It's official. Outdoor baseball has returned to Minnesota. Although, unless you're about 35 or older you don't have a recollection of Major League Baseball outside the K-MART-stadium Metrodome.
The last time the Minnesota Twins played outside was in 1981 at Metropolitan Stadium in Bloomington, now known as the Mall of America. From 1982 through 2009, the Twins made their baseball home in a football stadium.
But those Dome memories are all in the past now. The Twins held their first ever home-opener at Target Field Monday, April 12, 2010. It was a day of firsts, beginning a season of firsts.
FSNorth and Twitter have it covered
FSNorth was all over the coverage on game day, starting early in the morning and going through the evening. They recorded everything from the first beer sold at the Field, the unveiling of the Kirby Puckett statue and just an overall overload of information to everything Twins and Target Field-related.
As a sidenote, if you're a sports fan without a Twitter account - get one. Interacting on your Twitter feed during a sporting event is awesome, especially when everyone's talking, er, Tweeting about it. You learn so many cool tidbits about the game you might not otherwise know, or at least you'll see it first on Twitter.
All you have to do is start following a bunch of beat writers, sports news outlets and fans of your favorite team(s). There are a lot out there for the Twins, but I'll just mention the two head writers for the Star Tribune: Joe Christensen and LaVelle E. Neal. Follow them for all the latest with the Twins.
Hard to concentrate
I have to admit, sitting and watching all the pre-game coverage really gave me the itch to be there in person, more than I thought it would. And I'll tell you something else, my productivity level throughout the entire day was horrible. I volunteered with kindergartners in the morning and then intended on writing up the IndyCar race for my Marco Andretti Examiner page.
After meaning to write my story before the game began at 3:10 that afternoon, I didn't publish it until after midnight. I imagine the productivity at many offices and schools had a similar fate, especially for those at the ball park. Many were obviously playing hookey from work or school.
The weather turned out great for the game: 65 degrees with some sun. With the current weather pattern we've had, the Twins were very lucky.
Introducing...
Both rosters were announced before the game. No cap-tips or smiles from the Red Sox; they looked thrilled to be there on the historical occasion.
A not-so-classy moment came when the Twins third base coach Scott Ullger was announced. He received a small chorus of boos for his huge misjudgement in the White Sox game the day before. I thought that was pretty poor from the fans; it was just one game, you don't have to ruin his Target Field Opening Day moment.
Carl Pavano threw the first pitch (a close pitch called a ball), and from there the firsts began with baseballs being taken out of play so often for keepsakes that I hoped they wouldn't run out.
The Twins got things going early and put some runs on the board. It was some great, typical baseball to watch.
I missed it!
Then leading off the bottom of the seventh inning, Jason Kubel connected on a no-doubter pitch for the first home run ever hit at Target Field. Unfortunately for me, I was only able to hear the call as I was on my way to work. I didn't get to see the replay until later that evening, and was quite bummed I missed watching the historic moment.
I also missed the end of the game, but closer Jon Rauch came in and got his fifth save in as many tries to clinch the first win for the Twins in their new home. If you missed any of the action, FSNorth replayed the game that evening and twice on Tuesday. But like I said about missing Kubel's homer, "It's not the same." (As watching it live, of course.)
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