HOUSTON -- The 10-foot, 300-pound blue letters spelling "Enron Field" over right field at the Astros' ballpark began coming down Tuesday, a week before Houston starts the season.

Workers pried the letters from welded clips and bolts, then lowered them with a crane. The job is expected to take several days.

"It's such a long process because they were designed to stay up for 30 years," Astros spokesman Todd Fedewa said.

But team owner Drayton McLane said the Enron name will be gone from the venue before the Astros face the Boston Red Sox in Houston for exhibition games Friday and Saturday. The Astros will face the Milwaukee Brewers in their home opener on April 2.

"We'll be done well before the preseason game on Friday," McLane said.

Last month, the Astros agreed to buy out Enron's 30-year, $100 million naming rights deal for $2.1 million. Enron gave up its company suite but kept season tickets for 35 box seats.

A day after the buyout agreement, maintenance crews started ridding the park of hundreds of signs bearing the failed energy giant's name.

For now, the park is known as Astros Field.

The buyout allowed the Astros to start negotiating with other companies interested in buying naming rights. McLane said talks are continuing, and he hoped to have a deal by late April.

That deadline would be much quicker than a typical naming rights negotiation, he said. It took the Astros six months to hammer out the original deal with Enron.

Once the big blue letters are gone, one more task will remain: Four clocks in a tower above one entrance say "Enron." Fedewa said those letters will be covered on opening day.