I dig Minutemaid Park

Inside the park homerun rolls behind the flagpole on Tal's Hill at Minutemaid Park.

I've been waiting to see this since that ballpark opened! Maybe it's happened before, but I haven't seen it before. What makes it cool is:

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1. There was no error on the play. This was a legitimate home run.
2. Aided by a 12 inch wide strip of hard-packed, decorative warning track - which likely exists only to ease mowing (and so the hill grass won't need to be weed-whacked off the wall) - the ball rolled up the hill and behind the flag pole - just as if it had been putted up the hill of an 18th hole at a Putt-Putt Course. Major cool.

All that said, and adding in that I have a fancrush on Astros rookie CF Hunter Pence:

1. Hunter should've made the (admittedly difficult) catch. You want your CF to catch that ball.
2. After he missed the catch, Hunter should've swallowed his embarrassment and chased the ball with more urgency.
3. If Hunter had chased quicker, and made a more accurate relay throw, Bloomquist might've been thrown out at home plate.
4. The SS should've realized Hunter's throwing predicament, and therefore gone further into the outfield to present a target for the relay throw.

I've never been to Minutemaid. I've heard various things about it, yet - on television - Minutemaid looks like tons of fun to play in and to spectate in. Consider Bloomquist's home run: how much fun is it to talk about and remember?! Tons! Fans will always talk about seeing Bloomquist's home run. Minutemaid rocks.