Fenway employs a large wall in LF (which balances out the short distance), AND they have a deep CF and RCF gap (420 at its max) that makes the park play very fair. In fact, over the last 6 years... Fenway and MMP are neck-and-neck in terms of park factor. The Astros new ballpark dimensions will be a cozier Camden Yards, which has always been skewed towards an extreme hitters park. It won't be Coors south... but it will undoubtedly be more hitter friendly/pitcher unfriendly.
Thank god, Astros' current camera well sits so low and skewed off the right. Makes curveballs harder to view and gives a weird angle for the strike zone. Especially for lefties. Personally I grew up at the dome. I never really appreciated the wonky outfield here and always thought the hill was silly. The LF basically...from the short porch to the hill, the train, everything except the pump...I've always hated. I think it makes an otherwise beautiful park a complete eyesore. I especially hated how the stadium faces the Brutal western evening sunsets but we had tix on the 1b upper deck. If they demo'd the whole thing for some regular bleachers I wouldn't complain
