Yankees Go Home! Twins Take Game Three of Series

Me and Hubby in Section 110

Wide-angled view from Section 110, Row 1

Nick Blackburn pitches a great game.

Kubel swings for the fences.  Homerun!

Tonight, May 27,  the Twins beat the Yankees, 8-2.   And I had the opportunity to witness it firsthand from terrific seats given to me by my former employer:  Row 1, Section 110.    So my view of the game was certainly much closer than my usual Section 320 seats.

It was a perfect warm weather night, so Hubby and I biked to the game.  We end up toting a lot of stuff into the ballpark, helmets, camera, bike bags, peanuts.  But it's worth it to avoid the traffic/parking snarls.   And the Twins treated us to a perfect evening.  Blackie did a fab job.  I'm actually starting to get more comfortable with his "go ahead and hit it" style of pitching.      With my new telephoto lens I attempted to capture him in action.     Our bullpen did a nice job too.   It was great to see Mijares come in and strike some guys out.  Let's hope he continues in that vein, because we could use him.

Of course the big hero of the game was Kubel.  I must admit that when I saw him in the lineup I wondered why Gardy didn't start Young.  Delmon's been doing pretty well in my opinion.   But Gardy stuck Kubel 7th in the batting order which I think may have been a good move.  Now he may not admit it, but I think the pressure to hit big is a little more intense when you're higher in the batting order.       But lo and behold Kube came out and hit a homer... TWICE.   Lots of RBI's to go along with them.

I was determined to take a lot of photos at this game since we had such good seats.  What I quickly realized was that we have a lot of left-handed batters.  I suppose I should have already known that, but when I kept seeing everyone's back in my viewfinder, it became much more real.    Cuddy and Hardy were the only face forward batters.    If a lefty swung really hard though, he turned his profile in my camera's direction.      I took about a million pics!

Other news.  You CAN buy cotton candy at the park.  Didn't start seeing it until the last game and to celebrate our lead, I bought some pink stuff.  Ate it all.  Diet be damned.  

Twins and the Target Dog Victorious

Wide angle view from 320

Fans in 320

Wide angle view of concessions

After a less than stellar performance on the road, the Twins were probably happy to get back to Target Field.  Apparently all the offense that was lacking in Yankee Stadium and elsewhere was all pent up.  The Twins could hardly keep from scoring.  They defeated the Brewers 15-3.    It was the biggest Twins blowout I've ever seen.

The Twins scored 7 runs in the first inning.  After awhile you couldn't help but feel sorry for the Brewers pitcher, Bush.   I wanted to put him out of his misery.    That movie "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?"  kept coming to mind.      A few fans in Section 320 were razzing him pretty badly.     Unfortunately for the Brewers, the next guy they put in to pitch didn't do much better.

It was a good night for improving your batting average and everyone except Millionaire Joe got a hit.  Even the newbie, Plouffe, got his first major league hit.  In fact, the first two outs of the top half of the 1st inning were grounders to Mr. Trevor.    The crowd quickly started chanting Plooooof" when he came to bat.  Must have been exciting for him.     Since there hasn't been much reason to yell "Kuuuuub" lately, this was a nice consolation.

Hubby and I tried out some new food at the stadium since we arrived in time to do a little wandering.  He tried Tony O's Cuban sandwich and I tried out the beef burrito at the Mexican joint.   Neither one of us was very impressed.  The Cuban sandwich tasted good but was a bit overpriced.  My burrito was big and filling, but not very tasty.  Certainly not worth the calories.  So now I'm going to have to starve for a day to make up for it.

We were so far ahead that Hubby and I left a little early so we missed all the hullabaloo with Go Go.  Good thing the Twins have a history with Gomez or things might have gone down a little differently.    I suppose if someone had to hit the homer and spoil the shutout, a former Twinkie was the guy to do it.

On a side note, the Target Dog finally beat the Skeeta in the Scoreboard race.  I thought that Skeeta was the Yankee of the Minnesota mascots because it never seemed to lose.   I also got to try out my new wide angle lens.  Pretty cool I think.  

Chills But No Thrills. Twins Lose to Baltimore Again

There were plenty of chills at Target Field this afternoon, but few thrills. It was a pretty boring game. Frankie just didn't have his stuff today. And after a first inning homer by Morny, not much happened at the plate either. Twins lost to Baltimore 7-3.

There was a bit of a glitch on the giant video screen today. Perhaps that was a sign of things to come.

So I had to find new ways to entertain myself. First, please note that I was well prepared for the lower temps in Section 320. Hat, gloves, coat and later in the game, a hot chocolate, is all it took to stay moderately comfortable.

So here's a big inside scoop for anyone planning a trip to the game tonight. Buy your coffee and hot chocolate at the ice cream concession. Don't stand in the long lines in front of the coffee/hot chocolate carts. Thanks to the nice lady who clued me in to that one.

On my hot chocolate break I decided to take a walk around the stadium to the Metropolitan club. Along the way I stopped in the Twins Pub. They were both very crowded. Don't know if the crowd was bigger due to the cold or if it was typical. But you do get a nice view of the field if you can make your way to the window. I also spied Oliva's Cuban Sandwich stand. Hubby says that even at $9 a sandwich he's going to give it a try sometime down the road.

At Guest Services, a nice young man directed me to the Metropolitan club. You have to take the escalator or elevator down to club level. The security seemed a bit lax. I kept flashing my ticket but no one seemed to want to look at it. Surprisingly the club didn't seem very crowded. I was pleased to see that all those lovely desserts that the Legends Club sells are also on sale in the Met Club. Granted it's a long walk from Section 320 but if you're going to eat dessert, then the exercise is helpful. I spent a little time wandering and checking the view and talking to the concierge about making reservations in the future. Don't know how good the food is, but I think one should experience all that the stadium has to offer us season ticket holders at least once.

Having now experienced a particularly cold game, I'm looking forward to that hot 90 degree day in the sun. I have my sleeveless Twins shirt ready to go.

A Rainbow of Fun at Target Field-Blackie Polishes Off Detroit

Rainbow at Target Field

The rainbow encircling Target Field is something you'd never see in the Dome.   And you don't often see a Twins pitcher finish a game.  But we saw both at the May 4 Detroit game, a winning effort by Nick Blackburn with a pretty darn good assist by J. J. Hardy.

The windy weather provided some entertainment to us folks up in Section 320 right at the start of the game.  From up there you can see the full descent of french fry boxes and paper napkins into the field.  At first I was surprised the man-made precipitation was ignored, but then I realized that it doesn't take long for all of the detritus to be wind-swept to the side of the field somewhere.

The debris didn't seem to bother Blackie who pitched a great game, though for me a little tense.  Blackie, as he puts it, is a contact hitter.  That means he gets outs by letting the opposing team hit the ball.    As a fan, I can't help get a bit nervous that the hit ball will not land in someones glove.  But on this night, most of the time, it did just that.  When he came back out in the 9th everyone cheered.  I'm sure Bert Blyleven was happy.  But then the moment I feared happened.  The hit ball did not go in a glove.  In fact it went over the fence tying the game.   The game had gotten quite intense, just like the sky overhead.

That's when Hardy went to work with some fancy game-saving fielding, catching a tough grounder, and tossing quickly to Punto to catch Detroit's go-ahead runner rounding too soon to home.  Tag.  You're out.   Then on offense he hit a triple and scored the walk-off winning run in the bottom of the ninth on a wild pitch.

Other stuff.   I got to the field a little early and had a chance to meander around the park before going to my seat.  Got to peer down into the bullpen.  No one there yet of course.   And I watched Fox Sports do a little pre-game show which was kind of cool.    One thing you notice from up high is how many people seem to never sit down in a seat.  There are always crowds of folks just standing behind the seats watching the game or wandering to their next beer stand.  Perhaps it was that way at the Dome.  You couldn't see the corridors from your seat so who knows.  But, I think maybe it is just a little more entertaining at Target Field.  I still have a lot of sight-seeing left to do myself.